This poster brings life to the short story by Jorge Luis Borges by examining the story's exclusivity of action (only one character acts at a time) and their uniting element: ink translated as language and represented by typography. The story is split into two fragments, which are then separated spatially. Only one fragment of the story is legible from any given viewing distance. Moving toward the poster, perception of the larger words dissolves as soon the smaller text comes into focus. This approach insists on a physical as well as cognitive relationship between the viewer and poster, as one must physically interact with the object in order to read the full story.

Exhaustive studies of color relationships and typographic sizing and spacing lead to this poster, which is best viewed in natural (blue cast) lighting conditions. An alternate color combination was developed for indoor (yellow cast) lighting.

The text:
The Monkey and the Inkpot
This animal is common in the northern regions and is about four or five inches long: it is endowed with an unusual instinct; the eyes are like carnelian stones, and its hair is jet black, sleek and flexible, as soft as a pillow. It is very fond of eating thick china ink and whenever people write, it sits with folded hands and crossed legs, waiting till the writing is finished, when it drinks up the remainder of the ink; which done, it squats down as before; and does not frisk about unnecessarily."

AD 511 - Advanced Graphic Design, Prof. Joerg Becker