Creative Proposal

“An experimental exploration into tangible, interactive typography”

What makes a letterform, and subsequently an alphabet? This question is the main stimulus for my exploration into typography through this project. I propose to explore the way a typeface can be abstracted from a digital form and translated into a tangible form split into parts. The idea behind this being to manufacture the means of creating any number of new alphabets through a set series of shapes. 

Due to the tactile nature of this project my 3000 words will be used primarily as a record and critique of the exploration, and problems faced in achieving this goal.

The first part of this project will be to explore the way a shape/a group of shapes form a relationship with an individual character, and subsequently a whole typeface/alphabet digitally. I plan to abstract the minimum amount of shapes possible to re-create an alphabet by deconstructing an existing typeface. These subtracted parts will then form the basis of my exploration into how letterforms can be read through parts and how different people may interpret these parts to create their own letterforms.

Can shapes have the same relationship to letterforms as letterforms have to words? If so, could this group of shapes have the ability to create several different alphabets which can be read as a word can. This, if possible, will form the second part of this project. The digital shapes which I develop will be manufactured into tangible parts which can then be remixed to create several different alphabets through interactivity with them.

During this process I plan to explore deconstruction, location and reconstruction, understanding how these factors effect an alphabet. The main dialogue will concern:

- form: how shapes can become an ‘alphabet’ to write letterforms.

-shape: can letterforms be read without the need of a definite, recognised shape?

- location: the movement of type back and forth between the digital and physical realms.

- interactivity: can these parts/shapes become a means of writing several distinct and unique alphabets?

Whilst the exact direction of this project is fairly vague, primarily due to the uncertain nature of the results i will find, the project is focused on one definite intention: achieving a tangible, interactive group of sub-letterforms which can be used to write several diverse alphabets unique to each interaction.