Paul Sahre is an American graphic designer who was born in 1964 and grew up in upstate New York in a small town named Johnson City. He attended Kent State University where he earned his bachelor’s in Fine Arts in 1987 and his master’s in Fine Arts in 1990. Later on, after completing his education, he got married and moved out to Baltimore. Unlike other artists, Paul has remained an independent artist since 1997, allowing him to have full control over his work. Since then, he has worked with many different notable clients such as The New York Times, Times Magazine, Google Creative Lab, and Marvel Comics. Apart from being a graphic designer, Paul has also embarked on different aspects of art such as being an illustrator for books, being the author of his books, and being an educator at the School of visual arts in New York. Along with this, he has also given lectures around the world. Before becoming an established designer, Sahre used to run a print shop in his basement which helped jump-start his career a little. Paul Sahre’s work can vary in its outcome as he has both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional projects that he has worked on. He worked with mediums such as designing book covers, posters, and glass and even creating a giant monster truck out of cardboard for a music video. Looking at his creative process, it seems that Sahre is always changing how he goes about completing each of his projects and their purpose. One example of this can be seen in his project titled “Interjection Tower” where he used the technique of glass molding which he had not previously worked with to create letters based on the typeface he made named “Fur.” He went on to say that this could be a good way to show off and create new typefaces in the future. Another example of one of his works would be when he was designing a book cover.  According to The New Yorker when Sahre was asked about how he started working on his designs for book covers , Sahre says he likes to see what the book will be about but in most cases, he prefers to read the book over just the synopsis. When doing this, he goes through the text and uses notes to mark sections where a visual image can be created to possibly include in the text’s cover. With this in mind, he also seems to make sure that his finished product can match the overall purpose of the project. When asked what he thinks a good cover can do, Sahre responded by saying that the cover should convey the feeling of the book, meaning that if for example, a cover is complex and layered, the book should be able to relay that rather than being something flat and boring. He also likes to take influence from his other works as he states he used to work on theater posters which help him translate that process of work over to a smaller medium for books. Overall, Paul Sahre is a unique artist when it comes to his projects from working with mediums he doesn’t have much experience with, like typeface, to designing book covers.

Bibliography:

TitleHere. “Title Here – Book Lover Classifieds.” Title Here Book Lover Classifieds, 23 Sept. 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20160203074752/http://www.titlehere.com/the-education-of-paul-sahre-ii.html.