Customise a letter and share it with #TimeType

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Typographic Time Machine #TimeType
Take part in the Typographic Time Machine project anywhere in the world, you don’t need to be in London to participate.

Typefaces are like Instagram filters for letters
A typeface captures the spirit of when it was designed and is a permanent record of that moment in time. In this way typefaces document social history and chart developments in technology. Type can transport you to an imagined nostalgia that­ you may not have experienced first-hand, but which has become real to you through the experience of film and television.

How to take part:
1. Download one of the letter templates and print it out at 21cm x 21cm (to fit the width of an A4 page). Download a pdf here, or click on one of the letters below for a larger version.

2. Use pens, pencils, paint, ink, collage materials and customise your letter to represent a moment in time—past present or future.

3. Take a photograph of your customised letter and share it on Instagram or Twitter with #TimeType, or tag @TypeTasting on Facebook.

We will be adding the finished letters to the online gallery before and during the event at the V&A for the London Design Festival on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September.

Letter templates.
Here is a selection of letters for you to use. Scroll down to the one of the letters below, click to enlarge an outlined version your chosen letterform and print out at the width of an A4 page (the outline may be faint to see it on screen, but it should print out fine).

r-1 d-1 b-1 c-1 e-1 b-2 j-1 f-1 g-1 m-1 n-1 h-1 k-1 i-2 n-2

i-1 l-1 h-2 a-2 c-3 f-2 c-2 e-2 a-1 s-1 p-1 d-2 o-1 o-2 u-1 w-1 w-2 v-1 t-1 r-3 z-1 x-1 v-2 t-2 y-2 m-2 k-2 j-2 l-2 q-2 q-1 x-2 z-2 p-2 s-3 y-1 u-2

TypeTastingTimeMachine_03

If you are in London…
Typographic Time Machine
Drop-in and get creative with letters at the V&A
Sat 17th and Sun 18th September, 11am-5pm
Free, drop in workshop, suitable for all ages
Design Studio, Learning Centre, Level 3, V&A, London SW7 2RL

Could you make a letter look like it is swaggering straight out of the Wild West of a century ago, or like it has travelled from the era of fairy tales and knights in shining armour, or like it has been beamed down from a space ship in the future?

Drop in and roll up your sleeves as you get creative playing with fonts and lettering customising a letter to recreate a moment in time: past, present or future. You are invited to add your completed letter to the display on the wall, which will grow throughout the weekend to create an exciting collection designed to transport viewers through time and typography.

V&A logo
By taking part you will have your work on show at the V&A

#TimeType
Share a photo of your finished letter on social media with #TimeType.
View letters on Instagram and Twitter. See the full collection on the #TimeType Pinterest board.

Monotype Logo
Sponsored by Monotype, providing fonts and technologies that bring the world’s words to the page and screen.

Brochure cover
DISCOVER / CREATE / LEARN / TASTE
Download the programme of Type Tasting events at the London Design Festival.