My Zenith project has been the culmination of much that I’ve learned from my tenure as a Design student, representing a combination of so many unique skills that I’ve learned over the course of my two years at Freestyle that a project of this nature would not only have been unachievable, but completely inconceivable to a version of myself from 2 years ago. I chose to make typefaces and accompanying posters to demonstrate use cases for said typefaces. I chose this specific project because I had done some exploratory work on making fonts as part of a summer program with MICA. My experience under that program, where I learned the basics of typography and the principles of what makes an appealing and visually cohesive font, captured my interest such that I wanted to develop that part of my skill set more.
Individually, all my fonts have different inspirations and intentions. I derived design motifs from such various sources as Old West type, Gothic architecture, science fiction and psychedelic abstraction. I wanted to cast my inspirational net wide so I could delve into the full breadth of what was possible to do with typography. I strove to make all of my fonts abundantly distinct from each other, an endeavor in which I think I succeeded. My method of approaching each font was different, because they all had such unique construction that no one process would do all of them justice. For the larger, blockier fonts, my approach was much like that of a sculptor- finding the letter within a simpler shape and carving it out. For the thinner and more complex fonts, my process was closer to that of a carpenter- assembling disparate elements into a sturdy and functional whole.
This project was very challenging for a variety of reasons, the foremost of which was generating a full set of 26 unique letters in both upper and lowercase, 10 numbers, and all other associated characters that looked visually cohesive and like they belong together. This proved to be challenging especially for my first two fonts, whose construction I previously likened to carpentry. Building something up from nothing is certainly much more daunting than reducing an existing thing into a desirable shape. An additional challenge was translating my initial sketches into a digital format. Obviously, my own sketch work is far less precise than what a software like Adobe Illustrator can offer in terms of geometric exactitude. Ironing out the kinks of my sketches sometimes revealed flaws in the construction of many characters, or that they just simply didn’t look good outside of my initial sketch, demanding the need for an outright revamp.
I am immensely proud of my work, and I think that all of my fonts have strengths compared to one another. I think that my work is proof of my personal growth as an artist and a student, and something I can continue to be proud of for many years to come. I am deeply grateful for what Freestyle has given me- advanced art education, technical literacy, work ethic, but above all, the deep sense of community that I now share with my classmates. No other environment, educational or otherwise, has made me feel closer to a group of people than Freestyle has. Every day, I find something new from them to be inspired by, whether it’s their passion, imagination, creativity or ironclad resolve to do the best work they possibly can. I know that I can’t stay with these people or this school, as much as I may want to, so the most I can strive to do is carry the collaborative spirit of Freestyle with me and share it with those I meet.