The Noah Purifoy Foundation was established in 1999 to preserve and maintain the late artist’s impressive outdoor assemblage sculptural museum in Joshua Tree, California. The all-volunteer, non-profit group must constantly solicit contributions to stay ahead of the effects of the sun, extremes in temperature and time to which Purifoy’s works are subject.
When we were commissioned to design an informational pamphlet we looked beyond the ubiquitous letter-sized, trifold brochure that may have been expected. Something that folds to become highly vertical didn’t make visual sense given the 10-acre horizontal expanse over which this museum is stretched. Horizontal was the key word as sand and scrub sweep out to meet the sky. Nothing is vertical here. Wanting to use as many of the client-supplied photos as possible, we chose a format 14" wide by 8 1⁄2" high, folding in half to 7"x 8 1⁄2." This allowed for wider text columns and generous white space – room to breathe.
When the comprehensive was presented, we explained our horizontal rationale and the board members agreed. The initial printing was 1,000 brochures. Not long after, they ordered 2,500 more, saying that donations had increased by hundreds of dollars a month, and that they attributed the change to the effects of the brochure. In design there aren’t many projects whose impact can be accurately assessed – or determined in such a short time. This brochure was one of the rare exceptions.
“When I contacted Enigma to create a new brochure for Noah Purifoy Foundation and the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Sculpture, I knew Randy’s design would be clean and straightforward. What I did not expect was the depth of thought Randy put into the essence of the project. His approach was thorough and the details of the brochure embody a real sense of the desert location and Noah Purifoy’s work there. As Purifoy’s recognition increases, especially through his 2015 Junk Dada retrospective at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the brochure Enigma designed complements Purifoy’s place in the art world.”
Susan Haller
Secretary, Noah Purifoy Foundation