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A collection of stationery for “Black Visual Archive” laid out on a grey surface. The set includes a business card, a small card with a yellow logo, and a long strip of text that reads “Black Visual Archive is dedicated to the review of contemporary black visual culture.” A teal cloth-bound book sits to the right.

Graphic Design: Great web and print identity by Montreal studio Fivethousand Fingers

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Date
28 November 2013

Together Lexane Rousseau and Eli Horn form Fivethousand Fingers, a Montreal-based studio who list concision as one of their core design principles. This certainly rings true when considering their new work for the Black Visual Archive (BVA), an organisation that celebrates and contextualises the work of African American artists.

It’s interesting to hear how the designers started with the way the BVA releases its critical writing and then added graphic flourishes to support that core function. They say: “The concept of the website was reduced to the essentials of its ‘archival’ form to best reflect the function of linear release and archiving of posts, and focused on implementing useful and beautiful typographic and textual details.”

A blue square logo contains the words “BLACK VISUAL ARCHIVE” split across four lines. To the right, the letters “B”, “V” and “A” are arranged in a descending diagonal line.
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Fivethousand Fingers: Black Visual Archive

Two white business cards are laid out on a grey background. The top card lists the name “Meg Onli” and the title “Founder & Editor”, alongside an email and the website “blackvisualarchive.com”. The bottom card features a yellow square containing the words “BLACK VISUAL ARCHIVE” arranged vertically.
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Fivethousand Fingers: Black Visual Archive

A collection of narrow white and yellow cards scattered across a grey surface. Some cards feature the “Black Visual Archive” logo, while others contain the text “Black Visual Archive is dedicated to the review of contemporary black visual culture.”
Above

Fivethousand Fingers: Black Visual Archive

A canvas tote bag stands on a wooden ledge next to a small potted plant and two hardcover books. The bag features blue text that reads “BLACK VISUAL ARCHIVE”.
Above

Fivethousand Fingers: Black Visual Archive

A digital document featuring a white background with black text. The headline reads “Rise Up Ye’ Mighty Race!” and is followed by a detailed essay about an installation by artist Kara Walker.
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Fivethousand Fingers: Black Visual Archive

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

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Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.

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