WEEK 3 – ANALYSIS – TASK 2 – JULIUS RAYMUND BODY TYPEFACE

JULIUS RAYMUND 

After previously rediscovering Dezeen.com for graphic design news and finding the article relating to the graphic design Pantone’s new Period Red color, I decided it would be appropriate to search the website for more interesting graphic design news to broaden my research in terms of process but refine it when it comes to themes; as the controversial, provocative news seemed to interest me the most.  

This led me immediately to finding this article on a designer called Julius Raymund who has created his own typeface using his body, by cleverly arranging and positioning parts of his limbs, fingers, hairs etc. to form a typeface. I found this to be intriguing as I personally hadn’t seen anyone do something like this before and it seemed to make font and typefaces into some sort of provocative art piece which I fell in love with. The fact that he photographed these pieces of his body using water makes everything look messier and more uncomfortable to look at, therefore making it even more engrossing. Considering he has made a typeface from his body, which obviously doesn’t look like different letters, it make the imagery more obscure and abstract, where at closer inspection you start to see the letters possible form, adding to the curiosity of the typeface. There wasn’t any mention of the typeface being used commercially or artistically, which makes me want to try it myself and attempt to form a sentence or word using it.  

Raymund created this font for a design challenge; 36 Days of Type, where he encountered all of these digitally illustrated or hand drawn typefaces and wanted to create something more obscure. This reminded me of an effective task I had to participate in on my art foundation, where we were instructed to search around the university for different letter, photograph them, then form our own typeface using a collection of contrasting letters which led us to a more interesting outcome than if we were to create simple lines and shapes. Tasks like these remind me that I need to be more experimental with my work, especially as this research project is all about trials and pushing ourselves creatively.