Exercises
5th April 2019 (week 1-4)
Daryl Pung Xi Ern (0333743)
Typography Exercises
LECTURE NOTES
Week 1: Briefing 05/04/2019
During our first lesson of typography we were given a brief introduction to our module and a rundown of what we're going to learn in the next couple of weeks. Although we spent most of the class time focusing on making our blogs, we were given an exercise to create our own font based on a personality trait that relates to us. Furthermore, we have to draw 10 different font styles of our name on a piece of paper.
Week 2: Introduction to Typography
12/04/2019
Today we learned that typography is a way to express words through visual types. Logos such as coca cola are known as a word mark or logo type. It's a design that includes a company's name.
Designing textbooks has a variation of effects. They aren't usually visually attractive (long pages of text) so they aren't particularly memorable. Rather than focusing on the visual aspect, they put more consideration into the factual information they contain. This is why it is important to have awareness of design.
We were then introduced to a quote by Paul Rand which I believe to be very true:
"Typography is an art, and good Typography is art. Therein lies the problem for both teacher and student” (Kane, 2002). Re: rules, norms, right and wrong — no hard and fast rules. To understand what is good or bad or suitable in typography it takes time, trial and error.
Keywords:
- Typeface- A specific type in a type family. (e.g: Georgia regular, Georgia italic, Georgia bold)
- Font- Originates from the word "foundry", which is a place that makes metal. Thus, it means the process of making a typeface.
- Type family- An entire family of a type that shares a similar design. (Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica)
INSTRUCTIONS
EXERCISES
Week 1: Exercise 1
Original sketches for "curious" + "carefree"
Sketches for "puzzled"
I experimented with a couple personality traits: curious and carefree.The incompleteness and boldness of some of the fonts shows my curiosity, as my questions are often never fulfilled and I'm only left wanting to find out more. The simple styles represents my carefree and tired nature, the simplicity of them shows that I like to keep things simple and I don't particularly like to complicate things.
I ended up sticking with one personality: curiosity/puzzled and settled on the last design in which my name is in puzzle shapes.
Week 2
We then had to digitize our final name. I had trouble with making the curved areas of my name and I struggled a lot. Luckily, Mr Vinod helped me out. Here's the original and final version after some touch ups.
After showing Mr Vinod my design, he said that it didn't represent the personality I want to focus on. I ultimately decided to change the theme since I wasn't fully satisfied with what I had to work with. Although I have to go back to square 1, I believe it to be worth it.
This time, I focused on "creativity" and I made my name in different types of shapes.
Here's the final animated version:
Week 4
I wasn't able to make it for this week's class because I was sick, however, I decided to choose 6 words to design which are: loop (Univers LT std), angry (Futura std), levitate (Bembo std), faint (Adobe Caslon Pro), bounce (Gill Sans std) and hungry (ITC New Baskerville std).
This was my initial idea for levitate, but Mr Vinod said that it didn't fully reflect the action:
After some adjustments here's the final designs of my 6 words:
I decided to use my design for angry to animate which contains 12 illustrator artboards and 30 frames in photoshop. Here's the result:
FEEDBACK
Week 2: Exercise 1
Mr Vinod told me to make a new design that shows more clearly of the personality that I want to represent, which is curiosity/puzzled. He recommended that I draw a design that incorporates puzzles and he helped me make a few changes. Additionally, he taught me how to make smoother curves in illustrator.
Mr Vinod's comment from facebook: Correct formatting and update process work from last week before next week's class.
Week 3
My design still didn't fully represent my personality and Mr Vinod commented saying that my supposed puzzle pieces didn't look like it at all. After I decided to change my idea to "creativity" he gave me some tips on how I could change it effectively and even helped me come up with ideas for the animation.
Week 4
Since I couldn't attend class, I emailed Mr Vinod about my work. Initially, I had wanted to use my first design for levitate. He said: With regard to your work, I’m afraid the designed expression you have produced here does not effectively reflect the action of the word. Please refer to your peers who have worked on this same word in class with differing results some of which are very good.
