Event Posters: Explorations in Sculptural Typography

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Event Posters: Explorations in Sculptural Typography

I love typography and I love making images by hand, so I decided to experiment with physical type by designing three posters for arts events, each using a different method of type creation. For the first poster I would make type using light, for the second I would use time, and for the third I would create something three-dimensional.

Light

For light, I decided to make a poster for a Beach House concert, as I felt that I could use light to make something distorted, atmospheric, and surrounding that would reflect the sound of their music. To make the lettering, I experimented with different methods of reflecting and distorting type. I printed the text on transparencies and layered and folded the paper in different ways to create distortions. I placed a plain film behind the text and shone light through the transparencies, photographing the reflection of the text on the film.

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Detail/process shots:

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Time

For time, I created a poster for GLOW, a performance by Chunky Move Dance Company. I used a cyanotype process for the lettering to reflect the dance, where performers move across the ground, leaving marks in light wherever they go. I also added long exposure photography of a person dancing to incorporate more time and motion into the imagery. I began with the cyanotype process to make a print of the text and a dancer using time. I decided to just incorporate the text from the cyanotype, and use a different method for the imagery of the dancer—long exposure photography—that would show more subtleties in movement.

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Detail/process shots:

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3D Materials

Matilda is a musical about a girl who realizes she can move objects with her mind and uses these powers to defend her friends in school. I made the type out of crayons and pencils and incorporated other elements from the musical to make a scene that freezes Matilda’s telekinesis in time. I began by hanging all the letters with string, but decided to have them gradually lift off the ground to show more motion. I lifted a couple letters at a time and combined the photos afterwards.

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Detail/process shots:

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Process/Experimentation

Before making the posters, I played around with some text printed on paper to see what effects I could get just by using the camera.