Medium is the Message

This project was typography based. I was looking forward to experimenting with different type and getting to grips with the letterpress studio.

The brief was a very short and open one. 
The brief asked me to consider inventive, creative methods in experimental production imagery, in which the choice and use of materials is fundamental to the meaning I wished to convey.
There was a strict rule disallowing the use of traditional drawing tools such as pencils, pens, charcoal, markers etc. Other than that there were no restrictions.
The brief asked to me create an alphabet using an imaginative range of materials and ideas. From this I was to use my alphabet to construct a piece of communication; a message. In this project, the message had to be conveyed through the medium. There had to be a reason for using the materials I chose, because they would reinforce the message that I was trying to communicate.

I began this project attempting to improve my research. I spent considerable amounts of time online, in the library and out in museums and galleries. My first idea came after a visit to the british museum. In the museum I found a 1970' toy television. It as an object was visually appealing and made me wonder who bought it? Who was the child that played with this toy? My idea was to create a message about childhood and memories.

I decided to concentrate on the television and look at the television in todays society and how it dominates the daily routine of many children.

The above images were created through try-point printing. I like the dry-point process, its very simple and gives a great outcome.
From this idea of how television dominates some children's lives I looked at what dominates some adults lives. Living in London and working on Oxford Street I see how busy it gets and wonder how you could enjoy in such a crowded environment. This was the original thought beginning my exploration into shopping and the advertising/signage used by high street stores.
Two of the most famous shopping streets in london are Oxford Street and Bond Street. They both connect and are dominated by shops. The only difference is the price tags. This thought brought a quote to my head "whoever said money cant buy happiness doesn't know where to go shopping".

I created a mock up final piece. I took pictures of recognisable letters form high street store signs to create my alphabet and from this I created my quote. To link the medium to the message I made a shopping bag that I printed both my alphabet and my message on to opposite sides.

I decided to continue my research further to explore other options.
I didn't want to discard my high street idea all together so I looked at other aspects of the high street.
I looked at the street itself. The bins, the lamp posts, the post boxes, the water hydrants. I was surprised by the amount of letters I could find within the street furniture.
For the next couple of days I walked a considerable amount looking for new letters to create a whole alphabet. Walking on a new pavement I realised that you could make make every letter of the alphabet out of one paving stone.

I liked the idea but didn't think it was obvious enough without the pen lines and it was too obvious with the pen lines. I continued my research into street furniture.

I finally came to an end. Finding a whole alphabet from items i found on the pavement.

My chosen message was lyrics from a song. "should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements"

Feedback from my tutorial after I submitted my work was that I should shorten the message. Perhaps even name my typeface.

My typeface was named streetwise.