TYPOGRAPHY TASK 3(A) - TYPE DESIGN & COMMUNICATION

 TYPOGRAPHY TASK 3(A) - TYpe design & COMMUNICATION

May 29, 2021

21/5/2021 - 4/6/2021 (Week 8 - Week 10) 

Mariam Ayman Mohamed Abouelala (0347638)

Bachelors of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Task 3A / Type Design & Communication

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LECTURES

Lecture Notes

Week 8  (21/5/2021)

No Lecture Conducted It was independent learning week.

Week 9  (28/5/2021)

During this week , Mr Vinod gave all of us specific feedbacks on our typeface designs. 

Figure 1: Receiving specific feedback on my typeface design (28/5/2021)

During this class we were given practical time to improve our designs based on the feedback we have got , Mr Vinod Explained construction of letterforms on AI based on some of the students sketches.

Week 10  (4/6/2021)

During our week 10 class Mr Vinod gave specific feedbacks on the typeface designs.

During this week also both Lecturers explained how to construct some fonts on AI , so we were given practical time to attempt it.

Mr Vinod started to guide us on starting on TASK 3B the final task .

It's making telegram stickers for specific festivals he chose , then we can chose which festival we want to express.

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INSTRUCTIONS

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xV8ynWc18qDEW4bsH5Sd6zO1LslRZA8E/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

Task 3A: Type Design & Communication

Week 8

For this task we were asked that we will be having to make our own type fact of the following letters and symbols in the brackets (a i m e p y t g d o b ! , .)  Firstly we had to choose a typeface we would like to draw inspiration from and I ended up choosing Bodoni std , I really liked this typeface it feels impactful.

The first part of this task we were to do research then to sketch the fonts we want to create, identifying reference, and deconstruction respectively before designing our own letterforms. 

For research, I mainly use Pinterest or Google.

Figure 2: Pinterest as source of inspiration. (20/5/2021)

Figure 3: Pinterest as source of inspiration. (20/5/2021)

Figure 4: Pinterest as source of inspiration. (20/5/2021)

Those fonts like Bodoni Style which I liked so I took inspiration

Figure 5:  source of inspiration. (20/5/2021)

Figure 6:  source of Bodoni font inspiration. (20/5/2021)

Figure 7:  source of Bodoni font inspiration. (20/5/2021)

Figure 8: inspiration of fonts similar to Bodoni font. (20/5/2021)

Figure 9: inspiration of fonts similar to Bodoni font. (20/5/2021)

Figure 10: Sketches of typefaces (22/5/2021)

Week 9

Mr Vinod asked me to proceed with this font and to start to create it using illustrator . 

Figure 11: Typeface that has been chosen

The example of the deconstructed letter above was from the lecturer's demo video.

Figure 12: understanding of process of deconstructing letter (25/5/2021) 

After deconstruction studying I started my first attempt on designing a typeface. 

 Figure 13: Outline of letters (26/5/2021)

Figure 14: letterforms with line (26/5/2021) 

Figure 15: letterforms with line nearer picture (26/5/2021) 

Figure 16: letterforms with line nearer picture (26/5/2021) 

Figure 17: outline of letters (26/5/2021)

Figure 18: Progress (26/5/2021)

Figure 19: outline of letter forms (26/5/2021)

The outcome of my first attempt

Figure 20: First attempt of my typeface design (27/5/2021)

Week 10

After receiving feedback from Mr Vinod  , He asked for modification on the following :

The exclamation mark , the comma , and dot and letter I .

The exclamation mark needs to be wider distance between the stem stroke and the dot , and should be slightly wider from the top also the exclamation point and comma and dot .

these dots are generally bigger than stem stroke wider . 

I should go up to median line and dot should be above that .

I took notes of what he said and improved them.

The outcome of my second and last attempt

Figure 21: Second and last attempt after changes were made (31/5/2021)

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hyqCXMKlnxHuDHuaFDidKTaDycSiwWE/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

Figure 22: Final letterforms PDF (31/5/2021)

We were also to import our typeface design into FontLab this week. I exported the letters I made in Illustrator AI to FontLab.

Figure 23: Exporting my letters forms to Fontlab from AI (1/6/2021)

Figure 24: Progress exporting my letters forms to Fontlab from AI (1/6/2021)

Figure 25: Selected letters on Fontlab (1/6/2021)

Figure 26: All letters on FontLab (1/6/2021)

To complete this task, we asked to create an A4 poster to show our typeface design with the following word, " I am a type god obey me "

Figure 27: Final Poster PNG (5/6/2021)

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cg1Dkt2QkH-oyReDr02oZbMvIh-lyika/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

Figure 28: Final Poster submission PDF (6/6/2021)

I named my font 'Chunky' as I think my font matches up to the characteristic of my font which is 'Thick" or "Chunks" as it defined by Dictionary.

Figure 29: Definition of my font name (6/6/2021)

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FEEDBACK

Week 8

General Feedback:  None given as it was independent learning week 

Specific Feedback:  None given as it was independent learning week 

Week 9

General Feedback:  None given 

Specific Feedback:  Just Proceed with the font chosen as it's the most suitable

Week 10

General Feedback:  Excellent work , Good Job , Nice font 

Specific Feedback:  Mr Vinod asked for modification on the following,

• The exclamation mark , the comma , and dot and letter I .
• The exclamation mark needs to be wider distance between the stem stroke and the dot , and should be slightly wider from the top also the exclamation point and comma and dot ,these dots are generally bigger than stem stroke wider . 
• I should go up to median line and dot should be above that.

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REFLECTIONS

Week 8

Experience

This week to be honest I decided to take rest  , but I just went through the brief of upcoming assignment just to be ready to start immediately. as I enjoyed this week a lot as no 2am class this week.

