For this project I explored ornamentation and embellishment in design and used monthly packets of critical design writing I was creating as a space for this exploration to unfold. My initial concept was to slowly add decorative elements to the page until the ornament obscured the readability of the text – rendering both content and form meaningless and arbitrary. After an initial experiment with this concept, I decided to continue adding each month's writing and ornament directly on top of the previous month's, giving a nod to the accretive nature of education and personal creative practice. I typically created ornaments that used the previous month's design elements as a starting point, further experimenting with transformation of form and content.

The following spreads from the first month show the initial experiment: creating a layout that moves from a relatively simple and open format to one that's saturated with ornamentation. For the ornaments I used every dingbat font I had on my computer along with a set of modular icons that I built for the project.

As I began working on layouts for the second month of this project I wanted to introduce an additional color that would help create differentiation between month one and two. In addition I decided to vary the typography from month to month so that, even though one month's text was layered on top of the previous month's text, you'd still be able to tell which text belonged with which body of writing. I began working with the Illustrator plug-in Kimbo to transform the modular icons made for the first month into new designs.

For the third month of this project I continued building upon graphic elements that I'd used in the previous months by finding ways to transform them. I started adding hand drawn elements and an additional color to create a layer of separation from this layout and the other two layouts it was sitting on top of.

Nevertheless I continued for a fourth and final month, once again layering new content on top of old. While I considered adding a new color this time, I rather enjoyed the palette I'd created and decided to keep it as is, however I did once again make a change to the typeface I was using to lay everything out to try to keep some sense of order in what was, at this point, an incredibly chaotic book.