Type as Image
Type as Image
Overview
We are starting with a mini experiment that will cover a lot of ground and get you warmed up for the semester. It will also be incredibly fun.
A series of experimental, rapidly created letterforms created by hand using paper, a cell phone camera, scanners, as well as found materials from your environment, resulting in a collaborative class book made using the RISO printer and bound with an elastic band.
Part 1: Paper Experiments
Print your letters from the PDF below. They are “bold Helvetica”
Manipulate these letterforms to create new images. Print out your own letters on pages and make more. Enjoy yourself, have fun, “lean in” to the process of manipulating the paper. Relax, listen to music, chat with a friend, get in the ZONE, etc.
1. Print your letters out, 5–10 of each letter depending on how you work
PDF of Alphabet is here
only print the pages you need, i.e. letter “M”
How do I print my letters out?
From the classroom computer
2. Go crazy experimenting with paper
Consider the following ways:
—cut
—tear
—slice
—fold
—crumple gently
—crumple intensely
—roll, wave
—place on scanner and move while scanning
—draw on it
—draw around it
—shade it in
—trace it onto a new sheet
Experiment with all of these materials/modes, at least once:
—graphite/pencil
—charcoal
—pen
—big fat marker
—ink and brush
—tearing
—folding
—cutting with X-Acto
—using the scanner
Resist overcomplicating your letterforms or compositions. You will have the opportunity to layer colors on the RISO. Focus on experimenting with familiar and unfamiliar ways of working and manipulating the letterform. If you are having a good time, you are doing it right.
Make ~10 of these
Part 2: Found Object Experiments
Create new letterforms from found materials. For example, you can make them out of tape, ground meat, dirt, other natural objects, your hands, shadows, your hair, candy, shaving cream, sticks, photograph or make a rubbing of a crack in the sidewalk that looks like an “Y”... ETC.
Make ~10 of these
Part 3: Create 11x17” compositions in InDesign
https://access.tufts.edu/adobe-creative-cloud
Photograph or scan your letters, both paper experiments and found objects. Bring them into the computer. Bump up the contrast as needed in Photoshop. Edit as much or as little as desired. Use repetition, scale, and rotation to make interesting compositions. One letter per composition (for example, the letter “M,” not the letters “M” and “P” in the same composition. We will layer them on top of each other on the RISO.
Tutorial on INDD in class.
Requirements:
—only work in black and white (includes graphite/pencil)
—create 20 new “letterforms” or compositions
—*avoid* large areas of smooth, rich black; the RISO printer works better with a little texture
If it is not listed here as a requirement, you can do it :+ )
Bring to next class:
—A PDF of your 20 compositions in Google Drive
—Print out your favorite compositions on 11x17 paper (before class)
You do not need to print them all out, but you can.