Numerology

Shortly after I began studying typography in art school, I developed a love for the anonymous, "non-designed" bits of printed ephemera that most people barely look at, especially the type and numerals commonly used on them. I began collecting interesting samples in earnest when I worked at SH&G, a large architecture firm in downtown Detroit. Since my daily work routine presented me with a constant supply of parking structure tags, restaurant receipts, and laundry tags, I began bringing them home with me. Soon I was expanding my collection to virtually every aspect of my life at home or at work, and it wasn't uncommon for me to pick up random bits of trash on the sidewalk because of a particular number or line of type.

I didn't really know what I was going to do with them at first, but gradually the urge to combine them into compositions took hold of me, and eventually I created four collages out of the materials I'd collected, seen above and below.