1975 Wesleyana - CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image

In art, as in life, things are not always as they appear on the surface. Take the front cover of Illinois Wesleyan University's 1975 yearbook, for example. With its Helvetica title and graduated-line graphic, it looks like just another '70s yearbook cover.

Still, the graphic called to mind the Arecibo Observatory's computer-generated visual representation of radio waves pulsing from neutron star PSR B1919+21 -- a circa-1970 image that attained iconic status after its appropriation for an album cover at the end of the decade. This mental association compelled me to look closer. Could there be a pattern in the middle group of four lines, I mulled; was there substance in addition to style?

Then, out of the blue--or, more literally, the green and white, Wesleyan's school colors--the answer to my question popped out at me. Once I'd seen what was really there, I couldn't unsee it.

So simple, so obvious in hindsight: Led astray in my perception by a different image long ago imprinted on my memory, I'd overlooked a hidden (third) dimension. Concealed in those jagged lines are the university's initials. Credit for this optical illusion belongs to the late graphic designer John Mendenhall (1950-1999), R.I.P.

P.S. Because today is Pi Day (3/14), I should note that pictures of a pie eating contest can be found on page 16.

Written by Ellen K. Corrigan, Assistant Professor, Cataloging Services, Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University

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