TNB Night Owl – The Alphabeard

Letter J, photo by Jonymamilou

Graphic designers are very visually oriented; they have to be, because presenting things in a way that draws a person’s attention is a key component of their job. If they’re not expert on recognizing visual cues, they aren’t likely to be a graphic designer for very long – or at least not a successful one.

Looking at the world with fresh eyes helps some of them to excel at their jobs. It’s not just about arranging, say, a toy robot that looks cool… it’s getting together with an engineer and designing a toy robot that can turn into a car.

Sometimes the idea of looking at old things in a new way bears some very odd fruit. In the case of Mike Allen, a graphic designer from New York, it resulted in the alphabeard.

Mike and some friends were joking one day in 2014 about how the arrangement of some people’s beards resemble other things, and the conversation drifted over to the alphabet. This got Mike thinking… and then, experimenting.

He grew in part of a beard over two weeks, shaving only select parts, until he had what looked like a normal beard or, if someone looked at it in the right context, a capital “A”. Then he shaved it off.

At this point he asked his son if he should try for a “B”. His son strongly encouraged him to do so… and the rest was history. Every two weeks, another letter to photograph, followed by a shave and restarting the clock.

How well did he do? You be the judge:

Question of the night: have you known anyone with an unusual hairstyle?

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About AlienMotives 1991 Articles
Ex-Navy Reactor Operator turned bookseller. Father of an amazing girl and husband to an amazing wife. Tired of willful political blindness, but never tired of politics. Hopeful for the future.