Barcode Type
A class project exploring modular typefaces, building a full alphabet from the bars and gaps of a barcode, cut by hand from tape.
The module
The brief was to build a typeface from one repeated module. Here the module is the barcode: every letter starts as the same tall, solid block, set at a slight slant like a label.
The letters weren’t drawn on screen. Each block was laid down in tape, then carved into with a craft knife, peeling away thin strips to open up the gaps that form the letter.
Reading the bars
Because a barcode only has vertical bars, and a knife cuts cleanest in straight lines, the letters lean on what that limit leaves you: counters become narrow slots, and wide letters like M and W turn into rows of fine parallel lines. Diagonals only appear where they are needed to tell letters apart, in N, V, X, Y and Z.
