Research task expansion

Research task expansion

Todays session covered a fair few areas relevant to the new brief. To begin with we pooled together all our groups research on the questions we answered. From this body of research we narrowed down to 5 sections of research based on the questions we pooled together. 

Copied over from the blogs are the responses bellow.

My research responses 

What are the main applications of the font categories?:

Block/Bold

Serif/Stone/Roman

Sans Serif/Gothic

Digital

Script
I found out by looking in the book TYPOGRAPHY by Gavin Ambrose & Paul Harris that the main uses for the font categories are as follows. I have included examples of the typefaces with source address included.

Block typefaces are mainly used for headers or initial capitals, there main use is for high impact decorative visuals. Due to there complexity the letterforms can be hard to distinguish in large blocks of text. 
http://www.typetoken.net/typeface/north-south-—-anthony-burrill-for-print-paste/

Roman typefaces or serif typefaces are typically used for body texts. This is due to the use of serifs which are said to help the eye move from letter to letter along with the eye scanning the text using ascenders and descenders to distinguish words. increasing legibility off each character. The more ornate serif versions off this category are used in headers. 
http://www.typetoken.net/publication/yearbook-of-type-1-slanted/

Sans serif/gothic typefaces are most used in headings or short bursts of information, it is said that the cleanliness off the letterform can disturb legibility off the glyphs and cause overall readability issues when used in large body text's. 
A good use of a sans serif typeface in a typical short hit of information, a header. Or a header on a book. Extreme cleanliness and legibility in small bodies of text. 
http://www.typetoken.net/publication/fhk-henrion-the-complete-designer-unit-editions-unit-13/

Script typefaces were originally created to mimic handwriting, there vague legibility means that its difficult to read the typesetting of script in large body texts so there use is limited to decorative uses like wedding invites or anything that needs decorative details such as brand names or captions. 
Bellow is the typeface in context of a quite erotic brand and how it fits in with the imagery and the sexual "elegant" connotations.
http://www.typetoken.net/typeface/erotica-maximiliano-sproviero-lian-types/

Typical use off the style in context of a wedding invite. 

http://www.glamour.com/weddings/blogs/save-the-date/2012/11/7-wedding-invitations-that-are.html

Due to the traditional construction techniques off block, roman, gothic and script fonts the main use for digital fonts would be for display on screens due to the construction process been different and originating from a computer rather than old style techniques like carving, wood block pressing, hot metal type setting, bone calligraphy or sable brushing. This construction process brings me onto my next question.
There is also no limits to aesthetics as this abstract geometric example from type token proves. 
http://www.typetoken.net/typeface/glue-grist-gareth-hague-alias/

What are the differences for designing a typeface for print vs type for screen design?
The main differenced between type design for print and onscreen is that font designed for print are drawn out. So once produced in a vector program and type creation program are scalable to any size. The first fonts designed this way looked terrible on low resolution monitors due to there not been enough pixels available to display the clarity and subtle curvatures in print fonts.

The average apple mac has a resolution of 72dots per inch, thats 72 pixels per inch. A windows PC has a default of 96dp, compare this to printed outcomes having resolutions off around 300dpi to 1200dpi its obvious how things become distorted and "pixelated".

To overcome the problem, web font designer Chuck Bigelow (the designer of screen font Pellucida a screen equivalent of Lucida) created a number of bitmapped screen fonts. 
Bitmapp fonts were designed within the square pixel grid of low resolution screens. A bitmapped font character is visualized by a system of arranged pixels on screen that have been tweaked by a font designer for good legibility, readability and clarity. 

Apple were quick to take advantage off this new font production system to increase readability and legibly of onscreen type. On Windows Pcs these bitmapped fonts can be distinguished by there obvious red and white icons found within the fonts filer. 

The only problem with bitmap fonts was that they were only available in a small number of sizes, if you increased the size and it was not installed on system the characters would become even more jagged. So a timely process of creating each type size within its pixel grid system had to be undergone. 

As the onscreen font was made of pixels and was only 72dpi, the problem of printing the font would be the next issue. To overcome this the font would convert from the pixel screen version to the vector scalable option rady for printing. 

With the release of modern high definition monitors screen font design is beginning to sway towards more simple geometric shapes to increase legibility and clarity in large scales.

Typical example of bitmap font design. 

Typical font design program for geometric font production for high resolution screens.
http://dc357.4shared.com/doc/-OG3Nqx4/preview.html

After gathering those up we answered a further selection of questions relevant to gathering research for the DPS. 

