Brief: "Design a set of letters, numbers and/or punctuation. Produce this by using circles, squares and/or triangles. Create a type specimen that demonstrates how your finished typeface works in context."
For my first project at Uni i had to create and design my own unique typeface. Most of the time spent was using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign to create the actual typeface as it had to be made up of three different shapes, circle, square and triangle. This put a lot of pressure on as i hadnt really used the adobe software much in this way.
I decided to create a maze typeface which would be mainly made up of half circles, 1/4 circles and rectangles of which would be made up of small maze squares and lines.
I came across this idea whilst experimenting with ribbon, thread, papers and fineliners. I wanted to create something different, eyecatching and colourful. I also love drawing in coloured fineliners to create patterns so i started to draw up some templates of the geometric shapes and start to 'carve' into them to create something new and interesting but also readable. I then started thinking about the centre of the letters, i didnt want them to just be shapes so i put the two together; patterns within shapes. This patterned then became a maze which is what made me decide the name.
After deciding that this was the pattern which was going to make up my alphabet, i started to mess about with colour, background colour and composition of the maze. I then had to two final drafts which i both really loved, one on a black background and the other on white. I eventually decieded for my final a1 poster i would print it with the white background as it was just a bit clearer.
Part 2 of the project was to take one letter of our alphabet and create it in 3D. Because i was inspired by ribbon and thread when creating my alphabet i thought it would be a great idea to incorporate one of these. I then started to think of how i can use this to recreate the maze shapes which lead me to the idea of foam board and needles. A lot of concentration had to go into it as i had to place the needles exactly in the rght place on the foam board so when i wrapped the thread around them a perfect maze shaped would be formed. The final outcome looked incredible and so colourful. It took a very long time and patience but was worth it. I decided to make one on a white background and one on black as i had liked both designs so much.
