Advanced Typography/ Task 1: Exercises
22nd Apr 2024 - 26th May 2024 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Natalie Chu Jing Xuan/ 0354589
Natalie Chu Jing Xuan/ 0354589
Advanced Typography/ Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Task 1: Exercises - Typographic Systems & Type and Play
Table of Content
Lectures
Week 1: Typographic Systems
All design is based on a structural system. There are eight major
variations:
- Axial
- Radial
- Dilatational
- Random
- Grid
- Transitional
- Modular
- Bilateral
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| Fig.1 Eight major variations of structural systems (23/4/2024) |
Axial System: all elements are organised to the left/right of a single axis.
Radial System: all elements are extended from a point of focus.
Dilatational System: all elements expand from a central point in a circular fashion.
Random System: elements appear to have no specific pattern or relationship.
Grid System: a system of vertical and horizontal divisions.
Transitional System: an informal system of layered banding.
Modular System: a series of non-objective elements that are constructed in as a standardised units.
Bilateral System: all text is arranged symmetrically on a single axis.
Week 2: Typographic Composition
Principles of Design Composition consists of emphasis, isolation, repetition, symmetry and asymmetry, alignment, and perspective.
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| Fig.2.1 Principles of Design: Emphasis |
The Rule of Thirds is a photographic guide to composition, it basically divided frame into 3 columns and 3 rows.
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| Fig.2.2 The Rule of Thirds |
Typographic Systems
The most used typographic system is the Grid System.
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| Fig.2.3 Grid System |
Other models/ Systems
1. Environmental Grid is based on the exploration of an existing structure or numerous structures combined.
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| Fig.2.4 Example |
2. Form and Movement is based on the exploration of Grid System.
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| Fig.2.5 Form and Movement |
Week 3: Context and Creativity
Handwriting is the first mechanically produced letterforms were designed to directly imitate handwriting. The shape and line of hand drawn letterforms are influenced by the tools and materials to make them.
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| Fig.3.1 Evolution of the Latin Alphabet |
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| Fig.3.2 Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphics Chart |
The Egyptian writing system is fused with the art of relief carving. The system was a mixture of both rebus and phonetic characters. The hieroglyphic images have the potential to be used in three different ways:
- As ideograms to represent the things they actually depict.
- As determinatives to show that the signs preceding are meant as phonograms and to indicate the general idea of the word.
- As phonograms to represent sounds that "spell out" individual words.
Early Greek / 5th C. B.C.E.
The words may have been in rows but the direction of reading was not yet fixed.
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| Fig.3.3 Early Greek / 5th C. B.C.E. |
Roman Uncials
By the 4th century Roman letters were becoming more rounded, the curved form allowed for less strokes and could be written faster.
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| Fig.3.4 Roman Uncials |
English Half Uncials, 8th C.
In England the uncial evolved into a more slanted and condensed form.
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| Fig.3.5 English Half Uncials |
Carolingian Minuscule
It was used for all legal and literary works to unify communication. It was as important a development as the standard Roman capital.
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| Fig.3.6 Carolingian Minuscule |
The oldest writing systems present in Southeast Asia were Indian scripts. The Pallava, a South Indian script originally used for writing Sanskrit and Tamil was the most important.
Jawi, the Arabic-based alphabet was introduced along with Islam. In modern Malaysia, Jawi is of greater importance because it is the script used for all our famous works of literature.
Local Movements and Individuals
In Malaysia, murasu.com spear-headed by programmer and typographer Muthu Nedumaran. The programming language needed to encode the different types of vernacular writing systems was cracked by Muthu. The system is now used in mobile phones and desktops.
Week 4: Designing Type
There are two reasons why design another typeface:
- Type design carries a social responsibility so one must continue to improve its legibility.
- Type design is a form of artistic expression
Adrian Frutiger is a renowned 20th-century Swiss graphic designer. His forte was typeface designing and he is considered responsible for the advancement of typography into digital typography.
Matthew Carter is the son of Harry Carter, Royal Designer for Industry contemporary British type designer and ultimate craftsman. Carter trained as a punchcutter, responsible for Crosfield's typographic program in the early 1960s.
Edward Johnston is the creator of the hugely influential London "Underground" typeface, which would later come to be known as "Johnston Sans".
General Process of Type Design:
1. Research
When creating type, we should understand type history, type anatomy, and type conventions. We should also examine existing fonts that are presently being used for inspiration/ideas/reference/context/usage pattern/etc.
2. Sketching
Sketch typeface using traditional tool (brushes, pens, ink and paper) set then scan them for the purpose of digitization. Some uses digital tool sets, such as Wacom directly into a font design software.
3. Digitization
Professional software such as Fontlab and Glyphs App are used in digitization of typefaces.