Neil's research reponses. 

How does kerning/tracking/leading effect readability? 

Leading

Leading is the spacing between the baselines of type. The term leading is derived from the practice of placing lead strips between lines type on older hand set printing presses such as a letterpress.  Adjusting the leading is also a very useful way of saving or using space on a page. Leading can also be used to change the aesthetics when dealing with a typographical design.

Leading effects how we read paragraphs as it effects the spacing between the lines. If the leading is increased too much the lines will not sit together and they will just read as individual line and on the other hand if the leading is decreased too much the lines will over lap and will be un readable. If the leading is changed the right amount the lines relate more to each other which helps increase readability. 

Different typefaces will need different leading as some typefaces have bigger decenders and ascenders which will effect how much you can alter the leading. 

Most softwares have a default leading of 120% so a 12pt font will have a leading of 14.4 pt. 

Examples using 14pt helvetica 

Kerning

Kerning is the spacing in between individual characters. Most fonts will have specific default kerning for individual character sets so that the spacing in between the letters in words feels more natural. 

If the kerning is to big it will make the letters seem unjoined and it won't flow. This effects the readability as the words don't appear as words they appear as individual letter forms so it doesn't read well. The opposite of this is negative tracking, by changing this too much the letters will overlap each other and won't read at all. 

Tracking

Another adjustment to type that hasn’t been mentioned is Tracking.  Tracking is very similar to kerning in that it is the spacing between individual characters, but tracking is the space between groups of letters rather than individual letters.  Tracking affects the overall character density of the copy. Other than the actual effect that it could have on readability of type, tracking would be used to make lines of type even.  Tracking will help to eliminate widows and orphans in paragraphs.  Widows are when the final line of a paragraph begins a new column or page.  Orphans are when paragraphs end in single words, part of words or a short phrase that seems out of place.

What makes a letterform legible?

At first glance these questions might seem impossible to answer, because reading is a matter of habit. We read best, what we read most. For example: 100 years ago, Germany was divided between people who claimed that either blackletter or the Roman script is more legible and should be used to set German. The supporters of blackletter typefaces claimed, the simple Roman shapes would hurt the eyes and cause fatigue. The supporters of the Roman typefaces claimed that the blackletter shapes are way too complex and therefore hurt the eyes and cause fatigue . In science there are two models of how letters could be read: as a visual template or as a combination of features. 

For every letter of the latin script we can think of a certain generic skeleton—a unique set of stems, curves and diacritical marks that, in combination, make up a letter.We depend on a structure to define it as legible Designed both in a generic and familiar way (recognizability) and also in a way that stresses letter differentiation (distinguishability). These are the two forces a type designer needs to balance out when creating a legible typeface.Simplicty makes a legible letter form, not to much manipulation of the form we understand.illegible  

legible 

Typeface designers work hard to hard to ensure that the individual glyphs within a typeface design adhere to expectations and represent identifiable characters for reading. The legibleibility of a typeface then is inherent within the design of the type. it includes characteristics such as stroke modulation (the changes from thick to thin) relationships between proportions of character width and height, serif size and formation, the relationship between shapes of individual characters and the size and shape of counters.

All these effect the legibility of a typeface and letter form. 

http://n-gilchrist1316-dp.blogspot.co.uk

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Italics are drawn out separately from the regular letterforms in a typeface based on an axis ranging from 7-20 degrees. Italics have a calligraphic style and can sit close due to the angle they have individually drawn at.

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Obliques were created because italics were considered inappropriate for the industrial and non-calligraphic designs of most sans-serif typefaces. An oblique is essentially a copy of the roman character put at an angle often around 8-12 degrees. 

Italic is a special version of the font, whereas an oblique version is just the regular version inclined a bit. So both are slanted and related to the regular font, but italic will have special letterforms made especially for it.

An italic is created by the type designer with specific characters (notably lowercase a) drawn differently to create a more calligraphic, as well as slanted version.

Source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1680624/css-font-style-italic-vs-oblique

 http://j-simmonds1316-dp.blogspot.co.uk

REF: 
http://www.usabilitypost.com/2008/09/29/a-guide-to-choosing-colors-for-your-brand/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/08/color-theory-for-designer-part-3-creating-your-own-color-palettes/
http://colourware.org/tag/colour-semiotics/


All colours have inherent meanings, which can vary depending on the country or culture. These meanings have a direct impact on the way people perceive your work, even if it’s just subconsciously. The colours you choose can either work for or against the design you’re trying to create.

