~UTOPIA GRAPHICA~

Utopia, a novel published 500 years ago by Sir Thomas Moore is something I was made aware of firstly when I went to visit 'Big Bang Data' at Somerset House Gallery. I was aware there was an exhibition based on the work by Moore with events all across London around the theme of 'Utopia'.

The main thing that caught my eye was the typeface- an entirely (new) alternative alphabet invented by Moore. The book itself is written in Latin, but the letters of the words are replaced by his versions of them. They resemble hieroglyphics in some ways, but also follow some sorts of pattern. 


"VTOPIENSIVM ALPHABETVM"
I was completely fascinated by this 'code' and after my Foundation in Graphic Design at CSM, I decided the best way to understand this 'code' was to begin to draw it out, and perhaps even reinvent it somehow.

I was trying to devise a system that would work; for example if the letters had curves, then they would be 'allowed' to have diagonal lines in them. I felt like I had to create rules, as in order to be considered a typeface you have to have a reasonable amount of uniformity among characters. In my trials (above) I have tried to group the letters visually- hopefully you can see that the characters with the same colouring/shading fit the same design rules. My favourite versions and the ones I chose to take forward are the black outlines with pencil shading edition, as I feel they have the most potential for aesthetic pleasure should I choose to make further work from them.

The term 'Utopia' itself is a pun meaning both 'good place' and 'no place'. It raises questions for me such as 
"Is this place/state achievable?" 
"Is the word 'utopia' a statement for the unreachable?" 
"Does this 'future place' even exist?"

The actual definition of such a place is :
utopia

juːˈtəʊpɪə/

noun

1. an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.

2. https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=utopia+definition

Interplay with the term 'dystopia' also exists:

dystopia

dɪsˈtəʊpɪə/

noun

1. an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.
2. 
   
3. https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=dystopia+definition

The thing I find confusing is the origin of the term. Did Thomas Moore actually invent the word 'Utopia'? Because the text below certainly implies he did.

Topia is derived from the common word "utopia." "Utopia" literally means "nowhere," or "no place." It is derived from the Greek "ou" meaning "not," and "top(os)" meaning "a place." The word was coined by Sir Thomas More to describe the imaginary ideal society in his novel of the same name.

I found the rest of this article at http://www.topia.net/topia.html  to be quite interesting.

I want to develop some work with this as my basis. After making a print with Peso Press at Pick Me Up I'm completely inspired to make something of my own.

We were enabled to use the printing blocks and layout templates provided and print onto a picture of our choice. Outcomes were all of this uniformity. A simple piece with pattern, text, and bottom-heavy white border with the Peso Press foil block stamp on the bottom. I'm determined to find more workshops outside of Pick Me Up and expand my capabilities this summer.