From A to Z: a tour of the alphabet

A from Alphabet Snap An alphabet snap card from the Early Learning Centre depicting a lower case letter 'a' Illustration: Early Learning Centre, 2007 Photograph: Action images B from Linotype Zootype The Argentine designer Victor Garcia created this Zootype font in 1997. Animal heads peek into the black block forms of the letters Illustration: Victor Garcia, 1997 Photograph: Victor Garcia, 1997 C, the copyright symbol The copyright symbol, shown by a circled c, is used in copyright notices for commercial works © other Photograph: other D from Laphabet Jonathan Lander created the Laphabet, a new typeface that explores the visual potential of the alphabet. By playing with mirroring techniques, Lander gives each letter a new appearance Illustration: Jonathan Lander, 2009 Photograph: Jonathan Lander, 2009 E in lights Composed of myriad letter Es - resplendent in a bright, neon rendering - this image appears almost to move on the page Illustration: Designer Things Photograph: Designer Things F from Peter Blake's Alphabet Pop artist Peter Blake's Alphabet portfolio demonstrated his passion for collecting letters and imagery © Peter Blake, 2007 Photograph: Peter Blake, 2007 G tile from Scrabble Scrabble is the world's best-selling word game © Alfred Mosher Butts, 1948 Photograph: Alfred Mosher Butts, 1948 H from the Braille alphabet Devised in 1821 by Louis Braille, the alphabet is based on a code system used by Napoleon's soldiers to convey messages silently and without light Illustration: Black Dog Publishing Photograph: Black Dog Publishing I from the ABC of Feminism Completed during Women's History Month by artist Carrie O'Neill. The women illustrated represent a range of causes and include Betty Friedan, Harriet Tubman and Shirin Ebadi. 'I' is for Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, the Sudanese writer, women's rights activist and socialist politician Illustration: Carrie O'Neill, 2009 Photograph: Carrie O'Neill, 2009 J from a Morse alphabet poster Using the standardised sequence of long and short elements to represent the ltters of the alphabet, Mattias Jakobsson and Peter Strom created this striking typeface design Illustration: Konst & Teknik, 2009 Photograph: Konst & Teknik, 2009 K from ABCing: Seeing the Alphabet Differently Coleen Ellis's book on alternative approaches to seeing and understanding letterforms dismantled the Latin alphabet, shifting the focus from the subject — the letter — to the surrounding space Illustration: Colleen Ellis, 2009 Photograph: Colleen Ellis, 2009 L on an alphabet block First designed in the 17th century, alphabet blocks were one of the first toys that aimed to provide education and enjoyment Photograph: Black Dog Publishing Letter M on a gravestone The letter is carved out of granite, and sparkles with quartz and lichen Photograph: Jim Kuhn, 2008 Letter N, formed from grass Photograph: Christophe Rolland An ice cube in the shape of a letter O Photograph: Muji P, wearable lettering A green sleeve that, when worn in different ways, allows the wearer to personify every letter of the alphabet Photograph: Amandine Alessandra, 2009 Q from A to Z This work, by London-based designer and illustrator Tim Fishlock, takes the form of a poster where each letter of the alphabet has been fashioned out of sections and lines from the London Underground map, originally created by Harry Beck Photograph: Tim Fishlock, 2009 R for Russian, from Picture Alphabet of Nations of the World This children's book shows portraits of a nationality or ethnicity for each letter of the alphabet - except Q and X Photograph: T Nelson & Sons, 1874 Typographic versions of the letter S Photograph: Black Dog Publishing T from The Bastard Word Fiona Banner has been experimenting with images of fighter planes, and with language, since her time at art school. In The Bastard Word, Banner constructs the 26 letters of the alphabet by dissecting and rearranging her drawings of specific aircraft and components Illustration: Fiona Banner, 2006-2007 Photograph: Fiona Banner, 2006-2007 U on a shutter British street artist Ben Eine has succeeded in transforming the drab shutter fronts of east London's small businesses into a virbant, alphabetical patchwork Photograph: Ben Eine, 2002-2007 V from Kögra typeface Siggi Odds designed this typeface while studying at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. His work presents not only the conventional alphabet and punctuation but also additional Icelandic letters Illustration: Siggi Odds, 2006 Photograph: Siggi Odds, 2006 W is for Peacekeeper from A is for Book Throughout A is for Book there are instances when the letters do not obviously match up with the words they have been connnected with, times when we can surmise the link between word and image and others when we cannot follow the artist's thought processes Photograph: Bob and Roberta Smith, 2001 X from Pin Ups The book uses illustrations of women posing in sexually provocative posistions to create letters. The women's bodies are made up of negative spaces creating sharp images Illustration: Malika Favre, 2008-2009 Photograph: Malika Favre, 2008-2009 Y from The Contemporary Teenage Alphabet Julian Jensen created the Alphabet at the age of 16 when he was still a student photographer in high school. His pictures challenge the way in which teenagers are grouped into stereotypical categories by adults and their peers Photograph: Julian Jensen Z from Abeceda The collaborative work Abeceda is a coming together of dance, poetry and graphic design in an avant garde approach to the alphabet. Written by Vítězslav Nezval, it makes use of the forms of letters and the choreography of dancer Milca Mayerová Photograph: Karel Teige, 1926