Typography Final Project

For the typography class I've been taking this semestre, the main goal was to create a font. The one I came up with I called "Phalanx", though originally it was supposed to be influenced by mechanics. Obviously, after writing out a few words, that idea didn't pan out and the font seemed to be attracted more to words from antiquity, the middle ages and mythology/folklore. The image of the phalanx came to me while playing with this, and I thought I could expand on it for the final presentation. You see, we've got free format for the presentation, choosing whatever 2D or 3D medium we want to use. The only catch is that we have to have all 26 capital letters represented. I toyed around with some concepts, all revolving around the phalanx. Most centered either on the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae or Xenophon and the Persian Expedition. I had thought of a greek shield with the letters on it and a lamda (the inverted "V" symbol, a greek letter, signifying Sparta), or of a model version of the battle (with foamcore terrain ^^). I finally settled with a comic, narrating the battle of Thermopylae. Yes, it is in French (given my university, is that any surprise?), and if you have trouble deceiphering it, just look up the battle, or the movie "300 Spartans" (or even the Frank Miller comic "300").

The most important part that you can notice is that the letters replace characters here. The Greeks are all portrayed by the "Phalanx" font, while the Persians are all Times New Roman (or a similar font with serifs).

India Ink on Bristol Board

John Bell 2005