A unique opportunity to expand my knowledge of typography as well as design for smaller surface prints came to me in the form a deck of cards. Tasked with developing a 26 card deck with each card showcasing a different font, this project had me excited from the very beginning. This project would be my first exposure to small print design in college and I was drawn to the challenge. This project required us to pick 26 unique fonts that would each display a letter from the alphabet and each card would have two sides, one an information side displaying the font and the other a pattern formed from the letter.
The main goal of my early process would be to find a universal design that can be repeated onto each card and would still work with the 26 different fonts I chose. Each card includes the font name, creator of the font, and a fact about the font. The large letter on each card represents the name of the typeface for that card
On a black background and white text, design details were highlighted with a pop of blue. After an exploration of all 26 fonts, I found a flaw in my design. With 26 different fonts that each have varying weights and x-heights, the size of the body copy would not align. To solve this problem, I selected a font that would be used universally on all 26 cards for the body copy only. After spending time tweaking the layout and exploring different pattern designs for each card. After some time, I had all 26 card designs complete. I should’ve known things weren’t that easy.
With the digital development of the cards completed, the time came to print the deck of cards. It is a ritual with Johnson & Wales printers to begin not working when finals time came and this time was no different. After some trial and error, I figured how to align the front of my cards with the back properly. When it came time to print, printing error after printing error began to emerge. These issues were unable to be fixed like streaks or in my case weird gray blotches on my black backgrounds. The final I submitted at the time had these gray smudges that appeared on my card that were unavoidable. I did not let the printing problem deter me from my accomplishments that came with completed this project. I was able to design for smaller spaces, experiment with pattern design, and explore a plethora of fonts. All these factors allowed for the creation of a clean and unified deck of 26 cards.
