For years, designer Alex Szabo-Haslam of TruthStudio in Sheffield, UK scribbled down inspirational and thought-provoking quotes he found in books, blogs and films. Left in drawers, they soon began to collect dust. To bring the quotes back to life, he decided to unearth them and create a set of posters and note cards that were meaningful yet understated. The poster design was just a small part of his process, he spent a lot of time looking for the right paper. Using traditional, silkscreen paper, he crafted a limited edition A2 print. In addition, he created a set of colorful note cards with each box containing the 24 different quotes.
While the note cards come in a variety of colors, each poster is printed white on black with the negative space showing the faces of the famous scientists and philosophers. “The mix of rough illustration and minimal type happened almost by accident,” Alex told us. “Initially I imagined the set as a collection of dark, brooding images – the first drafts featured huge hand-rendered quotes. But they didn’t feel right so, after a few revisions, I stripped the type back. The result is more effective than what I originally had in mind.”
Last night, Alex launched the Great Minds project on Kickstarter. We’ve chosen 15 of our favorites. You can see the whole set, here. Just for our Facebook followers, Alex is offering one set of note cards and one poster to a lucky winner. Just pick your favorite quote and leave the name of the famous scientist or philosopher on our Facebook page. Good luck!
Friedrich Nietzsche: “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
Albert Einstein: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
Abraham Lincoln: “Whatever you are, be a good one.”
Bernard M. Baruch: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
Charles Darwin: “I am not apt to follow blindly the lead of other men.”
Virginia Woolf: “Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”
Ayn Rand: “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
Frederick Douglass: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
George Washington Carver: “Where there is no vision there is no hope.”
Marie Curie: “Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”
Mary McLeod Bethune: “Cease to be a drudge, seek to be an artist.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Florence Nightingale: “I attribute my success to this – I never gave or took any excuse.”
Sigmund Freud: “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
Mark Twain: “Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
