As part of a brief to create promotional collateral for the contemporary art exhibition Unfold, I developed a tote bag inspired by the distinctive visual language of graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister.

Sagmeister’s work frequently combines photography, typography and the human body, often with a playful and provocative sense of humour. I responded to this by photographing my hands forming the letters of Unfold and overlaying handwritten typography across the image. During the development process, I noticed that one of the hands appeared to be cut off within the composition, which reminded me of Sagmeister’s humorous use of unexpected and disorientating imagery. I chose to embrace this rather than correct it, incorporating the element into the final design.

The resulting design combines photography and expressive typography to create a playful, tactile interpretation of the exhibition title while drawing on Sagmeister’s approach to text, image and humour.