All work
Type design / Modular type

Dater Stamp

A class project exploring modular typefaces, turning the frame of an office date stamp into every letter of the alphabet and the numerals.

Context
Class project
Brief
A modular typeface
Output
Alphabet, A–Z, and numerals, 0–9

The module

The brief was to build a typeface from one repeated module. I chose a self-inking date stamp, the kind found on every office desk. Its metal frame, with the screw and the curved rubber band, stays the same in every letter. Only the thin lines that finish the box change, closing it into an O, cutting it into an E, or crossing it into an X.

Line drawings of the date stamp forming the alphabet, A to Z, in three rows

From drawing to photograph

The letters started as line drawings, to work out which strokes each one needed. They were then rebuilt from photographs of the real stamp, cut out and finished with the same thin lines, so the letters keep the stamp’s shine and weight.

Photo collages of the date stamp forming the alphabet, A to Z, in three rows

The numerals 0 to 9 built from photographs of the date stamp, in two rows of five

Next project →Wake TF UpStop motion / Animation