Clever Animal Illustrations Formed Out of Letters

Melbourne-based graphic designer Dan Fleming combines typography with playful illustrations in this series, entitled Word Animals. Specializing in brand identity and logo design, the half British, half Australian artist uses the actual letters from each creature's name to build all kinds of silhouetted animals, including a crocodile, a platypus, a giraffe, a penguin, a pig, a snail, even an owl.

The word animal logos feature strong and simple color palettes that match, and complement, the color of the creatures. A hot pink flamingo balances on one leg formed from the dip of the 'g', a blue whale swims around with the tip of its tail formed out of the 'w', and a red chicken walks around on feet extending from the descenders of the 'k'. Fleming's typography skills are so strong that viewers will see the animal shapes first before searching for each individual letter that make up the contoured shapes. Fleming is flexible with the character structure, so viewers might have to look closely to identify each letter, but it's a fun game to first identify the adorable animals before then determining the layout of the letter formations. For the project, Fleming developed a full packaging scheme around the designs, including business cards and letterhead, a unique website, prints, and even t-shirts.