"Nice"

"nice" is the catalogue for the namesake exhibition curated by Lucienne Roberts and hosted by the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) in Pasadena, California. It documents the research, concept development, curation, and final outcome of the exhibition, and was co-authored by Roberts and the 2018 HMCT Fellow Lavinia Lascaris.

"nice", co-authored by Lucienne Roberts and Lavinia Lascaris, documents the research, concept development, curation, and final outcome of its namesake exhibition which was presented by the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California from June through September, 2018.

For the exhibition, Roberts used a poster with the following provocation: "Slogans in nice typefaces won't save the human races." The poster appeared on UK city streets in late 2017 via flyingleaps, an artists' street project founded by Adrian Burnham, whose particular interest is visual activism in urban environments. It was created by British artist and graphic designer Tim Fishlock, working under his alter ego Oddly Head. The bold graphic slogan was a response to what he calls 'an epoch of demagoguery and debacle' and was popular across social media. Relevant to the UK and USA, if not the whole world, the message of this poster is apocalyptic—the human race needs to be rescued. Furthermore, it warns of the dangers when meaning and aesthetics become disassociated and designers design primarily for themselves.

The exhibition was the outcome of deconstructing the poster and identifying the power of slogans, the definition of a "nice typeface," the influence of texts in relationship to typography, and the threats from which the human race needs to be saved. In essence, "nice" is an exploration of the ways that slogans (or texts) in nice typefaces might save the human races after all.

Lucienne Roberts is a design graduate of Central St Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London and has been practicing as a graphic designer, design writer/educator for over 25 years. She holds a degree in English Literature from the University of London and is author of Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design. Roberts' London-based studio, LucienneRoberts+, is committed to making accessible, engaging graphic design with a socially aware agenda. The studio specializes in exhibition, book and identity design for cultural, education, arts and other non-profit institutions. In 2012 she co-founded GraphicDesign&, a publishing and curatorial venture that foregrounds how graphic design connects with all subject matter. GD&'s two most recent projects are Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008–18 currently running at London's Design Museum until August 2018, and Can Graphic Design Save Your Life?

Co-author Lavinia Lascaris is a graphic designer from Greece, based in Los Angeles, specializing in conceptual development for print and spatial media. Her background is in fine art, having completed her bachelor at Richmond, The American International University in London, with a focus on sculpture and photography. Lascaris has lived and worked in Athens, London, Paris, Pondicherry, and Barcelona. Some of her collaborations include the Cycladic Art Museum (Athens), a solo exhibition at the Illeana Tounta Contemporary Art Center (Athens), the Xippas Gallery (Paris), the Auroville Community (Pondicherry), and MAL/FOR GOOD (Los Angeles). Her travels have developed her interest in world cultures and the tensions between psychology, sociology, and graphic design are evident in her work. Lascaris recently received her MFA in graphic design from ArtCenter College of Design, and served as the 2018 Hoffmitz Milken Center (HMCT) as Typography Fellow. She is currently Exhibitions Designer at HMCT.