Digital Letterpress - Supporting contextual research & Visual research
Contextual Research
Exploring how moving image and film as a method of communication can repurpose letterpress, one of the original methods of mass communication. This idea shows it been repurposed into a digital app, making full use of cyberspace technologies that have enhanced communication. It would be good to make something interactive within the final format, letter press is a very hands on process's so emulating this through something hands on would work well.
Too add further context and meaning a body of quotes expanding on my COP investigations have been gathered.
An essay on typography – Eric Gill
Gill, E (2013). An essay on Typography. London: Penguin Group.
p23
Letters are signs for sounds. Signs for numbers and other things (like the sign for a dollar) may in practice be included, though they are not strictly letters (except as in Roman or Greek numerals & the letter signs use in Algebra)
Letters are not pictures or representations. They are more or less abstract forms.
Exploring how moving image and film as a method of communication can repurpose letterpress, one of the original methods of mass communication. This idea shows it been repurposed into a digital app, making full use of cyberspace technologies that have enhanced communication. It would be good to make something interactive within the final format, letter press is a very hands on process's so emulating this through something hands on would work well.
Too add further context and meaning a body of quotes expanding on my COP investigations have been gathered.
An essay on typography – Eric Gill
Gill, E (2013). An essay on Typography. London: Penguin Group.
p23
Letters are signs for sounds. Signs for numbers and other things (like the sign for a dollar) may in practice be included, though they are not strictly letters (except as in Roman or Greek numerals & the letter signs use in Algebra)
Letters are not pictures or representations. They are more or less abstract forms.
This is not to deny that tools and materials have had a very great influence on letterforms. But that influence has been secondary, and for the most part it has been exerted without the craftman’s conscious intention.
(Impact of new technologies even back then on the influence of type design)
M, McLuhan (1962). The Gutenberg Galaxy. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
p159.
Applied knowledge in the Renaissance had to take the form of translation of the auditory into visual terms, of the plastic into retinal form.
(Evidencing how the renaissance movment was a key stage of communication, compare this with how communication as changed in post modern graphic design/contemporary type/graphic design)
p241.
The new time sense of typographic man is cinematic and sequential and pictorial.
(Contrasting statement how typography has developed from outright legibility and mechanical communication to something more aesthetic and visual)
The new time sense of typographic man is cinematic and sequential and pictorial.
(Contrasting statement how typography has developed from outright legibility and mechanical communication to something more aesthetic and visual)
TwoPoints.Net
(2012). Pretty Ugly Visual Rebellion in Design. Berlin: Gestalten.
p3.Deviant. Against Established criteria of what good design is. Embracing what is disliked and considered incorrect. Mistakes become virtues, create authenticity and humanity.
p47.
Mundane. Converting ordinary into extra-ordinary, old into new. Elevating ugliness to a new kind of beauty by changing its function or message. The mundane attracts the attention of those who find perfection boring.
p79.
De-constructed. De-construction out cultural heritage: Breaking it down to its basic elements until it can be constructed as something new. Authorship as a process of deconstruction and construction.
De-constructed. De-construction out cultural heritage: Breaking it down to its basic elements until it can be constructed as something new. Authorship as a process of deconstruction and construction.
p103.
Impure. Unpredictable textures, intentional randomness and seemingly un-composed works. Simple structured compositions turn into complex surfaces allowing for more than a single perception.
p153.
Mishmash. Interlaced images establish new meanings and space. Multi-layered graphics reveal their process of creation, displaying a before and after. Within a single piece, several stories are visualized simultaneously.
p175.
Deformed. Distorting forms of well-known shapes with digital and analog tools. Tearing them apart until they become nearly illegible and lose there original function. Yet illegibility is not the goal, the deformation is often an escape from the unaltered, impersonal. It is an attempt to create an unique piece of work.
p203.
Neo-artisanal. Why distinguish between digital and analog tools? They become self-evident neither of them need to be proven right or wrong, better or worse. Digital and analog are interwoven and dominating both fields is a necessity for contemporary craft.
Impure. Unpredictable textures, intentional randomness and seemingly un-composed works. Simple structured compositions turn into complex surfaces allowing for more than a single perception.
p153.
