Word Art a new way to celebrate Memories

The beauty of art is its diversity and the fact that it can be disputed. Those familiar with the work of artists such as Damien Hirst or Tracey Emin will know their work bears no resemblance to the work of Monet or Raphael. Like wise word art bears no relation to any fine or great art. It is a simple method of displaying memories in a visually pleasing way.

Typography is an interesting word, one that sparks immediate recognition in almost all of us but not a word most of us could easily define. Wikipedia for example defines it thus, the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible.

With typographic art the purpose is less to make a language understandable than it is to make it visually interesting or even beautiful. Word art or typographic art is something I know well. I make a living or at least a substantial part of my living designing word art for individuals and companies. I do this on a commission by commission basis, I or more specifically the company I work for sets a price (usually by type, canvas, framed and size) and the customer orders it. At this point the customer provides the text and and description of the finished look they hope to achieve.

See below for one entirely made up example designed merely to show variations to the potential customer. The purpose of this any several other examples which will be displayed here was merely to demonstrate what could be achieved.

Sadly for me at least most customers would often choose to copy designs exactly. "I want it just like that one" or "Just like this one but can you change that word" Is this a missed opportunity?

The most typical example of this (shown below) is an example I made to celebrate a child's birth. The child along with the rest of the content is entirely fictional, I made up the wording with less than a few minutes thought. Late, worth the wait! A good rhyme I thought to myself as I quickly slung it together. How was I to know that 95% of the word art orders I was to recieve would feature exactly the same wording?

Why so grumpy about it I can image you thinking? Your paid to produce them what difference does it make to you? The difference it makes is that I feel sad for the missed opportunity, the missing out on something that can be beautiful and personal and wonderful if you just show a little imagination. Imagination is a wonderful and beautiful thing.

I place no real value on my personal design skills, many others could design these as well as I do and I am sure others do indeed design them better than I do. My design skills aside the customer could own something truly special and beautiful to them regardless of the final design I produce. Yet they copy verbatim my made up lines of tired text over and over again changing only names, times, locations.

So here is my advice if you think you should get some word art for you home! Think about it, what is the rush? Remember the little things, they are the ones that will bring a smile to your face every time you look at it. Remember that time you spilled a milk shake all over that stranger, yes you were mortified at the time but now you can laugh about it.

Imagination really is a very beautiful thing, so whether it is for word art or for anything else think about it. If you don't you might just miss out on something really special, something that can aid your memories and make them richer and more readily recalled.

So the proverb goes, so where does that leave word art? A picture made of words?. Does the inclusion of words increase the meaning or perhaps give greater depth or are the words themselves less important than the visual content.

The fact is all points are genuinely If you choose to make or purchase word art, do use your imagination and give thought to the choice of the words. But don't over look the style, because the right choice of colours and composition can prompt those memories just as readily as a few well chosen words.

And finally if you must rhyme late with worth the wait do not worry I will get over it