Co-created Letterform Exercise
SUPPLIES:
- Fine-tipped black sharpies
- Medium sharpies
- White-out
- Narrow white tape
- 8 Participants (If you wish to expand this exercise to other letterforms, contact me and I can send you the template for the full alphabet)
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Arrange participants in rows at tables. Pass out letter templates (one template to each person).
- Go over the instructions for filling out templates (written on each template).
- Explain that the first participant will be the Letter Caption for that particular letter. He/she should write down (in the provided area on the template) a rule for the following participants to adhere to. Participants should not explain their rule to others, although they can otherwise chat during the activity.
- Set a timer. Give the Letter Caption 5 minutes to come up with a rule and fill out 1/8 of the letter.
- Once the time is up, set the timer again, this time for 3 minutes. Each time the timer goes off, ask the participants to pass their letter on to the next person so they might continue filling out the letter.
- Each participant can use the White-out or white tape to cover up something done previously.
- When each letter has moved through the hands of eight people, it should be returned to the Letter Caption. The Letter Caption now has an additional 3 minutes to finish up the letter.
- Scan the finished letterforms. Convert the scans to outlines in Illustrator. Share the results back to the group as vector files to use as they wish.
Letter Templates: letter_templates
To try other participatory exercises, visit participatorydesign.site