Advanced Typography - Task 3: Type Exploration and Application

25/8/2024 - 20/9/2024/ Week 9 - Week 13

GUAN YAXIN / 0370687

Advanced Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Task 3: Type Exploration and Application

LECTURES 

All lectures 1 to 5 completed in Task 1 & Task 2

INTRODUCTION

Task 3: Type Exploration and Application

We have started a new task -- designing fonts. 

1. Proposal of 3 ideas

First, we need to provide three different design ideas, so that we can better compare and choose styles. We were asked to make a powerpoint presentation to outline our ideas.

Fig. 1.1 Proposal

After my selection, I chose to make board style fonts. This style is full of technology and modern, and relatively new, in line with my preferences. I am more interested in science fiction works, such as science fiction novels and science fiction movies. At first, I drew sketches by hand, but after my preliminary production, I found that they did not achieve the effect I wanted, so I changed the direction of the font I chose and chose a starry sky style font. This style of font is also beautiful. After much consideration, I was ready to make a simple and beautiful font.

Fig. 1.2 Chosen idea

Fig. 1.3 reference 1

Fig. 1.4 reference 2

2.make draft

According to my own ideas, I first hand sketched a simple sketch. After confirmation, start making it with Ai

Fig. 1.5 draft

3.Digital

 I used the pen tool in AI to digitize my hand-drawn drafts. They will become simpler and cleaner. This week we need to finish the capital letter design first. Because of the change in my thinking, I spent more time doing this.

Fig. 1.6 Discarded digitization

Fig. 1.7 Preliminary digitization after changing style

Mr. Vinod also gave advice. He personally changed some of the fonts for me to make them more standardized and beautiful, such as the letter B, the letter O, and so on. With Mr. Vinod's help, I made some font changes and started working on lowercase letters and symbols

Fig. 1.8 changes

Fig. 1.9 Digitization after change

When I was making complete letters, numbers and punctuation marks, I made two versions of some letters and added different versions of some letters in capital letters. I don't know which design is better, so I would like to ask the teacher to point out the problem. In the new week's class, Mr. Vinod pointed out my problems, such as the lowercase letter vwx, which can be used without stars; Also, the height of the numbers made should be the same as the capital letters, I need to correct these problems.

Fig. 2.0 Digitized lowercase letters

Fig. 2.1 Digitized numbers and punctuation marks

Fig. 2.2 Some letters have two versions of the design

After Mr.Vinod 's advice, I changed these questions and made minor adjustments to some letters. And adjust the size of the number. 

Fig. 2.3 The final design

Once this was done, I imported them into the font lab for further debugging so that I could make fonts that I could use. The process of debugging the letter size in front lab is complicated, at first I did not think much, just imported the characters I made from ai, but when I did the typing test, I found that their sizes were not very uniform. It took me a lot of time to adjust them to the right and uniform size. Unfortunately, I overlooked the spacing issue, so I retuned their spacing. Although it was a complicated process, I finally completed the task and felt comfortable

Fig. 2.4 Display of letters, numbers and some characters in fontlab

Fig. 2.5 changes in fontlab

Fig. 2.6 Alignment of letters (taking lowercase letter A and lowercase letter B as examples)

Fig. 2.7 Final Font Design Presentation-bright milky way (capital letters)

Fig. 2.8 Final Font Design Presentation-bright milky way (lowercase letters)

Link to font file:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VckE5egEZybIquiKbZySo5zPQJ7zHLfC/view?usp=sharing

4. Application

The next task was to create the font posters and collateral. The design must be related to the font we are designing. My font relates to the starry sky, so I named it“bright milky way”. I am very interested in the universe, and I often look up at the stars in the dark night to feel its vastness, so I made this font design. Human beings are curious and eager to explore, and it is because of this spirit of curiosity that we can continue to develop. According to this idea, I added the part of self-perception in the process of designing posters and collateral, connecting the starry sky with the self, emphasizing self-understanding and building faith, reasonable planning, can not give up chasing dreams, where there is a will, there is a way. Each of us can be a star in the sky with our own unique brilliance.

We need to make five font posters and five collateral, respectively, with a size of no more than 1024 pixels by 1024 pixels. According to my concept of text design, I designed different text posters, whose contents revolve around displaying text. Because the text I designed is relatively simple, the overall style of the poster is also relatively simple. In terms of color, I mainly used blue tones, yellow tones, and black and white, and their combination looked comfortable.

Fig. 2.9 font presentation (1)

Fig. 3.0 font presentation (2)

Fig. 3.1 font presentation (3）

Fig. 3.2 font presentation (4）

Fig. 3.0 font presentation (5）

Next, I made different kinds of collateral, which are common items in life. I made a total of 8 kinds, including canvas bags, tea cups, greeting cards and so on. 

Fig. 3.1 Eight different kinds of collateral

After sifting through my designs and preferences, I chose 5 of them as the final works.

In design, I chose the concept of self and pursuit of dreams, and combined with the starry sky element to design, representing the belief of pursuing dreams and exploring oneself.

