OUGD504 - Type in Context - The 3D Type Book - FL@33

The 3D Type Book is a compiling of some of the most significant examples of type that has been, created, discover and constructed in a three dimensional format. I have found looking through this book very useful for my project and there are many examples of projects that are very alike my own workings, with the core concept of finding 3D type in the real world and photographing and collecting it. Within the foreword by Andrew Byrom a typographer and designer I was first introduced to in a TED talk video of him discussing his work and how he goes about his work. I found the TED talk very inspiring that way he goes about his practice of type designing is very creative and innovative. He really pushes every project he is part of building new concepts and ideas from a single idea constantly. Within the foreword he speaks of the importance of 3D type in current graphic design and how often designers nowadays opt for my hands on aesthetic to move away from digital design. 

There were a number of projects within this book that caught my eye but the book itself and the way it has been produced I felt was important to look into. The book is around A4 in size and around an inch thick, the images are displayed very large and only have small captions the writing is intended for a quick overview of the projects. The large size of the book and the creative content suggests that the target audience is people with interests in the creative field and typography. The copy pushes the focus onto the images and away from the information. The cover text has been embossed to add to the tactile and 3D feel of the type, this is something to look into in my own project and the effect this has on the communication to the reader, in this case it is extremely appropriate and adds to the content. 

As this book is essentially an collection of A-Z's looking at the way the images have been designed in the pages and across the whole book. The contents page that gives a brief overview of the projects make the book easy to navigate by the designer and name of the project. Within my book at contents page as shown above may be useful for navigation.

Clotilde consider Stone type titled - Pebbles and More. These typeface really caught my eye right away as each letter has been found and collected and not made by man but naturally found it nature I found there were many similarities to my own project. The way the type has been displayed shows very clearly that it is an A-Z the use of exclamation marks at the end of the alphabet gives the images a little more character. The background's texture resembles the stones themselves but has an interesting contrast this shows the stones in the best light possible and brings out the forms of each stone. It is interesting to see how each stone can be seen as a letter, something I found in my own project is that my perceptions of what a letter might be changed so for example the letter A could be displayed as a simple triangle shape. There is a tremendous amount of effort put into this project and there must be a story behind each letter form much like my project so illustrating this story is key to making my publication entertaining. 

This project by Italo Lupi titled ' De commitment alphabet is very similar to the project above beneficial theme is collecting and photographing pebbles that look like type. I found that when looking at the two images the A-Z is much clearer and readable in its first impression, the type gets lost a bit when both into a different order. This is something to organised when I put together my own publication.

This project 'Type the Sky' by Lisa both uses the formation of buildings and the negative space of the sky created with them. This project is amazingly creative and has been shown in an A-Z so each image can be compared with each other. This is something I did for my own presentation and could be something to include in my own publication.

1976 Alphabet by Mesh design. This projects theme is much like my own each image is of found type specific to a certain area in this case a walk through Derby in 1976. The images have been displayed with black boarders to try and make the image stand out more effectively. I feel this was not needed and it takes away from the quality of the images. 

This project 'ABCollected' by Open studio took 3 years to collect as each letter has been found and none have been arranged digitally or edited. The quality of the images in a way have not been done justice as the way they have been displayed is pretty boring and uninventive. In my project I want to insure I make the most of my images. 

Overall this book has shown me some really interesting projects and ways of working. I was slightly disappointed by the way some of the images had been displayed they clearly took a long time to find and collect, but the way they had been displayed didn't show this same level of effort and disappointed. Some of the projects featured in this book that I have highlighted have been make into books in there own right, as this disappointed to my own found A-Z looking at how this has been displayed will be relates to my own project.