2020

Ethan Phan

www.behance.net/ethanphan

I enjoy juxtaposing seemingly opposite ideas, such as putting casual and mundane messages on culturally significant materials; or combining typefaces that were designed for opposite purposes. The conceptual endpoints of my work usually centre around the messages these juxtapositions convey.

I have had the opportunities to work on placements that span across different creative fields (design studio, publisher, art installations, etc.) and countries (the UK, Austria, Vietnam). I am now based in London have decided to focus on graphic design.

The Code of Online Decorum

The project explores the contradiction between the medium and their messages. Using traditionally authoritative materials such as marble, these public installations subvert the viewers’ expectation of a piece of ancient wisdom with casual and witty comments on Internet etiquette. Though in modern times, it's hard to say for sure which one is more important.

Gutenbit Typeface

The religious overtone of the Bible format and blackletters were used to make a comment on the unquestioning belief of modern consumers in cult brands, specifically online platforms.

I created three bitmap blackletter fonts and used them to display the history of Google, Facebook and Apple (see next project). Utilizing their bitmapped appearance, each font was made to be more refined than the last to reflect the tech giants’ progress of becoming more sophisticated both as brands and as cults.

Big Tech Bible

This is an expansion of the Gutenbit Typeface project, which highlights the similarity between the unquestioning belief of modern consumers to their brands and Medieval cult mentality. In the typical Bible format, the fonts are used to display the history of Google, Facebook and Google, completed with illustrated manuscripts.

Ethan Phan

Email address

Web Portfolio

Biography