Most Obscure

For my senior thesis at the University of Michigan, I chose to focus on process rather than outcome, experimenting and playing with ideas to see where they led. Over the course of seven months, I created several small projects, along with countless bits and pieces in between.

To tie everything together, I designed a suite of typefaces inspired by both the discoveries I made along the way. The project explores the tension between the permanence of written language and the uncertainty of human communication, resulting in three typefaces that embrace the ambiguity we often experience when trying to express ourselves.

What I did:

  • Design

Who I worked with:

  • Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo (Advisor)
  • Stephanie Tharp (Advisor)
Table of Contents for "Most Obscure" book.
Introduction for 'Most Obscure' book.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing cut apart magazine pages and letters.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing various letters made of concrete, dollar bills, and arms.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing refined sketches and process for 'Figure' game based on letter height patterns.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing a system by which letters are blocked out according to letter height.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing frames of the zine folding and unfolding.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing modified and obscured scanned book pages, and zines that were made from these images.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing Audacity waveforms from the process of databending typefaces.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing glitched typefaces.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing posters soliciting strangers to leave a message at a phone number.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing whiteboard with brainstorming about differences between thought, speech, and writing.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing waveforms of vocalized characters.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing screenshots of Google Voice transcriptions of voicemails.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing exhibition of the typefaces, including a projected video of the typefaces in use, flashdrives loaded with the files for viewers to take and use, and three books outlining the process of each typeface.
Spread of 'Most Obscure' book showing final thesis paper typed on 'Corrupt' typeface.
Back flap of 'Most Obscure' book.
Back cover of 'Most Obscure' book.