The goal of this project was to create alphabetical posters using analogue methods. The first poster was to be made of found objects (in my case, free CDs), and the second was to be based off of a "system", requiring at least one rule as to how the letters were composed.
Process: For the first poster, I began brainstorming in writing the possibilities of objects that could be used. I had recently stumbled upon a box of free CDs, and thought that something cool could arise from the shiny, reflective backings of them. [Additionally, as music has always been significant to me, I wanted to add the additional element of attaching a song to each letter.] With a hammer and a towel, bits of CDs were smashed up and broken off to form fragments and structural elements of letters. Letters were arranged individually, photographed, and then finally digitally compiled together within Photoshop.
The second poster came to me fairly quickly. I knew that I wanted both of the posters to relate to me personally in some way, so when brainstorming things that I liked, enjoyed, or used often, the idea of stars interested me. The simplified star is a shape I use often in my clothing, art, and other aspects of my daily life, so I doodled a few stars and began trying to make letters out of them. Upon making the first five in pencil, I knew that was the idea that I wanted to continue with. Due to the system-based rule for this poster, I restrained myself to only making straight lines that followed lines within the 5-point star. 26 sheets of paper with stars on them were printed, then drawn over with a chiseled red Posca marker, both for an interesting contrast to the black, and because red was also significantly used the same way stars were for me. The sheets of paper were then individually photographed, and again composed together on Photoshop.
Reflection: This turned out to be a really fun project for me, and I honestly would not want to change it! Doing stuff with my bare hands head-on is a passion of mine, so I appreciate that the class this project was from wanted us strictly using our hands. If anything, I would love to turn these into some sort of display typefaces someday.
