Development of typeface

Since the crit on Friday (of my 5 initial typeface ideas) I have begun to experiment and create more ideas that will work better in relations to my given word 'Anfractuous'. I have kept the same baseline typeface for my developments; Bodoni.

In order to develop my typeface ideas further, I have applied more rules as my previous designs lacked rules and order. The different rules that I have played around with; the amount of curves (5 curves/bends in every letter), add waves to only the straight lines in the letter instead of the curved line, manipulate the letter in a downward or upward direction, create a duplicate of the letter then join to the original letter but keep symmetrical, add one bend each time (a has 1, b has 2, z has 26 etc),always start with Bodoni as baseline.

I have gathered a wide range of experimental ideas that I could possibly develop into my one final typeface design. I have asked my tutor as well as my peers for opinions on which design they think works best and relates to my word the best. The most liked designs; the 'b' on the top right hand corner and the 'a,b,c' on the second row.

This is the design that I have chosen to develop into my final typeface. The meaning behind this design the idea of journeys; it was created by manipulating the original Bodoni 'b' by tracing over it roughly using the pen tool while adding sudden sharp curves and waves along the way; representing the idea of an unsteady journey/road. I feel that the design aesthetically matches the word Anfractuous as well as the meaning and research behind it.

Studio brief 3 initial ideas crit

When presenting my 5 initial ideas in my group crit, I got a range of positive and negative feedback. The main feedback was to continue to create more design experiments but with more rules and structure as my initial ideas are a little bit too free and abstract, not refined enough to work as a full typeface.

I will now create some new typeface designs with key design rules and then develop the idea that works best. I will research and use diagonalpress.com for inspiration when thinking about rules, also because the simple pattern in their work works extremely well and relates to my word; Anfractuous. Another key piece of feedback that I received was to work in lower case instead of upper, as lower case letters have more curves and bends in them.

My notes from the crit:

Bens notes and sketches from crit:

5 initial typeface ideas and research

For Studio brief 3, in order to design a typeface I firstly needed to have a set of 5 initial ideas in order to help me experiment thoroughly before narrowing my idea down to 1. Throughout the week I achieved some successful experimental ideas as well as some that were not successful.

Also, when creating these initial typeface ideas, I needed to do some background research to base each idea off; I researched into the actual meaning of the word and the different definitions, pattern based work and artists, the spaghetti junction in Birmingham, road markings and the idea of movement and travel.

Furthermore, the typeface that I chose to use as a baseline when creating my initial ideas, was out of Muller Brockmanns 9 typefaces; I chose Bodoni. I felt that Bodoni relates best to my given word (Anfractuous) as there is a range of thick and thin hairlines within each letter; this represents the idea of a path/journey with ridges and curves (not flowing straight and smoothly)

Analysing Muller Brockmanns 9 typefaces

In order to design a brand new typeface based on my word 'Anfractuous' I need to choose one of the Muller Brockmanns nine typefaces to use as a baseline; Berthold, Garamond, Clarendon, Times, Univers, Baskerville, Helvetica, Bodoni and Caslon. I have begun to research and take notes for each one in order to narrow it down easily to one.

Garamond:
-Its in a group of many old-style serif typefaces
-Designed in 1535
-Old and traditional styled
-The designer of Garamond worked as an engraver of punches
-Popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Berthold:
-Sans serif
-Very simple and neutral, a bit basic and boring (means it can be used for a lot of things in media e.g. newspapers and books as it is easily legible)
-Established in 1858 by Hermann Berthold, based in Berlin

Clarendon:
-Based on an egyptian typeface
-Used for advertising
-Very curvy and funky personality
-The slab serif was released in 1845 by Thorowgood and Co
-Designed in London
-Large x-height and short ascenders and descenders

Times:
-Helvetica influences within it
-Times new roman gets its name from the Times of London, the British paper in 1929
-First used for advertising
-Quite classic and bold
-Always been one of the first typefaces available
-I love the curve in the lower case 'a'

Univers:
-Realist sans serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954
-Very basic and boring? feel like it is over used a lot
-Neo-grotesque

Baskerville:
-Designed in 1754 and inspired by John Baskerville.
-Most known for its extremely crisp edges , high contrast and generous proportions
-Classic 18th century
-Designed in Birmingham
-Used a very old and tedious process to create it; left it to develop for months
-I love the curves and old fashioned style, especially the Q