4. Testing
It is important component in the design thinking process.
5. Deploy
Even after deploying a completed typeface, there are always teething problems that did not come to the fore during the prototyping and testing phases.
Instructions (MIB)
Module Information Booklet
Task 1: Exercises
This task consists of two exercises:
- Typographic System (Week 1)
- Type and Play (Week 2)
Typographic System (Week 1)
In this exercise, we need to do 8 square posters of the
8 typographic systems, which are the Axial, Radial, Dilatational, Random, Grid, Transitional,
Modular, and Bilateral. This task is to done using Adobe InDesign, with:
- 200mm x 200mm
- Colours: Black and one other colours
- Graphical elements (line, dot, etc.) can be used limitedly.
It's been a few months since I last use InDesign, therefore, I watched the
tutorial video by Mr.Vinod to recall my memories of the InDesign to start my
work. Then, I came out with my first attempts:
Progressions
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| Fig.5.1 Axial system 1st attempt |
Mr.Vinod stated that the right one was nice, but the number of dates
should be smaller. It is weird and odd to have a larger number for the
dates. Therefore, I made minimal amendment on the Axial System on the
right:
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| Fig.5.2 Axial System 2nd attempt |
2. Radial System:
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| Fig.5.3 Radial System 1st attempt (left) & 2nd attempt (right) |
The first attempt's graphic elements are too big and take up a lot of
space. So, instead of the full red circle, I changed it to a slightly
smaller circle with a red stroke.
3. Dilatational System:
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| Fig.5.4 Dilatational System 1st attempt (left) & 2nd attempt (right) |
The first attempt at forming the circle in the centre was a little strange, so I modified it.
4. Random System:
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| Fig.5.5 Random System 1st attempt (left) & 2nd attempt (right) |
The readability of the first attempt need to be improved because the black background with red wording does not work. It's difficult for viewers to read.
5. Grid System:
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| Fig.5.6 Grid System 1st attempt (left) & 2nd attempt (right) |
I found the first attempt to be too empty and boring, so I made a second
attempt, which Mr. Vinod said was interesting.
6. Transitional System:
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| Fig.5.7 Transitional System 1st attempt (left) & 2nd attempt (right) |
The flow of the first attempt was not smooth enough, so I attempted to
improve it in the second attempt.
7. Modular System:
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| Fig.5.8 Modular System 1st attempt (left) & 2nd attempt (right) |
The text alignment is not good in the first attempt because some of it is centre aligned while others are right and left aligned. Then, on the second attempt, I changed everything to centre alignment.
8. Bilateral System:
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| Fig.5.9 Bilateral System 1st attempt (left) & 2nd attempt (right) |
The first attempt was not Bilateral System because there was text all over the borders, so I modified it.
Final Outcome
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| Fig.5.10 Final Axial System (jpeg) |
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| Fig.5.11 Final Radial System (jpeg) |
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| Fig.5.12 Final Dilatational System (jpeg) |
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| Fig.5.13 Final Random System (jpeg) |
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| Fig.5.13 Final Grid System (jpeg) |
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| Fig.5.14 Final Transitional System (jpeg) |
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| Fig.5.15 Final Modular System (jpeg) |
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| Fig.5.16 Final Bilateral System (jpeg) |
Fig.5.17 Final Typographic Systems (pdf)
Fig.5.18 Final Typographic Systems with grids (pdf)
Type and Play (Week 2)
In this exercise, we need to find an image of a man-made object, or
structures, or something from nature to analyse, dissect and identify
potential letterforms (4 letters) within the dissected image.
The image I chose for this exercise is volcano's magma texture.
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| Fig.6.1 Chosen image |
Progressions
Part 1: Letterform Extraction
This was my first attempt to extract the letterforms from the image:
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| Fig.6.2 1st attempt |
Then, I received feedback from Mr.Vinod said that I extracted the wrong parts of the image. The extraction supposed to be bigger portion. So, I had another try on it:
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| Fig.6.3 2nd attempt |
The reference letterform I chose is Futura Std.
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| Fig.6.4 Final letterforms & Reference font |
Part 2: Poster
I look for some images related to volcano, lava, and magma. Besides that,
here are my process of colour choosing for the title:
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| Fig.6.5 Colour choosing process |
I started with an orange colour and decided to add some gradients. But I
realised the first gradient was a little too much, so I changed it
again.
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| Fig.6.6 Image selection |
Left image from: https://theboar.org/2021/04/what-would-a-metal-volcano-look-like/
Middle image from: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/494059021636731430/
I chose the middle image because it is visually appealing and has a nice colour scheme. Looking at the image inspired me to create a retro vibes poster.
