WHEN ONE THINKS OF TYPE, PRINT IS UNDOUBTEDLY CLOSE BEHIND – BUT FOR UNI_FORM DESIGN STUDIO, THEIR INTEREST LIES IN EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF TYPOGRAPHY OUTSIDE OF ITS TYPICAL USES…
In addition to three primary categories of work (design services, art, and charity projects) included in the working circle of The Uni_form Design Studio, there is another often unspoken category as well – typography design, that the duo has been working on and recently shared some results of via their Facebook page. “Firstly, we started out working in the three realms, but have now been doing typography projects as well, but in the sense that it is the kind of work that in some ways cannot be printed.”
When one thinks of type, print is undoubtedly close behind – but it is possible that through this alternative project that is differentiated from the studio’s art, we can see their sense of design and identity as a maximalist character pursuing a concept aimed at exploring the potential of typography outside of its uses for typical printing begin to emerge. The process goes as such – the studio firstly creates a specific concept in order to design a new set of typography. “For instance, this letter ‘D’ started from a sticker that we brought back from the Kongka riverside when we traveled to India. Later, TCDC [Thailand Creative & Design Center] came to us and requested that we design a cover for their “KID” Creative Thailand publication that was to be about India. So, we picked up on this concept and developed it into a full A-Z set of collage-based typography.”
A_Z RE_BUILD_ING, Image © Uni_Form Design Studio
The interesting thing is that by using the technique of collage in typography design, we wipe out the indetermination formulated during the typography design process – what we are doing is somehow between writing and drawing and, at the same time, the project’s objective itself becomes more intangible as the final result is not even aimed at achieving one of the typical main objectives of typography design – creating something that is printable and able to be re-produced and utilized within the design industry.
The Uni_form design studio considers typography as a form that can be modified into particular shapes and used as an element in other works of art, or even function as an instance of art itself, while at the same time calling upon materials and found forms to function as elements from which to create letterforms. For example, in the project ‘ONE IMAGE ONE ALPHABET,’ the designer drew upon elements found within pictures to create the alphabet’s characters in a manner that is not simply an act of creating something new from existing materials but, is also equally about the interpretation process in the case of transforming a picture into an alphabet as well. And in an opposite but equally interesting manner, we also enjoyed how the project designer transformed objects into typography via ‘RE-BUILD-ING,’ a work that considers how to memorize particular memories via manners other than writing. From image and object to type, and concept and process to form, the Uni-form Design Studio provides an intriguing example of how to approach things from all sides at once, and say things in more ways than one.
TEXT: NAPAT CHARITBUTRA
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