Page 50

The Colour Spectrum (Kirsty Carter)

‘A typographic representation of the colour spectrum’ letterpress print (London 2001)

This print was created as part of one of Alan Kitching’s Typographic Workshops at the Royal College of Art. It is a visual representation of the colour spectrum using letterpress, intended as an interpretation of the word ‘cornucopia’. Carter used colour as a means of creating a sense of control, and, ‘to understand better an element of design that I use everyday.’

The spacing between each letterform relates to the wavelength of each colour (known as ‘Ms’ in letterpress and as ‘Nms’ in the prismatic spectrum). The result is a curious combination of the mathematical and the accidental.

Carter describes how the project enabled her to learn about the nature of colours and the ways they interact, as well as about the measurement systems of letterpress and the implications of letter spacing. ‘Through it I discovered a way of presenting the viewer with finite information while still allowing for the possibility of chance and subjectivity’,

< press