Inspired by Letters Beyond Form: Chicago Types at the Design Museum of Chicago, designer and writer Ally Fouts created a collection of lumen prints that capture typography across Chicago. 

“After visiting this exhibition, I felt as though I was gifted a sixth sense. I noticed how the typeface populating each surface that cradled my walk home changed from neighborhood to neighborhood, block to block, then building to building as my vision zeroed in. Each letter carried significance, an opportunity to consider its creator and the problem that typeface was solving. In an effort to absorb this sixth sense into a long-term practice, I set out to capture typefaces. This exhibition highlights the life cycle to typography that if not intentionally cared for, can lead to its extinction. To reflect this ephemeral nature of type, I chose to document the typefaces I encountered in lumen prints. Using a slow, sun-dependent process, lumen prints are characterized by unpredictable shades of pinks, purples, and blues. Importantly, the unfixed print will eventually fade as time passes. Though photographing type would have served as a useful solution to my goal of collection, the slow process and inevitable erasure of the lumens allow me to spend more time with each form, contemplating it’s shape, significance, pitfalls, and triumphs. By stripping the remaining senses from the typefaces and working with each font closely, I was able to study each letter with the care that Letters Beyond Form: Chicago Types so beautifully exemplified.” — Ally Fouts, Sixty Inches from Center 

See and read about Ally’s prints at Sixty Inches from Center’s website. 

Letters Beyond Form: Chicago Types is on view at the Design Museum of Chicago through April 4, 2025.