Mishmash. Interlaced images establish new meanings and space. Multi-layered graphics reveal their process of creation, displaying a before and after. Within a single piece, several stories are visualized simultaneously.
p175.
Deformed. Distorting forms of well-known shapes with digital and analog tools. Tearing them apart until they become nearly illegible and lose there original function. Yet illegibility is not the goal, the deformation is often an escape from the unaltered, impersonal. It is an attempt to create an unique piece of work.
p203.
Neo-artisanal. Why distinguish between digital and analog tools? They become self-evident neither of them need to be proven right or wrong, better or worse. Digital and analog are interwoven and dominating both fields is a necessity for contemporary craft.
The internet has made out world larger and smaller at the same time, which also can be seen in terms of graphic design. Perhaps aesthetically, design has become much more eclectic, combining large ranges of styles, attitudes, techniques, and kinds of information.
Even though I’ve never been a fan of rules, I feel its quite important to know what they are before you decide to bend or break them.
(Importance of knowing traditional typographic principles based on focusing on communication of information, before changing the context of how typography is distributed)
Critical analysis of visual work
Deviant chapter.
Breaking typical hierarchy of information through a deconstructed and fairly unbalanced composition with clashing weights of typefaces, styles of typefaces and the contrasting use of uppercase and lowercase.
Clashing colors defy typical use of color theory while angled and diagonal type contrasting with vertical and horizontal type deconstruct and visualize motion within the design as another method of deconstructing typical rules.
Typography can communicate concepts through strong visual outputs, this identity for Love is Cocaine has abstract imagery and typography that work together in an interactive and engaging way.
The idea of magnetism and attracting denotes the longing, melancholic mood of the song. The warped imagery interacts with the deconstructed type with supporting iconography that communicates the idea of magnetism and attraction but also the arrows change the typical method of hierarchy and provide direction of reading.
The deconstructed glyphs allow versatile application of the concept across a range of collateral while still maintaining the abstract representation of attraction and the alternative hierarchy of information.
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Great example of how traditional print distribution methods have been repurposed to produce very contemporary designs, the range consisted of 24 hand printed A2 posters, 16 A0 posters, 30 different flyers, 20 A3 folding posters and a program booklet for the Festival of the Arts in Zurich.
Laser cut letterpress blocks where designed for the printing blocks, this use of digital software and contemporary production technology is a great way of using modern technologies but creating a traditionally produced output.
Deconstructed chapter.
Posters created for Grafik Kiosk are outputs produced from under-generated inputs into a digital program that runs through deconstructed traditional layout compositions and a complex rule system.
The concept was to create a digital graphic designer, to produce an outcome design decisions are not made, instead the user tells the program how they want the design to look.
This is an interesting approach to using typography to communicate messages without worrying about traditional principles and rules and having creative freedom and approaching the use of typography with an open mind.
The font itself was designed specially for the computer program; the concept of the font is based on the proportions of A4 paper and has 12 varying cuts. Each font has a light, regular and bold variation that share an abstract, rounded and wiggly version to add even more variety to the visual content generated outcomes.
The idea of using a digital program to undergo a repurposing of the traditional use of typography is a very interesting concept worth exploring, as there are a number of rules and guidelines a program needs to run by it loosely references the use of rules typical within traditional typographic principles.
(Importance of knowing traditional typographic principles based on focusing on communication of information, before changing the context of how typography is distributed)
Critical analysis of visual work
Breaking typical hierarchy of information through a deconstructed and fairly unbalanced composition with clashing weights of typefaces, styles of typefaces and the contrasting use of uppercase and lowercase.
Clashing colors defy typical use of color theory while angled and diagonal type contrasting with vertical and horizontal type deconstruct and visualize motion within the design as another method of deconstructing typical rules.
Typography can communicate concepts through strong visual outputs, this identity for Love is Cocaine has abstract imagery and typography that work together in an interactive and engaging way.
The idea of magnetism and attracting denotes the longing, melancholic mood of the song. The warped imagery interacts with the deconstructed type with supporting iconography that communicates the idea of magnetism and attraction but also the arrows change the typical method of hierarchy and provide direction of reading.
