Poetry in Motion: SpotCo Designs National Poetry Month Poster

SpotCo, the New York City ad agency behind campaigns for Broadway shows such as Chicago and Avenue Q, is helping out a quieter medium: poetry. The firm has designed the official poster for National Poetry Month 2008 (that would be April), and it’s quite something. (Thanks to our sister blog, GalleyCat, for bringing it to our attention.)

The centerpiece of the poster are the flying, red, Jell-o Jiggler-like letters that spell out “National Poetry Month,” an image anchored by cupped hands. Beside the hands are the final lines of Jay Wright‘s fantastically titled poem “The Healing Improvisation of Hair.”

And who, we might ask, brought SpotCo’s theatrical poster designs to the attention of The Academy of American Poets? Why, Chip Kidd, of course. And it was good match. Academy director Tree Swenson calls SpotCo’s poster, created by a team led by SpotCo creative director Gail Anderson, “vibrant and vital.”

In donating its time to create this year’s poster, SpotCo joins an elite group of National Poetry Month poster design alumni, including Kidd, Christoph Niemann, design collective Number Seventeen, and Milton Glaser. Check out past posters here, and then go read some poetry!

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