Craftside: Type Pantry: A fun way to use your groceries to make a font from the book Type Form & Function

Type Pantry: A fun way to use your groceries to make a font from the book Type Form & Function

I love this kind of thing: using objects to spell out words or decorate! This page from Type Form & Function: A Handbook on the Fundamentals of Typography features groceries used to make the letters of the alphabet. It makes me want to rearrange my pantry to spell out words with its contents.

I posted about this concept before back at Christmas where the shape of a Christmas tree was made with the contents of shelves.

My food cabinet isn't quite worthy of sharing at the moment, but it did get my mind going into a completely fun, crazy direction. So follow along! It will be a weird, fun and crazy craft tangent.

Let me start by sharing this funny photo I took when I was done crafting. There are so many puns going on it may be hard to follow how I got to this silly photo of me holding a can in the "we can do it" poster pose.

OK so the inspiration page from Type Form & Function: A Handbook on the Fundamentals of Typography shows groceries (cans of food) being displayed to form letters. That made me think of the meaning of the word "can" as a verb. Then I thought about "I" and "I can" as an affirmation. Then I went to "EYE" can. I love the affirmation being created with images and an actual object as opposed to just the words. So I made it.

I had this fun can that I think a watch came in that had a fun clear blue strip of plastic in the center. I found an eyeball image I liked when I did a Google image search and printed it out on a piece of paper.

My food cabinet happens to have an old brass plaque on it that I think is from a ship that says "slop chest" which I think is funny.

In another bit of useful craftiness, I had mentioned in a previous post that I want to keep a handful of fun implements to write with in my journal/sketch book close at hand rather than the standard pen that's usually only there. This can is going to be the new home of my diverse writing implements that I now will be keeping where I sketch ideas as I read in the evenings.

If you are like me and love reading about type and making it in fun ways, then I bet you will love:

Type Form & Function:
A Handbook on the Fundamentals of Typography

Jason Tselentis

Type Form & Function is a useful, comprehensive typography resource that both students and professional designers should have in their library. It looks at the influences of modern typography and symbols going back through time and examines certain type treatments and movements in design and logo types. It also focuses on how type works and emphasizes typographic fundamentals, while touching on logo/logotype design and page layout (print and interactive). Designers will be guided through the visual typographic clutter to make their designed messages more meaningful.

Jason Tselentis is a designer, writer, and educator living in North Carolina. He has completed print and interactive design for: Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum; Henry Art Museum; Intel Labs; the National Park Service; Sony BMG Music; Continental Tires; and 20th Century Fox. As Assistant Professor at Winthrop University’s Department of Design, Jason teaches graphic design and typography. His work has been recognized by the AIGA and How magazine. To see more of his work, visit www.morsa.com.

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