Erodera

ABCD EFGHJ KLMNO PQRSTU VWXYZ E ro d er a ( 2014) A typef ac e by M a rti n M o g i ls k i & T h o m as C h an e y

erode e·rode (ɪˈrəʊd) verb 1. To wear (something) away by or as if by abrasion 2. To make or form by wearing away

This document contains a concoction of visual stimulants and blocks of text to form a creative mosaic explaining the certain processes behind creating this typeface. The theme that fueled this creative process was change.

Erodera is a typeface based on the visual effects of erosion and decay which is quite literally used to show the environmental effects of change.

The thick, bold, edged ‘avant garde gothic’ font is used as an inspiration to symbolise the newly born perfection of modern structures that were once marvelled at or cherished; who’s legs and base start to break apart and erode away as the years and ages pass. this process of degradation of a once faultless and loved structure is used to symbolise the fact that all things, no matter how perfect at the time, come to an end.

Inspiration

To investigate the notion of change, we explored a local abandoned house in Brisbane. The idea was that as we were ducking under broken trusses and stepping on rotten floorboards we would stumble upon some rich, visual inspiration.

We investigated an old stone house and the exterior was moulded and crumbling away. What impacted us greatly on first sight was the fact that such a large, intense solid mass of brick and concrete could not survive the affects of the seamingly harmless air that we breathe, and the plant material that surround us daily. Immediately, we realised that something that was once so architecturally perfect was someone’s home, and the memories that were part of this home are the only thing that was timeless.

As soon as this bond of homeowner and building was removed, the building begind to die, becoming consumed by the earth.

Development of Erodera

To appropriately depict a ‘modern’ structure, we searched through libaries of current industry standard fonts. A thick, black, bold neatand intense font was used to symbolise the perfection of these modern structures. We then thought of the best way to display change, in accordance to our conept of ‘all good things come to an end’ and the aesthetic boundries of erosion.

We quickly decided it is best to show this modern day font, this perfectly sculpted, large, bold object and its mathematical edges shattering and breaking apart and falling. shard by shard, piece by piece, stone by stone.

As erosion is never structured or symetrical, each letter was painstakingly drawn and detailed by hand in order to make every letter unique. The result was a font that was once valued as pure, beautiful and was widely accessible and usable in this modern society, has become a font that no longer fits this context, rather, one that is deformed, eroding away and ironically, useless.

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Poster We drew an interesting comparison between our experience with the abandoned house and ancient artifacts. As we both are quite interested in greek mythology and Roman architecture we decided to use this as an aesthetic focal point and symbol for change.. Structures and relics from ancient times are obviously a perfect way to depict change through erosion and degradation.. These objects are thousands of years old and interestingly enough, some of these objects are glorified in modern day times. They are dated, old objects that no longer are classed as modern, technologically advanced structures. arguably we defined these objects as no longer good examples of modern day infrastructure;their only purpose is historical rememberance and to maintain cultural identity. The fact is, however, that one day these sights will become just a pile of rocks. Obviously if we focus on an aesthetic that has its own sort of commonly known style, people will be able to interpret our concept with greater ease, which is an important part of graphic design. We chose to use the statue greek bust as the basis of our logo for Erodera.

ERODERA A T Y P E FA C E B Y M A R T I N M O G I L S K I & T H O M A S C H A N E Y

Sculptures and statues of figures from ancient times were carved because of their greatness or power. Once they die, It is the statues intention to allow the memory of the figure to live on through history.. however, as time and gravity erodes away at the statue it will eventually come crubling down and the figure the statue was carved after will no longer be physically memorable.

When looking at statues that are meant to display power and importance and seeing the rock moulded and crumbling away, it becomes ironic. This irony really does show that all things, great and powerful, do come to an end. We decided to show this process of erosion and degradation within the poster. We constructed the greek bust from letters from our typeface and dettached them from the top of his head, as if the object was made of sand and the letters or grains of sand flew away with time and wind. We wanted to create this sense of change with minimal clutter. The intention of the poster was to showcase the typeface and the concept behind the typeface, using a clear black and white aesthetic, similar to that of the greek sculptures from which we drew inspiration.

Animation To further accentuate the erosion element of our typeface; the typeface was converted into a 3d object and converted into an editable mesh.

We wanted to actually show the text eroding, so a particle modifier was added and a turbulence system was added to the environment. the particle system was added to the bottom half of the body and gravity was added so the particles would appear to fall and be blown with the wind. we used wind as a symbol for time. Once the faces of the text broke away and drifted away, the final erodera font remained. so the original typeface progresses, through erosion and time, to Erodera. We believe this completely encapsulates exactly what we’re trying to show.

abcde fghijkl mnopq rstuvw xyz E ro d er a ( 2014) A typef ac e by M a rti n M o g i ls k i & T h o m as C h an e y