Artists Paired on Creative Blind Dates Make Valentine's Day Posters

We talk to Imprint Projects about their charitable poster design project, which paired up artists on collaborative blind dates.

by Sophia Callahan

February 14, 2016, 7:30pm

What’s love got to do with it? That's the question design studio Imprint Projects asked when playing matchmaker this Valentine’s Day. They set up “blind dates” with their favorite designers and artists, and asked them to respond to the prompt What’s love got to do with it? The five duos each collaborated online or in person to create a 16" x 24,’’ three-color silk screen poster with a limited edition print of 100. In the spirit of giving this Valentine’s Day, each poster’s sale goes to the duo’s nonprofit of choice, ranging from Planned Parenthood to the BK Women’s Shelter to Art Start.

The project was inspired by the studio’s fifth anniversary—they registered as a business on February 14, 2011, and wanted to find a way to celebrate love and work in a unique way.The Creators Project had a chance to talk to the President of Imprint Projects, Adam Katz, about Tina Turner, whether Valentine’s Day is really about love, and what the artistic blind dates were like.

The prompt for the posters were "What does love got to do with it?" Are you guys big fans of Tina Turner?

We are big fans of Ms. Turner, yes! But most importantly, we thought extracting a ready-made prompt from a pop song would add to the tone of this project. It’s a phrase that everybody is familiar with, you almost sing it when you say it aloud. But it’s also a challenge or provocation of sorts.

Do you think love really has anything really to do with Valentine's day?

Yes, love has a lot to do with Valentine’s day. In the mix of everything we do, it’s important to find times to step out of our routine and reflect on what we have, those around us, and the work we’re making. We recognize that Valentine’s day is mostly a construction, and the way that many people often talk about love on this day is full of cliche and saccharin, meaningless bullshit. We wanted to take this moment to think about how love does operate in our lives-- not just romantic love, but also the love one has for work and the people we work with, and the people we admire for their creative pursuits. Not, “I love work” but “I love your work” and “I love working with you.”

How did the various duos work together via blind date collaborating?

We like to think we fostered some new friendships. Collaborators were introduced via email but then we left it to them to collaborate on their own… it’s great to see how many of them are now friends on Instagram and Facebook.