Challenge: Create an outdoor typographic piece that will make the public smile.

Project Materials: Flagging tape from the local hardware store (available in several colors), scissors, and a camera for documentation purposes and process shots.

Time: Three hours (depending on how long your message is).

Step 1: Gather a bunch of friends (type enthusiasts are ideal). Come up with a phrase to publicize. Song lyrics are a great place to start.

Step 2: Plan your design. Begin by creating a grid in Illustrator that mimics a fence. Layer your type on the grid. Select a typeface that lends itself to the diamond shape grid. Vary upper and lowercase, placement, and lockup of your letters. Emphasize words using color, size and style.

Step 3: Execute your design. Using flagging tape, stitch your letters into the fence, following your guide. Select a color that will read well against the landscape. Be sure to count the squares as you stitch so that your kerning and tracking looks good. The stitch is a simple loop, continued from square to square. When you reach the end of a piece of tape, tie it and tuck into the loop.

Final design on a slanted grid.

Close-up of the simple loop stitch, using flagging tape.

Completed piece, Tompkins Square Park, New York City. Based off of the typeface Fraktur.

'I believe in you,' based on a san serif typeface.

Try using other materials to implement fence type. Here, Derek Munn executes type using styrofoam cups on a baseball field fence.

Special thanks to Steven Smith and Irina Lee for their cross stitching assistance.

Lara McCormick is the author of Playing with Type: 50 Graphic Experiments for Exploring the Creative Impact of Typographic Design Principles, due out in March 2013.