Gratuitous Type appropriates conventions of pornography magazines to frame its otherwise innocuous subject matter. Extending this concept to its covers, each installment plays with strategies of censorship. For Issue 4, acetate screenprinted with copper dots overlays the cover image.
Elana Schlenker is an independent graphic designer and art director of print, environmental, and interactive projects. She is also the publisher of gratuitous_hoveryGratuitous Type, an occasional pamphlet of typographic smut.
In 2013, Elana was named to Print magazine’s New Visual Artist list, a prestigious annual distinction that recognizes the industry’s top 20 creative talents under the age of 30. Prior to the establishment of her studio practice, Elana worked as an art director at Condé Nast and senior designer at Princeton Architectural Press.
Text © Elana Schlenker
Photography by:
Lena C. Emery, Aapo Huhta, Clayton Cotterell,
Ross Mantle, Stephanie Gonot, Chris Maggio, Jim Campers,
Daan Paans, Peter Happel Christian