What if one of the oldest forms of human expression could become a
typeface? I wanted to see if something as simple as a handprint could
be turned into a set of usable letters. To find out, I took a rather unusual
approach to type design: I covered my own hands in paint and started
making letters.

The idea came from prehistoric handprint paintings found in caves.
People covered their hands in pigment and pressed them against
rock walls, leaving behind a trace of their presence. I was intrigued
by this gesture and wanted to bring it into a completely different
context: digital typography.

“Cave of the Hands”, located
in Santa Cruz province, Argentina.

I started by applying black paint to the side of my hand and
pressing it onto paper in different letter shapes, preserving
the irregularities and natural shapes of the process.

After scanning the prints, I converted them into digital
letterforms and adjusted their proportions and thickness where
needed. Interestingly, the digitisation process made all the little
bumps and squiggles along the edges even more pronounced.

In the end, I created a typeface that feels quite different from
anything I had made before. I like that its shapes are not perfectly
clean or predictable, and that every letter carries traces of the
process behind it. It was an interesting experiment in taking
something very old and giving it a completely different purpose.

Art Academy of Latvia / Semester project

Client

Academic advisor

Eva Abduļina

2023

Year

LMA Design Days 2024 / Exhibition

Recognition