Partner Typeface development & Finals

Partner Typeface development & Finals

Presented below will be the process's in which I went through in creating my partners typeface. The typeface I used as a base was a combination of 2. Bauhaus and Caslon pro. These two typefaces in combination simulate 2 visual attributes of Helen, Bauhaus simulates her curved handwriting style through its circular geometrical anatomical elements and the serifs within Caslon present her love for traditional drawing techniques, combining the both will create a nice contrast. The style will be inspired upon braille. A communication method I came up with to visually communicate her knowledge in sign language, although sign language is for people who lack hearing I felt the link still worked to create a visual response in terms of how language is communicated with people who have problems distinguishing language through medical conditions. 

Styling: Based on braille from her knowledge of sign language which inspired me to look into other means of communication for people with medical issues.

Bold: Due to her love of black clothing and black having color connotations of boldness. 

Layout: Grid based for her organized personality and follows the 3:2 of Braille writing system.

Deconstructed for her unusual love of engine mechanics, wanted it to feel slightly mechanical as well as coded and it was hand drawn to simulate her analogue hands on style of design processes. 

To begin the production process I played around with deconstructing the letterform as much as I could and still retain legibility in a way in which presented Code in a visual outcome. After playing about with straight linear shapes with a single dot element I began adding curves to the stems to distinguish the glyph into a more recognizable form.

I played about with this method a little more for an uppercase B and felt the boldness hindered the legibility of the letterform so I reverted back to the styling of Caslon and this is were I decided to base the lines the letterform follow around Bauhaus and the styling would be influenced by Caslons serifs with elements of deconstruction and a dot element to present braille and code.

As you can see I went through a few variations of each letterform in terms of element layout and how the letterform would be deconstructed to maintain legibility. I then experimented with letterform weight, as she liked the color black I looked into this and saw it as a Bold kind of color so it was convenient when the ascetics of the letterform suited better in a bold weight. Each glyph was placed in a 3:2 ratio to emulate the grid set up within the braille writing system.

I began to mock these letterforms up in larger scale ready for manipulation on photoshop and illustrator. They really began to take shape at this scale and more detail was added to the serif points adding a curve were the serif meets the stem.

Once all these letterforms were mocked up in an analogue format I digitally manipulated the in photoshop, they were scanned in and the background erased and placed in a grid ready for print. 

Partner typeface final crit

Partner typeface final crit

I had my final crit today for my partner typeface and was happy with most of the feedback. I felt the final outcome was successful but after seeing other peoples outcomes in terms of layout and presentation I feel it could have been improved but no one pointed this out.  Creating a closer grid and smaller letterforms with a larger border centring the typeface would work better as it feels quite clumsy and loose. 

Feedback wise everyone liked the concept and I was told that my typeface was a good example of the difference between legibility and readability. Meaning as a set A-Z it works in concept and it works visually when the concept is explained but legibility is a slight problem but this is also to do with the spacing of the letters i presented. 

When put into context of a word readability comes into it and it makes much more sense then and works very well together with close kerning. My partner Helen felt happy with the outcome and felt the concept fit her well. Everyone praised the fact that I combined 2 typefaces together to create my own unique typeface but I was advised if it was vectorised properly instead of the photocopy effect I emulated a much better outcome would be achieved so this is something to remember for the next time I create a complete finished typeface. 

But apart from that feedback was good and I am happy with how the Crit went. Things to remember for next time though will be grid layout, letterform size, look into vectorising. I will be keeping with a constant grid system as this 3:2 ratio worked well and helped create consistent letterforms and people agreed this was a clever concept as the 3:2 ratio links with how braille is formatted. 

Design Skills - Alphabet Soup - Typeface Interim Crit

Design Skills - Alphabet Soup - Typeface Interim Crit

Had my interim crit today only this time following a different format to the previous 2 crits run. This one we were to present out work out to out peers and the idea we had should be presented in a conceptual and visual way with little or no explanation on what's on show. Meaning legibilty and a strong concept needs to be evident. 

Admittedly I wasn't ready for this style of crit I was more prepared to presend my work and talk through it with my sketchbook. Not let my work do all the talking for me. So the feedback I relieved was good I expected a lot more people to struggle to understand my concept. But the concept was praised and strengthening ideas generated from people suggesting looking into my own code, creating typography that simulates engine parts, look into dot matrix printers and lots of other useful feedback on concepts.

Visually feedback was also good, as expected legibility issues were brought up. But this is something I will work on through use of a grid and different layout ideas. Wich is something I initially planned anyway. So this concept will be one I will be definitely taking forward along with experimentations with merging this idea with the existing chosen typefaces with manipulation.

Out of all the ideas presented the dot idea was praised the most but with additions of suggesting adding dashes into it to emulate morse code maybe? But the main thing I have to agree on is narrowing my concept down and focusing on a polished outcome. 

From this crit I have chosen to polish up and develop towards a final idea incorporating the dot concept, mechanical engine elements and keep the minamilistic approach and try out embossing maybe. I will look into existing type design that fits this criteria to help strengthen development ideas. But I now know we're to head with the idea thanks to this crit.

Here is what i took in the crit. 

OUGD403 Design Skills - Alphabet Soup - Typeface

OUGD403 Design Skills - Alphabet Soup - Typeface

To inform development more upon my contextual research on my partner I have included an image of her handwriting to try base my manipulation around this and the facts I have gathered around her. 

I have been working on some rough design ideas deriving from my contextual research into Braille and mechanics and formed a basis upon my word association. I am looking forward too the interim crit as I feel i am at bit of a dead end on were to take my ideas and concepts. I have a few basic ideas worked on favoring the dots idea derived from Braille. A way in which I could experiment and develop this is form a grid system to create different outcomes quickly experimenting with abstract layouts with minimal legibility and more legible clear cut outcomes. Once this is established I will try bring one or more of the chosen 3 typefaces into it as shown in idea 3 on the bottom image. Keeping a singular element of the dot keeps a sort of focus point upon the letterforms concept.

After discussion with my girlfriend late at night she mentioned the idea of roman numerals so I briefly played about with deconstructing the Casion typeface with these visual elements. 

Si scott is someone I want to look into now after playing about with mechanical inspired spiral style letterforms seen in idea 4. These intricate letterforms could really give off the idea of mechanics and Helens love of illustrative hand made and handcrafted style. It will be nice to see how my ideas can be informed to be brought forward into polished outcomes through a group crit. I feel I have a diverse range as it stands just more clarity is needed in terms of a strong visual response and supporting concept.