Boston Marathon Bombing Book
In an effort to make sense of the violence the city of Boston and surrounding communities experienced in April 2013, Tank Design created a book using the simplest human language we have: iconography. “102 HOURS,” released on the eve of the Boston Marathon bombing’s first anniversary, represents the events during and following that day. An austere and linear account of a previously inconceivable five days, the book encourages private reflection. The idea for the project was born in the days following the manhunt, a time that was at once tragic, mesmerizing and confusing. We wanted to create something that would succinctly tell the story in remembrance, something everyone could identify with. Designers pride themselves on simplifying expression and messaging to its very core, so we wanted it to be as simple as possible. Initial research on the history of visual story telling brought us to the wordless woodcut novels by Frans Masereel, and the recent pioneering narrative by Stephen McCarthy, which used pictograms to document England’s riots of 2011. For style we found inspiration in the work of Stephen McCarthy, Ryan McGuiness, Henry Dreyfuss, and especially Otl Aicher’s 1972 Olympic pictograms. All proceeds benefit Youth Design, a Boston-based youth mentoring organization. Tank's been very involved with Youth Design for the past few years, and 102 HOURS was a project our summer intern helped out on. It was the perfect project for a young designer to be a part of. The icons started as simple shapes, built from circles and squares. As our intern’s skill set grew, we added complexity to the graphical language. There’s a lot of great marathon related charities out there, but this project is more about solving the problem from the root of the cause, to respond by building a stronger community. When the age of the two suspects was released, it struck me how important it is to provide mentors for our kids. Every time there’s an internal attack like the one last year, it happens because people feel rejected, like their community doesn’t care about them and isn’t helping them. Like they aren’t a part of it. We believe the problem can be solved from its roots, at the community level, to help prevent something like last April from happening. There are plenty of ways to do that, but as designers, writers and marketers, we have the most impact by using our communication skills and by mentoring others.