Process Book: Unique Letterforms
________________________________________ Tracy Conoboy
The first step in this project was to create unique letterforms in order to examine the formal qualities of a letterform. In the next 7 pages are my sketches using different fonts to create interesting symbols. I used the letters V, Q, and J in fonts with appealing forms of them.
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V V V V V
V V V
VV
VV
V
V
V
V
V
V
VVV
V V V
V
V V
VV
VV
V
Q Q Q
QQ Q
Q
J
J
J JJ
JJ
J
J J
JJ
J
J
J
J J
J JJ
JJ
Q
QQ QQ
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q Q Q Q
Q Q Q
J
J J J
JJJ JJ J
JJ
J
J
After having done these sketches, I chose the three I found most interesting. I used one of each letter. These can be found in the next three pages.
Q Q Q Q
V
V V
V
J J J J
After having brought these three final pieces into class, students helped determine which symbols were the most interesting. My “V” symbol was one of them. We were then assigned to choose one of these “best” letterforms in the creating of a final 3-D model.
I decided to allow other students to use mine, and I joined a group with another student, Rachel, to work on the 3-D creation of her abstract “Z� symbol (below).
In the following 3 pages, I was sketching out how the letterform would look based on the idea Rachel and I came up with.
This proved a difficult task for me, so I decided to try out Google Sketchup. However, that was less successful because I could not figure out the program.
Finally, Rachel decided to make small mock-ups of our 3-D figure out of paper to get a better idea of our model.
We used the small mockup as a reference with creating a larger version of our symbol out of paper, tape, rods, and desert foam.
Because the paper and desert foam proved to be effective, we decided to create the final 3-D project out of Mat Board and desert foam, so it would be sturdier.
In the end, we had to improvise with the spaces between the parts of our letterforms. If I had more time, I would have fixed the letterforms in order to make the lines as parallel as they should have been.