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Letter Forms: Designing Original Font

9–12 Lesson Plan

Jeffrey Gibson frequently incorporates powerful text into his artwork. He combines traditional geometric patterns with bold colors and words and phrases that hold meaning for him. Gibson’s choice of words and phrases comes from various sources, including poetry, music, historical records, and personal experience.

The geometric letter forms, or font, that he creates consist of flat blocks of intense colors that reside on the same visual plane as the surrounding patterns, rendering them almost invisible as words and letters at first glance. Gibson describes the text in his work as “holding the same space” as the abstract patterning. These letter forms require the viewer to pause and engage with Gibson’s work to fully decipher its meaning. 

In a 2024 interview, when asked how and why he began creating his own font, Gibson stated,

“Somebody said to me one time, ‘Why would you use somebody else’s font? Those [fonts] are coming from all of these other histories. Why not create your own font?’ We were making beadwork panels in the studio, and I realized that I wanted to create a font that we could put into square-stitch beadwork and that is how those letters emerged.” [1]

Objective: Students will examine Jeffrey Gibson’s artworks featuring text, explore how he creates letter forms, and then create their own font using cut-paper art and featuring text, colors, and patterns that have meaning to them. 

Guiding Question: How can letter forms be used in art to add visual interest and express identity?

  • Creating: VA:Cr1.1
  • Enduring Understanding: Creativity and innovative thinking are essential life skills that can be developed. 
  • VA.Cr.1.1.HSI.a: Use multiple approaches to begin creative endeavors.  
  • VA:Cr.2.1.7.a: Demonstrate persistence in developing skills with various materials, methods, and approaches in creating works of art. Students will also perceive and describe beauty of their natural world and constructed environments.  
  • Creating: VA:Cr2.1 
  • Enduring Understanding: Artists and designers experiment with forms, structures, materials, concepts, media, and art-making approaches.  
  • VA.Cr2.1.HSII.a: Through experimentation, practice, and persistence, they will demonstrate acquisition of skills and knowledge in a chosen art form. 

  • Graph paper  
  • Black or colored illustration board or construction paper at least 12 x 18 in. 
  • Various colored papers  
  • Scrap paper to protect desks from glue 
  • Glue sticks 
  • Scissors
  • Pencils 
  • Optional: ruler, compass, protractor 

Teacher Instructions

Step 1: Preparing to Create

  1. Introduce Jeffrey Gibson and his artwork. Show students Gibson’s Artist Interview and read his Artist Statement. For more on Jeffrey Gibson, show students the Curators’ Corner interviews, his Biography, and/or his Sources of Influence. 
  2. Facilitate an art analysis. Project two or three images of Gibson’s paintings with supporting reference texts to practice looking closely at art and to form a sense of the artist.

Consider projecting: IF YOU WANT TO LIFT YOURSELF UP LIFT UP SOMEBODY ELSE, 2024 [2], GIVE MY LIFE SOMETHING EXTRA, 2024 [3], or BIRDS FLYING HIGH YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL, 2024 [4].

A horizontal artwork featuring colorful angled lines, beading, and all-caps geometric lettering.

IF YOU WANT TO LIFT YOURSELF UP LIFT UP SOMEBODY ELSE

2024
Vertical artwork features colorful angled lines, geometric patterns, all-caps geometric lettering and two small, beaded bags attached to the artwork.

GIVE MY LIFE SOMETHING EXTRA

2024
Expansive horizontal artwork features colorful angled lines, geometric patterns, all-caps geometric lettering.

BIRDS FLYING HIGH YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL

2024
  1. Help students to explore what they see by asking the following questions: 
  • How would you describe Gibson’s work? 
  • What do you notice about his use of color and pattern? 
  • What is it like to read his text? How does it make you feel? 
  • Why do you think Gibson created his own font? What rules did he make for himself about his font? 
  • Why do you think Gibson wrote text in a style that is somewhat difficult to read? 
  • How do the words interact with the overall design and art? 
  • What do you know about the sources of the text that he chose? Why do you think Gibson might have chosen these references for these artworks? 
  1. Continue by discussing the formal artistic aspects of Gibson’s work with text, especially the flatness of the letter forms. Be sure to note that the letter forms engage the viewer because they are not easy to decipher at first. Point out the connection to beadwork by sharing one of his punching bag pieces: NOTHING IS ETERNAL, 2018 or LOVE IS THE DRUG, 2017. 

Teacher Tip

To extend this activity, reference other artists that work in text, including Corita Kent, Jenny Holzer, David McDiarmid, and Shepard Fairey. Gibson has drawn much inspiration from Corita Kent especially. 

Step 2: Creating

  1. To begin drafting, pass out paper and pencils and ask students to write down some short phrases (two to four words) from popular culture, song lyrics, historical texts, or literature that hold meaning for them.  
  1. Ask students to consider the following questions and jot down any ideas they have:  
  • What colors do you associate with these words? Why? 
  • What shapes do you associate with these words: curved and graceful, jagged and hard-edged, simple or complex? 
  • What type or style of font do you think best supports the meaning of your chosen words? Sketch a few sample letters to begin thinking through your own letter forms.  
  1. Ask students to design their own letter forms using the graph paper to provide some boundaries and guides. When creating a font, the designer must have a system that is learnable by someone else. It is not entirely freeform. Students should use the graph paper as a guide but should not be restricted to rectilinear letter forms. Gibson notes that he likes to begin with grids and boundaries in his art, but boundaries can be broken. 

Teacher Tip

  • Tell students that they will eventually need to cut their letter forms out (this may impact their design choices). 
  • If time allows, students can create the entire alphabet. If the class is short on time, students can design only the letters featured in their chosen text.
  1. Next, students should choose a colored background paper (at least 12 x 18 in.) and colored paper for their letters in their chosen color scheme. They should recreate the letters in their font, cutting the colored pieces of paper. They can put the cut letter over another color square to add contrast and patterns, or they can let the background color show through. 

Teacher Tip

If time allows, draw or create a background pattern using additional paper squares cut into shapes that will be used to create a design. These shapes should complement and blend in with the text and support the meaning the artist hopes to express with their text. Ask students to lay out both the text and pattern before gluing anything down. 

Step 3: Share and Reflect

  1. Hang the students’ artwork in the classroom or hallway and have a gallery walk. Each student should present their artwork to the class. Classmates can try to read the text in each piece, with help from the artist if needed. Ask classmates to name one thing about each piece that they feel is successful or interesting, or ask the artist a question about their choices.  
  1. Finally, circle back to the Guiding Question (How can letter forms be used to add meaning and express identity in art?) for a final full-class discussion about what students learned from creating their own letter-form artworks.