CC2, Project One: Letterforms in Your Environment

It's essential for graphic artists/designers to do 'field research' - to observe and examine the real world around them rather than relying on the internet as their primary research and inspiration tool. We'll be doing several assignments this semester that will require you to do 'field research' as the first stage of creating and executing a design.


Letterforms are all around us if we just take the time to look closely AND creatively at our world.

WEEK ONE:

Here's one example of an environmental letterform alphabet. And here's another.


During Week One of CC2, take the three hours of our class time to examine everything around you, large and small. Look at furniture, room details like door and window trim, kitchen utensils, tools, bikes, cars, buildings and fences. Go to the hardware store and look at all the items there. Look at the trees and other plants in our landscape. Look at shadows.

Every time you spot what looks like a letterform somewhere in our environment, take a photo of it. Save it in black & white mode if possible.

Once you've managed to photograph the entire alphabet, organize the photos into a grid similar to the examples at the link above. Save the 26-letter assembly as a jpeg and upload it to the Week One sketchbook dropbox.


WEEK TWO:

Print out the page and bring it with you to class in Week Two. We will post everyone's field research on the board and look at them together.
NOTE: there is a 20% penalty for not bringing in the printed-out field research so DON'T FORGET!

Over the next three weeks we will be working toward creating a full-size, hand-drawn letterform alphabet poster. Here are a couple of great examples of previous student work:

In class during Week Two you will begin conceptualizing the design of your poster by researching and thumbnailing. We will begin experimenting with tonal shading techniques so be sure to bring pencils - including the flat pencil from your art kit - erasers, pencil sharpeners, a sharp knife and your grey markers from the art kit.

Once your thumbnail designs and pencil/marker comp are completed in your sketchbook, upload them to the Week Two sketchbook dropbox. At the end of our Week Two class I will be handing out large sheets of plain white paper on which you will execute the final version of your Letterforms in Our Environment Alphabet poster design.

WEEKS THREE & FOUR

We will devote our class time during Weeks Three and Four to completing the full size poster. The finished artwork is due by the end of class in Week Four.