The deconstructed glyphs allow versatile application of the concept across a range of collateral while still maintaining the abstract representation of attraction and the alternative hierarchy of information.
Great example of how traditional print distribution methods have been repurposed to produce very contemporary designs, the range consisted of 24 hand printed A2 posters, 16 A0 posters, 30 different flyers, 20 A3 folding posters and a program booklet for the Festival of the Arts in Zurich.
Laser cut letterpress blocks where designed for the printing blocks, this use of digital software and contemporary production technology is a great way of using modern technologies but creating a traditionally produced output.
Deconstructed chapter.
Posters created for Grafik Kiosk are outputs produced from under-generated inputs into a digital program that runs through deconstructed traditional layout compositions and a complex rule system.
The concept was to create a digital graphic designer, to produce an outcome design decisions are not made, instead the user tells the program how they want the design to look.
This is an interesting approach to using typography to communicate messages without worrying about traditional principles and rules and having creative freedom and approaching the use of typography with an open mind.
The font itself was designed specially for the computer program; the concept of the font is based on the proportions of A4 paper and has 12 varying cuts. Each font has a light, regular and bold variation that share an abstract, rounded and wiggly version to add even more variety to the visual content generated outcomes.
The idea of using a digital program to undergo a repurposing of the traditional use of typography is a very interesting concept worth exploring, as there are a number of rules and guidelines a program needs to run by it loosely references the use of rules typical within traditional typographic principles.
Mishmash chapter.
The concept here was to use HTML as the main starting point to communicate a language that cant be understood by the general public, then translated into posters that communicate time, space and fiction. This interpretation of a coded language into a decrypted format relates well to my research into how typography was the visualization of spoken language into an organized system.
Deformed chapter.
Work from Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen playing around with how far he can push the use of common and traditional typefaces like Helvetica and Times to near illegibility to completely alter the context and typical uses of the typical rules of typography. He focuses on communicating a message through the aesthetic manipulation of traditional typefaces, this has lots of potential as a means of showing how type can break out of its traditional principles and communicate ideas and concepts in much stronger ways.
Neo-artisanal chapter.
These posters for SAVE merge analog and digital into an outcome that is produced using a traditional base point for the type choice but repurposed into a visual output that has contemporary aesthetics.
Traditional black letter font style repurposed into a more contemporary digital aesthetic positioned within the center aligned and 1 color restrictions of physical letterpress layouts but printed digitally with a contrasting clean cut traditional serif font to strengthen the ideas of analog and digital a little more.
Mcluhan, E & Zingrone, F (1995). Essential McLuhan. Ontario : House of Anansi Press.
p231.
The future of language as a complex structure which can be learned without learning the words at all, is a possibility that the computer presents increasingly.
The future of language as a complex structure which can be learned without learning the words at all, is a possibility that the computer presents increasingly.
p280.
Media reprocessing media.
It is not surprising that these new [electrical] forms have beaten the book into the pulps, just as the book destroyed the manuscript and the great culture linked to it. In 1831 the French poet Lamartine foresaw that the newspaper was the book and the poetry of the future.
(Development to eBooks from books)
p283.
Language and speech.
The great and abiding mass medium is not literature but speech. Language is at once the most vulgar of all media and the greatest work of art that ever can be devised by man.
(Language is in itself mass media for communication)
Alphabet
p284
The unique power [of the alphabet] is its power to separate sound, sight and meaning. The letters of our alphabet are semantically neutral… This divorce… has permeated and shaped all the perceptions of western literate man.
Print.
p286.
Mechanization of any process is achieved by fragmentation, beginning with the mechanization of writing by moveable type.
(Supports statement of typography had been the development of lettering and handcrafted scribing into a repeatable process.)
The Telegraph
p288.
The telegraph… is not the mechanization of writing but the electrification of writing.
Xerography.
p293.
But xerography is electricity invading the world of typography, and it means a total revolution in this old sphere, or this old technology, a revolution that is being felt in the classroom itself.