Helvetica:
-Developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with input from Eduard Hoffmann
-Form of the letters is based on Berthold but they are different because Helvetica has horizontally cut ends unlike Berthold (rapidly cut)
-Very classic and moderrn (modern, clean, neutral, simple)
-Used all over the world, received a number of awards

Bodoni:
-Followed the ideas of John Baskerville
-Rational structure
-The serif typefaces first designed by Giambattista Bodoni in the late eighteenth century
-Combination of thick and thin lines and curves; I really like this detail, the hairline strokes are very thin. The thick and thin contrast works extremely well.
-"Bodoni is one of the most elegant typefaces ever designed"- Vignelli

Caslon:
-Serif typefaces designed by William Caslon throughout his life
-Influenced by Dutch Baroque
-The "A" has a concave hollow at the top left, the "G" is without a downwards-pointing spur at the bottom right, and the sides of the "M" are straight.
-Very commonly used in the early nineteenth century- particularly for setting printed body and text books.

Erik Spiekermann and House industries- video notes

In order to gather research for studio brief 3, I started with watching videos by Erik Spiekermann and House Industries, while watching I began to take notes. From my notes I will research more into them which will help me to start my typeface with some successful background research.

Erik Spiekermann:

-He says designing a typeface is like writing music; research more into what he means by this

-"It will sound different if it is a boy or a girl"; these small details make all the difference

-He starts to sketch 1 or 2 ideas then turns it into data

-Idea of creating a design, putting away till the next day then drawing it out again from memory for a different outcome; this makes his design original and unlike something that has already been designed.

-"Without letters we don't exist"

-He loves how things look different in different languages

-Reading is important; its what made language

-"There's no geniuses"

-Design should be more open and accessible so we can communicate better

-Graphic design can change lives

-You don't see all the tiny details; you see it as a whole

-Every typeface has a face (personality?)

-"The silence in between is when you design"

-You can't make good design while sat at home; go out and see the world! meet new people, try new things, read, explore

House industries:

-Drawing makes you into a better designer

-Think about how each individual letter works with another

-Lettering can stand on its own as a logotype

-Background knowledge and experience is important in order to become a good letterer

-Was founded in 1993

Studio Brief 3 starting point

For Studio brief 3 I have been given the task to design a whole new typeface using one of these 9 typefaces as a baseline to start off with; Univers, Times, Berthold, Clarendon, Bodoni, Baskerville, Garamond, Caslon and Helvetica. In order to create a typeface, I have been given a word to design it based on; Anfractuous. Definition of Anfractuous: full of windings and intricate turnings.

As a group we began to write down and sketch ideas for each others words, I received some interesting ideas which helped me to narrow it down to 5 initial ideas that I may try out.

 

Studio Brief 2 final crit- design boards

Throughout the final crit of Studio brief 2, I received a wide range of both negative and positive feedback from 5 different people. This feedback session was extremely useful as it allowed me to realise where things went wrong, what worked well and how to improve on my work for the next brief starting next week. It was also useful to look at and crit my peers' work as it allowed me to gather more ideas for my own project as well as knowing what doesn't work well when designing a logotype.

The feedback I received:

1. Grade: 52%
- Initial ideas are good but maybe too literal, add more obscure shape and introduce shadows.
-Only use the 'O' and 'G' - I cannot only use the 'O.G' as it wouldn't state what it stands for, it would be too confusing for the audience
-Move the letters around, don't just keep them in the 2 bubbles.
-As an idea it is interseting
-Idea 2 could be developed into something really cool.
-Idea 3 is a good design but maybe it doesn't link to the exhibition enough.
-Idea 4 is really original and unique ,maybe I could of chosen to develop that one instead of the one that I went with in the end
-Talk a little bit more about what inspired me for certain things
-To improve my grade I need more development and a rule to play with

2. Grade: 50%, 59%
-Reference Ranas actual pieces in Rationale page to make argument stronger
-Idea 1 and 2 are similar
-Nicely presented outcomes
-With the posters, why have you chosen specific colours?
-Discuss other artists- I chose to base it purely on the Rana Begum instillations from the exhibition.

3. Grade: 50-59%
-Explain my choices more
-Explain why I stuck with yellow for the poster and black for the others- I wanted to keep most of my into-context ideas in grayscale and experiment with colour only in some ideas as I think it is more important that it works in black rather than colour.
-Experiment more with colour and boldness
-In order to improve I need to challenge my existing skills in order to develop more innovative visual responses

4. Grade: 50-59%
-Try to explain why i've done it more; linking to Begum's history/past
-Neaten up a little bit
-Lots of circular forms within my final logo type; could I play on this more for the context images/ideas?
-Circular business cards would work well
-Where would the animation work on the website? -(I have stated this on my design board)
-Could use the O and G as a logotype on its own
-To improve I could develop my design even more.

5. No grade given
-Likes the circular theme
-Play with just the O and G from the final as a logotype
-With the t-shirt design, try putting the logotype on the back rather than the front
-Talk about the specific pieces from the exhibition more (list the actual names)
-Try making the outline on design 3 thicker
-Neaten up a little bit more
-In the poster; explain why I think the yellow works well against the black
-Idea 1 and 5 are quite similar

 

Kerning

Today we were told a little bit about what kerning is and how it is such a key element when designing a logotype, as well as graphic design in general. Kerning is the spacing between each character. I will now research more into it.

Notes:
-Perfect typeface needs a kerning grid
-People to research: Albrecht Durer, Johann Neudorffer, Muir McNeill, Tschichold
-Golden ratio
-The golden ratio divides a line in 2 parts relating to each other at approximately 1:1.618
-Italian mathematician Luca Paoli
-If you're going to re-brand something, stay true to the original design
-Classic/original designs have to be represented
-Why do we re-brand in the first place?
-Helvetica: Straight, crisp, neutral, classic

We then did a kern down task using only a few random letters which we had to make a word out of. Our word was 'Qwd'

1. A budget supermarket; kept the kerning close and tight (you're on a budget so you're going to be quite tight with money) also basic as it wouldn't be affordable to do anything too fancy with it.

2. Luxury fashion brand; over lapping to represent clothing layering, kept it quite busy and interesting/fun.

3. Condom manufacturing brand; Fitted the letters into each other to represent sex. Kept them interlocked and playful.

4. I.T Company; evenly spread to make it look professional but moved letters around so it wasn't boring. Kept quite crisp and generic.

5. Indie band; The 'Q' was thrown on top for a more edgy and messy look so it would represent indie music. Gave it an energetic feel.

6. Funeral director; Evenly spaced, not too distracting so that it looks respectful . Safe and boring so it looks approachable.

7. Children's TV show; Kept it quite wonky and spaced out to represent playfulness and made it childlike, not too professional or complicated.

Studio brief 2 crit feedback

For Studio brief 2 I was set the task to design 5 logo types; I based them on Rana Begum's Occasional Geometries exhibition at the Yorkshire sculpture park. 

After designing the 5 logo types, we were split into groups of 8 in order to have a group crit session. In the session I talked through each design while being given feedback throughout from my peers and tutor. The feedback I received was both positive and negative; the areas that need improving are the refinement of each idea, choosing my favourite one to develop more into a final piece and to use the full work 'Occasional Geometries' instead of the shortened version 'OG' 

Rana Begum Occasional Geometries research

I have chose to base my work so far on the artist Rana Begum and her exhibition at the Yorkshire sculpture park; Occasional Geometries. In order to create work that relates and links clearly to her and the exhibition, I have needed to do some research. The main areas that I have researched are her past and upbringing; this has had a huge influence on her work, she talks about how she remembers the tiling and pattern in her local mosque as a child, and how pattern now makes her feel at home.

She also talks about how she was taught as a child that everyone is equal no matter what their colour, religion or culture; "I think thats probably where minimalism allowed me to feel that same thing...It used forms and colours that were recognised by anyone" - https://www.ft.com/content/2f5a18ac-fe7f-11e6-8d8e-a5e3738f9ae4?mhq5j=e5

As well as researching about her life and influences, I did some research on the actual exhibition at YSP. It is inspired by movement and changing light which explains why a lot of her sculptures had shadows and pattern created within them. She also talks about how she tried to give each piece "a soul". 

Interpretation of Studio brief 2

For Studio brief 2 we were set the task to create a set of 5 logotypes based on a re-brand of my chosen artist or exhibition from the Yorkshire sculpture park. I chose to base it on my chosen artist (Rana Begum's) Occasional geometries exhibition from the sculpture park. In order to create a suitable logotype that showed the personality characteristics of the exhibition, I needed to research into it thoroughly; who, what, where, when, why and how.

