Alphabetical Creativity
Is it just me (and it would come as no surprise if it was), or don’t you just love a well-crafted illustrated alphabet? Maybe someday there will be a whole wing of my house whose walls are adorned with such graphic gems. The ability to convey a theme or concept, within the constraints of a letterform appeals to my minimalist side. I’ve recently stumbled across a few examples that, while different in style and content, spoke boldly to me.
Scratching my severe travel itch, Around the World with Type—designed by Rigved Sathe and Payal Jagwani—photographically conveys world cities amid the confines (or near enough) of each letter of the alphabet. From Agra to Zürich, the project appears on Behance and features letters with iconic shots of world cities’ icons. Other than a few odd choices—Sydney, Australia for the letter “O,” presumably signifying the famous opera house—the places are beautifully photographed and well-suited to their letterform. Each individual city can be purchased as a print from the artists.
Building on the city theme, Archibet pays tribute to 26 influential architects. Each of the letterforms is created in the style of a world-class architect. Featuring a single iconic structure, the letters embody the essence of the featured architect’s style. The artist, Federico Babina, chose architects whose styles best matched his own imagery, rather than basing his choices on how well-known an architect might or might not be. While I was familiar only with Eames, Gropius, and Frank Lloyd Wright, I spotted buildings that were familiar to me—such as Sydney’s opera house—and added others to my “Must Visit” bucket list. The entire Archibet City print can be purchased from the artist.
My most recent alphabet find is whimsical, in perhaps a slightly twisted way. The Hunger Games alphabet, designed by Risa Rodil, is brought to life using bright colors and flat vector shapes. The minimalistic style makes even the most frightening concepts of the Arena, Capitol, and Tracker Jackers somehow almost likable. The horrors of the games and those that control it seem to lose a little of their power when presented using a limited and muted color palette, but it somehow works in this instance. I wouldn’t exactly want to decorate a child’s room based on this alphabet, but I just can’t help thinking that teenage me would have done just that. Also, given the subject matter of the Hunger Games, should I be worried that the artist didn’t appear to finish X, Y, or Z or am I reading too much into it? Buy the Hunger Games poster here.