There are a number of predefined colour scheme standards that make creating new schemes easier, especially for beginners. Below are the traditional schemes, with a few examples for each.

MONOCHROMATIC
Monochromatic colour schemes are made up of different tones, shades and tints within a specific hue. These are the simplest colour schemes to create, as they’re all taken from the same hue, making it harder to create a jarring or ugly scheme (though both are still possible).

Examples:

Here are three examples of monochrome colour schemes. For the most part with these schemes, the first colour would likely be used for headlines. The second colour would be used for body text or possibly the background. The third colour would likely be used for the background (or body text if colour #2 was used as the background). And the last two colours would be used as accents or within graphics.

ANALOGOUS
Analogous colour schemes are the next easiest to create. Analogous schemes are created by using three colours that are next to each other on the 12-spoke colour wheel. Generally, analogous colour schemes all have the same chroma level, but by using tones, shades and tints we can add interest to these schemes and adapt them to our needs.

Examples:

COMPLEMENTARY:
Complementary schemes are created by combining colours from opposite sides of the colour wheel. In their most basic form, these schemes consist of only two colours, but can easily be expanded using tones, tints, and shades. A word of warning, though: using colours that are exact opposites with the same chroma and/or value right next to each other can be very jarring visually (they’ll appear to actually vibrate along their border in the most severe uses). This is best avoided (either by leaving white space between them or by adding another, transitional colour between them).

SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY:
Split complementary schemes are almost as easy as the complementary scheme. In this scheme, instead of using colours that are opposites, you use colours on either side of the hue opposite your base hue.

TRIADIC:
Triadic schemes are made up of hues equally spaced around the 12-spoke colour wheel. This is one of the more diverse colour schemes.

DOUBLE-COMPLEMENTARY (TETRADIC)
Tetradic colour schemes are probably the most difficult schemes to pull off effectively.

Examples:

CUSTOM:
Custom colour schemes are the hardest to create. Instead of following the predefined colour schemes discussed above, a custom scheme isn’t based on any formal rules. Keep in mind things like chroma, value, and saturation when creating these kinds of colour schemes.

Examples:

Colour Semiotics

Colour semiotics is concerned with the meanings that colours are able to communicate. Colours can evoke strong emotional responses in viewers and can also communicate meanings and or concepts through association. For example, in many western societies black is associated with death and the mourning process. Consequently, colour may play a role in imparting information, creating lasting identity and suggesting imagery and symbolic value (Hynes, 2008). 

There seem to be at least three different origins for colour semiotics. Firstly there is the emotional or visceral impact of colours. Colours can have a strong emotional impact and can even affect our physiological state. For example, red colours have been cited to raise the blood pressure and colours have been reported to affect muscular strength (Hamid and Newport, 1989; O’Connell, Harper and McAndrew, 1985). We fear the dark. Perhaps these effects are innate and have been present since the earliest days (the effect of red has sometimes been attributed to the colour of blood and our fear of black may relate to a primitive fear of the dark and unknown.) 

Secondly there are socio-economic origins. In western society purple became associated with wealth and royalty because purple dyestuff was more expensive than gold. Only extremely rich people could afford to wear purple and some organisations (e.g. the Christian church) chose to use purple to make a statement about their wealth and power. 

Thirdly, some colours meanings are cultural in origin. The association of red with luck in China and the link between pink for girls and blue for boys in western society may originate in and be reinforced by cultural behaviour and shared understanding. For example, in the United Kingdom pink was associated with young boys until about 1920 after which blue came to signify the male professions, most notably the navy (Koller, 2008). 

The importance of colour semiotics has been noted in corporate visual identities (Hynes, 2008), human computer interaction (Bourges-Waldegg and Scrivener, 1998), political communication (Archer and Stent, 2002), and as a marker for gender and sexuality (Koller, 2008). Koller undertook a study of the colour pink and found, from a survey of 169 participants, that 76 per cent of participants made the association of pink with femininity. Pink was also associated with romance (56%), sweetness (52%), softness (51%), love (50%) and several other concepts (Koller, 2008). Men were less likely to make synesthetic associations for pink than were females who also seemed to have a more differentiated schema for pink. In addition to the link between pink and femininity, Koller (2008) also found emergent associations of pink with fun, independence and confidence. However, although black is often associated with death it can have other meanings; for example it can be associated with power or evil, and the actual meaning in any particular situation depends upon the context in which the colour is used; it can also depend upon other aspects of visual appearance such as gloss and texture (Lucassen, Gevers and Gijsenij, 2010). 

