On Strike! Shut It Down! SF State Strikes of 1968–69
Role: Exhibition and Graphics Designer
I served as the exhibition and graphics designer for “On Strike! Shut It Down!” located in San Francisco State University’s Special Collections & Archives Gallery. This is the first permanent on-campus exhibit of the SF State Strike of 1968–1969, the longest university strike in U.S. history.
I was directly responsible for producing the visual identity (wordmark, color palette, typography, image treatment), exhibition graphics (wall panels, object labels, wayfinding), and marketing materials. Additionally, I planned the physical exhibit layout & spatial flow, alongside curator Jesse Martinez.
Personnel
Curator: Jesse Martinez
Archivists: Tanya Hollis, Alexandria Post, Meredith Eliassen, Alex Cherian, and Catherine Powell
I anchored the entire visual language in deep crimson to embody the strike’s polyphonic energy: resistance, turmoil, bloodshed, anger, empowerment, chaos, violence, revolution, and progress. Against neutral white gallery walls, the crimson hue creates a spatial rhythm that commands attention and sustains it across the exhibition.
The typographic treatment directly references archival materials distributed during the strike and secondary retrospectives. Eurostile serves as the main typeface for headlines, hero text, and section dividers. Sourced from strike-era materials, its bold, geometric structure evokes late 1960s modernist style and campus tension. Neue Haas Grotesk was selected for body text and captions. It acts as both a callback to archival materials that used Helvetica predecessors and a practical solution to align with the Smithsonian’s exhibition guidelines, which require Helvetica for legibility and accessibility. Rather than using generic Helvetica, I chose Neue Haas Grotesk, the digital revival of the original 1957 design.
Texture creates a tactile, period-accurate atmosphere. I applied grain, creases, folds, and halftone sparingly to avoid compromising the integrity of the archival imagery.
Every design choice carried a single intention: to function as a direct narrative and interpretive tool.
Early Development Moodboard