OUGD405 - Study Task 03 - Subjective Symbols of Objective Things

These experimentations are based on blacklettering, which was a script used throughout Western Europe until the 17th Century. Working with black ink and a number of tools, such as rulers and large paintbrushes in a variety of widths, I created various marks in the style of blacklettering to later be used to create my own set of objective symbols for a hospital wayfinding system using this subjective style. The tools I used were consistently held at a strict angle to help create a high contrast in lines and strokes which are reflective of traditional blacklettering, without making the strokes and symbols too similar to blackletter itself but instead uses similar elements to create a blackletter aesthetic. Cutting out different elements from this mark-making, I organised these together to create a set of arrows, toilet symbols, lift, cafeteria, telephone, stairs and parking pictograms. Originally I looked at creating the symbols as a whole using the blackletter aesthetic, however I felt these were too forced and did not follow the same rules as blackletter so instead worked with the individual marks and put these together as the symbols.