Intro

The primary elements of design--text and image--are usually assigned strict and separate roles.  In addition to the content of the words, meaning in text can come from the typography: the fonts chosen and the arrangement of the letterforms.  Imagery usually is illustrative of the text and is primarily photographic.  Illustration (drawing, painting, collage) is frequently realistic or representative

Since the introduction of the computer as the means to realize test, letterforms have (arguably) been regarded and handled more abstractly as imagery.  Designers engage in form making to create meaning, usually stylizing provided text and commissioning (or acquiring by various other means) imagery.  They may also extend this role to be image makers, fusing the roles of text and image.

Assignment 

Make an abstract composition with vinyl lettering, as is commonly used for sign making.  This project should not look like a sign and it should not be readable.  You will begin with recognizable letters but you must distort the characters to eliminate their recognition as letterforms? 

Specs

• Size 11" x 17" horizontal or vertical orientation.
• Color:  Black vinyl lettering on white background.

Process

• Create an abstract composition derived from letterforms buy which should little or no remnant of their origin.
• Make your composition as unexpected and engaging as possible.
• Design the entire page.
• Consider the potential of letterforms that are unavailable in computer-generated and printed characters.

Make maximum use of the specific characteristics of vinyl letters: flexibility, dimensionality, directness and the negative space of the sheet.  Push these to the limits: bend, twist, layer, rip and cut.

SCHEDULE

TBA