Floating Things- Oh, wait?

Alex Haigh, January 30, 2011.

It’s a bird! No- it’s a plane! No- it’s… floating ‘things’?

Environmental typography is one of the trippiest pieces of art sometimes. Creators like Alex Haigh know exactly how to bring big ideas into life. At first glance, I really thought Haigh had used the eraser tool on photoshop and placed an under layer to spell the word ‘things’ out. Then I realized that he had perfectly hung ornaments to create the illusion of this word.

Amazing how there has to be a specific angle to read the typography as well. There was a lot of thought process and effort put into this project. That’s why this piece is so outstanding: you can appreciate the creativity and be captivated as well by the very thought of this being put together.

The choice of hanging ornaments mimics the color of the sky and is shaped relatively close to a cloud. This makes the typography look soft since the large type itself is enough of a contrast for the environment.

It’s incredibly important to think outside the box, especially in advertising since a lot of ideas have been overused and predictable. Ambient Type helps freshen up concepts and learning how to use it in complex environments that aren’t man-made is a skill.

What ‘things‘ represents in Alex’s piece is a mystery. They haven’t described much about their piece and it ultimately leaves the viewer to interpret it as they will. Maybe there’s no right answer and we are simply seeing the creative practice of an artist. Does everything really need an explanation?

Humans are so complicated. Until next time,

Yenzel, xo.