Figure Writing (or Text as Body)

In a typeface, each character has its own body and much like ourselves, each body is different. As a painter, I often paint the human figure and portraits of people. Each person's body is remarkably different in both subtle and extreme ways, and also has an interesting way in reflecting the person's personality. As I have been learning the anatomy of typefaces, the sychronicities between type and human anatomy become revealed both in our terminology, but also in form.

If we think about typefaces as human figures, its easy to see the personalities of each character, and the different communities that become typefaces. But the challenge for typographers is to now start making typefaces and characters that move, have action, dance, and come to life. A great example of an artist/typographer who reveals the = typeface as another form of life is Craig Ward.

Excuse the unintentional acronym. (I chose the letter K for my name and didn't think about the consequences of putting three up side by side). These large free drawn K's show different personalities of character as exhibited by their different typeface anatomies.

The fonts depicted above are bodoni, futura, and garamond.