the language of two letters

8/13/2019 The Language of Two Letters

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T H E L A N G U A G E

O F T W O

L E T T E R S

As understood by Vi.


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O F T W O

L E T T E R SAs unders tood by Vi .

To Ma, Dad and P,Thanks for trying so hard tounderstand all the design workI do. Your attempts make megiggle, but thats exactly what Ineed sometimes. Gracias!


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O F T W O

L E T T E R SAs unders tood by Vi .

A publication of the School of Visual & Performing Arts.

ALL CONTENT IS IS COPYRIGHT IN THE NAME OF VISHAKHACHETAN, NOVEMBER, 2013.

Written and Designed by Vi Chetan.

Visual Communications DesignDepartment of Art & Design

School of Visual & Performing Arts

Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, Indiana


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Yes, I know. The idea of letters having their own language isa little out there.. I bet youre thinking - Dont we use lettersto write!? How can they have their own language!

Well, yes, its true that letters are what we use to visuallyrepresent language. But trust me, they do have theirown language. Through this project, I started to look at,appreciate and understand this language. The way a linecurves and bends, slowly, beautifully coming together as theletterform we recognize instantly, is nothing short of beingits own language. Dont you think so? This is also where Ifound the title of my book. The cover is representational ofthe process as well - hand sketches that were fine tuned onthe computer.

Through this book, I have tried to present my process oflearning and how I have understood this very subtle languageby dividing the sections into levels. As any language,the language of letters has its syntax and grammar rulestoo - both letters are to maintain their integrity, legibility andrecognizability eventually being combined to make a unifiedform. Each of these two letters can only come from the tenassigned typefaces, discussed in Level 3.

Now, my lovely readers, flip the page over, keep an openmind. I hope you learn this language as I have through thedifferent levels in the coming pages.


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Level 2 of The Language of Letters brought a deeperlook into the two letters. Having to physically draw the twoassigned letters 104 times (yes, all 104 sketches are in the

upcoming section) to create the near-perfect amalgamation,made me more aware of the curves, the thicks and thins, thejoints, and all of the other things I never paid attention to.

You might think that this entire process is exhaustive andI thought it to be aimless at times. But then, the digitalsketches rolled around, and I found ability to visualize eachof the two letters in the ten assigned typefaces had beeninstilled in me. Thats what hand drawings do - they force

you to look and observe, before making that mark with apencil and finally refining it.

In the upcoming sketches, it is easy to see a lot of variationin the line thicknesses, size, case (lower or upper) and noparticular use of a typeface because for now, all I neededto learn was the letters shapes. As the sketches develop,

you will notice that I start sticking to mostly sans-serif faces,because I find them aesthetically attractive. And at thispoint, I was very hopeful that my final design will use asans-serif. Does it? Keep reading!


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Through this first stage of handdrawn sketches, the tools usedwere pencils, markers andballpoint pens. I experimentedwith each individually or acombination of these.


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I started learning that a markeris great for visibly dark shapes,ballpoints for fine lines, andpencils for still finer lines.


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I stumbled on to the idea offilling up the U, but soonabandoned it because it gotvery close to looking like ashape or a shield.


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By this point, I started realizinghow geometric both the letterswere. It was a bitter-sweetmoment as it hit me that I wontbe able to twist and turn andcrop them much without losingtheir form.


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The sketches in thissection arent in an exactchronological order, buttheyre close. Nevertheless,with so much experimentation,I had a clearer picture ofwhich directions to take, andwhich to forget.


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Through the weeks of hand sketches, I was very eager toget on the computer to sketch. I really wanted to skip thehand sketches, always thinking that the computer sketches

would be a breeze. But nope, that wasnt the case atall. After spending so much time with paper and pens,switching over to the computer was a little..frustrating.Surprising, eh? All my excitement was very short lived as Ihad to get readjusted to the computer not being as preciseas I was with markers and pencils. But once readjusted, theexcitement returned. Now it was time to dwell into what theten typefaces did to u and t.

The ten typefaces are:Baskerville, Bodoni, Caslon, Garamond, Times New Roman,

Gill Sans, Futura, Helvetica, Optima, and Univers.

