Ji Lee is a communication designer and author who is known for his illustrations in the “Word As Image” project. It all started 20 years ago as an assignment in Lee’s typography class at art school where students were encouraged to see letters beyond their utilitarian dullness. He even published an interactive eBook called “Word as Image” containing nearly 100 words. It’s about discovering the magic behind the unique shapes and infinite possibilities of letters and words.
When asked about how he came up with the idea, Ji Lee said “When we were children, letters were like fun toys. We played with them through our building blocks. We colored them in books. We danced and sang along with TV puppets while learning C was for “cookie.” Soon, letters turned into words. Words turned into sentences. Sentences turned into thoughts. And along the way, we stopped playing with them and stopped marveling at A through Z”.
Here are some spectacular examples from this phenomenal book: