Level: Junior

Faculty: Warren Lehrer and Robin Lynch

Duration of Project: Four Weeks

Project Brief

Each student is asked to research a subject of their choosing. Working with one to three primary texts, they develop four printed panels of any dimension that approach typography as metaphor. The first panel is composed of paragraphs, sentences, phrases. The second panel is individual words. The third panel contains syllables. The last panel has individual letters. Employing research and writing skills, critical thinking, mind-mapping, and experimentation, students give form to metaphoric connotations they discover within their text, through compositional arrangement, juxtaposition, and typographic manipulation. Placing particular emphasis on the research process and text analysis, students use a lateral approach, trying many possibilities before refining their four-panel solutions. While we embrace technology, we discourage the use of filters and other instantaneous computer bells and whistles, and encourage combining handwork with the computer, as well venturing into the physical worlds of the subject matter.

Project Goal

This project can help design students see type as image, bridge meaning with form, and go beyond utilitarian, overliteral, or preordained approaches to typography.