This semester, I sat in on a typography class. I have been really excited to have the opportunity because my training in graphic design is slim to none. Up till now, I have built my knowledge on those around me, so the class has been wonderful.

The final project of this class was a type specimen book that was to show case a type face in book form. Our options were completely open.  So I decided to go with a book that displayed the font through creative content as opposed to an historical approach.  The end result was an animal ABC book featuring Bernard MT Condensed. I am not crazy about ABC books, but I had a few ideas right away of how I wanted to pursue it, and I think it worked out in the end.

The text is printed with an ink jet printer on Mohawk superfine eggshell. The letter pages are made of a textured, navy Strathmore paper and cut out by hand. It is covered in Iris book cloth and the paper that shows through is a blue Thai paper (I think!) that had been sitting around in my studio too long. Endbands were made using Iris book cloth wrapped around cord. The illustrations were done on my computer tablet using photos as guides.

I chose just a few photos to put up for this post, but there are of course illustrations for every letter…including X!

My plan is to edition to 10.  There are some minor things I would like to change, but for the most part it will be as it looks now with the exception of a box…maybe.