Average Joe

Average Joe is a zine and poster combination about U.S. Marine and Korean War veteran Joseph Ade. He served with B Company, First Marines, from 1951-1952. Design considerations of previous eras were combined with modern ideals, such as the use of a bold typewriter typeface, period imagery, and the creation of gritty, period inspired brush pen illustrations, along with the liberal use of texture. Many of Joe’s former personal items were used to create textures within the zine as well.

After listening to his interview, it became apparent to me how, in the past, people joined the military often because they knew they would get drafted anyway. This gave me the basis of “Average Joe”, as the vast majority of those average people who became service members joined simply because they had no other choice.