Analogue Communiqué

Grid Provided

In this production session we were tasked with the mini-brief of creating an original and creative typeface. However this was to be set within a constricted measurement and set at a character count. The measurement was in the form of 4x4 gridded boxes upon an A4 sheet of paper, therefore dictating a character limit of up to 16.  We were asked to come up with a tagline to describe ourselves and/or our practise, of which I came up with two and decided to use the latter.


My first idea for a tagline was “I am anxious” as I suffer with anxiety and it is a subject which is becoming more recognised and open to discuss. However I felt using this as a tagline to describe myself was too negative and one-dimensional and therefore I decided against this slogan. I came up with the alternative tagline of “I am curious”.

Initial Sketches

I felt this was most fitting as I love to learn about new advances in technology and design as well as being generally curious. Curiosity is also a trait that is encouraged within the design world due to the questioning of things; this then leads onto new viewpoints and understandings, which can be used within design projects.

This image belongs to Anthony James -
Sourced from Pinterest/Behance

This Image belongs to Eren Saracevic -
Sourced from Pinterest/typeverything.com

I began by starting my sketches and then looked online at images “pinned” under typography on Pinterest for inspiration. I particularly was fond of the use of negative space within typographic posters and typefaces(as seen above). It was this idea I took forward into my designs and further developed. As you can see from the below images my designs were abstract in form and in some cases particularly, such as the "U", they were very difficult to distinguish in terms of legibility. In the context of the task, they worked in terms of creativity and taking a playful approach to type. However I was concerned at the lack of legibility within the typeface and therefore took it upon myself to play with creating a more uniform design, though this session is primarily focused on purely experimenting with type. With this in mind I continued to try different ideas out upon my tagline and then combined these to create the latter one shown.

First draft

Further experimentation
using the forms

Development and comparison

Combination of elements

I noticed when looking at my second sheet that the "O" resembled that of a warning sign or a fan's blades. I decided to use this influence within my experimental sketch, shown to the bottom left.

How did I find the workshop?

I found this session to be fun and engaging and I enjoyed experimenting with the form possibilities of type.