Typography I
Lisa Moline (inst.)
10.03.2005
Alphabetic Form/Counterform

Project Objectives:
Learn to identify essential characteristics of a letterform.  Consider the balance of positive and negative space in a composition through cropping and utilizing the edges of the composition.  Through drawing thumbnails sketches and rough designs become familiar with the design process as a means to generate and focus our ideas.  Finally, improve on our presentation skills.

Project Description:
This project asks us to pick a letter and use both its upper and lower case forms to create two separate compositions.  Before picking the letter for the final solution we needed to experiment with multiple letters in thumbnail sketches in order to choose the letter that will create the most successful composition.  The composition itself needed to be a single letter cropped to explore the relationships between positive and negative space while keeping the letterform recognizable.

Design Rationale:
I found the transitions between the three curved parts of the lowercase g to be the most visually interesting elements of any letter.  The differing radiuses and stroke widths flow seamlessly together.  The tension created by tilting and pushing the letterform to the edge emphasize this area while creating various curved negative shapes.  The uppercase G is an open and simple form so I focused on the most compact area.  Tilting the letter backwards gives the tip a precarious feeling, taking away some of the stability of the relatively simple geometric form.  Meanwhile, the orientation of the letter within the composition creates some unexpected shapes within the negative space.