I had the idea of ‘pre cell phone pocket trumpeted’. Wasn’t sure exactly what that meant; played around with bugles, etc. But I thought the Lord of the Rings type horn worked. As far as the visual style, I was inspired by the book “Mid-Century Modern Graphic Design” by Theo Inglish, and particularly the works of Tom Eckersley and Harry Stevens. I tried to make a deliberately flat look.

At some point I learned about ligatures in typography, where adjacent letters change to avoid crowding (e.g. an “f” next to an “i” will often change so the dot of the i isn’t uncomfortably close to the right hand loop of the f). Coupled with extensive old Law & Order / crime shows and their use of ligature, plus the use of chalk outlines for dead bodies, led to this unfortunate mashup.

Drawing based on a painting by unknown artist that hangs in my childhood living room. For those who don’t know Christian prayers, this is a reference to Hail Mary - “Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb”. I tried to incorporate the Fruit of the Loom typography and some of the colors (the green of the tunic, the yellow and red of the halo).