Spring cleaning—I’ve been going through my papers and found some printed samples of 1966 typography studies from students in Basel. Always amazing.
A friend emailed some PNGs of a face she’s working on—very fresh and multi-dimensional. So I’m sitting here at the kitchen table with a large “A” on my laptop and in the distance, in my field of vision is Tom Geismar’s “Z” poster.
So I’m wondering, what is it about letterforms, that psychological something, that’s so evocative?
You love them.
peace
what is it about them... that’s a terrific question. they’re beautiful at times, coarse at times, crude, eloquent well-proportioned and gangly... really amazing.
i think sometimes though, it’s the incredible promise they hold. with letterforms, we can say anything. we can be shakespeare or tupac or basho or springsteen.
Maybe two things: their abstract shapes that allude to compelling
things in nature, and their promise of taking part in meaning.
hhp
of course — the nature. well observed. the letterforms are, certainly evocative of nature (we are always given as example the evolution of the letter “a” from the canaanite pictograph). but i think i’m in love with the abstractions they’ve become.
interesting topic, michele.
i was thinking of eric gill, who said, “letters are things, not pictures of things.” but then he folded a paper printer’s hat, put it on his head, and ran from the room.
Captured from web.archive.org on 2 Nov 2007. view this capture