Found type

Learn to observe the diverse and varied forms that type can take, and develop your skill at making compositions with letterforms, thinking about scale, cropping, and contrast.

Part 1

Find at least 15 examples of letterforms out in the world and take photos of them.

Take these photos yourself—do not borrow images from elsewhere. Find large type—bigger than the body copy in a book—and get close to your subjects. You’ll be cropping in on these letters, so you’ll need all the detail that you can capture. Fill the camera viewfinder with single letters or pairs of letters.

Post low-resolution versions of these photos to Miro. (The link and password for Miro are on Canvas .)

Prepare high-resolution versions of your images in JPEG or TIFF format so that they are ready for placing into InDesign. Your cropped images will need to be at least 180 ppi resolution.

Part 2 (in class)

Create a composition using the examples that you have found. Working in InDesign, create a 3 × 3 grid of squares—each square 2.5 × 2.5 in. Fill the grid with nine of your images. Aim to create contrast, a sense of movement, and visual interest.