(A possible print process to explore the idea of distribution progression)
Computer
p295-296. A computer as a research and communication instrument could enhance information retrieval, obsolesce mass library organization.
Media reprocessing media.
It is not surprising that these new [electrical] forms have beaten the book into the pulps, just as the book destroyed the manuscript and the great culture linked to it. In 1831 the French poet Lamartine foresaw that the newspaper was the book and the poetry of the future.
(Development to eBooks from books)
p283.
Language and speech.
The great and abiding mass medium is not literature but speech. Language is at once the most vulgar of all media and the greatest work of art that ever can be devised by man.
(Language is in itself mass media for communication)
Alphabet
p284
The unique power [of the alphabet] is its power to separate sound, sight and meaning. The letters of our alphabet are semantically neutral… This divorce… has permeated and shaped all the perceptions of western literate man.
Print.
p286.
Mechanization of any process is achieved by fragmentation, beginning with the mechanization of writing by moveable type.
(Supports statement of typography had been the development of lettering and handcrafted scribing into a repeatable process.)
The Telegraph
p288.
The telegraph… is not the mechanization of writing but the electrification of writing.
Xerography.
p293.
But xerography is electricity invading the world of typography, and it means a total revolution in this old sphere, or this old technology, a revolution that is being felt in the classroom itself.
(A possible print process to explore the idea of distribution progression)
Computer
p295-296. A computer as a research and communication instrument could enhance information retrieval, obsolesce mass library organization.
Graphic Design Theory by Meredith Davis
Davis, M
(2012). Graphic Design in Context - Graphic Design Theory. London:
Thames & Hudson.
p196.
The graphic designer Neville
Brody, one of the founding members of London Fontworks, referred to
photographic technology in his font FF blur of 1992.
(Using technologies to
create typography, a rejection of traditional principles)
Visual Research
Tying in the contextual research and adding aesthetic influence, there are certain limitations within letterpress, mostly the use of angles, 90o angles are possible but anything other than that is an issue, this deconstructed letterpress design uses glyphs and ornate letterpress to give off a very digital vibe, some of the glyph and shape combinations reference digital aspects like Play and Pause buttons while the neon tones show how print can benefit the carrying of colour.
The structure that letterpress brings is something very robust yet organic, the actual printed outcome cant be predicted untill a proof is made, the use of negative space, grids and balance is totally unknown. A very organic process, something I would like to emulate in my process.
Tying in the contextual research and adding aesthetic influence, there are certain limitations within letterpress, mostly the use of angles, 90o angles are possible but anything other than that is an issue, this deconstructed letterpress design uses glyphs and ornate letterpress to give off a very digital vibe, some of the glyph and shape combinations reference digital aspects like Play and Pause buttons while the neon tones show how print can benefit the carrying of colour.
The structure that letterpress brings is something very robust yet organic, the actual printed outcome cant be predicted untill a proof is made, the use of negative space, grids and balance is totally unknown. A very organic process, something I would like to emulate in my process.
These examples make full use of cyberspace technology both in the production of the type and the final presentations, an excellent example of repurposing the traditional with the contemporary. The use of laser cutting allowed detail and tactile 3D feel too typography design something that was seen as a limitation with previous flat letterpress blocks. The use of digital printing further shows the transition between the old and the new while the capturing on backgrounds that match the coloured ink create an even stronger link.
The Alan Kitchin publication of A-Z of letterpress is a collection of all Kitchins type families he has collected over his life, this makes me think of investigations I made into the storage and distribution of physical typography and how it transitioned from something bulky and limited to space with huge type trays too the streaming and huge library of fonts. Its nice too see a collection placed in a very organic type specimen something that allows the appreciation of the physical print quality, repurposed in a mass distributed book using digital methods as a transition point from the Gutenberg too the digital printer.
These spreads have a very hands on DIY feel, something that needs to be emulated if I was to create digitally repurposed letterpress blocks the use of negative space works within the absolute limitations of letterpress and the production of the physical blocks.
The idea of a zine references DIY publications, a hint towards the insurgence of desktop publishing as a means of making traditional principles redundancy. So creating a type zine as a means of showing potentials and limitations of technology would reference this transition perfect. The DIY home made aesthetic is supported by the use of a scanned and works as an idea as an on going document rather than something fixed and perfect.
The yellow and black feel adds a contemporary feel too it when used in bright tones but something more organic and tactile when used in desaturated tones, showing quite an old feel to reference back too the introduction of Xerox printing, this kind of off white paper/news print shared this old and tactile aesthetic.
Horts process is often very hands on within the beginning of the design stage, this is often reflected in small imperfections and slight warped aesthetics that couldn't be achieved as effectively using digital technology, a hint towards the limitations of digital process's when it comes to creating some design works.
The typeface made for Nike certainly shares this feel, made up of a number of basic shapes creates a very tactile yet robust feel. This tactile feel is juxtaposed by the slight digital aesthetic the outcome has that relate too the pretty ugly discussions on neo-artisanal suggesting there is no need to distinguish between digital and analog tools, interweaving the 2 principles within 1 contemporary craft.
The warped and manipulated type has an inpure feel, adding a feeling of unpredictability too it, taking a simple structure into a complex and tactile outcome that can have more than one representation, the use of layering and multiple action shots of basketball further support this feeling of movement and unpredictability within the sport.
While this example references score sheets within the gridded outcome, this idea of the physical recording of information further supported by the photocopy aesthetic with the sense of movement within the type and layout adding context too the random movements and sudden change of Basketball sport.
De-constructed. De-construction out cultural heritage: Breaking it down to its basic elements until it can be constructed as something new. Authorship as a process of deconstruction and construction.
These examples work off ideas off deconstruction and could act as a rejection of typical hierarchy within type and layout principles, an idea of creating something new through the use of digital process's but outcome in a print outcome that reverts back too traditional distributions. The use of a black and white and colour variation could show the limitations and potential of various print methods.
The use of material when communicating a message is important as supported within Mcluhans theories of medium is the message it can be as simple as using a textured sugar paper stock too add context too the meaning sugar, while the use of white type and deconstructed glyphs emulates the grains.
Some more Hort prints that explore letterpress printing in a digital format, showing the limitations of the process within the angular alignment of type with the addition of a digital contrast through the type following a path and the printing of white ink. A very technological advancement within digital printing. I Like the idea of the poster zine repurposing the traditional poster into a publication, something worth exploring for showing multiple distribution methods in one outcome.
Anthony Burrill is one of the most synonymous letterpress artists, working within the process's limitations when it comes to structured layouts often going with simple centre or left justifications. Whats interesting is his project with ten dollar fonts, my investigation into type distribution lead from the bulky storing of physical typography too the ease of access of type through foundries like TDF, so for Burill to design a digital typeface that references traditional letterpress principles an interesting link can be established and worked upon.
While working within the traditional limitations he also uses technology to make his own letterpress blocks, using a laser cutter to create custom typefaces but the aesthetic still has a very robust and structured feel that connotes woodblock letterpress.
Print Isnt Dead - People of Print
The use of white ink has always been an issue for digital printing but it has been seen as one of the key advancements for the process, showing the limitations of a process is important but also showing the potentials, the alignment here references a simple typeset arrangement often seen in letterpress printing to contrast the old and the new.
The use of white ink has always been an issue for digital printing but it has been seen as one of the key advancements for the process, showing the limitations of a process is important but also showing the potentials, the alignment here references a simple typeset arrangement often seen in letterpress printing to contrast the old and the new.
As a way of showing the limitations of carved woodblock type digital type with curved edges and very smooth curves would create a clear visual link. That and creating type that has deconstructed elements and isn't one solid piece. This type specimen breaks and transforms into multiple visual representations to show a wide socio historical context.
Both letterpress and digital both allow the focus on key details within type design, pushing the two together into one outcome as a means of showing quality, accuracy and tactility could be influenced by these specimens by Building Paris.
The ornate ligatures and delicate and robust contrast of thick and thin strokes show the potentials of digital type design, but the serif pastiche has a certain traditional typographic principle too it with the use of UV inks adding a print finish that further adds a feeling of tactility for the delicacy and ornate aesthetic but also a digital finish.
