Mia Cinelli
As a multidisciplinary artist and designer, my practice encompasses an eclectic span of investigations, including conceptual products, sculptures, installations, garments, and graphics, ranging from poetic to pragmatic. I consider myself to be a designer of experiences, interactions, and dialogues. While my work is often rooted in typography or product design, its subject matter is constantly shifting. At times I will convey an emotion or attempt to address a personal inquiry. Other times, my work will respond to an event or critique a cultural shift. In other, more applied instances, I will work from a specific brief, using methods of human-centered design to deliver tailored design solutions. With an inquiry-driven practice, I am passionate about—and continually excited by— the possibilities of visual communication and human-centered design.
Pandemic Parade Banners (series), 2020
At the turn of the 20th century, large vertical banners, or gonfalons, showcased the values of fraternal groups, women's suffrage associations, and religious orders, becoming the public face of private organizations at parades and marches. Using custom typography informed by historic letterforms, cherished sentiments and virtues of the past have been replaced with now-ubiquitous phrases describing the COVID-19 global pandemic.
These hand-sewn banners were constructed during Kentucky’s safe-at-home order, using only materials available at home. An exercise of resourcefulness and constraint, they became a welcomed diversion of craft and routine. They were displayed in a socially-distant one-person Pandemic Parade—a homage to persistence, solidarity, and levity, even in truly trying times.
Selections from Speculative Characters for Visual Inflection, 2019
In the age of emojis, type and image work in tandem to bolster our typographic voices, conveying our wide range of emotions. What if, in lieu of relying on smiley-faces and eggplants to make our point, new punctuation could formally articulate meaning through gesture and expression? Much like written music relies on specific symbols to designate key, volume, pacing and pauses, I believe new letterforms— inspired by facial expressions, hand gestures, and metaphors— could better inform our visual inflection. This series of new letterforms are proposed to supplement our existing typefaces, attempting to make the rich complexities of verbal (and nonverbal) conversation visible.
Mia Cinelli is an Associate Professor of Art Studio and Digital Design at the University of Kentucky. Her design practice encompasses an eclectic span of poetic and pragmatic products, installations, and graphics which have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Recently, her typographic works have been acknowledged with Best in Festival for New Work at DesignTO (2020), a Graphis Silver award for typeface design (2018), a Society of Typographic Arts “STA 100” award (2019), and a Communication Arts Typography award (2020). With an inquiry-driven practice, she is passionate about—and continually excited by— the possibilities of visual communication and human-centered design.