As Lupton says, 'one of design's most humane functions is...to help readers
avoid reading." In this picture where the designer has used letters to form an object instead of a word, the design has succeeded. By disrupting, compressing, and migrating the letters, the designer has produced a better effect than if s/he were to simply type "gun" and "bang." The serif of the "r" creates the perfect trigger, just as the serifs elsewhere provide for the perfect outline for the design. It's evident that by manipulating the text, the designer knew that this form of typography was the best way to go.
However, as soon as you look away from the beautifully designed object, it's clear that something's not quite right. Though the thin/thick strokes create a perfect design for the gun, they detract from the threatening message of the actual words. The kerning/tracking adds to the skew of the message, replacing fear with delicate overused typeface. Overall, though half effective as a typeface, word exercise has proven to be extremely beneficial for this design.
I'm just wondering if the message of this ad is actually supposed to be threatening. I took this as more of a playful ad, even though it does use a gun. I think it is supposed to be more humorous in way that makes you think typography really can make or break you.
ReplyDeleteIt is inspiring that the artist has such a familiarity with the font that they were able to manipulate it into such a realistic image. Just as Professor Taylor emphasized in class, there is a vast amount of knowledge to be learned regarding each individual type-face. The illustrator of the picture proves this to be true.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erica. When I looked at this post, I was debating if this was a threat. Considering the words or letters are combined to create the image of a gun, I didn't know how to take it. But, when I really analyzed it, it made me think how the gun may be used to imply a strong message, that the gun was shooting out a statement that some texts are bad news.
ReplyDeleteI think the most interesting aspect of this image is the way that the words can form such a powerful image. The gun is used to describe more than just itself, and the way that text can be used to relay a message through an image as well as the literal words is a testament to what both text and typeface can contribute,
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