Project 2
3rd May 2019 (week 7-9)
Daryl Pung Xi Ern (0333743)
Typography Project 2: Font Design
LECTURE NOTES
Week 7: Text/Ttracking, Kerning and Letterspacing
Designers always letterspace uppercase letters, but there has long been strong resistance within the type community to letterspace lowercase letters within text. Uppercase letterforms are drawn to be able to stand on their own, whereas lowercase letterforms require the counterform created between letters to maintain the line of reading.
Flush left: format that mirrors asymmetrical experience of handwriting.
Centered: Imposes symmetry upon the text, assigned equal value and weight to both ends of any line.
Flush right: Places emphasis on the end of a line as opposed to its start.
Week 8: Text/Indicating paragraph
There was no lecture this week, however, Mr Vinod gave us a short tutorial on how to use font lab and how we could transfer our designs from illustrator.
Week 9:
I was absent for this class.
INSTRUCTIONS
PROJECT 2
Week 7
For this week, we were tasked to dissect 4 different letters of a font.
Week 8
I asked Mr Vinod for more feedback and I re-edited it according to what he told me. I adjusted the stem of the d and i to make it more consistent and I resized the a, s and c. I also realized that my apostrophe was the other way around and I quickly fixed my mistake.
Week 9
I wasn't there for this week's lesson, however I transferred my design into font lab.
Here's my initial attempt when I wasn't too sure about how the spacing or resizing worked in font lab:
We were then told to make a layout based on our font. Here's my design that I made using illustrator:
FEEDBACK
Week 7
Mr Vinod said that the stem of my D is too curved and it should remain consistent as the others.
Week 8
There is an issue with the consistency of the stroke’s thickness as can be seen with the d, which is ticker that the rest. There is some issue with the o. The top section of the v should be flat and not angled.
Week 9
I was absent today.
REFLECTION
Experience
Week 7
I realised that I couldn't change the design of the font by too much and I that I should make use of more subtle changes instead,
Week 8
I found it a bit hard to keep it consistent as I struggled with maintaining the same thickness.
Week 9
I had some problems trying to install font lab. When I did, there was a glitch that caused me to search for another version of the program to work with.
Observations
Week 7
I was a bit frustrated as I couldn't maintain the consistency in the design.
Week 8
I slowly began to understand the functions of font lab.
Week 7
I was sick this week so I was feeling sluggish, however I re-edited the design according to the feedback quickly.
Findings
Week 7
I was more familiar with the pattern in the design of Gill Sans.
Week 8
I realised that there was still a lot I needed to work on after receiving the feedback from Mr Vinod.
Week 9
I was able to get used to the functions of font lab after a while, although it was confusing at first as I wasn't familiar with the settings.
FURTHER READING
Week 7
I started a new book called "lettering and Type" by Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals. In the book, I learned about type and lettering classification.
Week 8
Continuing off from "Lettering and Type, I read a chapter on foundations which is the basic principle shapes of letters.
Week 9
This time, I focused on a topic about punctuation, which wasn't particularly touched on during class so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about it.
Week 7: Text/Ttracking, Kerning and Letterspacing
Designers always letterspace uppercase letters, but there has long been strong resistance within the type community to letterspace lowercase letters within text. Uppercase letterforms are drawn to be able to stand on their own, whereas lowercase letterforms require the counterform created between letters to maintain the line of reading.
Flush left: format that mirrors asymmetrical experience of handwriting.
Centered: Imposes symmetry upon the text, assigned equal value and weight to both ends of any line.
Flush right: Places emphasis on the end of a line as opposed to its start.
Week 8: Text/Indicating paragraph
There was no lecture this week, however, Mr Vinod gave us a short tutorial on how to use font lab and how we could transfer our designs from illustrator.
Week 9:
I was absent for this class.
INSTRUCTIONS
PROJECT 2
Week 7
For this week, we were tasked to dissect 4 different letters of a font.
 |
| Fig 1.0 "V" Gill Sans |
 |
| Fig 1.1 "T" Gill Sans |
 |
| Fig 1.2 "D" Gill Sans |
 |
| Fig 1.3 "H" Gill Sans |
We then had to make a set of letters based on a design of the font we chose. I settled on Gill Sans and made it slightly thinner and curved.
 |
| Fig 1.4 1st Attempt |
 |
| Fig 1.5 1st Set |
Week 8
I asked Mr Vinod for more feedback and I re-edited it according to what he told me. I adjusted the stem of the d and i to make it more consistent and I resized the a, s and c. I also realized that my apostrophe was the other way around and I quickly fixed my mistake.
 |
| Fig 1.6 2nd Attempt |
Week 9
I wasn't there for this week's lesson, however I transferred my design into font lab.
 |
| Fig 1.7 Exporting To Font Lab |
Here's my initial attempt when I wasn't too sure about how the spacing or resizing worked in font lab:
 |
| Fig 1.8 Quick Trial On Font Lab |
After I adjusted the spacing and height of the font:
 |
| Fig 1.9 Making Minor Adjustments |
 |
| Fig 1.10 Final Font |
 |
| Fig 1.11 Final Outcome |
FEEDBACK
Week 7
Mr Vinod said that the stem of my D is too curved and it should remain consistent as the others.
Week 8
There is an issue with the consistency of the stroke’s thickness as can be seen with the d, which is ticker that the rest. There is some issue with the o. The top section of the v should be flat and not angled.
Week 9
I was absent today.
REFLECTION
Experience
Week 7
I realised that I couldn't change the design of the font by too much and I that I should make use of more subtle changes instead,
Week 8
I found it a bit hard to keep it consistent as I struggled with maintaining the same thickness.
Week 9
I had some problems trying to install font lab. When I did, there was a glitch that caused me to search for another version of the program to work with.
Observations
Week 7
I was a bit frustrated as I couldn't maintain the consistency in the design.
Week 8
I slowly began to understand the functions of font lab.
Week 7
I was sick this week so I was feeling sluggish, however I re-edited the design according to the feedback quickly.
Findings
Week 7
I was more familiar with the pattern in the design of Gill Sans.
Week 8
I realised that there was still a lot I needed to work on after receiving the feedback from Mr Vinod.
Week 9
I was able to get used to the functions of font lab after a while, although it was confusing at first as I wasn't familiar with the settings.
FURTHER READING
Week 7
Like scientific classification, the categorization of letters and type enables one to better analyze and understand their traits, forms, and history.This shows that categories of lettering and type attributes can give designers and typographers a solid starting point for discussing and analyzing typographic systems.
Week 8
Continuing off from "Lettering and Type, I read a chapter on foundations which is the basic principle shapes of letters.
Awareness of axis and the pen's emphasis provides a key for understanding the shapes of the roman alphabet. A letter with no stroke modulation or whose horizontal strokes are thicker than its verticals will look wrong to the reader.This passage shows the importance on the width and height of letters, and how they can affect the meaning of the topic it is meant to represent.
Week 9
This time, I focused on a topic about punctuation, which wasn't particularly touched on during class so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about it.
Punctuation organizes, clarifies, and modifies written language. It does? Absolutely! Letters may form the fore of a font, but the secondary characters-- punctuation marks, symbols, and accented characters--play an important and sometimes overlooked role in typography.It then occurred to me that punctuation is actually a quick way to communicate the intended meaning. When combined with letters, it gives them emotion and a lot more meaning.
