Can You...?
Artist
Phil Baines
United Kingdom, 1958 - 2024
Date1991
Dimensions23 3/8 x 16 1/2 in. (59.4 x 41.9 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.7574
DescriptionCan You...? appeared in the first issue of FUSE (Invention) and is the first of two decorative typefaces Phil Baines contributed to the publication. Four years later, it was released as You Can (read me), although it has also been referred to as Can You (and do you want to) Read Me? and a few other similar variations. Inspired by designer Brian Coe’s experiments with typeface legibility in the 1960s, Baines was interested in discovering how little of a letterform was needed for it to remain readable. He noticed that by working with a serif typeface, more of a letter could be removed and still be recognizable. The finished alphabet with all possible accents is rendered in the top area of the white column along the right side of the poster. The base typeface for Can You...? is classic Clarendon, created in 1845 by Robert Besley. Baines references this in the text within the white column, where he also includes other facts about the typeface. The larger text in the pink area of the poster addresses the need to “reconsider the old before reaching the new” and other philosophical thoughts on the future of typography, written in the voice of V. Real, Baines’s short-lived alter ego. As Baines did not own a Macintosh computer, this was the only poster produced as a physical maquette for FUSE, complete with overlays on a board. All other posters for the publication were submitted as digital files.On View
Not on view
