Watch: Inside TDC's Facebook Analog Research Laboratory exhibition with Scott Boms

27 Mar / 2019 / Inspiration /

The past two months Type Director's Club revealed the analog beauty of a digital realm in full frame. Flooded with typographic ingenuity, TDC’s latest exhibition “Connection, Community & Values: Inside the Facebook Analog Research Lab” introduced us to the thoughtful, playful, critical and visual striking posters and printed materials of the Facebook Analog Research Lab and its, established in 2016, Designer-in-Residence program.

Answering the question of why one of the world’s largest digital platforms is hand-crafting posters one at a time, “these hand-crafted artworks are opening doors to new ways of looking at the world, finding community, inviting dialog, and creating positive friction that meaningfully affects people. The works ask questions, intersect social values, and provoke important questions with the aim to open minds to new ideas and perspectives” per TDC.

The show features work by Facebook’s Artists in Residence, including Elana Schlenker, Kaye Blegvad, Eddie Perrote, Luiza Dale, and others.

Curated by Scott Boms, a cross-disciplinary graphic designer and printmaker, who serves as the global design lead at the Analog Research Lab, Facebook’s in-house design and art-making studio the exhibition is free and open to the public Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm by appointment only.

Regarded as one of the world’s largest digital leaders, Boms is hand-crafting posters one at a time.

Responsible for creating and guiding projects that ask questions, intersect social values, and provoke important questions with the aim to open minds to new ideas and perspectives Boms is introducing the exhibition in the video, giving us a rare peek at the evolution of values and mission of this unique organization — the what, the how, and most importantly, the why.

In the video, Scott talks about how and why Facebook decided to put ideas, critical questions, and visual interventions into the spaces that people inhabit, and how these hand-crafted artworks are opening doors to new ways of looking at the world, finding community, inviting dialog, and creating positive friction that meaningfully affects people.

"The mission of the Analog Research Lab is to create inspiring and thought-provoking projects about the world and our place in it" states the team's mission. "We believe design and printmaking is a path to clarity and truth. We support creative projects from diverse voices that spur constructive and critical conversations at Facebook through hands-on processes and analog mediums. We facilitate open and supportive creative studios for members of our community along with invited Designers in Residence of all career stages. Our programs provide access to tools that result in thoughtful, inspiring, and expressive visual products. Grounded by cultural values and responsibilities, they intend to ask questions and help us understand the meaning and impact of our work from new perspectives".

Enter the realm here