Week 09 - Week 14
Ahmad Firas Bin Ahmad Fisal | 0345121
Advanced Typography (GCD61004) | Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Task 03: Type Exploration & Application
LECTURES
All lectures 01-05 are completed in Task 01 - Exercise 01 & 02
INSTRUCTIONS
TASK 03: Type Exploration & Application
With the knowledge and experience gained in the exercises and tasks,
with the accumulated knowledge from the lectures and your own reading
(library books and online sources), with the experience gained in the
different software covered in the programme thus far, synthesise and
apply the learning in the tasks to be mentioned. Allow the knowledge
gained to guide and inform your decisions for the effective execution of
your final task.
Chosen Method: Explore the use of an existing letterform in an area of
interest, understand its existing relationship, identify areas that
could be improved upon, and explore possible solutions or combinations
that may add value to the existing letterform/lettering. End result: a
completely generated font (.ttf) with applications.
1) Design Proposal
I contemplated between Idea 01 and Idea 02. Both ideas are an expansion of
my previous typeface design creation; Idea 01 is from the Typography
module task and Idea 02 is from the Key Artwork task of the Advanced
Typography module. After consulting with Mr Vinod, he advised me to pick
one that is close to my heart because, at the end of the day, both are
doable.
Images attached below are snippets of Task 03: Type Design &
Communication from the Typography module, previous semesters ago.
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| Figure 1.0 - Original Favour 1.0 (Week 09, 31 May 2023) |
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2) Digitisation and Exploration
Seeing that the work has previously undergone the process of sketching
and digitisation from the previous semester. I'll attach the link to
the particular task blog for the entire process.
So the process of 'digitisation' for this Task 03: Type Exploration
& Application revolves around refining the typeface design. As my
lecturer mentioned, "Use the knowledge that you've gained over the
months to refine your work".
Because of that, I found mistakes that I should refine for this
current final task rather than following the initial structure of my
typeface design from semesters ago.
Mostly Used Tools:
- Pencil Tool
- Smooth Tool
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These two tools were not utilised as much when I first created the font (Favour 1.0) back a few semesters ago. However, I realised that it will be so much better if it were smoother and pleasing to the eye because there is no roughness around the edges visible.
I started off by focusing on creating the lowercase first. To have
consistent structure I used the original framework of my lowercase
study from before. The image attached below is showcasing the
analysing stage;
By using the same framework, I was able to consistently expand my
typeface design with an equal thickness of the strokes and the
negative spaces in between. These were done to avoid inconsistency in
my font later on.
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Creating certain letters is much more complicated and time-consuming. However, brainstorming beforehand on which pre-existing strokes to utilise to create a new letterform with the help of appropriate tools such as the pencil tool and smooth tool helped a ton.
The optical illusion needed in letters like 'x', and 'z' were taught
and recommended by my lecturer in class when I was finishing up my
other letters. He advised that I go back to the analysing stage and
use lines and alien from anchor points to another to see how existing
fonts have created these mentioned letters.
Uppercase:
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Moving on to the uppercase letterforms, it definitely becomes easier because of the completed creation of the lowercase letterforms, some of them are replicas of one other but was resized accordingly. Letters like "S", "Z", "G", "Q", and "X" requires more focus when working on them because of their unique letterform structures.
Punctuations:
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Punctuations are much tougher to create than the other categories because of their unique forms. It took me the longest during the analysing and creation stage trying to figure out which are the best way to create these punctuations. In total, there are 32 punctuations digitised. To figure out the size and proportion of my punctuation, I opened FontLab and follow the template that the software provided to ensure that my punctuation are following the standards.
Numbers:
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Numbers are much easier to create after having those punctuations made and the other letterforms. Reusing certain strokes are ideal for creating these numbers. I really enjoy creating these. The pencil and the smooth tools are heavily utilised in creating numbers too.
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Before moving to the next stage which is; Font Generation, I did a
last check and refinements to any letterforms that require a little
touch-up. Ensuring the size of my typeface design is also crucial to
avoid any awkward sizing of the typeface.
3) Font Generation:
Mr Vinod reminded us of the FontLab tutorial videos he provided us a
few semesters ago. Seeing that I don't have any issue entering the
free trial for FontLab 7, I've decided to make that my main software
to create my font.
The image attached below is the font information that he reminded us to check before starting to import our letterforms from Adobe Illustrator into FontLab.
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These two images are showing my artboard in FontLab 7; the full letterforms, punctuations, and numerals are in one place. The letter 'F' is enlarged to show the internal process of FontLab 7.
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According to the FontLab tutorial video by our lecturer, he mentioned that it's best for us to start with a constant 50 spacing for the kerning so it's easier for us to do the individual kerning later on accordingly.
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To ensure that I have most of the letterforms kerned well, I used the sentence presets that FontLab 7 have provided for me to ensure that most of the common letters are kerned accordingly.
