Legibility is circumstantial

Q eft dat v dunckt at v offezanden
En at ghy te vergheef bidt met ghebouwn hanen
Oft soo Narcissu hem plach te veriolijsen ghen
Waeom beroemdy v mijn soo ghy seght ooz minn
ls tafel rinn n beroy guten
Roffiann giln n lichte schuyten
Soo de pauw in sijn schoonheyt he verheft b vla
Oft soo Narcissu hem plach te veriolijsen ghen
ie in sijn schoon persoonheyt oock hadde behagen
Soo behaeght v self werck welck ghy sult pzijsen
En ander constighe wercken afwijsen
Mar ghy Zoyle wout ghy een peysen oft incken

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy black dog

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy black dog

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy black dog

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy black dog

MOLOTYPE is a fictional type foundry that consists of typefaces that all originate from the same writing tool, a 15mm MOLOTOW 611EM Empty Pump Marker. It is the start of a research on how (writing) tools could be appropriated to be used to make work it isn't intended for, specifically in the field of type design and calligraphy. With MOLOTYPE I used a street marker as a tool to make typefaces. As such I also presented it in a small space on campus that is filled with graffiti

MOLOTYPE consists out of four typefaces. 'MT no more grids', the smallest possible typeface possible with the Molotow marker. 'MT Three Stripes', a typographic play with three horizontal stripes. 'MT Sharp', which utilizes the speed of upstrokes and the slowness of downstrokes to construct a high and sharp contrast. Finally there is 'MT Condensed Gothic', a very condensed face where the slope of the marker is visible through its contrast and stroke endings. To show these four typefaces there are a couple specimens that work together as a whole by displaying the typefaces at the same size as the marker would draw them. These specimens are three A0 posters, a paper (375mm x 520mm), a small A5 booklet and a postcard. Finally I also made the procesbook to show some sketches and provide some visual background information to the project.

the oblique function

The Oblique Function is a philosophical theory in the field of architecture. It's first conceived and spread by Claude Parent and Paul Virilio, two french architects. The principal idea is that all vertical lines in an architectural plan are slanted. With this they want to make the person conscious of the space that he is standing in or the plane that he is moving on. Inspired by Disgust by Jean-Paul Sartre, they wanted to bring the idea and physical feeling of existentialism to the people in such a space, by means of architecture. In their research they found out that a person can still stand and move, without any outside help, on a plane that's slanted on an angle of fifty degrees. It's on that angle that the person is most aware and conscious of the plane he's standing on.

I wanted to translate this idea to a typeface. In my research I started to skew existing fonts to see where there would appear problems concerning contrast, proportions, readability, etc. Based of of that research I drew letters on a fifty degree angle but tried to keep in mind the proportions, contrast, shapes, connections, etc. like it was a regular typeface. I named that style the regular as it would be the regular in this family. For the display style I skewed to regular style back to zero degrees. But because I drew them slanted the display style is filled with these weird and quirky letters. The interaction between those two styles is also playing with our consciousness of the shapes of letters.

The Oblique Function is a philosophical theory in the field of architecture. It's first conceived and spread by Claude Parent and Paul Virilio, two french architects. The principal idea is that all vertical lines in an architectural plan are slanted. With this they want to make the person conscious of the space that he is standing in or the plane that he is moving on. Inspired by Disgust by Jean-Paul Sartre, they wanted to bring the idea and physical feeling of existentialism to the people in such a space, by means of architecture. In their research they found out that a person can still stand and move, without any outside help, on a plane that's slanted on an angle of fifty degrees. It's on that angle that the person is most aware and conscious of the plane he's standing on.

I wanted to translate this idea to a typeface. In my research I started to skew existing fonts to see where there would appear problems concerning contrast, proportions, readability, etc. Based of of that research I drew letters on a fifty degree angle but tried to keep in mind the proportions, contrast, shapes, connections, etc. like it was a regular typeface. I named that style the regular as it would be the regular in this family. For the display style I skewed to regular style back to zero degrees. But because I drew them slanted the display style is filled with these weird and quirky letters. The interaction between those two styles is also playing with our consciousness of the shapes of letters.

I developed this font for an assignment where we had to create an identity for multiple records and a poster. This identity was meant for the label Deutsche Grammaphon. I interpreted that label in the sense of the old versus the new, classic versus modern. What I did with that interpretation is that I made a mixture between the classic Bembo and the Modernistic Helvetica. At first I just sliced through the middle and pasted the two sides together. This resulted in the 5050 style. But I needed a more refined style so I started to polish the letters and make every transition smooth. I ended up with Merging Parts. The subtle transitions and changes in the letters are it's strength. Merging 5050 is the first step in the development of the Merging Family.

