Community

Given the opportunity to write / draw over 3 spreads on the subject of Community for Fontshop’s Font 004 magazine, I took the chance to explore some “graphic communication.”

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I initially wrote a fairly lengthy piece on the inclusiveness/exclusiveness of community and the varying levels of exclusivity, as well as the various potential communities to which we all belong. bantjes_2005_community-2

And after writing, I started to draw. And as I drew, I eliminated the text as it became absorbed into the graphics. bantjes_2005_community-3

I used 6 Fontshop typefaces in the piece, breaking most of the typographic rules I diligently insist my typography students observe. I also created 31 pattern rings made from dissected pieces of the typefaces.

bantjes_2005_community-4

The whole became a kind of organic narrative diagram, and has survived the test of time as one of my favourite pieces.

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2005