Observation

This week I observed that there are millions types of fonts there , for be I thought that most of the structures are same to each other, but I discovered that each font has its own features and characteristics.

Findings

I found that my designs are quite similar to each other as I'm in love with bold and thick fonts so I played around thick and bold fonts

Week 9

Experience 

To be honest this process is quite difficult to me it was very challenging as I wanted to impress Mr Vinod with something good , it's really hard when it comes to the details of the font a lot of errors occurs , but at the end of the day I'm very glad with Mr Vinod's feedback about my type face 

Observation

This week is observed that its really not easy to create a new font it was a very new experience to me as I was afraid to design font that is not that good but I really liked my font and I continued the rest of the letters in order to use it in the future I'm proud of myself .

Findings

I found that there's nothing is impossible every thing in this world is really possible , It's all about your mindset at the end of the day I made it after I thought I couldn't so you're the one who decide that you can do it or not , good exprience by the way

Week 10

Experience

This is the happiest moment for me through out the semester I was impressed by Mr Vinod's and Mr Shamsul feedback about my font . I didn't expect that .. at this moment I was about to cry . 

Observation

I observed this week that this subject it's not hard as everyone saying it's really doable , I spent a whole week happy after the feedback I have got and I will let everyone to use my font very proud of myself

Findings

I found that when you sketch any font and you're good to go to digitalise it, its totally different process out of no where another idea pop into your mind as I didn't follow my sketch exactly my sketch was capital letters but when I started to digitalise I decided to make them small caps 

I found them better so no need to stick with everything you sketch you can come up with better ideas.

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FURTHER READING

Figure 30: Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton

This Book is very catchy for me , when I went through the topics it's really super helpful for me, as most of the topics covered in this module , This book highlighted on how letters, words, and paragraphs should be aligned, spaced, ordered, and shaped.

The book covers all typography essentials, from typefaces and type families, to kerning and tracking and all of those topics are covered in this module which really helped me to understand things with clearer picture and from another perspective it also helped me to gain more knowledge about those topics .

A very very Important point covered in this book which is what the rules are, and how to break them, You have to know the rules before breaking them as Mr Vinod mentioned you cannot run before you learn how to walk .. 

And this book also for designers, writers, editors, students, and anyone else who works with words.

Ellen Lupton's guide reveals the way typefaces are constructed and how to use them most effectively.

Which is letters construction it's an task included in this module so this book is really effective for me.

And here's a very catchy quote that encouraged me to take look to this book ,

“Type is the foundation of print and web design. Everything you need to know about thinking with type, you will find here. This richly detailed update to the classic text belongs on the shelf of every designer, writer, editor, publisher, and client.”

-Jefferey Zeldman-

So I decided to go through Anatomy section, which is the most interesting part for me plus we studied this part in typography module so it was very interesting for me , as I love anything related to anatomy even in human body so it will be very interesting to go through letter anatomy.

Figure 31: Understanding letter anatomy 

So I found letter anatomy in this book very simple , straight to the point ,

So it's talking about Cap Height , X-Height, Baseline, Ascender , etc 

Which we studied all of that in this module. 

I made research for the definition of each meaning and also what I have learnt from this book . 

Anatomy ; How letters sit on a line .

Ascender - The portion of the stem of a lowercase letterform that project above the medium line, some elements may extend slightly above the cap height 

Cap Height - The distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letter determines the letter's point size

X-height - The height in any typeface of the lowercase 'x'. 

Baseline - The imaginary line the visual base of the letterforms. 

Descender - The portion of the stem of a lowercase letterform that projects below the baseline. 

Over Hang- The curves at the bottom of letters hang slightly below the baseline. Commas and semicolons also cross the baseline 

Figure 32: How kids learn to write

Although kids learn to write using ruled paper that divides letters exactly in half, most typefaces are not designed that way. The x-height usually occupies more than half of the cap height. The larger the x-height is in relation to the cap height, the bigger the letters appear to be. In a field of text, the greatest density occurs between the baseline and the x-height.

Also I Learned two things about SIZE.

height

Attempts to standardize the measurement of
type began in the eighteenth century. The point system is the standard used today. One point equals 1/72 inch
or .35 millimeters. Twelve points equal one pica, the
unit commonly used to measure column widths. Typography
can also be measured in inches, millimeters, or pixels.
Most software applications let the designer choose a
preferred unit of measure; picas and points are standard
defaults.

Abbreviating Picas and Points
8 picas = 8p
8 points = p8, 8 pts
8 picas, 4 points = 8p4
8-point Helvetica with 9 points of line spacing = 8/9 Helvetica

12 Points = 1 Pica

6 Picas (72 points) = 1 Inch

A typeface is measured from the top of the capital letter to the bottom of the lowest descender + a small buffer space.

width

A letter also has a horizontal measure, called its set width.
The set width is the body of the letter plus a sliver of space that
protects it from other letters. The width of a letter is intrinsic to
the proportions and visual impression of the typeface. Some typefaces
have a narrow set width, and some have a wide one.
You can change the set width of a typeface by fiddling with
its horizontal or vertical scale.This distorts the line weight of the
letters,however, forcing heavy elements to become thin, and thin elements
to become thick. Instead of torturing a letterform, choose a typeface
that has the proportions you are looking for, such as condensed, compressed,
wide, or extended.

So overall I liked this book a lot. It had loads of interesting details in it for me. is a very informative and well structured book. It provides a lot of advice on how to choose a typeface, how to combine typefaces in order to get a contrast, which typefaces look better bigger/smaller and much more details if I really have time I will continue reading this brilliant book despite that I'm not that person who reads a lot but I like this book