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# Keep Fresh
- URL: https://blog.garypercival.com/keep-fresh/
- Published: 2026-01-18T16:00:12.000Z
- Updated: 2026-01-18T16:00:11.000Z
- Description: A poster built from bottle caps collected, sorted, and recomposed into type. Disposable objects. Reusable meaning. A reminder that freshness is something you maintain, not something you chase.
- Author: Gary Percival
- Tags: #behindtheposter

## Why this week’s poster

Freshness usually gets framed as novelty.

New ideas.  
New tools.  
New directions.

That version doesn’t last.

I wanted to look at freshness as upkeep.  
As discipline.  
As attention.

Bottle caps felt right.  
Objects designed to seal something in.  
To preserve.  
To stop things going flat.

**Keep Fresh** reads like packaging language.  
It also reads like advice.

Freshness isn’t accidental.  
It’s maintained.

## The build

- **Objects.** Standard crown bottle caps. Mixed colours. Mixed sources. All familiar.
- **Letters.** Built entirely from repetition. Caps stacked, rotated, and packed until the forms held.
- **Colour.** Dense. No breathing room. The pressure keeps the energy alive.
- **Lighting.** Clean top light for legibility •• soft fill to keep edges readable •• minimal shadow to avoid depth tricks.
- **Surface.** Gloss retained. Minor wear left in. These aren’t pristine objects.

## What worked

- The density sells freshness as effort, not ease.
- Familiar packaging language makes the message land fast.
- Colour variation keeps the surface alive without decoration.

It reads instantly.  
Then you notice how much work sits underneath.

## What I’d push next time

- A version with controlled colour bands rather than full mix.
- Slight height variation across caps for more micro-rhythm.
- A motion test where the letters collapse and get rebuilt.

## Print details

- Edition: open
- Sizes: A3

## Close

Freshness fades when you stop paying attention.

Not because time passes.  
Because maintenance stops.

This poster is a reminder to keep sealing the work.

Keep editing.  
Keep choosing.

![Two typographic poster variants made from overlapping bottle caps, one on a black background and one on white, showing colour and layout contrast](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/bc/92bc4aa6-fb0d-48c9-88cc-6bb1e109d23d/content/images/2026/01/Ghost_Post_Images.jpg)