#modular type

[fall-from-typeface]

Berlin Map Modular

Extended my initial sketches to a full alphabet from the Berlin street map using my printed grid postcards. Photographed the letters and turned it into a mini stop frame animation using photoshop.

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Visual Shareware #15 “Figures”.   This chapbook contains typographics drawn with modular type stencils on old Gestetner wax stencils.

pdf-preview 

Mimeo printed, hand-bound edition of 48 copies, 24 pages, A5 size.


available here

[shapethings]

[fall-from-typeface]

Evolving The Letter O

Attempting to create a letter O to match my earlier letter H. The first one I felt was too square and I'm not sure how a letter D in this imagined typeface would look any different. The second one feels that the cap-height is too short, but perhaps this could work as a number 0.

I think combining the two in the third design works best

[fall-from-typeface]

Will travel for grids

When looking for inspiration for Modular Type I started to think about different grids, initially I started with Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockemann; using some of the example grids to create individual letters.

Whilst this could work I felt that the results would not be particularly exciting so I considered where else I could look for inspiration in grid form. That took me down the road of town planning and street layouts. My first thought was the grid street pattern of Glasgow but I felt that the grid here was too ‘clean’. I then considered Modernist Architecture and looked at some of Le Corbusier’s urban master planning grids, specifically his plans for the (unbuilt) Ville Radieuse.

(Merin, 2013)

This could work but again was in it’s very purpose of design linear and ordered, I was looking for something with just a bit of personality. I then thought of the Eixample district of Barcelona, built on a grid with Avinguda Diagonal running across it, this was more what I had in mind. Looking at aerial photographs of of the city I could see this working. I also came across Plaza Del Ejecutivo in Mexico City where the streets are arranged in a radial octagonal shape, a different grid but it could potentially work too! Taking aerial photographs of each area into Adobe Illustrator I then tried sketching a few letters over each ‘grid’

I’m liking how some of the letters have turned out and think this could be a direction worth pursuing.

Cadiz

Berlin

References

Kohlstedt, K. (2018). Ville Radieuse: Le Corbusier’s Functionalist Plan for a Utopian “Radiant City” - 99% Invisible. [online] 99% Invisible. Available at: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/ville-radieuse-le-corbusiers-functionalist-plan-utopian-radiant-city/.

Merin, G. (2013). AD Classics: Ville Radieuse / Le Corbusier. [online] ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/411878/ad-classics-ville-radieuse-le-corbusier.

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[fall-from-typeface]

Simple, Vibrant and Playful Modular Type

Images from Madeira Islands Brandbook

Launched yesterday, I think the new branding for the Portuguese island of Madeira is a superb example of modular type by Bar Ogilvy and Bloom Consulting. Seemingly simple in its circular form I love how the use of strong, bold colours are used in an overlapping nature

"This is our face.

Simple, vibrant and playful, our logo is one of the most important assets of our statement as a brand representing a genuine, hospitable, joyful and diverse destination that welcomes with open arms all those who visit us.

Composed of a deconstructed circle- a symbol associated with the idea of union, group and family that so accurately reflects the Madeiran spirit - our logo takes on various chromatic behaviours with 11 colours representing the 11 counties of the archipelago that enhance its use and the idea of multiplicity of experiences"

(madeirabelongstoall.com, 2021)

Images from Madeira Islands Brandbook

References

madeirabelongstoall.com. (n.d.). Madeira Belongs to All. [online] Available at: https://madeirabelongstoall.com/ [Accessed 13 Apr. 2021].

[fall-from-typeface]

Building a Type

For the modular type brief I really liked the idea of having modular building blocks to play with to create a typeface. In my Introduction to Modular Type post I referenced the design of Carmen Reina called Frieze Mecano. I was particularly struck by her description that it wasn’t a font but simply a set of construction blocks and that there were endless combinations of shapes.

I took the construction set shapes of Frieze Mecano and printed them out on card in sets of various colours to mimic children's building blocks. After watching the Netflix Abstract episode featuring Jonathan Hoefler and learning that designing the H and the O is the basis to all other letters I started playing with the blocks to create H’s and O’s.

Continuing the theme of playing, after watching a few YouTube tutorial videos I had a go at creating my first (very short and wobbly!) stop motion animation using one of the arrangements above. 

For the result, see following blog post

References

Reina, C. (2016). Behance. [online] www.behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/43455465/Frieze-Mecano [Accessed 9 Sep. 2020].

Abstract: The Art of Design Jonathan Hoefler: Typeface Design (2019). Directed by Brian Oakes, Godfrey Dadich Partners. (Viewed 15th September 2020). Available from Netflix.com

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Visual Shareware #11 “Is there a plan?”

This chapbook is a modified duplicate of my original letterpress printed artist book „Is there a plan behind the plan?“.

Handbound mimeo printed edition of 40 copies, 15 pages, A5 size.

PDF preview

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