This project defined space, time, and physics. The 250-day landmark meant we would have no margin of error in shipping this artwork to run in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post simultaneously on the day in question.
This high-contrast headshot and full-bleed artwork was a challenge to print in newsprint stock. I sourced each headline individually in order, and used typography math (pixels & picas) to identify a font size and range of printable colors to divide the portrait artwork, within the page sizes given from each publication, with additional space for the ad's message to be featured prominently. The font size needed to be large enough to be printed and legible in newsprint, yet small enough to be used for subtle portrait details and fit all 250 headlines.
The portrait shadows from the headshot provided as is would have otherwise flooded the newsprint in a mass press run and would have soaked through the pages. Each newspaper had different ink density requirements and page sizes, meaning the headline artwork would be changed and retouched for each bespoke publication to avoid cropping any printed word.
All of these limitations to the artwork required me to retouch the artwork accordingly so that the ink density measurements would run the high-contrast piece accurately and effectively. The lighter artwork on-screen was printed on newspaper effectively and ultimately matched the digital artwork seamlessly once produced and distributed in the publications.
BEFORE & AFTER INK DENSITY EDITING:
