Since the time of Gutenberg, hundreds of years have been spent developing perfectly proportioned, legible font designs and printing technology to support the perfection of printed materials. Currently, most graphic design professionals work with computers exclusively to create type. As a result, almost every typeface has similar formal characteristics. But contemporary type designers evolved with less emphasis being laid on legibility and more on experimentation and communication of the message through the aesthetics of the typeface. Designers began to explore type design as a means for personal expression and communication. Today’s innovative graphic designers have overturned established rules about type, and been trying to turn letters into images and using typefaces in increasingly experimental ways. In response to this, I began to explore methods to create type with materials unique to typeface creation instead of my keyboard and mouse. 

 

My research investigates unconventional typography through the making of ceramic forms to create a system of letterforms. This investigation is a process of three steps: modularizing, systematizing, and organizing. Especially, I call the process of organizing as manual pixeling. Manual pixeling means creating letterform through arranging the modules manually with the system. The value of this research is not only for exploring the conceptual, technical, and fundamental aspects of form through typography and ceramics techniques: scale, volume, structure, mass, and space, but also providing inspiration to graphic design professionals to work with their hands.

 

Graphic design professionals have built letterforms with various unique physical objects. However, they preformed this process of building letterforms in a way that mainly focused on rearrange the objects more beautifully. Clay and ceramics technique have rarely used by graphic design professionals to create letterform since they were unfamiliar with ceramics and clay. Using clay provides more variety of options than preformed found objects to create modules: shape, color, and size.