31188a – Progress Challenge 2

By Colleen Sedgwick

Visual photo diary

For each of the following letters in the word ‘type’ (T, Y, P and E), take at least two photos of the letter that have been constructed by nature or a man-made object that does not have the intention of constructing type.

For each image, you are required to write 25 words on why and how you selected these images and how this process could inform future industry practice.

Note: you are not permitted to include letters that have been constructed to be part of signage. Also, you are also not permitted to ‘alter’ nature in order to create the type (e.g. you are not allowed to break a tree branch into separate twigs and then position them together to create a letter).

NOTE: You will be able to integrate feedback from discussions and self-check submission, for integration into Assessment 3 Part B.

Answer

These are some pictures that I took of some tiles in my bathroom.  The reason being is they happen to resemble the letters T-Y-P-E

The larger rectangle on top of two squares resembles a ‘T’ – you can see one horizontal line on top of a vertical line.

 The square is nested within two rectangles – turned on a 45 degree angle, it resembles the letter ‘Y’

When these same shapes are at right angles, flipped and upright, they resemble the letter ‘P’.

The same shapes used in the letter ‘T’ are also used for the letter ‘E’ when turned at a 90 degree angle.

How could they inform future industry practice?

1.      Firstly, they can be used for signage and way finding – especially in places where a lot of tiles are used, like railway stations, pubs, shopping malls and public amenities (toilets).  They could add a lot of interest and character to the place.

2.      Secondly, they could prove useful for the study of Pareidolia – or the understanding of how one perceives a particular pattern in a stimulus where none actually exists in that stimulus[1].  For instances, if one sees animals when they are looking at clouds or they see the ‘man in the moon’ when looking at the moon.   In this instance, I see letterforms when looking at the tiles in my bathroom, because of the way the tiles are arranged.

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[1] Wikipedia (2016): Pareidolia, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia