My typeface was Ma(n)son by Jonathan Barnbrook. After research into his work and the reason for the change of name from Manson to Mason, I studied the serial killer Charles Manson and came to realise why Barnbrook chose this name for his typeface, due to the violent, dangerous, unstable and sometimes inconsistent nature of the letters. What spoke to me most out of all my research was the fact that Emigré, the type foundry that released Ma(n)son, changed the name of the typeface to Mason because of the number of complaints they received that Barnbrook was 'glorifying' the serial killer through his work or simply using the name for attention.

 I became fascinated with this story, as when I was studying the typeface only aware of the name Mason, I completely missed the subtle hints at violence throughout the font, such as the gothic nature of it's shapes, the thin, dagger-like serifs and the target of a shotgun encased in it's 'O'. I considered the missing 'N' of the name to be this extremely bloody, unstable character that brought danger and violence to the typeface.  This page shows my first experiments playing around with different materials in order to communicate the nature of that 'N'.

Starting with a wire frame, I began to explore how I could twist and manipulate the shape in order to communicate danger and violence in an effective way. I played with the idea of barbed wire, and whether this would be better shown through two letters knitted together, or simply 'threading' the wire through one 'N' shape. My final vision for this was a battered and bloody 'N' that had bits of wire poking through it to really portray the violence it brought to the typeface. However, once I had played around with the materials, I realised that due to time constraints I would not be able to experiment sufficiently and produce an effective outcome with the materials I had, therefore decided to work in a 2D format.

Although I was pleased with the illustration I produced for the final piece, as it conveyed the blood-thirsty nature of my concept, I didn't have enough time to print the type using letterpress, as the poster was too big for the press. If I were to talk the project forward, I would carefully plan all aspects of the poster and use a Caslon slab serif for the main typeface to contrast with the painterly illustration.