Type 4: Question Exploration

So I've been doing some simple exploration into my chosen question from last class; How can the shapes of a modular typeface shift and interact with one another? Since then I've used simple cellophane, dry erase markers, and good ol' illustrator to help expand on my thoughts.

This first round is an exploration into layers, and how the shifting of layers containing half of a letter's modular shapes affect legibility when moved closer and farther to and from the human eye. I noticed that with perspective, the shapes needed to be far smaller when closer to the human eye to appear the same size as the ones in the farthest layer. It's interesting to see the difference in scale between the layers placed side by side. This idea has been played with already, but I would like to have the typically straight on reading angle become an angled view through parallel layers, or even angle layers in space. I like the idea of taking type out of the usual single plane reading experience. In some of them such as this 3 and S, I placed the layers at an angle to each other. The 3 is at a 45 degree angle to the farthest layer, and I had to slightly adjust the angle of the lines in the closer layer to fit the perspective. The closest sheet for the S was bent in a curve, so the shapes needed to be rounded slightly, so their flat edges appeared straight.

Pardon the poorly drawn shapes, dry erase marker isn't a very precise tool. The first is a B, the next is a lowercase e, the next is an S, and the final letter is a lowercase a.

Next, I focused on the idea of modular shapes and the grid. I am interested in the idea of a typeface generator, similar, but different than the popular rubix cube generator below. So my idea (just a possibility) is to use the tiles of a sliding puzzle, but rather than having the tiles form an image like they typically would, they would simply hold the modular shapes. The user can then slide the modular shapes around in relation to each other and create multiple letterforms. I would love to have this make prints as well.

So here, we see a lowercase g on the left, and an upper case E on the right. The color is just to show the letterforms, although they could be printed different colors or something.

Finally, I've been messing with the idea of taking a word, then using the same pieces for each letter, make a new word of the same length that's related. So for example, I've chosen test and quiz. The letter t in test is made with the same pieces making the letter q in quiz. It's interesting to overlap them in transparency to see the similarities and differences in modular form. In this shift between words, the user is forced to make certain design decisions to keep legibility. This is particularly because the user might not have the shapes or the number of certain shapes they would prefer, and have to use what they have. In typography, letterforms are noticeably different from one another, and often by overlapping them, we see their differences. By using the same moveable parts, we can really study the differences and similarities in the letterforms that make a word.























I'm also very interested in the idea of creating a very organic typeface that mimics hand drawn qualities, but still using modularity. I haven't tested this yet, but will update when I do. I'm not sure if I'll forsake the grid or stick to it. I think that creating organic form can be done by using a grid however, and I'm up to the challenge.