PROJECTS
2025
2024
Risograph Work
and Syllabics Typography
2023
Not Solemn
2025
Risograph Work
and Syllabics Typography
Not Solemn
Participatory Design
2024
I chose letterforms as the focus of this project because they are among the most familiar visual forms people encounter. Letters are everywhere. They are read, typed, and glanced over so often that their shapes start to become invisible. By asking participants to reconstruct a single letter from unfamiliar, irregular parts, the project attempts to defamiliarize these everyday forms. It slows down the act of seeing and making, encouraging participants to rethink the structure of something they usually perceive without noticing.
Each participant received a “kit” containing an 11 × 17 inch sheet, a set of 9 paper shapes, tape, and a comment card. The task was simple: make a lowercase letter using only the materials provided. The responses were surprising and unpredictable. What emerged was a surprising range of formal interpretations—some literal, some abstract, some intuitive, some strategic—each one shaped by the individual’s relationship to the imposed limitations.
The resulting alphabet reflects the diversity of its makers. Together, the letterforms act as a collective expression of how creativity can emerge through constraint. This experiment aligns closely with my broader thesis interests around openness, structure, and systems—specifically, how frameworks can create, rather than suppress, possibility.