Furthermore, the meanings for a colour can also depend upon culture and can vary over time. For example, in some countries black is not the colour that is most associated with death (white is used instead). The appropriate use of colour semiotics can impact greatly on the success of a design (particularly one that has a branding or marketing dimension). However, it is clear that colour meanings and associations can vary with a great many factors. On the one hand the connection of meaning and colour seems obvious, natural nearly; on the other hand it seems idiosyncratic, unpredictable and anarchic (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2002). Indeed, social groups that share common purposes around colour are often relatively small and specialized compared to groups who share speech or visual communication (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006). Grieve goes further to suggest that colour per se does not elicit response, but the particular meaning or significance of the colour seems context-bound and varies from one person or situation to another (Grieve, 1991).

Despite the previously discussed context–‐dependence of colour semiotics most robust studies that have explored colour semiotics have done so for colour patches viewed in an abstract sense, devoid of context. The colour science community tend to use the term colour emotion instead of colour semiotics; for example, Gao et al. (2007) wrote that “The semantic words describing words such as “warm-cool”, “light‐dark”, “soft‐hard”, etc.”. The colour science community also tend to study bi-polar pairs of semantic words such as “soft-hard”. In these circumstances it has been found that there is an effect of culture but that it is limited (Lucassen et al., 2010). Indeed, even the medium (e.g. digital display or hardcopy paper) has been shown to have little effect on the emotions or meanings that observers attribute to different colours (Suk and Irtel, 2010). This would seem to contradict greatly with the earlier view (Grieve, 1991) that colour per se (without context) does not elicit response. Nevertheless, most formal studies in the last decade have explored whether there are cultural, gender or age effects in terms of the meanings associated with colours by observers when viewing colours without context (typically square patches of colour viewed on a computer screen). For example, one study (Gao et al., 2007) studied observers from seven countries (Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Spain and Sweden) who were asked to rate 214 colour samples each in terms of 12 bi-polar word pairs (e.g. soft-hard). The differences between the nationality groups were small despite the different cultural backgrounds. In another study (Ou et al., 2004a) 14 British and 17 Chinese observers assessed 20 colours in terms of 10 bi‐polar word pairs. The differences between the responses from the two groups were small with the exception of like‐dislike and tense-relaxed. Chinese observers tended to prefer colours that were clean, fresh or modern whereas this tendency did not occur for British observers. British observers tended to associate tense with active colours, whereas Chinese observers associated tense with the colours that were hard, heavy, masculine, or dirty. In a second study (Ou et al., 2004b) 8 British and 11 Chinese observers assessed 190 colour pairs in terms of 11 bi-polar word pairs. No significant differences were found between the UK and Chinese responses but some gender differences were found; there was poor correlation between male and female responses in terms of the masculine-feminine word pair and female observers tended to like colours that were light, relaxed, feminine or soft (whereas this association did not occur for male observers). It seems clear that colour per se does have meaning but the question of whether these meanings are consistent across culture, age and gender is not entirely clear. As Gage (1999) wrote, “To what extent different colours, such as red or black, have cross-cultural significance, is an altogether more difficult question.” Perhaps one reason why these formal studies have not been able to provide definitive answers to the question of whether colour meaning and emotion depends upon culture (and even gender) is because they have traditionally been carried out with quite small numbers of participants. The two studies by Ou et al. (2004a; 2004b) involved 31 and 19 participants respectively. These studies typically involved small numbers of observers in part because the experiments are carried out in laboratories using carefully controlled and calibrated equipment so that the exact specifications of the colours displayed can be known. One way to involve much greater numbers of participants is to use a web-based experiment and such a study is currently being undertaken by the author (Westland and Mohammadzadeh, 2012). Web–‐based experiments have several advantages including access to large numbers of observers and minimal interruption to observers and experimenter. Of course, the disadvantages are also numerous including potential sources of colour variation including, display technology, ambient illumination level, observer bias an, deficiencies and anomalies and operating software. However, currently responses have been collected for more than 2000 observers from over 50 countries worldwide and this work, when complete, has the potential to allow definitive conclusions to be drawn on the question of whether colour semiotics are invariant to cultural background and gender. The issue of how to address colour semiotics in a design context remains an open question and can currently only be addressed by ad hoc studies that contribute little to the theoretical debate.



Orange is the color of social communication and optimism. From a negative color meaning it is also a sign of pessimism and superficiality.

