Digital Signpost Design
Primary 6 · Creative Arts
Digital Signpost Design
Lesson 1 of 4
20 min
Let's begin
On the way to the market, Niyonzima passes an old shop with its name painted above the door. The letters seem to stand out from the wall, like blocks of wood that you could pick up. "How did the painter do that with only a brush?" he wonders.
The painter used the same trick you used to draw a box: showing more than one side.
Block letters are thick, plain letters in which every stroke has the same thickness. They are the easiest letters to turn into 3D. Draw them on squared paper (a maths book works well): for example, make each letter 5 squares tall, each stroke 1 square thick, and leave 1 square between letters. Leave a little extra space between the letters, because the 3D sides will need room.
A flat letter shows only its front face. A 3D letter also shows its depth: its top or bottom, and one of its sides, like a box. You draw the depth by making a copy of the letter behind the first one and joining them.
No paper grid? Draw one with a ruler, 1 cm squares. You can also work with chalk and charcoal on a dark board: white letters with black depth look very strong.
More than 100 years ago, sign painters in Britain painted company names on railway wagons by hand. The board at the bottom left of this photo even tells you how the wagon was painted: "Letters white, shaded black".
Tip
Same way, same length, all parallel
Every letter shifts the same way, every joining line is the same length, and all of them are parallel. Check these three things and your word will look solid.
Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.
What does a 3D letter show that a flat letter does not?
Answer: Its depth: a top or bottom and a side, as well as the front face.
What is true about all the short lines that join the front letter to its copy?
Answer: They are parallel: they slant the same way and are the same length.
Keza shifts the copy of her K up and right, and the copy of her A down and left. What goes wrong?
Answer: The letters seem to point different ways, so the word does not look solid. Every letter must shift the same way.
The light comes from the top left. Which side of the 3D letters should be darkest?
Answer: The side facing away from the light: the right side (and the bottom if it shows).
Make it: On squared paper, write your first name in block letters and make them 3D. Colour the fronts bright and shade the sides dark.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The rest of the lesson, the diagrams and the exercises (Try it yourself and the practice questions) are written by Ganzaa.
Quick check
Put the four steps to a 3D letter in order.
Tap the cards in the right order.
