Typography/ Task 3: Type Design & Communication
6 Nov 2023 - 17 Dec 2023 (Week 7 - Week 12)
Natalie Chu Jing Xuan, 0354589
Typography, Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Task 3: Type Design & Communication
Jumplinks
1. Lectures
Refer to Task 1
2. Instructions
3. Work Progress
3.1 Research
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| Fig.3.1.1 Type Anatomy |
- Bar: A letter's horizontal stroke. Also referred to as a Crossbar.
- Open Counter: A character with an open end and a partially open space inside it.
- Ear: A tiny stroke that extends from the lowercase g's upper-right bowl.
- Teardrop Terminal: When certain strokes have dropped ends at the end.
- Ascender: A vertical stroke moving upward.
- Stem: The upright characters' vertical, full-length stroke.
- Counter: The negative or open space inside a character's completely closed area.
- Loop: A double-story g's enclosed or partially enclosed counter below the baseline.
- Descender: A vertical stroke that goes down.
- Serif: A stroke or thin decorative line that is applied to a character's form to accentuate it.
3.2 Deconstruction
To gain more understanding on typeface, I deconstructed the following four
alphabets: H,O,G,B.
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| Fig.3.2.1 Deconstruction |
I was aware that the horizontal and vertical strokes of the letter H have different weights. The letter 'O' has distinct dimensions in terms of height and width. Letter 'B' appears to have the same width, but it turns out that it doesn't.
3.3 Sketches
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| Fig.3.3.1 Sketches |
I drew up the potential font using two pens—one flat and one brush. I preferred option 9, but after discussing with Mr. Vinod, we chose option number 3, as the H stroke was placed higher, giving the font more interest. Then, in order to achieve consistency, I began writing "OLESNCHTIG,.!#" in the option 3 font while holding the pen in one direction. I realised that the letter "D" was missing, but I corrected it in the digitalised copy.
3.4 Digitalisation
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Fig.3.4.1 First attempt (before adjustment) |
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| Fig.3.4.2 First attempt (after adjustment) |
I first write out my font using a brush tool. It was uneven and distorted. In order to keep the fonts looking consistent, I slightly modify them with direction selection tool by dragging the anchor points.
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Fig.3.4.3 First attempt (Command y view) |
Next, I select every font that has been created and select Object > Path
> Outline stroke to change the path lines to shapes, and combined
them.
I got feedback of the letter 'S' white space should be improve, 'G' doesn't
look right, the cross stroke should be more on the left, '#' should be a
little bit slanted, '!' wider on top, ',' can be longer and improve on the
serifs of letter 'H' and 'N'.
So I had my second attempt:
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Fig.3.4.4 Second attempt |
This try is closer to what I wanted, but I still need to work on the serifs
and the letter 'S'. As a result, I made my third and last attempt before
moving to Fontlab.
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Fig.3.4.5 Before and after |
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| Fig.3.4.6 Close up of 2nd (top) and 3rd attempt (bottom) |
3.5 Fontlab
After having the final design of my typeface, I proceed to import them to
Font Lab.
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Fig.3.5.1 Progress in Font Lab 1 (11/12/2023) |
I copied the typeface in Adobe Illustrator and paste it into the alphabet in Font Lab.
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Fig.3.5.2 Progress in Font Lab 2 (11/12/2023) |
Then, I adjust the left and side bearings in the Metrics Tab in Font Lab with 50 left side bearings and 50 right side bearings.
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| Fig.3.5.3 Side bearings adjustment in Font Lab (11/12/2023) |
3.6 Poster
I use Adobe Illustrator to proceed with my Black and White Poster.
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| Fig.3.6.1 First attempt |
The feedback I received for the poster above was to improve it as it does not seem really nice. Therefore, I had few more attempt in class.
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| Fig.3.6.2 Progress of attempt |
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| Fig.3.6.3 Last attempt |
FINAL OUTCOME
Download font
here
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| Fig.4.1 Fontlab Screengrab (13/12/2023) |
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Fig.4.2 Type Design and Communication "Slender", jpg
(13/12/2023)
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Fig.4.3 Type Design and Communication "Slender", pdf
(13/12/2023)
Fig.4.4 Poster, jpg (18/12/2023)
Fig.4.5 Poster, pdf (18/12/2023)
5. Feedbacks
Week 11 (4/12/23):
General Feedback: White space of the fonts are not smooth enough.
Specific Feedback: Start importing font to Fontlab.
Week 10 (27/11/23):
General Feedback: Digitalised the font using Illustrator.
Specific Feedback: Read and learn from others is crucial to make a better e-portfolio. Navigation and flow of presentation in blog need to be improve. Grids and guides are important when designing fonts.
Week 9 (20/11/23):
General Feedback: Sketch out few possible font using different pen on graph paper.
Specific Feedback: Hold the pen in one direction to achieve consistency. Move on to digitalising the font in Illustrator.
Week 8 (13/11/23): Independent learning week.
6. Reflection
Experiences: I was able to properly understand the entire font creation process after completing this task. I gained knowledge of the essential steps, such as research, without that I would not have known where to begin with my design. I struggled to come up with a desired font during the sketching stage, but eventually I managed to figure out how to write the fonts out in a way that would probably be consistent after few scribbling and writing.
Observations: I noticed that creating fonts puts a designer's patience and detail-oriented skills to the test. I had to constantly check and adjust the font's curves, especially the S, to make sure it flowed naturally and consistently. I believe this would be a challenging task for someone who is impatient.
Findings: The primary takeaway after finishing a font design task is that the font's legibility and visual appeal are important factors to take into account. In addition, careful consideration of letterforms, spacing, and kerning adds to typographic balance.
7. Further Readings
Refer to Task 1
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