For my Applied Typography class, I was tasked with creating and photographing a physical alphabet - 26 letters constructed from tangible objects and arranged on a poster.

My concept was clothes - anything with an interesting color, pattern, or texture I could find in my closet. I modeled my letter forms after monoweight sans-serif typefaces like Helvetica or Ballinger, but with some imperfect connections on some letters such as A, O, and S. On each letter, I tried to use materials with some contrast in color or texture, and to pair solids and patterns that I might actually wear together. I chose to keep the background of the poster plain to minimize distractions and let the letters themselves do the visual heavy lifting.

I received an A on the assignment, and my professor noted that the letterforms were consistent while still having visual variety. I am very pleased with the final result, particularly the fact that some clothing items were reused between letters, but each still has its own personality.