For this project, I was tasked with creating two words with image marks made from random objects on paper. In class, we were to bring random objects of ours as well as some ink where we made multiple marks on many sheets of paper. I used many objects, including a grippy sock, a glass, a plastic bag, a string of beads, a 12 sided die, and many other uncommon objects. I then scanned these pictures into my computer where I picked my 10 favorite marks and came up with 5 possible words that related to the marks. I wanted to pick novel and interesting words in order to make my design as intriguing as possible. My scanned documents and list of words are below.

After group critiques and looking at my marks, I decided to move forward using the spring looking mark (created using the top of a glass that I moved back and forth) and the honeycomb looking mark (created by dipping a grippy sock in ink.) I then had to decide which words to use and I selected ‘recoil’ for the spring mark and ‘swarm’ for the honeycomb mark. I believe that these words relate to the marks well but also are novel and interesting. 

When it came to creating my words, I had to isolate the marks in Photoshop, which I did using the object select and magic wand tools. I only used one mark for ‘swarm’ but I used multiple spring marks to create ‘recoil.’ For ‘recoil’ I used multiple marks for each line, creating a slinky-like effect rather than using one mark per stroke as it looked empty and less spring-like. I think this piece has a happy and childlike mood and I think the piece looks very interactive and springy. I had 3 final designs to decide between for my final piece, and I ended up going with the piece that connected the letters together as it was readable, but still very interesting and made the piece look more reminiscent of a spring or slinky.

For ‘swarm’ I isolated some of the dots around the edge of the mark and placed them around the perimeter of the mark to give it a more hexagonal shape and I made sure to place space between the marks in order to give it a hive feel. I cut out the word swarm using the same dots that I isolated to create the border around the original mark. I played around with the mesh tool to try to give some of the letters a more true form, but the tool ended up making the dots look misplaced and misshapen so I decided to use more stiff lettering, which I think contributes well to the eerie mood I wanted to create with this piece.