Type As Image

An exploration in typography and risograph printing.

Vibrant, playful, psychedelic: these cards are a formal exploration of shape and color through the manipulation of various letterforms. These prints are made to live as a tiled set, leading to constant visual interest and excitement as each of the different forms interact with each other in variable ways.

This project is an exploration of how abstract shapes can be created through the deconstruction and repurposing of letterforms. Throughout my process, I used various typefaces to create these psychedelic forms, but found myself gravitating towards the typeface Beastly and eventually ended up using solely that typeface.

Work created for a graphic design course at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. 

Exhibited at the Graphic Arts Annual at the SMFA. 

Graphic Design
    ↪ Print

Process &
inspiration

I was heavily inspired by psychedelic rock posters of the 1960s and the way they pushed the boundaries of typography and legibilty, using letterforms for their shapes and aesthetic value rather than merely to communicate information. I was also drawn to the bright, clashing color palettes of the posters and wanted to incorporate that into my design as well. This is where I had the idea of printing my cards on the risograph.

Printing on the risograph allowed me to highlight the intricacy of the forms in a way that wouldn’t have been possible if I had printed them in another way. Due to the nature of the ink and the way the colors overlap you can clearly see not only the individual shapes of the forms but also the moments where they are layered and interact with each other. This creates visual interest and gives the shapes a dynamic feeling that otherwise wouldn’t exist.