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| Fig.6.7 Visual References |
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| Fig.6.8 References |
With the references, I came out with poster with:-
- Title: LZMF (extracted letterforms)
- Tagline: When Nature Turns Deadly
- Credits: Sony Pictures and Legendary Entertainment proudly present a Christopher Nolan film,
- Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlize Theron, Michael B. Jordan, Emily Blunt
- Directed by: Christopher Nolan
- Produced by: Emma Thomas
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| Fig.6.9 Tagline comparison |
Final Outcome
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| Fig.6.10 Image |
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| Fig.6.11 Image and Extraction (jpeg) |
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Fig.6.12 Final letterforms
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| Fig.6.15 Final poster (jpeg) |
Fig.6.16 Final Poster (pdf)
Feedbacks
Week 4
General Feedback: Completed the poster.
Specific Feedback: Absent.
Week 3
General Feedback: Completed exercise 2, type and play. Extracted 4 letters from lava image.
Specific Feedback: Extraction has to be bigger. The final letterforms have to link with the image.
Week 2
General Feedback: Watched lecture video and InDesign video on YouTube. Completed the 8 typographic system design.
Specific Feedback: Do not make the date number bigger, size of the graphic elements is too big, spacing of the transitional system need to be improve, bilateral is not bilateral, readability of random system need to be improve (black background with red wording does not work).
Week 1
Module briefing. Blog link created.
Reflections
Designing 8 typographic systems was a challenging but rewarding task. Each system required careful selection of font styles, sizes, spacing, and arrangement to create clear and attractive designs. This helped me understand how important these choices are in making a design look good and work well.
The second task was to extract fonts from images and design a poster using those fonts. Extracting the fonts was a detailed process that taught me about the unique features of different typefaces. Designing the poster with these fonts was a creative challenge, as I had to make sure it looked good and was easy to read. This task allowed me to experiment with how different fonts can be used together to convey a message effectively.
Overall, these projects improved my technical skills and creativity, giving me a better understanding of how important typography is in design.
Further Readings
- Typography Systems: Harmony, Proportion, and Rhythm, by Kimberly Elam
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| Figure 7.1 Typography Systems: Harmony, Proportion, and Rhythm, by Kimberly Elam, Week 1 |
Kimberly Elam is the author of "Typography Systems: Harmony, Proportion, and Rhythm". The book investigates the connection between mathematical concepts and typography to produce aesthetically pleasing and harmonic design compositions.
This book explores the fundamentals of proportion, going over the Fibonacci sequence, the Golden Ratio, and other concepts while offering an introduction to typography and the ideas of systems in design. It also shows how mathematical principles can be applied to typography. In order to create visually balanced typographic layouts, Kimberly Elam explains the significance of achieving harmony and contrast in typography design using grid systems and mathematical principles as a guide. The notion of rhythm in typography, along with the application of Gestalt psychology and visual perception principles to typography, are then concluded in this book. To aid readers in putting the ideas and principles into practise, this book also includes practical exercises and design challenges.
- A Type Primer, by John Kane
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| Figure 7.2 A Type Primer, by John Kane, Week 2 The basic concepts of typography, including typefaces, fonts, layout, and design, are briefly covered in this book. It is a helpful tool for people who are unfamiliar with typography and want to understand the fundamentals of using type efficiently in graphic design, publishing, and other related professions. The topics covered in "A Type Primer" included typography's history, anatomy, typeface classification, typographic hierarchy, composition and layout, typography in practise, software, and typography on the web. It addresses the various elements and parts of letterforms, such as serifs, and examines the historical evolution of typography. In addition, it discusses the use of type to create visual hierarchy and structure in design, with an emphasis on font selection, size, weight, and style. This book also covers composition and layout principles, such as grid systems, alignment, and space. It covers not just the fundamentals of typography but also useful tips, particular difficulties, and efficient project design, ranging from posters to brochures and websites.
Vignelli's design principles and methods for graphic design, typography, and visual communication are discussed in the book. Numerous design-related subjects are covered in the book, such as typography, colour, grid systems, and the use of white space. It provides an understanding of Vignelli's modernist and minimalist design aesthetic, which is defined by clarity, simplicity, and timelessness. The Vignelli legacy, the intangibles of design, the grid, typography, colours, composition and layout, paper and printing, the design process, design discipline, and unsolicited advise are all covered in this book. The design philosophy of Massimo Vignellii is covered initially, along with abstract design concepts like pragmatics, syntactics, and semantics. The significance of applying a grid system to design layout and organisation was then highlighted. The concepts of colour theory, harmony, and contrast were also emphasised in this text, along with the need of following rules and staying away from unnecessary complication. In addition to this, more information regarding the options for paper and printing methods and how they affect the final design were given. Finally, the author shares a variety of aspects of the profession and provides helpful guidance and suggestions for designers. |
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