Typography Mobile
Learning Type Classics from a Young Age
Learning Type Classics from a Young Age
I recently identified a corner of my living room that looked a little stark and bare. Seeing as how I love type design I thought it appropriate to showcase a few typefaces in a creative display. I set to work gathering materials, selecting fonts, and conceptualizing structure. Here is my process:
1. Make the wishlist (which letters, colors, etc.). This was a fun stage, because it allowed for unfettered creativity.
2. Make it practical. This stage consisted of figuring out what materials I'd use and how well they would work with the letters I'd chosen. I had to deviate away from some of my favorite letters here because of the difficulty of cutting/hanging them (e.g., Didot's hairlines would be too easily broken).
3. Draw up the plans. I drew a few sketches of the mobile from different angles to make sure that I could build it in such a way that kept letters balanced and spaced properly. I had to change my ideas about materials and letters a little here, but it was a great way to diagram what I'd need.
4. Get the materials. This took a little hunting at the hardware store, but I found 1" pine, dowels, fishing line, hooks, etc. without too much trouble.
5. Stencil & cut the letters. I borrowed a small band saw from a friend of a friend, and set to work cutting out the letters I'd stenciled onto the pine. This took some patience and attention to detail, but was not terribly difficult. I ran into a roadblock with Helvetica's lowercase "a", because of the closed counter. Because I was working on a band saw, drilling a hole and threading the saw was not an option. Instead I drilled multiple holes, chiseled out what I could, then filed & sanded the rest.
6. Paint the letters. This was pretty simple, but took patience for several coats. I picked my colors based on my perceived ideas of what the finished product would look like, and assigned them to their respective letters as I saw fit based on the typefaces' characteristics.
7. Attach the strings. This was tricky, and I even learned a new knot (fishing line doesn't hold simple knots well). I actually drilled into the letters and glued the ends of the fishing lines into the holes for a minimal look. It was a good challenge to find the balance points of all the letters so they'd hang straight. Hands down, the trickiest part of this process was the umlaut over the "ü". I ran lines all the way through the umlaut's dots, but then added one more line between them to make sure they stayed in line and properly spaced.
8. Hang the letters. I designed the mobile's frame so it would balance relatively level, which was a gamble since I hadn't weighed any of the letters. It doesn't hang perfectly straight, but I'm alright with a little character.
9. Ogle like a typesetter's child.
For those who may be wondering, here are the fonts I chose to use:
a - Helvetica
Z - Futura
m - Old English
s - Prestige Elite Std
ü - Indigo Antiqua
1. Make the wishlist (which letters, colors, etc.). This was a fun stage, because it allowed for unfettered creativity.
2. Make it practical. This stage consisted of figuring out what materials I'd use and how well they would work with the letters I'd chosen. I had to deviate away from some of my favorite letters here because of the difficulty of cutting/hanging them (e.g., Didot's hairlines would be too easily broken).
3. Draw up the plans. I drew a few sketches of the mobile from different angles to make sure that I could build it in such a way that kept letters balanced and spaced properly. I had to change my ideas about materials and letters a little here, but it was a great way to diagram what I'd need.
4. Get the materials. This took a little hunting at the hardware store, but I found 1" pine, dowels, fishing line, hooks, etc. without too much trouble.
5. Stencil & cut the letters. I borrowed a small band saw from a friend of a friend, and set to work cutting out the letters I'd stenciled onto the pine. This took some patience and attention to detail, but was not terribly difficult. I ran into a roadblock with Helvetica's lowercase "a", because of the closed counter. Because I was working on a band saw, drilling a hole and threading the saw was not an option. Instead I drilled multiple holes, chiseled out what I could, then filed & sanded the rest.
6. Paint the letters. This was pretty simple, but took patience for several coats. I picked my colors based on my perceived ideas of what the finished product would look like, and assigned them to their respective letters as I saw fit based on the typefaces' characteristics.
7. Attach the strings. This was tricky, and I even learned a new knot (fishing line doesn't hold simple knots well). I actually drilled into the letters and glued the ends of the fishing lines into the holes for a minimal look. It was a good challenge to find the balance points of all the letters so they'd hang straight. Hands down, the trickiest part of this process was the umlaut over the "ü". I ran lines all the way through the umlaut's dots, but then added one more line between them to make sure they stayed in line and properly spaced.
8. Hang the letters. I designed the mobile's frame so it would balance relatively level, which was a gamble since I hadn't weighed any of the letters. It doesn't hang perfectly straight, but I'm alright with a little character.
9. Ogle like a typesetter's child.
For those who may be wondering, here are the fonts I chose to use:
a - Helvetica
Z - Futura
m - Old English
s - Prestige Elite Std
ü - Indigo Antiqua
