Exercise: Playing with words
Using the following words create typographical representations that present both the word and a suggestion of its meaning.
Sad Safe Sardonic Saucy Scholarly Serious Sinking Skimpy Shadow Sleek Speed Swagger Shattered Snowy Squeeze Shy Sodden Stiff Short Silly Soothing Smart Squat Sweet Sordid Sophisticated Stodgy Stoned Style Supine
Start this exercise by working on A4 sheets of paper.
Set the words in 48pt Helvetica Bold, print and cut out the words and then arrange them and stick them to a sheet of paper trying to capture the meaning of the word visually.
Think about the composition, using the white space of the page to help you construct your meanings.
Then work digitally using any of the software you have available. Explore how you can set text at a slant, at different sizes, in different colours and fonts. Try using filters in your software for other effects. Make notes as you work explaining your choice of representations and which ones you feel that you were most successful with.
First I printed the words on A4 paper, each on 48pt Helvetica bold.
I tried to express the meanings of each word by cutting off each letter and arranging it differently.
When I feel stodgy I feel like I want to go to bed, feeling sleepy and under the weather, so I expressed it by making the 'g' letter go upside-down and on an angle. as being sleepy, full and under the weather.
when something is sodden it's soaked, and therefore expends. so I spaced the letters to give it a sense of expansion. I also saw a little shade coming from my window and it made the texture feel more full. like something was more in-depth and soaked - expended.
I squashed the letters to each other in one direction to create a feeling of speed.hought the way it was written is the most "straight" and "serious" way it can be. I decided to add the pen since its a good expression for studying.
Shattered means broken into many pieces and the expression of that in my eyes is to have the letters go all over the place with a downward path.
Being smart is being witty, which means something that is not obvious, something smarter and more intelligent than usual. So I have chosen to set the letter in a witty order that our brain still reads fluently even though it is not organized properly and some of the letters are laying or laying facing each other.
Supine mean laying on its back, and this is why I placed all letters laying down.
I squashed the letters to each other in one diracion to create a feeling of speed.
Short, and revealing, a piece of garment that is too short and not covering too much skin, therefore the letters are not covering too much of the paper and tight to each other. Especially the letter P is really hidden.
I made the letters being squeezed in a way it looks short. also something that is short is not tall so I have placed them in a vertical position to show it's hight.
shy is being introverted, which for me resembles coming inwards. so I placed both first and last letters pointing inwards.
Shy is being introverted, which for me resembles coming inwards. so I placed both first and last letters pointing inwards.
A sad face has a sad mouth - the opposite of a smile. So I used the letters to create a shape of a sad smile.
Sordid is in a way of being filthy rude. maybe showing something dodgy some kind of "bad business" so I made the paper wrinkled and scratched "noise" on the paper with a simple pen, as a background. also placed the letters all over the place without any order, since it resembles with no order.
Sad usually identify with a sad mouth (which is the opposite of a smiling mouth..) So I arranged the letters in a sad mouth shape.
Shadow is usually behind a figure or object. so I made the letters be like a shadow of an object. from top to bottom, on the side of the paper.
Sweet is something that you want to pinch, in my polish side an auntie will pinch your cheeks as a kid growing up "because you're sweet" - so I thought how to express pinch as sweet with the letters. this is why I made the letters go across each other.
Serious is something you can't mess around with, it is it and period. this is why I chose to put a dot at the end.
Someone that is sardonic is cynical and kind of look at others (whom he's is being cynical at) from above - therefore I put the word in an upwards direction and C above looking outwards too, as "I'm better and smarter than you". kind of snobbish.
Snow falls slowly and spreadly, so I put the letters separately like falling slowly.
I have made the letters straight and added a star to show it's "shining".
Sinking means going down, therefore, I placed the letters as going down.
Safe is secure and you know everything is in place. so I placed the letters in space so there's a feeling of security.
placed the word down at the bottom of the background and flipped the i to make it look sophisticated.
Placed the word down in the bottom of the background and flipped the i to make it look sophisticated.
I have placed the 'i' laying and made it like it was a "gun" and was shooting the letters.
I squeezed the letters in together to express squeeze.
Confident and arrogant make me think about snobbish so I placed the name as it's above the little dot like it's being arrogant against it.
Stoned makes me think about smoke, and smoke usually goes up. so I placed the letters as smoke.
usually, style means that the manner of doing something is cool or different, and this is why I tried to make a different expression for this one. I have cut the letters in a 'puzzle' way.
when something is stiff it's hard and not easy to bend or separate, therefore I have sketched fine connecting lines, almost like connecting tissues between the letters.
When squatting the body is in the middle and the knees are bent on each side, so I arranged the letters as a triangle - that the U is the body and the rest are the legs.
Being fullish I expressed by playing around with the way I cut the letters and placed them.
Saucy is a sort of cheeky and rude, and I wanted to express some kind of rudeness and cheekiness play around with the way I cut the letters and make something different that is more playful but rude.