FOR
«6»
For Layers & Layers Along the way of this process, I knew I wanted to incorporate laser cutting as a process in some way, but I troubled over how for a while. One of my favorite typefaces is Univers, so eventually I landed on the idea of rendering out a number of weights of Univers in laser cut letters to use in some way. I figured, I could have something for myself, a physical representation of one of my favorite faces, and then the ideas could flow from there. After cutting in clear acrylic, I was struck by just how transparent it was. Barring the corners where shadow and light refraction revealed the contour of the letterform, it was completely see through. I wanted to use this in some way, revealing the letter almost only through its edges, and the idea of layering in some way came to mind. I thought about how an object between two mirrors appears to go on endlessly in the repeat reflections. Could I in some way capture this mirroring? Perhaps by putting the word between two phone cameras, but then I thought of scanning. What would happen in in was layered over and over through scanning? Initially, I thought that a similar mirror-like effect of some kind would present itself, but I was surprised at the actual results. It seemed the re-layering of the letters magnified their reflective properties more than anything else. This fascinated me, an object so transparent, with only shadow and light revealing its edges having that shadow and light condensed, concentrating its form. Each new scan, as well as darkening the ink interpretation of the printed sheet before it, accentuating the contrast
of the letter’s refraction. Eventually, the letters begin losing their edges almost completely, only the light and shadow to outline their silhouette. The over-processing of the scene itself interested me as well. In each iteration, the printer approximates the best it can the colors through color half-toning, but on each capture this approximation is pulled into further contrast. Eventually, colors condense that weren’t really there, only borne from the attempts at rendering light in ink. White light and dark shadow eventually conglomerate into blues, highlights of pink and yellow. When scanning, in order to ensure a good workflow, I restricted the scanner to a limited area around the text. I found that upon re-scanning the same area, bands of previously un-scanned area crept into each frame. This created a satisfying repeat pattern, displaying each new layer and how it’s effect piles on from the last. The effect is an almost 1970s-esque fade pattern, causing the resulting final to take on an almost timeless appeal. From such a simple word, layered on for layers and layers, an unexpected composition appears.
Loose fractures, below: My initial ideas for ‘for,’ seen below, was 3D text video with dynamic lighting and moving, fractured text. I’d been experimenting a lot in Cinema 4D, so I wanted to apply that for a 3D text method, but from feedback I agreed that it was already too overwrought to iterate on. I considered cutting physical letters and imitating the 3D in analog.