5 Years with Medulla Art Gallery

For the past 5 years, I've had the pleasure of working on design projects for Medulla Art Gallery's exhibitions. I can't quite recall how it all started, but I do remember it being during my "graphic design is the answer" era, which feels like a lifetime ago now.

At the time, I was taking on just about every project that came my way, juggling work across multiple currencies and for wildly different clients at home and abroad. It was always a bit overwhelming, but I managed to make it work. That's when I was approached by Martin, the showrunner at Medulla. He must have seen some of my experimental typographic work (a testament to why you should always share those weird things you make from the bottom of your heart), and was impressed enough to trust me with designing the show's printed invites, exhibition materials, and social media graphics for an exhibition by Sarah Knights.

Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to have that trust and support during that tumultuous period of my career.

What I love most about designing for Medulla Art Gallery is the opportunity to immerse myself in the union of graphics and text, for the sake of doing it. There's something about the way they come together to create meaning, convey emotions, and tell stories that's truly magical. Despite my busy schedule and high-dollar-value projects, I will always make time for Medulla because it allows me to connect with the core of what I love about design. There’s also been something really special in being able to work with people who respect what you do, and the undercurrent of trust and respect for work has been strong during our time together.

The design palette for Medulla's exhibitions has remained consistent over the years: same size and format constraints, same typeface (Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk's normal and Extended widths), and the same design philosophy of never upstaging the artwork. After all, art galleries are places where the art should take center stage, not the design.

Oh, and it’s happened at the same price, too: another one of the privileges of what I do is that I get to work on objectively unprofitable projects, which I believe should be a privilege for the smart, talented designer. We’re more than just meaning-makers who know Illustrator and Photoshop. Our design practices should afford us the space to do what we love, too.

Medulla Art Gallery is currently my only Trinidadian client for whom I handle the entire design process, and may be for a while. In other projects, my role is more directorial in nature, guiding the conceptual development and refining the output.

For Medulla, I get to flex my design muscles and see a project through from start to finish. It's an opportunity to stay sharp, while doing something I love: creating effective, attractive design. And I’m lucky that it’s still the best, most unbeatable feeling.