The large point size helps appreciate these details, the fluid motion of the composition of the lines becomes a shape in itself rather than a glyph giving something thats purpose is usually communicative pure aesthetic beauty. Working on this idea would work well with supporting textual content working alongside in simple typeset copy that references desktop publishing within a zine format.
These examples use type layouts that show the true potential of digital technology but there boldness and flat use of colour could very well be created out of laser cut letterpress blocks. The use of colour is what supports the contemporary vibe, using neon tones, pastel tones and monochrome contrasts all with pin point accuracy within the simple but effective use of shape and type.
A lot of these works work flat in print format but for the further reach of there communicative purposes they are repurposed into animated GIFs to be distributed over the internet.
There needs to be an element within my outcome that explores pure technology and digital process's within typographic principles, this publication from Akatre resonates with this idea instantly within this asthetic. While the monochrome scheme shows ideas of old xerox printing and photocopying the extreme clarity and detail within the multiple elements all share an digital manipulation and production from the half tone dots, to the warped photographs of type on fabric too the scanned in paper and the liquified type too take the crispness of a sans serif face into something fluid and organic.
While investigating the traditional principles of typography its important to show its future potentials, my final outcome is physical to show the origins of type distribution but repurposing something so digital and contemporary in a print outcome would create the perfect link.
Playing around with 3D rendering, moving image, reflections, shadows, textures and tone to make something flat feel almost like fabric, technology can aid these tactile feels.
These works by Field X Monotype explore how audio can add context too typographic visuals, creating type that works in context with audio too how type can be responsive depending on its environment. Showing how art, design and technology can be brought together, a key focus within my outcome that will explore a number of visual explorations.
This idea makes me think about how I can present research within visual outcomes, how to turn dry context into something quite visual takes influence from Atlas studio, or the repurposing of the internet into a print document. Printing websites into publication pages, using screen shots and visual elements like the mouse, a search bar and other elements as a print interpretation of the internet.
The blacking out of areas representing ideas of censorship within some areas on the internet for example china censors a lot of its internet content.
These deconstructed pieces have a very digital feel and to me have a feeling of digital typesetting, sort of like a printed visualisation of a qwerty keyboards and computer screens. They also have a feel of old letraset sheets with the gaps been used letraset sheets. As a set they all work together working from a modular grid supported by lines to create a structured yet versatile set of prints, keeping some sort of visual system like this will be important if I want all my documents to feel as a set.
The strong use of glyphs like hyphens brackets and speech marks have a very communicative but digital vibe, almost feeling like a guide or description document.
These designs incorporate the pinnacle of technological aesthetics, through the use of gradients, photoshop presets, overlaying, shadows, opacity and screenshots of computer use creating a digital mashup.
The simple shapes here could be repurposed digital letterpress blocks, printed over a document that has a very digital print feel, the striped back shapes carry colour very well so would not only create a contrast of technology but also a strong contrast of tone.
The typesetting and image layout shows the potentials of digital layout, having a clear multiple modular grid that holds a large amount of small image and type in a structured layout, making the negative space not feel out of balance but feel part of the design and act as a shape that locks everything together. The headers positioned vertically and horizontally lock things in-together and reject typical hierarchy with the circles adding a certain focus on the idea of a folio number.
Lina Forsgren
This diverse brand identity works off ideas mentioned by Eric Gill suggesting letters are sights for sound, giving further context and meaning rather than a purple type communication, by adding pictorial elements that reference certain glyphs further visual meaning can be added. In this instance relating too hands, gems, eyes, 3D, computer windows to name a few to create a look and feel that can transition multiple abstract purposes.
These prints have a lot of visual impact and a strong message, if it comes to me making posters they often work solo so will need to carry these strong messages. The use of image supports this and will act as a transition point from type too imagery while adding context.
TwoPoints.Net (2012). Pretty Ugly Visual Rebellion in Design. Berlin: Gestalten.
p47.
Mundane. Converting ordinary into extra-ordinary, old into new. Elevating ugliness to a new kind of beauty by changing its function or message. The mundane attracts the attention of those who find perfection boring.