Fig. 3.2 collateral (1) T-shirt

Fig. 3.3 collateral (2) tea cup

Fig. 3.4 collateral (3) canvas bags

Fig. 3.5 collateral (4) note book

Fig. 3.6 collateral (5) stamp

Fig. 3.7 Task 3: Type Exploration and Application

FEEDBACK

WEEK 9

General Feedback :Mr. Vinod reviewed the students' work and pointed out the problems, gave a brief explanation of the new project, and gave the students some advice on designing fonts

Specific Feedback :Mr. Vinod confirmed the final result of my Task 2

WEEK 10

General Feedback :Mr. Vinod briefly explained the requirements and precautions of the task, and tried his best to help the students put forward specific suggestions and modifications

Specific Feedback :Mr. Nord made changes for me, he made some letters more beautiful and reasonable, such as capital B and so on

WEEK 11 

General feedback : During this week, we were required to complete all letter forms in upper and lower case as well as numbers and some punctuation, and we needed to import the fonts into font lab to continue to improve

special feedback : Mr. Vinod gave me comments on the letters I made, and he gave me suggestions: Not every letter or number has to have a star element, so I followed Mr. Vinod's advice and tweaked some of the fonts to make them more concise and beautiful

WEEK 12

We were asked to debug the spacing between letters, numbers, and characters, and to export fonts to make fonts that could be installed and downloaded; Make 5 text posters and 5 collateral, the size of which must not exceed 1024 pixels by 1024 pixels

WEEK 13

General feedback : Mr. Vinod gave us a brief review of the students' work and gave us the final task, which we need to refine and start working on as soon as possible

Special feedback : Mr. Vinod praised the typeface I made and prompted me to speed up the progress of the typeface poster and collateral

REFLECTION 

Experience 

In the whole project, I went through the whole process from concept conception to final font design. This process began when I put forward three different design concepts. Influenced by my love of science fiction, I prefer a plate style. However, after preliminary sketch drawing and evaluation, the font design of starry sky style was finally chosen. In the process of hand-drawn sketch and digitization, I am faced with problems such as inconsistent letter size and spacing, so I need to constantly adjust and improve the design details. Especially at the suggestion of my tutor, I modified some letters, which significantly improved the overall aesthetic feeling and standardization of the font. Finally, I use FontLab to further debug and optimize the font to ensure that the size and spacing of each character can be unified, and then export font links for easy download and use.

In the application stage, I deeply studied the creation of font posters and peripheral products. This requires me to transform the essence of fonts into visual design. I tried different color palettes, mainly focusing on blue, yellow, black and white to achieve a harmonious and attractive appearance.

Observation 

The process of font design is highly iterative. With the progress of the project, my initial idea has been evolving, from the initial scientific and technological style to the starry sky style, which makes the font more in line with my interest and aesthetics, and better reflects my curiosity and exploration spirit of the universe.

Mr Vinod's feedback is also very important. His insights helped me understand the importance of simplicity and consistency in design.

In the process of digitalization, it is necessary to master the design software skillfully, which is very important for the efficient completion of font design. Slight adjustment has a significant impact on the overall aesthetics. For example, the height, width and spacing of letters may directly affect the readability and aesthetics of fonts.

During the production of posters and peripheral products, I noticed that the simplicity of fonts affected the overall design style. This requires a careful balance between displaying fonts and adding meaningful visual elements. I also realized that choosing peripheral products such as canvas bags and tea cups can effectively convey the theme of fonts in a practical and relevant way.

Findings

Design needs flexibility: it is necessary to adjust the thinking and direction in time when encountering difficult or unsatisfactory design. It is a successful adjustment to change from the original scientific and technological style to the starry sky style. And you need to pay attention to the details. In font design, the control of details directly affects the final effect. For example, the height of numbers needs to be consistent with capital letters to ensure the harmony and unity of the whole. The fine adjustment of letter form will have a great influence on the overall visual harmony of fonts. Mastering the skills of using professional tools and improving work efficiency can improve the design quality.

The tutor's suggestion plays a key role in the optimization of the design. For example, under the guidance of Mr. Vinod, I revised the design of letters B and O to make them more in line with the specifications of font design.

In application, I found the importance of design concept, which is the premise of design. For example, linking the starry sky with self-awareness and dream pursuit can add depth and meaning to the design. This makes fonts and related products not only visual elements, but also convey a message.

Generally speaking, this task is a very valuable learning experience, which gives me a deep understanding of the whole process of font design, from conceptual conception, hand-drawn sketch, digital design to final application display. I not only improved my design skills, but also cultivated my attention to details and my ability to reflect on the design process.

FURTHER READING

Carter, R., Day, B., Meggs, P. B., Maxa, S., & Sanders, M.

(2015). Typographic design: Form and communication.

Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Fig. 3.8 Typographic design: Form and communication

Fig. 3.9 Helvetica font family

Helvetica font family is selected, because it is clear, beautiful and easy to read, with clear hierarchical structure, large x-height, good line strength, consistent color and excellent printing characteristics, which meets the needs of park publications.