In the meanings of color in color psychology, yellow is the color of the mind and the intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful. However it can also suggest impatience, criticism and cowardice.

Associated meanings of colours 

Green is the color of balance and growth. It can mean both self-reliance as a positive and possessiveness as a negative, among many other meanings. 

Blue is the color of trust and peace. It can suggest loyalty and integrity as well as conservatism and frigidity. 

Indigo is the color of intuition. In the meanings of colors it can mean idealism and structure as well as ritualistic and addictive.  

Purple is the color of the imagination. It can be creative and individual or immature and impractical.   

The color meaning of turquoise is communication and clarity of mind. It can also be impractical and idealistic.

The color psychology of pink is unconditional love and nurturing. Pink can also be immature, silly and girlish.

In the meaning of colors, magenta is a color of universal harmony and emotional balance. It is spiritual yet practical, encouraging common sense and a balanced outlook on life.

The color brown is a serious, down-to-earth color that relates to security, protection and material wealth.

From a color psychology perspective, gray is the color of compromise - being neither black nor white, it is the transition between two non-colors.

Silver has a feminine energy; it is related to the moon and the ebb and flow of the tides - it is fluid, emotional, sensitive and mysterious.

Gold is the color of success, achievement and triumph. Associated with abundance and prosperity, luxury and quality, prestige and sophistication, value and elegance, the color psychology of gold implies affluence, material wealth and extravagance.

White is color at its most complete and pure, the color of perfection. The color meaning of white is purity, innocence, wholeness and completion.

Black is the color of the hidden, the secretive and the unknown, creating an air of mystery. It keeps things bottled up inside, hidden from the world.



A guide to selecting colours for your brand
One of the key elements of building a strong brand is colour selection. Every colour has a different feel and various associations. By choosing a colour or a combination of colours for your brand identity, you will take on those associations. Colours will evoke certain emotions and feelings towards your brand so it is vital to choose a colour that will represent your identity effectively.

Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.

If you own a color in your industry, this color will symbolize your product. This can act as a great identifier. For example, if you sell physical goods, your packaging will stand out from the competition. The color will also be recognizable on any promotional media and your logos.

Where to start?
There is a great new tool which can help out with color selection called Cymbolism. It’s an interactive survey of color and word associations. Every page loads a new word, for which you have to select a color you feel best represents it. The results are then aggregated and you can see most popular associations either by color or by word.

To help you select the right color for your brand I’ve aggregated the results from Cymbolism, and also provided examples of logos that use each color:

These aren’t the top ten words that represent each color, these are just the words that happened to have been entered and processed by Cymbolism and came out on top. Having said this, the sample size is quite large and the selection should give you a decent indication of what a color stands for.

I’ve also included some multi-colored examples at the end. Some brands choose not to associate themselves with one color. Instead of two or three colors, they choose four or more. This represents variety. This makes sense for brands that are platforms or marketplaces as they host vast amount of different applications or goods.

There are also two more colors that haven’t made it on the list: black and white. These are arguably not even colors, and they will go well with pretty much everything you choose. White you probably shouldn’t use because you won’t be able to print the logo on white paper unless the white is used on a darker background. Black is a good complementary color to use and a lot of brands choose to have the text set in black because it is neutral and serious.

How to select your color
Look through the table above for a quick overview of what each color stands for. Some questions to ask yourself:

What color represents your brand's personality?
What color suits the characteristics of your product/service?
What color does your competitor(s) use?
Colors aren’t tied to any particular industry — though some may be better suited for some services/products than others. You should aim to pick a color that will represent your brand’s personality best. One that will give your customers the right impression the first time they see it.

You aren’t limited to one color. Some brands like eBay choose to go with many colors to represent variety — but you can also choose a couple of colors that work well together.

Consider differences in cultural interpretations of your color. For example in the Western world, white is considered the color of purity and peace, however, in some parts of Asia white is the color of death. Make sure the color you select will give the right impressions in the markets you’re present in.

Pick a color opposite to that of your main competitor. The color of your main competitor is probably the most important point to consider. If you’re the first in a new industry or market segment, then you have first picks. Choose the color that represents your product and its personality. If you’re second, then that first choice may already be taken. Instead of picking the same or similar color, pick the opposite. Pick blue if your competitor has red, pick purple if they have yellow, etc. A brand’s strength lies in its ability to stand out. Picking the same color to that of your key competitor makes you a me-too product. Instead, you want to separate yourself from the competitor, you want to show that you’re different.

http://t-houghton1316-dc.blogspot.co.uk