For the Experimental Type project we found and photographed two "found" alphabets of letter forms. One was of forms which occurred unintentionally.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/4ac0e3df-29c1-4ae8-b05c-2e96da566030/c7c526bb-dc0d-4a56-848f-fa32808255ae_rw_1920.jpg?h=69a324d30068f0200f005a57d54a28f4)
The other alphabet to be found was of letters used deliberately. As a binding concept, I limited my collection to the type on the side of vans used by independent traders. Following a row about a tweet by a UK MP, perceptions about the choices made by "White Van Man" were very much in the news when I was doing the project, so I was interested to collect some of the visual communication and design choices these businesses had made or paid for (although not all the vans were white!).
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/4ac0e3df-29c1-4ae8-b05c-2e96da566030/450fbb2a-d377-4ccc-a429-c5abd0fa3fb7_rw_1200.jpg?h=799c7eaf0d80f3cd2f3da3380f5f92e3)
The other part of the project was to create a number of type forms from found materials. For the first set of letter forms, I used the sloughed legs of my son's pet tarantula.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/4ac0e3df-29c1-4ae8-b05c-2e96da566030/01580674-832e-4364-b660-eca9ce6cec85_rw_1200.jpg?h=0c682354a2a4c5c30a731d00673bd62d)
Next I created two sets of letters based on the type face Amaze (normal font capitals). The first was with fairy lights arranged on the ground.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/4ac0e3df-29c1-4ae8-b05c-2e96da566030/94695938-4fa1-4900-b0da-073f72d676ad_rw_1200.jpg?h=8023d870a4e4919615f78be7d5cd0d9b)
The second, slightly stomach-churningly, was made by carefully arranging bitten fingernails. I appreciate that this would be gruesome enough, without the automatic presumpion that these might be toenails. My apologies!
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/4ac0e3df-29c1-4ae8-b05c-2e96da566030/a302d936-d46c-47d8-ae75-6ed8f7e57ea8_rw_1200.jpg?h=727227d78c7c7147f795769701167739)
Helvetica bold font lower case characters stenciled in wall paint onto green bottles.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/4ac0e3df-29c1-4ae8-b05c-2e96da566030/9b24ada0-5ee2-47c2-b371-0e77751e82f2_rw_1920.jpg?h=2cf8a5daca0f81f2303fad6f46bf60da)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/4ac0e3df-29c1-4ae8-b05c-2e96da566030/0e2c4bde-e0d3-4c83-888d-13e1f6c71d01_rw_3840.jpg?h=fd78c4c813aa5503e0e0052a38e30d2c)
And the same font (modified to trap contained shapes) cut into painted plastic milk bottles and lit from within
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/4ac0e3df-29c1-4ae8-b05c-2e96da566030/74903105-7f9c-4ef4-b731-2490096f33de_rw_600.jpg?h=c8dcfcc0b6c3aa085a9f73c7591b77b5)