I started out this project with a concept sketch of nine boxes. My idea was to have the composition present an actual phrase, and be of equal visual interest whether the viewer could read it or not. As I created the smaller studies, I worked to keep a balance between legibility, and overall visual interest of the letterforms as design elements. I alternated between black and white backgrounds to add contrast and unify the piece. Switching between the black and white backgrounds also produced a larger variety of figure-ground relationships. This is particularly demonstrated in the “RE” tile. Another thing I considered with each 3 x 3 study was whether it could stand alone as a composition. I tried to make each one visually interesting by itself. And although I had an overall plan, I worked on each tile separately and without reference to any other. I made shapes by combining letterforms; I removed parts of them, resized them, and rearranged the letterforms to create interesting compositions. The end result was a piece that has variety but in which all elements work together to form a whole.