FPW MEDIA DESIGN TEST
A newsletter reimagined as irony.
PRELUDE: THE TEST
FPW Media wanted a “clean corporate newsletter” — something to prove attention to detail. What they didn’t realize was that detail was the entire point. The design followed editorial logic: typographic hierarchy, proper optical spacing, and — the unforgivable sin — hanging bullets.
ACT I: THE CRIME
Within twenty-four hours, the test was submitted: A fully balanced grid, humane typography, polished rhythm. They returned with silence, then rejection. Their reason? “We’re not sure what those hanging things are.” The “things” were bullets. Perfectly aligned typographic bullets. The Midwest had spoken.
ACT II: THE HYPOTHESIS
Maybe it wasn’t a design test. Maybe it was a sociology experiment — an observation of what happens when editorial discipline meets T-shirt-printer energy. FPW Media, a self-described “agency,” moonlighted as merch distributors. Typography was foreign. Helvetica was exotic. The design wasn’t wrong. It was too right.
ACT III: THE AFTERMATH
I didn’t fail the test. The test failed itself. In hindsight, this piece stands as a monument to misunderstanding — a reminder that design without literacy is decoration. Buckeye Partners probably never saw it. But SIGNA did. And now it’s canon.
Credits: Concept, design qnd layout by Arash Giani.
Catalogue No. 010 / SIGNA ARCHIVE / FPW MEDIA DESIGN TEST / 2023