It was amazing how different the two letters looked even witha simple case change. I had a new superpower - typefaces

and Illustrator. Like Uncle Ben said, With great power comesgreat responsibility. I felt that responsibility strongly - makethat one amazing design thats going to blow minds. I knowa lot of the following sketches will look the same to you, butthere are subtle differences, as little as a missing serif. Justthose little parts make such a huge difference!

I have organized this section to showcase all the digitaliterations - some new, some of old sketches. I eventuallynarrowed it down to two choices, and those are shown inthe next section - Level 4: Mastery.


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Some hand drawn sketches,like the ones on the facingpage, translated wonderfullyon to the computer.But not all ideas translated well,like the ones on this page.


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The typefaces provided somuch variety!All the sketches on this spreadare variants of a concept donewith different typefaces - justlook at the difference!


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The lower case letters ineither serif or sans-serif facesprovided a lot of variety. Itallowed me to experimentmore - the variations in linethickness for serif faces,stability of the same in sans-serif faces really encouragedthis process.


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The computer made theprocess faster, though notsimpler. Yes its easier to applythe typefaces, but the timespent on aligning, editing,deleting, adding, and otherthings made the process just asintricate as hand sketches.


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Well folks, were almost to the end. At this point, youveseen all the work, from hand sketches to digital sketches.I have tried to illustrate their development, the challenges

I faced and some of my thoughts. By now, I have learneda lot about the typefaces, the alterations that come withthem, what works, what doesnt and how to maintain thetwo letterforms when coming up with a new structure.

In this section, you will see my final selections andevolution of each of those. At the end sits the big reveal-my final design.


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Design Concept 1: Design Concept 2:


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The parameters of this project require the two letterformsto be legible, maintain their integrity, have contrast interms of size, case, typeface, etc., and that the finaldesign be a balance of the two letterforms.

My final design is all of these. And more! I feel itsstrengths lie in the way the lower case, italic, serif twraps itself and finds form in the upper case sans-serifU. Each of the letterforms support each other structurallyand visually. The elimination of the left ascender of theU and the serif on the t creates for a great positive-negative space play. The t blends into the negativespace created by the middle of the U, intertwining thetwo letters indubitably. Furthermore, without the presenceof t, the U could easily be mistaken for a J, andwithout the the U, the t would have lesser legibility.None of the two letters claim dominance, they both standindividually and together strongly.

To me, the fact that the shapes through their subtleimplied lines enforce the letterforms is a big point ofintrigue. It adds to the engagement quality of the designalong with the figure ground reversal.

The typefaces used are Bodoni (t) and Futura (U). Boththe typefaces have been edited and adjusted to bettersuit the design.


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Vishakha Vi Chetan is presently studying VisualCommunications Design at Purdue University. Hailing fromIndia and studying on the opposite end of the globe has

brought all sorts of adventures and experiences to her life.Vi loves the sans-serif typefaces and finds her designaesthetic extremely influenced by the German Bauhaus andRussian constructivist eras. The minimalist nature of both theschools have intertwined with her design sense immensely.

Presently, Vi is a Graphic Deisgn intern at PurduesMarketing and Media. This experience is helping infurthering her understanding of brand identity.

On an informal note, Vi has a crazy love for animals andcupcakes. Her latest peeves are acquiring a Gameboywith all the Pokemon games and collecting type-based popup books.


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Paper:Cougar 80# cover and 70#text

Type:FuturaLight (& Oblique):11pt, 10pt & 10ptMedium: 18pt, 17pt, 10ptBook: 10ptBaskerville: 9pt

Printer:Xerox DocuColor 252

Printing:Purdue Printing Services &BoilerCopymaker, WestLafayette, IN

Bindery:Haywood Printing Co. Inc.Lafayette, Indiana

Binding:Perfect bound

Edition:6 copies

Acknowledgements

Kristine J. AndersonProfessor Emerita, Libraries, Purdue University

Cathy AperManager, Purdue Printing Services & BoilerCopyMaker

Scot BenhamHaywood Printing Co. Inc. Lafayette, Indiana

K. Lynia CoatesCopyright Clearance/Class Notes, BoilerCopyMaker

Barbara MayfieldContinuing Lecturer, Purdue University

Sherry SwankDesign Manager, Purdue Printing Services

Colophon


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the language of two letters

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