- Concept: I would like to call my typeface Pent Up (*I have since changed its title to On Edge). I think razors are a very striking and visceral image, and i would like to use them to reference various types of emotional pain, though not just the suicidal, as razors might first imply, but using a quiet voice. Ideally, i hope to use lowercase, soft letters, contrasting the harsh medium of the razors.
- Names: razor blades, razors, square razors, single-edged razor blades
- Common Uses: Though razors like these are mostly used by mounting them into a handle to cut cardboard and other softer substances for construction purposes, in popular media they are usually shown as a tool of choice for suicide by wrist cutting.
- Properties: gray, light, smooth, metallic (taste and smell), small, geometric, steel, threatening, sharp (on one side), blunt (on the others)
- How It’s Made: The blades are made by forming and pressing steel into a thin sheet, which is then cut into a rectangular shape, and sealed with more metal on one side.
The material studies project was based, again, on finding letters in the world around us. This time, however, we were to prepare a poster, and a considerable amount of documentation on the typeface as we conceptualized it.
I tried working with cocktail umbrellas, these strange snake earrings I own, and finally, razor blades. I chose the blades not only because of their simple shape, which worked well to create larger letters, but also because of the visceral reaction people have to them. I wanted to convey a dark, neurotic image with On Edge, and i really think i achieved that.
Still, I believe that the final poster needed further editing in Photoshop than what I gave it. I like the dirty sink I used, but I think there is just too much orange, and not a high enough resolution to the image. Keep you camera in focus, people, it helps. Clearly i’m still working on it.