REFLECTION
Experience
Week 1
I felt very nervous yet excited for my first class of typography, as this is an area that is completely unknown to me. I look forward to the things we will be learning in the next few weeks.
Week 2
Although I had some experience in illustrator in my other class: Illustration and Visual Narrative, I still wasn't used to illustrator so I had a lot of trouble trying to make the curves of my name. Luckily, Mr Vinod was there to assist me when I needed help and gave a few tips as to how I could make my design look more clean.
Week 3
I've realized just how unconfident I am in my design and I really regret not changing it earlier. However, after the decision to change it I'm definitely going to work much harder to create a successful design.
Week 4
It has never occurred to me until recently about the impact of the weight of typefaces, especially the effect on the feeling of the word. After looking through the 10 different typefaces we were given, I realized just how many different designs could be achieved.
Observations
Week 1
I was inspired and decided to start brainstorming ideas. I decided to look on pinterest for typography ideas, and I became much more aware of how typography works.
Week 2
Digitizing was much harder than I had anticipated, so I was trying to get a hang on it.
Week 3
Creating a new design wasn't easy at all, and I was constantly erasing and redoing sketches.
Week 4
Matching a typeface to a specific mood word was actually quite and entertaining experience as I got to familiarize myself with the different types.
Findings
Week 1
After listening to what the next few weeks await us, I realized that I still have a long way to go.
Week 2
While I was working on my name in illustrator, it gave me a much more different perspective on the art of typography as it isn't easy at all.
Week 3
I felt that although Mr Vinod's criticism was harsh I really needed it to give me a clear perspective of where I am, and I feel that I have a better idea of how to execute it.
Week 4
Animating with photoshop and illustrator is much easier now, I have a better understanding of how to make transitional frames to create a smooth animation.
FURTHER READING
Week 1
This week, I chose the book "Advertising Design and Typography" by Alex W.White. I found this particular passage quite interesting:
I never thought of fonts or words for that matter in such a way. It definitely gives me a different perspective of how fonts are designed, as it is much deeper than what many people think. At times, designs of a font are often subtle to invoke an emotion. For example, if I TYPE IN ALL CAPS it puts emphasis to the words, sometimes, it may be used as shouting. If I type it in italics it invokes a calmer yet significant feeling. Which is what I believe the passage is saying, while words are just words it is the impact of the font that gives it purpose, it's like sound being added to a silent film or an actor delivering a role using different emotions and actions.“Type added to a visual message is the equivalent of what sound adds to a silent movie or to the performance of a mime. Type is frozen sound and should be handled as an actor handles volume, pitch, and tone in the delivery of a role to add emotion, attitude, character and quality.”
Week 2
Continuing off from the book I came across this passage:
“After World War II, type begins another transition. Herb Lubalin says, “the realization came to many of us in the early ‘50s that type was not just a mechanical means of setting words on a page. It is, rather, a creative and expressive instrument.”It really puts into perspective of how types have evolved throughout the years. From being mere words on a page to a form of artistic expression. It just shows how art is constantly changing, even in the simplest things such as letters.
Week 3
This week I started a new book called "Type On Screen" by Ellen Lupton. This book tackles the impact of typography in technology. One section that caught my eye was about animated logotypes:
"Animated logos have appeared on television for decades, where they dramatize the identity of networks, local stations, and individual programs.This made me more aware of how certain news channels have a distinct logo accompanied with a somewhat catchy music/sound which makes us instantly recognize where it's from. In particular, the logo contributes greatly contributes to marketing as a unique design tends to attract people's attention.
Week 4
This time, I got to a chapter that talks about working with color.
"There are several systems for indetifying color accurately on screen, including hexadecimal, RGB and RGBA, definted on the facing page. Designers choose and combine colors into attractive palettes based on the qualities of colors."From this, it just shows how color is an important factor for designing logos. Colors can create different moods on words, if the word "sad" is colored like a rainbow it invokes a contrasting feelings, as the meaning of the word connotes negative feelings while the rainbow color implies the complete opposite.
