Sound Assertions is a poster series for an event commemorating three historic Jazz musicians: Fats Waller, Buddy Bolden, and Jason Kao Hwang.

What does a legacy look like? When we think of historically influential people, we tend to scale their image with the magnitude of their accomplishments. Their images are elevated to that of grandiose caricatures who paved the way forward in their field. For this project, I strived to develop a graphic system that portrayed this idea—bold and vibrant, but controlled, just like Jazz itself.

Initial Sketches aimed to visually portray the concept of building a legacy by building these Jazz pioneers out of their names—literally.

The Jump From Paper to... More Paper was done to highlight the innate richness and texture present in Jazz music.

Finding the Right Composition proved to be a difficult challenge.  There had to be a distinct balance of vibrant, energetic type and a strong underlying structure.