Black Letter

Taking influence from Black Letter, i worked with mono printing and ink and brushes to "Design a set of pictograms and a signage system for a hospital that uses blackletter typefaces and calligraphic flourishes as its foundation.

You are encouraged to develop a distinctly contemporary aesthetic and to avoid any historical pastiche or visual clichés. Your designs should embrace the possibilities offered by this alternative system."

When i began using the brushes with ink i had trouble keeping my wrist in a static motion which resulted in some of the lines being more free flowing than the static, varied stroke width and high contrast i was hoping for. 

 Mono-printing proved to be the most effective method in achieving the high stroke contrast lines i was hoping for. 

 I created a series of mono-prints trying to communicate a journey of lines which i could then experiment and manipulate using illustrator in order to ensure the design has a contemporary aesthetic. I then intended to use these in some way as the collection of arrows for the hospital. 

I believe the mono printing produced the best results as the lines were more prominent and reflected that of the high contrast black letter more effectively. 

When it came to vectorising the design, illustrator did not show the amount  of the line details within the piece (see below) as i had hoped.  

I then decided to create my arrow system on photoshop to ensure that the flourishes within the individual lines were being communicated. Instead of creating a series of arrows i decided to take a more contemporary, abstract approach and create one piece which has all of the arrows on it with the concept that different elements of the piece could be highlighted to indicate the appropriate direction. 

I feel as if the intruding lines and vivid blue qualities of the piece ensure it's distant from any visual cliches. 

Below i have projected my design, with the addition of the more minimalistic directional arrows (to ensure the contemporary design can still be understood by various audiences) in a contrasting yellow tone.