92 BLUE COLLAR THEORY
Blue Collar Theory is a collaborative studio that focuses on the “social aspect of design and how it affects the community,” says Oliver Munday. “We believe that design can work on the level of social intervention.”

The group invited John Bielenberg, founder of Project M and also a socially progressive designer, to speak at Maryland Institute College of Art. “When we do a posters for guest speakers,” Munday says, “we really want it to represent them, and not impose our own style on it. It’s about finding out what their ideas are all about.” As the poster portrays, Bielenberg works with young people to show them that “their work can have a positive and significant impact on the world by Thinking Wrong.” Munday and the other designers honed in on the simplicity of a red X printed over the speaker’s bio to represent “this backwards idea about problem solving.” They chose Helvetica because the bio arrived via e-mail in that typeface. “Helvetica is overused and has become generic,” says Munday, “and we thought that was perfect. It was a case where we went through several stages and then thought, ‘we don’t really have to design this thing.’” Apparently Bielenberg agreed, because he not only loved the poster, but came back to Baltimore with his team of students to work on a project there. by Laurel Saville