The Garbage Can Experiment

book design

In 2019, my friend Monica Fuhrmann asked me to design a book of poetry and spoken word on behalf of her friend, Robert M. Brandy. Despite being incarcerated in Ohio, he had built a large body of work entitled The Garbage Can Experiment, and dreamed of sharing his words with the world, along with poetry contributed by 11 of his friends who are also incarcerated.

Monica and I self-published the book, which is available for purchase at Lulu, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The author requested that all proceeds from the sale of the book be donated to the Ohio Justice & Policy Center’s Beyond Guilt program, and the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.

6” x 9”, 96 pages, 4-color process cover, 1-color interior, digital print.

Cover designed with Illustrator and Photoshop. Interior designed with InDesign.

The poems express a wide range of emotions—pain and rage, hope and compassion—so the challenge with the cover design was how to convey these diverse personal experiences. The final design shows multiple figures representing the multiple voices in the book, all men of color. When the full cover is opened up, there is a gradual shift from a downward, despairing countenance to an upright position of hope and determination.

Because the poems are so powerful on their own, I decided to pare back the interior layout. I chose a classic typeface, Bembo, which is not only highly legible, but also matches the seriousness of their work.

Authors: Robert M. Brandy; Darryll Byrd; Abu Pharuq Muhammad Mustafa El Crowder; Tony Curtis, Jr.; Dakota Flagg; Free Thought; Jason Hayes; Cecil Johnson; Major Cecil McCormick; Kevin Short; Siksteen; Andre Winters

Editor: Monica Fuhrmann