Our world is saturated with text. On the street, we face marquees, billboards, and digital displays. At home, letters, magazines, and books surround us. Their design may seem arbitrary, even random. But it never is. This typography is at once immensely creative and surprisingly influential; its artful aesthetics are carefully designed to maximize impact on the viewer. Chicago's Jason Pickleman, the graphic designer responsible for the iconic branding of TimeOut Chicago, the restaurant Avec, and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company—and and whose work you'll find on the cover of this year's Chicago Humanities Festival guide—reveals tricks of the trade and decodes technologies underlying typography's power and persuasion.

Jason Pickleman is the founder of JNL Graphic Design Studio, which specializes in the creation of graphic ephemera of unique cultural significance. Exhibition catalogues, art objects, informational propaganda, and generally exotic cultural paraphernalia for clients such as the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Renaissance Society and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company bare the imprint of the studio's unique vision.

The Chicago Humanities Festival, founded in 1989, is devoted to making the humanities a vital and vibrant ingredient of daily life. We believe that access to cultural, artistic and educational opportunities is a necessary element for a healthy and robust civic environment.  We fulfill this mission through our annual festivals, the fall Chicago Humanities Festival and the spring Stages, Sights & Sounds, and by presenting programs throughout the year and online that encourage the study and enjoyment of the humanities.