Woordbad was the first publication and event by In welke zin. For this I made a custom lettering head and the poster and flyer (which also functioned as a bookmark)

Poster:

Bookmark:

'In welke zin' is a publishing collective that wants to be a platform for starting artists, writers, poets, makers, … As part of the collective I designed the logotype and identity, as well as the publications and zines we make together with the authors.

Drift is a starting organisation in Ghent. It aspires to be a launchpad for young, local performance artists. Our assignment was to design an identity in printed materials, like business cards, paper for letters, envelopes,…. But the most important part is the website since that’ll be their main way of communication and putting themselves out there. Since it’s a very young organisation they wanted something low-budget, I started working manually and used handwritten and painted typography a lot in the beginning of the process. Eventually I got stuck in this handwritten method and decided to pick one thing and move on to more pressing matters. So I went digital. But I kept close to my initial starting point of low-budget. The website is designed in the extended of this idea. It’s very minimalistic and basic. Afterwards I can see I tried to make to website look low-budget if it was printed but it actually doesn’t matter when you put it online. I think this is an interesting confusion by myself, on how I reflected my ideas about printed matter to digital content. Once the website was taking form I tried to reflect the idea of the website on the printed materials. Using lots of white space and basic typography together with the handpainted logotype made it a coherent whole.

Our assignment was to redesign an issue of HUMO Magazine, a famous magazine in Belgium. I started from a specific system for the page layout. On every page the title of the article or items that are on the page is on the top in 50pt, the same size as the page number on the bottom. The actual articles are in one column in the center of the page. All images and quotes are put in the side margins of the pages and on the horizontal center of the page. I played with the fold in the middle, the transitions of the images, the duplication of images and some images exceed the margins to give the whole a more dynamic feeling. Because the images are in the horizontal center, in the margins to the end of the page and the magazine is stapled, you can see the other images on the other pages, which gives a nice effect. The tv guide is put in two columns to have a better overview. The advertisements are also put in the margins like the images. For the titles I used Brush Script to make it feel more commercial and to let them stand out. I really want the cover to be blank but with the lines from the inner layout, as well as the title, issue number and page number, but my teachers disagree, saying it's to empty and feels not finished.

MINIMA DOCTA is a series of lectures organized by LUCA School of Arts. In our studio we all got 2 events we had to make the posters for. The first one for me was called 'POPCORE: A SITE-SPECIFIC ONGOING PERFORMANCE'. Because the clearly states that the event was site-specific I used a picture of the location, 019 in Ghent, since it is a very specific site in Ghent. With the typography I tried to play with the frame of the composition that the picture make. I also tried to make it a identity for MINIMA DOCTA. The second event was a debate around the issues of ISIS and the refugees and where the origination of those issues lies. My computer broke during that period so I took that unfortunate event in my process. I used the poster of the previous event as a basis for this events poster. I wrote the title in my best arabic and tried to get a protest-like aesthetic. This last experiment got me interested in arabic and other alphabets which resulted in a paper I wrote about the history of the clash between western and non-western type for a class called World Art Studies.

I made a poster for the Book Poster Show at Ghent Art Book Fair in 019, Ghent. The assignment was to make some association with (art)books. I was struggling because I wanted to come up with something super original. So I asked myself what the purpose is for having a poster hanging there. I took it as an opportunity to advertise myself. The material that we collectively choose to use lent itself perfectly, we used the plastic signs that construction companies use to hang around their constructions sites to advertise or to show the safety regulations.

For six weeks long we got an assignment on Tuesday at 12:00. The assignments were questions like ‘Who's your favourite artist?’ or ‘What’s your favourite object?’ and print it 22 times, so everybody has a copy. The only parameters that were set were the size, A4, and our name should be in the top right corner, 1,2 cm margin from top and side, in Courier Bold 14 pt in capitals. I kind of went rogue on this project, not consulting with our teachers and not taking it very seriously. In the end that attitude resulted in a set of 5 cheeky and bold designs. In the sixth week our assignment was to take a copy of everybody's works, bind it and design a cover. On the front I re-made the assignment as the teachers gave it to us. On the side I made anagrams of everybody's names in the order of whom my best friends are.