Publication
Publication
Below the Baseline is a practice-led typographic research project aiming to critically engage with fundamentals of type design through focussing on a single letter form. The project is centred around the uppercase 'Q' as both a constraint and unique perspective on typography exploration. The first of the collection, Query, is a response to Eric Gill's book An Essay on Typography. The second, Tradesmen, was designed in addition to hand-painted signage used to mark the Tradesmen's Entrance to a building at 59–61 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road. The third, Peter and Paul, was designed in addition to hand-made concrete lettering found on the façade of the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Bristol. Finally, Ottoline was designed through sculptural form responding to the materiality of type production methods to question the tipping point between a letter and a shape.
Print
Poster
Theo Willitts, designer of these forms, drew inspiration from found lettering in the typo-wild to produce forms abstracted from their conventional position on a page to question the underpinnings of typography, its applications, and production history. These established norms need to be discussed as the landscape of type design transitions through technological shifts. The production of posters places these letterforms back in their established context to juxtapose the alternative approach to type design. The designer invites the audience to determine their own unique approaches and perspectives to type design in response to Below the Baseline.
Publication
Publication
De Pijp is a response to the 2026 ISTD brief, Power. Exploring power as voice and visibility, the project and outcome examine how translation across both language and medium can redistribute access to under-represented acts of resistance. This project re-contextualises excerpts of the Dutch video documentary Namens De Kinderen Van De Pijp, 1972 (Roeland Kerbosch) through translation from video to print, from Dutch to English, and from 1972 Amsterdam to a contemporary audience. While researching the broader movement of Stop De Kindermoord, the prominence of large-scale narratives revealed a lack of visibility surrounding smaller, localised acts of activism that contributed to systemic change. This project emerges from that gap, questioning how such voices can be reactivated when exposed to new audiences in a contemporary context.