Letters in a 5×5 Grid – The Building Blocks of Language

P18v1

In this project, we take a step back from the abstraction of letters and focus instead on the individual letters them selves in a format which greets us daily. Using the framework of a 5×5 grid, we explore how letters-like numbers-can be arranged in ways that feel familiar yet defy interpretation. The 5×5 grid serves as a perfect canvas for this exploration, balancing visual simplicity with mathematical complexity. This grid also mirrors the average length of words in the English language, where the typical word contains about 4.7 characters.

To create each composition, we started manually arranging letters into each square of the grid-much like assembling a collage-but quickly added element of automation which not only ensured no duplication occurred but. also sped up the process. The result is a beautiful and complex visual arrangement. Crucially, there are no legible words to be found here, and no hidden meanings embedded within the grids. Yet, the human brain is always seeking patterns, inevitably pushing viewers to search for recognisable words, even when none exist. – what do you see?

The scope of the project is immense: our goal at. first was to generate 1,000 unique pieces, which seems vast in its own right. However, the potential variations within the grid are astonishingly large and so we moved the goal post to 10,000. this might sound big but with 26 letters arranged across 25 squares, the number of unique possibilities explodes into an incomprehensible number: 236,773,830,007,967,588,876,795,164,938,469,376.

To put this into words, that’s:
Two Hundred Thirty-Six Decillion, Seven Hundred Seventy-Three Nonillion, Eight Hundred Thirty Octillion, Seven Septillion, Nine Hundred Sixty-Seven Sextillion, Five Hundred Eighty-Eight Quintillion, Eight Hundred Seventy-Six Quadrillion, Seven Hundred Ninety-Five Trillion, One Hundred Sixty-Four Billion, Nine Hundred Thirty-Eight Million, Four Hundred Sixty-Nine Thousand, Three Hundred Seventy-Six.

This staggering number, while mathematically vast, is balanced by the simplicity of the concept. It reminds us how something as small as a single letter can become part of a much larger whole-a system of almost endless possibilities. ie letters becoming word and words having meaning. Through this project, we fell in love with the duality of its design: simple, yet immense; orderly, yet chaotic. Every grid is a unique and intricate piece, inviting viewers to both marvel at its vast potential and to consider how language itself is constructed from basic, familiar shapes that carry infinite meaning.

Here are a few more: