A poster designed to accompany an exhibition of the same name, presented by the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, 2025. Weltformat size, 128 × 90.5 cm (50.3 × 35.6 inches), ink jet. Design by Derwyn Goodall.

“The typeface choices for my Text Heavy poster were Figgins Sans and Goodchild Pro, both designed by Nick Shinn.

My initial concept for the exhibition poster was to make the poster surface literally “text heavy.” In most printed materials, acknowledgment text in English and French is typically typeset small and unobtrusively, often relegated to the bottom of the page. I chose to reverse that convention and transform the text into a dominant visual element.

To achieve this, I repeated the acknowledgment text in a range of colours using several styles from the Goodchild Pro family—Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic. Figgins Sans was used at a larger scale to prominently identify the exhibition title, Text Heavy.

I have always found that challenging conventions can lead to unexpected discoveries. The most successful design work, in my view, should surprise, engage, and delight its audience.”

> Derwyn Goodall RCA, contributing designer, Toronto ON, Canada