Recently the Society of Typographic Arts (STA) asked me to design a letter for their annual holiday party and auction. In all, STA reached out to 26 designers for this project—including Design Kitchen, Jessica Hische, Mark Simonson, and Rick Valicenti—one for each letter of the alphabet. Of course, I chose “Y” as my subject.

These kinds of projects are the most difficult: open-ended with very few constraints. As a designer solving other people’s problems, I view constraints as my guides. They help me to navigate through the rough terrain. Without them, I imposed some of my own to steer me in the direction of an idea. I decided not to do something expected, like a typographic “Y” or a found “Y.” Beyond that, I tried to keep an open mind. 

I had recently unearthed some Silly Bandz, and they were sitting on my desk while I was thinking about this project. I think I originally bought them about six years ago—before the Silly Bandz craze—but I had just opened the box a few weeks ago, so they sort of spoke to me. I wondered if they would make good letters.

I think they do, but bidders at the STA auction will have the final say. Let’s hope they agree with me. The proceeds from the STA auction go to benefit the STA Jack Weiss Founder Student Scholarship Award.