Cardon Copy: The Power of Design

What is the chance that this homemade sign will reach the right person when there is an overflow of ad garbage in New York City? An old, crumpled-up, white college ruled paper reads “Missing Cat” followed by six desperate exclamation points. This simple statement is followed by words defining the cat’s characteristics and the owner’s contact information.

The scribbled “sharpie” words with varying size characters, and un-uniform, letter spacing have an obvious upward tilt likely caused by the small child’s earnest desire to finish up the numerous handwritten signs to be posted throughout the New York City neighborhood. What is the chance that this plain sign will reunite this child with his beloved pet?

Cardon Webb, a talented designer with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, is involved in a hands-on, do-good experiment “to hopefully help others.” The visual exploration, Cardon Copy, as Webb has titled it, “takes the vernacular of self-distributed fliers and tear-offs we have all seen in our neighborhoods. It involves hijacking these unconsidered fliers and redesigning them, over powering their message with new visual language. [He] then replaces the original with the redesign in its authentic environment” (cardoncopy.com).

His intent is “to aid in the discovery of what’s often neglected. To satisfy my ‘three pencils aligned tick.’ To experiment with the power of design. To work with typography. To beautify [and to] …help others.” As mom always said, “Leave it better, than the way you found it” (cardoncopy.com).

In reply to the proposed question, a beautiful poster, much larger than the first, now replaces the “Missing Cat” sign. This new poster depicts a nicely groomed large anonymous black cat. The mysterious cat’s face is shrouded by an elegant white emblem embroidered by fine white dots calling attention to the text it contains. The type reads in a refreshing combination of slab serif and script typeface the previously scribbled words. The answer is, Webb is likely to light up a small child’s face when he or she is reunited with their beloved “Large Black male [cat].”

To see more of the Cardon Copy Project, Type Director Club Solo Exhibition you can visit Webb’s project here. For more information on Webb including glancing through his portfolio and achievements visit his personal site at cardondesign.com.