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.
