Lee S Jordan Design

Create type from things you have lying around the office

There is a big trend lately to create fonts or text treatments from found objects. Condiments, water, fire, glue, cables, paperclips – nothing is safe. Even if you don’t find a way to incorporate found objects into your work projects, using them in a self promotion project is a fun way to recharge your creativity.

To begin, look for something to make shapes out of.

Common office supplies include paper clips, post-it notes, cardboard, pushpins, coffee, magnets, and unused mustard packets in the office kitchen.

You can either create text using the negative space in the middle of an object (the object may surround the shape as if you had laid the letters down and poured the objects around the type). Or use the object(s) to ‘write’ the letters. The negative space is very interesting, and may give you more flexibility of font style, size, and shapes.

Import the visual imagery into Photoshop using a scanner, or use a camera to take careful detailed photos from several angles.

Experiment with different backgrounds (you can use a neutral background when making your type, then add the background in Photoshop or Illustrator) such as fabrics, desks, concrete walkways, sky, sand, or digital creations.

I’m a big fan of www.vectips.com. Recently I was reading Creating Halftone Effects and wanted to play with it for a project – halftone gradient bubbles, etc sounded like fun.

The problem: how to apply gradients or other objects smoothly.

Once you’ve created your halftone image you’ll find if you apply a gradient it looks all bumpy.

The solution:
Smooth it out with the gradient tool (drag in your favored direction). Then, to create a more realistic look, apply a 3% blur to the gradient. Play with the transparency settings in Illustrator and use layers to combine images together for complex effects. Circles and other simple shapes work well, but you can apply a halftone effect to any object in Illustrator.

Extra credit:
Make your basic gradient shape and turn it into a brush, pattern, or symbol

Now you can use transparency or effects to update the look of your object.