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Spanish-born designer Elena Ruiz transforms postwar Plymouth into a bold typographic alphabet for her MA Visual Communication project at Arts University Plymouth

At a time when cities worldwide are re-evaluating their public spaces and architectural legacies, designer Elena Ruiz is inviting a re-reading of modernism, not as cold or impersonal, but as a source of visual identity and civic pride. Her project, Typetecture, turns Plymouth’s overlooked modernist cityscape into an expressive typographic language rooted in history, place, and design.

Ruiz, who completes her Master’s in Visual Communication at Arts University Plymouth this summer, has created a sculptural alphabet inspired by the post-Blitz rebuilding of the city. Through detailed research into Plymouth’s Abercrombie Plan of 1943, she has produced a limited-run artist’s book and companion website that explore the city’s urban fabric as typographic form.

“Typetecture explores how cities rebuild their identity through type, and how design can give forgotten architecture a second life. Typetecture is a love letter to Plymouth, helping people to see past what they think they know and finding beauty in the overlooked. It’s about using design to connect emotionally with place.” — Elena Ruiz

Each letterform in Typetecture draws from real-world architectural details, including curved façades, nautical carvings, even manhole covers, all rendered within a rigid grid to reflect the Beaux-Arts-inspired city layout proposed after World War II. The result is a bold, abstract, and architectural alphabet that is not meant to be traditionally readable, but instead evokes Plymouth’s modernist story through pictorial language.

Ruiz’s design influences range from concrete utopias to Brutalist detail, supported by texts like Concretopia and archival press censorship research. Cities across Europe, like Rotterdam, Warsaw, and Berlin, underwent similar modernist redesigns after wartime destruction, but Ruiz’s work positions Plymouth as a uniquely radical postwar case.

“When I arrived here, people told me that Plymouth is grey and boring. Once I started looking closer, at carvings, corners, and textures, I saw how full of character it is. I think that Plymouth is beautiful,” Elena says. “Typetecture became my personal homage to the city.”

The physical book itself is an experience: fold-out pages, French folds, and multiple paper stocks echo the texture and tactility of the city. Letters like B for Blitz, P for Pneumonia Square, and U for Utopia ground the project in historical and emotional layers.

“Typetecture is a visual essay in type. My book is designed to be held, opened, and interacted with.” — Elena Ruiz

Originally from Madrid, Ruiz brings a cross-European sensibility to British design traditions. Now based in the South West of England, her career spans editorial work in Spain, time living in Paris, and a range of freelance and collective design practice in the UK. She is trilingual and brings an international lens to everything she designs.

Ruiz first studied at Arts University Plymouth as an undergraduate, graduating with First Class Honours in BA (Hons) Graphic Design in 2020. She created the visual identity for the university’s 2019 Graduate Shows, and later designed the brand for Green Minds, a city-wide rewilding initiative led by Plymouth City Council.

“Before the MA, my work focused more on branding and packaging. Returning to Arts University Plymouth gave me the space to develop new expertise in editorial design, 3D applications, and conceptual work. I used the time to experiment and think more deeply,” Elena explains.

She continues to work as a freelancer and as part of Brand Biscuit Studio, contributing to campaigns for Newquay Airport, Plymouth Charity Trust, and Diversity Business Incubator.

Her final project is among the last to be presented under the title MA Visual Communication, as from September 2025, postgraduate visual communication at Arts University Plymouth will become part of a newly validated MA Communication Design programme. The new MA is designed to support students working across disciplinary boundaries to develop creative solutions to urgent global challenges, mirroring Ruiz’s practice-led, research-driven approach.

“Typography can speak for itself. It doesn’t need translating,” says Elena. “Through my work, I hope to contribute something fresh, considered, and welcoming to the creative community here in Plymouth, and beyond.”

MA Graduate Show 2025

See Typetecture in 3D and experience the next wave of creative research. Audiences can explore Elena’s work alongside a range of experimental and interdisciplinary projects during our annual postgraduate exhibition:

• Dates: Monday 21 – Thursday 31 July 2025 (closed Sunday 27 July)
• Opening hours: 10am – 6pm daily (late opening Thursday 24 July, 6pm – 8pm; Saturday 26 July, 10am – 1pm)
• Private view: Thursday 24 July, 6pm – 8pm, sponsored by Luscombe
• Venues:
  • MIRROR, Arts University Plymouth, Tavistock Place, Plymouth PL4 8AT
  • Studio 11, Regent Street, Plymouth PL4 8BE (two-minute walk from main campus)

Free entry, no booking required. Both venues are wheelchair accessible.