Davide Di Gennaro
Iconography is something that transitions from past investigations into emojis as a transition from hieroglyphics, repurposing iconography something very digital and concise in what it communicates within letterpress blocks designed and produced using cyberspace technology would be a good way of bringing these visual connotations back to there physical and traditional values.
These designs focus soley on the clean and structured presentation of the iconography, working of the geometric shapes and structured angles within a very neat modular grid, supported by the simple use of pastel tones and using reversed out or white ink on black to add a further feeling of detail too the icons.
Gill, E (2013). An essay on Typography. London: Penguin Group.
p241.
Working off Eric Gill quote talking about how typography becomes "Sequential and pictorial"
Ines Cox
Theres going to be a need for a format that holds my essay content, to act as a contextual reference, a guide so to speak of all the visual content and supporting publications and prints. So creating a book that resonated a transition of publishing will be required, exploring traditional binding techniques, type alignments, proofing etc within a contemporary outcome. The use of large point chapter plan creates a very clear link and would aid linking chapters with there visual reactions. When theres minimal content on the page this creates a nice balance and robust feel to a delicate document, something important when considering the robust Gutenberg too the delicacy of computers.
These deconstructed pieces have a very digital feel and to me have a feeling of digital typesetting, sort of like a printed visualisation of a qwerty keyboards and computer screens. They also have a feel of old letraset sheets with the gaps been used letraset sheets. As a set they all work together working from a modular grid supported by lines to create a structured yet versatile set of prints, keeping some sort of visual system like this will be important if I want all my documents to feel as a set.
The strong use of glyphs like hyphens brackets and speech marks have a very communicative but digital vibe, almost feeling like a guide or description document.
Ermenko
When creating the document I want each document to reference a different distribution method, from posters, to zines, too bound publications too digital publications to show a transition of information distribution as a reference too the journey within my COP. Each document needs to have a layout that works solo, but together it needs to work like this piece.
The use of deconstructed large sans glyphs locks both documents together.
Bureau Sandra Doeller
This poster could act as a visual reference too the complete visual print based type distribution journey within a contemporary aesthetic and output, but the use of a hand rendered smiley references the journey of cave drawn hieroglyphics to emojis, while the hand rendering too neat justified type set digital type shows the transition from hand rendered unstructured type into an organised distribution and organised system of letters.
Love Letters Project
Creating prints from digital prints and letterpress prints shows a literal transition, using existing letterpress blocks to show the limitations of these and more abstract use of image, colour, texture and layout within the digital print process to show these potentials.
The opportunities of using metallic and neon inks shows the potential of traditional print with a reference to technology within these innovative inks, creating an even more precise link between limitations and potentials of both print mediums.
These letterpress layouts show the layout limitations through the use of angles but use the space very well creating outcomes that have a nice gridded structure that reference the potentials of digital technology. Trying too be as accurate as possible with these traditional methods would create an engaging aesthetic that would have people guessing on the process used.
Meta Haven
My COP didn't just investigate type distribution, it investigated distribution of conversation through cyberspace technology. Meta Haven have a very technological methodology so this stamp that references traditional physical post has an aesthetic that repurposes it in a digital output. The idea of pastiche to traditional stamps is rejected through the use of drop shadows, vector shapes, irregular layouts and illegible type but the grainy aesthetic still maintains that tactile feel.
These designs incorporate the pinnacle of technological aesthetics, through the use of gradients, photoshop presets, overlaying, shadows, opacity and screenshots of computer use creating a digital mashup.
The typesetting and image layout shows the potentials of digital layout, having a clear multiple modular grid that holds a large amount of small image and type in a structured layout, making the negative space not feel out of balance but feel part of the design and act as a shape that locks everything together. The headers positioned vertically and horizontally lock things in-together and reject typical hierarchy with the circles adding a certain focus on the idea of a folio number.
This diverse brand identity works off ideas mentioned by Eric Gill suggesting letters are sights for sound, giving further context and meaning rather than a purple type communication, by adding pictorial elements that reference certain glyphs further visual meaning can be added. In this instance relating too hands, gems, eyes, 3D, computer windows to name a few to create a look and feel that can transition multiple abstract purposes.