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After I'm done with kerning it individually, the image below is showing the process of exporting it into the OpenType TT format that is required per the assignment requirements. The file embedded below shows the full typeface design that I've created for this task, Favour 2.0
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4) Application
After generating the font, Favour 2.0. We are required to present our
typeface design in two separate ways but in fours.
a) Font Presentation
b) Application
Mr Vinod provided us with samples and inspirations on how to present
our typeface design and do the collateral application effectively and
creatively.
Ideation:
Mixing both Ideas from the Design Proposal; Idea 01 and Idea 02, While
Idea 01 is derived from the want to expand my existing typeface, Idea
02 is from
Task 01: Exercise 02 - Type & Play
we had this semester that require us to find for letterforms from an
object or the nature. The image attached below is linked to the
processes of how another existing typeface design for Idea 2 was
created.
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By taking inspiration from this assignment which is the birth of the Idea 02 idea, I decided to combine the narrative of it being from nature to be applied for this final project's application to my Favour 2.0 font.
Theme: Climate Change, Nature, Green
Design Process:
Firstly, is to find a colour palette that would suit really well with
my theme and the narrative of climate change. I used the website Color
Hunt to find my earthy and green colour palette.
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After stumbling across this particular palette, I instantly knew this was the one and begin crafting in Adobe Illustrator for those 4 Font Presentation pieces needed. The images attached below are the final creations for those pieces.
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It worked out great as how I envisioned it to be. The idea is to do
something that is borderline political but also just awareness pieces
will do. Adding the splashes of red on two of the pieces really speaks
to the intonation of the piece.
Application Process:
We were advised to create relatable and cohesive design pieces for
those font presentations and applications to our initial motive of
creating our typeface design. As elaborated above with the climate
change theme that was inspired by my Idea 02 font creation, I want it
to portray the same idea as the idea that I actually decided to pursue
which is Idea 01.
After creating those font presentation pieces, The vision I had was to
put those pieces on a billboard or a poster in a public area like the
public transportation area with the intention of making the political
pieces accessible to the public for them to think about upon looking
at it.
I went on to Behance to find free mockups for me to make my vision
comes to life. Images attached below are the mockup products.
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Final Task 03: Type Exploration & Application
Link to the font file:
Favour 2.0
Font Presentation:
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Application:
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Week 11-14
Specific Feedback:
Most feedbacks are in-class guidance and recommendations with the lecture in front of the classroom. In the final week, Mr Vinod provided me with enough insights for me to work on it for the submission on 07/07/2023, Friday.
Week 10
General Feedback:
Deconstruct letters that you find hard to grasp optically such as s,v,x,z
Specific Feedback:
Have a clear purpose of your typeface for justification.
Ensure gap awareness and introduce sharp edges to specific rounded end strokes on my letters such as 'u' and 'w' to have more professional and firm-looking alphabets. Need a little stronger standpoint on the current typeface and justify the purpose of your typeface designs to convince clients.
Week 9
Specific Feedback:
I could proceed with further exploring my existing typeface design from the previous semester.
REFLECTION
Experience
The first week of our semester when we were having a brief on the Module Information Booklet, I could remember all of my friends were gasping at the thought of having to do a full typeface design. We had experienced a quarter of that and we went through a lot for that. After a while, I realised that the knowledge that we have gained over the months since then really helped in our skills in making our own font and also the knowledge of using the software needed. I was really nervous because like the other modules of the semester, every single one got delayed and we were overwhelmed with the number of tasks that needed to be done before week 14. To our surprise, all of the modules were given a week's worth of extension.
Observation
I could observe the way I approach letterform design are now very different from what I'd used to when it was the first semester. This shows that we are slowly developing our designer sense of things which is a quantifiable quality that I frequently keep track of. The tools that now I used, are a very much different style of approach than my first time doing typeface design. With the help of the lecturer, I could feel that I'm gaining the momentum that I'd expected to reach by the end of this Advanced Typography module.
Findings
I found that punctuations are actually really tedious to make and the opposite goes to numerals. It was an experience trying to get through all 32 punctuations in the given period of time. Uppercase and Lowercase were the most fun experience I feel like because of the ability of us to customise our font entirely to our vision feels really great as a designer. Having to do the presentation of the font and also collateral applications for it really sums it all up. I truly feel like the module structure of Advanced Typography is really thoroughly done well despite hectic timelines.
FURTHER READING
Chapter 7: The Evolution of Typographic Technology
The start of the Industrial Revolution was marked by the invention of typography, which helped mass-produce books. As technology advanced, so did typography, which affected how designers created their designs. Even though typography had limitations, designers used their creativity to make the most of the available technology. From handwriting to digital typography, designers need to know about the different technologies to blend design and production effectively.
This book taught me almost everything about font-making from the basics of explaining each principle and rule for typography to showcasing steps on Fontlab and other platforms on how to further digitalise our sketches into a real-working typeface design with a set of system and checkpoints to follow.
Apart from software tutorials and key principles and terms provided, they also provided interviews and question & answer sessions with typeface designers out there such as Stephen Rapp, Emily Conners, Jos Buivenga, Aaron Bell, and Sergiy Tkachenko.
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