Overview:
This design serves as an exploration of the lines, forms, and shapes shared between humans and nature, specifically the human artery system and tree branches. It was made as a final assignment for a text-based art class where we focused on experimental typography and asemic writing. This forced me to think less about the words and their letters, and more about the shapes and elements of the font and how it informs the design.
While researching for this project, I came across this photo. It got me thinking about how form and shape could be used to effectively convey this idea of greater connectedness, and how word choice would play an important role in hinting at the design’s meaning.
The title, As Above, So Below, alludes to the idea that everything in our world is linked in one way or another from the micro to the macro level.
The “font” was created using my own photos of tree branches from around my neighborhood. I went out and found letter shapes in the trees, gray scaling them and isolating their silhouettes digitally to get the final outcome.
The idea of using silhouettes of an organism was something I knew I wanted to do from the beginning stages. Once I decided on a specific parallel, I knew it made sense to use tree branches as the shape for my text. It was surprisingly easy to find these shapes, which made me realize that even our alphabets are informed by the natural world.
The lithoprint technique involves taking a laserpoint printed image and inking it up. Gum arabic and water combine so that the ink is only picked up where printer ink was printed. The laid out ink is then transferred onto the paper as it runs through the printing press. This technique creates a realistic depiction of the organisms, while also allowing the ink to create movement and texture, taking on a life of its own.