Bureau Bruneau
The use of type and image could be repurposed through letterpress lasercuts, creating something that looks simple enough to be just digital print, but has the accuracy of a laser cut and the tactility of a letterpress print.
These prints have a lot of visual impact and a strong message, if it comes to me making posters they often work solo so will need to carry these strong messages. The use of image supports this and will act as a transition point from type too imagery while adding context.
A-Magazine
If making a publication I would like to explore traditional binding process's but add a contemporary vibe through the addition of abstract materials like bright inks, string to bind with and print finishes like this example that uses abstract photography, quite weird in fact, with clashing tones of neon inks and matching string to carry the whole weird aesthetic across the whole outcome.
Julián Villagra’s
Colour can add a very complex feel too simple use of iconography and typography, using large scale glyphs, repeated elements, type on paths and deconstructed glyphs within a range of deconstructed prints this gym identity shows diversity and originality. Something important in a gym brand as everything is the same, but the use of negative space within a print is something worh investigating.
The large amount of color applications in some of these designs could be repurposed into large relief prints, showing the limitations of how letterpress carries big bodies of colour and how digital print has accuracy in its application of such large bodies of color.
There are a number of type alignments that could inspire a number of prints that could reference elements of my essay, using ideas of repetition to show aspects like copyright and piracy, warped asthetic to show digital tools like scanning, angled alignment too show the hands on process of letraset typesetting.
Colour can add a very complex feel too simple use of iconography and typography, using large scale glyphs, repeated elements, type on paths and deconstructed glyphs within a range of deconstructed prints this gym identity shows diversity and originality. Something important in a gym brand as everything is the same, but the use of negative space within a print is something worh investigating.
The large amount of color applications in some of these designs could be repurposed into large relief prints, showing the limitations of how letterpress carries big bodies of colour and how digital print has accuracy in its application of such large bodies of color.
There are a number of type alignments that could inspire a number of prints that could reference elements of my essay, using ideas of repetition to show aspects like copyright and piracy, warped asthetic to show digital tools like scanning, angled alignment too show the hands on process of letraset typesetting.
La Tigre
These images make me think of a contrast between the old and the new, using connotations of roman culture as a reference too traditional serif carvings, contrasted with a clean cut and accurate serif with the addition of bright clashing tones and stone like textures too add a further contrast of the old and the new.
My investigations in COP suggested that serif points helped add movement between glyphs, these roman pillars have connotations of pillars and the movement within these layouts connote this same idea of moving from visual to visual. The contrasting tones, textures and size further keep the eye moving about while the highlighted areas of text add a digital type element too this idea.
Cecillia S
Letterpress is a very hands on organic process, so why not create a literal emulation of the tactile hands on process by creating icons and icons that represent DIY and hands on techniques.
These prints by Cecillia S have a tactile feel supported by the use of waved lines and use of pattern to create a sense of movement to add context too the hand icons. So simple but very well executed with the neutral and bright tones creating a nice contrast that draws attention into the detail of the print.
L2M3
Some of my past investigations explore how some typefaces where created using exposure units and photographic process's. Working on the idea of the old into the new, expanding on ideas of the Mundane investigated within the Pretty Ugly text, adding function or message too typography, rather than it just been a purely communicative tool.
p47.
Mundane. Converting ordinary into extra-ordinary, old into new. Elevating ugliness to a new kind of beauty by changing its function or message. The mundane attracts the attention of those who find perfection boring.
Iconography is something that transitions from past investigations into emojis as a transition from hieroglyphics, repurposing iconography something very digital and concise in what it communicates within letterpress blocks designed and produced using cyberspace technology would be a good way of bringing these visual connotations back to there physical and traditional values.
These designs focus soley on the clean and structured presentation of the iconography, working of the geometric shapes and structured angles within a very neat modular grid, supported by the simple use of pastel tones and using reversed out or white ink on black to add a further feeling of detail too the icons.
Gill, E (2013). An essay on Typography. London: Penguin Group.
p241.
Working off Eric Gill quote talking about how typography becomes "Sequential and pictorial"
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