So far I have done some initial research into Rana Begum's childhood and upbringing as it has had a huge impact on her work; family life, where she grew up and what it was like living there. I also researched into the exhibition and what inspired each piece as well as what she was trying to communicate through them.

I focused on the way she uses scale, composition and shape. Which influenced my designs as I focused on using repeated pattern and shadows in the same way that she does. I experimented with shape, opacities, layering, cutting up and gradients.

For the logotypes I had to choose to use one of the 6 Vignelli typefaces. When experimenting I started with the typeface Bodoni, however it was not the right type face as it was not symmetrical enough. I then changed it to Futura which worked a lot better as it is a lot more geometry. 

Vignelli Canon

Summary:

-Semantics: The meaning and purpose behind what we are designing. Why? The search of the meaning.

-Syntactics: The language used in the design, appropriate design, layout, language etc.

-Pragmatics: Understanding what we are designing in order to communicate it properly and thoroughly. The reasons behind doing it.

-Discipline: Paying attention to each tiny detail; its what makes the design. Every thing needs some form of discipline; have rules! don't let it be too free.

-Appropriateness: Finding the right solution to the problem we are designing for so that we don't go off on the wrong concept. Find the right things.

Ambiguity- Being unsure; sometimes that is what is needed in order to improve and get the best possible design. A rocky journey is a good thing sometimes.

-Be able to design anything in order to be a good designer.

-Everything needs order

-Visual power: Has to have reasoning behind it; can't just be aesthetically pleasing. Needs visual strength as well.

-The design needs meaning and essence.

-Responsibility: The most appropriate solution for the problem; its our responsibility to find it as a designer. Its another form of discipline.

-Sometimes the smallest tweaks to a design can make the biggest impact (e.g. when updating a famous logo)

-Important things to always consider when designing; paper size, grids, symmetry and layout.

-"When you write dog, the type should bark" Give everything personality!

-Most important elements in typography is the relationship between scale and size

-When designing; white makes the black sing.

-Texture; each choice of material will give a different effect. Play.

-Importance of white space

-Get the right balance between identity and diversity. Too much diversity= fragmentation.

In conclusion, I do agree with Vignelli's argument to some extent, but not fully. The part that I do not fully agree with needing rules for everything; for example he talks a lot about getting the right grid size, scales of text against headings, paper size, layout etc. I think sometimes not having rules/breaking the rules is what can make a design. Doing the opposite of what is right is sometimes what is needed in order to make your design different and unique; stepping outside of the box. I think this may be because he has more of a traditional style of working, rather than modern techniques and styles. However, this book was a good read as it helped me understand some of the basic research and steps needed before and when designing something in order for it to be successful.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

We worked as a group of 4 to create a sculptures based on abstract mark making and collages that we had created before going on a trip to Yorkshire sculpture park. We created 4 sculptures then chose the best sculpture to take to YSP to photograph in 100 different which allowed us to develop our work further.

While we were there we were set a task to create a found alphabet; we first chose to create the found alphabet from sculpture pieces all around the exhibition.

However we chose to base our project on the artist Rana Begum; Occasional Geometries exhibition as we loved the colour and abstract element of her work. We then created a more refined found alphabet from one of her sculptures.

The 3 final outcomes:
Outcome 1: Using our original alphabet inspired by Rana Begums sculpture we created a relief alphabet using tape and light to create shadows. The shadows allowed us to find more shapes and letters within the reliefs. From the relief letters and shadows I put them into concept as if they were parts of buildings.

Outcome 2: An interactive buzzer game that spelt the work 'Geo' (short for geometries) as an interactive element which was created using wire. We used the 'G,E and O' from our original alphabet.

Outcome 3: Several pieces that we displayed and photographed on the projector where we combined the collages and alphabet together.

Ligature brief

As my first project my brief was to design an original ligature in a group of 4 using one of the Vignelli typefaces; Bondoni, Helvetica, Garamond, Futura, Times Roman and Century Expanded. As a group we chose the typeface Helvetica as it is a classic and always look professional. As a group, we had to chose a word to base the ligature on; we chose the word 'Tipsy' - inspired by freshers week.

Our aim was to create 100 ideas as a group and then narrowed them down till we reached our final design.

We experimented throughly throughout the week; continuous line, tracing, repeating patterns, negative space, pattern, timed drawings and more. We then began to design digitally on photoshop to narrow our best ideas down.

This was our final ligature design