Below the Baseline

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.