Shapes without meaning
Project information
submitted by
Marcel Saidov
Mentors
Guest Prof. Stephanie Specht M.f.A.
Faculty:
Art and Design
Degree programme:
Visual Communication (Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)),
Visual Communication (Master of Arts (M.A.))
Type of project presentation
Exhibition
Semester
Sommersemester2025
- Marienstraße 14
(1 OG)
Available during summaery opening hours
Project description
The starting point of this project is based on historical ornamental / illuminated letters. You’ll have to create a tool which generates or makes shapes without meaning, therefore the application can be really diverse. Your tool can take any form: a physical object, a digital tool, or even an experimental hybrid that rethinks how type is created.
Before we invent, we must observe. We begin at the Plantin Moretus Museum in Antwerp (Belgium), where we will explore one of the richest collections of typographic artifacts in existence. Through this, we’ll gain insight into the craftsmanship and innovation of the past. In a workshop on illuminated letters, we’ll analyze how historical type designers and scribes enhanced letters with structural, decorative, and functional elements. Some of these additions were purely aesthetic, while others guided the eye, framed content, or even structured entire pages. What if these elements—borders, flourishes, drop caps, modular ornaments—weren’t just decorative, but functional tools in their own?