Advance Typography - Exercise

27/08/2018 - 10/09/2018 (Week 01 - Week 03)

Isaac Lee (0330747)

Advance Typography

Exercise

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LECTURE

27/08/2018 (Week 01)

On the first week of Advance Typography, Mr. Vinod gave us a briefing/overview of this module. He said that we needed to do a lot of research regarding typography for our future assignments as it won't be easy. He gave us our first exercise/topic called "Typographic Systems & Findings".

INSTRUCTIONS

EXERCISE

27/08/2018 (Week 01)

Typographic Systems consists of 8 systems, which are: Axial, Bilateral, Dilatational, Modular, Radial, Random, and Transitional. We were tasked to create two designs of each systems, and we were also required to use the 10 fonts that our lecturer gave us.

The set of text that we need to include:

The Design School at Taylor's University

Graphic and Interactive Communication Design

Typosexual Typographic Exhibition

Open Public Lectures

August 20, 2018

September 20, 2018

October 20, 2018

10:00 am, Lecture Theatre 10

Below here are my first attempts in composing each of the systems:

03/09/2018 (Week 02)

We presented our work from from the week before to our lecturers and also gain quite a lot of feedback regarding this exercise.

Below here are my final compositions:

Figure 1.1 Final composition (Modular)

Figure 1.2 Final composition (Axial)

Figure 1.3 Final composition (Radial)

Figure 1.4 Final composition (Bilateral)

Figure 1.5 Final composition (Grid)

Figure 1.6 Final composition (Transitional)

Figure 1.7 Final composition (Random)

Figure 1.8 Final composition (Dilational)

02/09/2018 (Week 03)

Type & Play - Part 1: Finding Type

For this exercise, we were tasked to find letterforms within an image of man-made objects, structures, or nature. Based on the image we've chosen, we are required to trace any letterforms we can find in it.

Figure 2.1 The image I chose to trace

Figure 2.2 Grayscale version of the chosen image

Figure 2.3 Tracing out potential letterforms

Figure 2.4

After extracting potential letterforms from the chosen image, I then proceed to refine them. The following leterforms found are: i, F, H, R, V, Y, respectively.

Figure 2.5 Potential letterforms

Figure 2.6 Refining the letterforms

Figure 2.7 Refined letterforms

17/09/2018 (Week 04)

Type & Play - Part 2: Symbiotic Relationship

After Part 1 of Type & Play, we move on to Part 2, which has nothing to do with Part 1. Just like the previous work, we were required to select an image: man-made objects, structures, or nature; and somehow form a symbiotic relationship between the words and the selected image. Both the words and image has to be related.

For this exercise, we need to include 20 - 30 words in the composition, And, the image has to be duotone. Lastly, the size of the composition should be A4.

Below here are some compositions I made:

Figure 3.1 Original image #1

Figure 3.2 Duotone effect #1

Figure 3.3 Final outcome #1

Figure 3.4 Original image #2

Figure 3.5 Duotone effect #2

Figure 3.6 Final outcome #2

Figure 3.7 Original image #3

Figure 3.8 Duotone effect #3

Figure 3.9 Final outcome #3

24/09/2018 (Week 05)

Here is my second attempt for the exercise Part 2. Since I was told to make my artwork more expressive, I literally express how I felt. Therefore, this is the result of it.

Figure 4.0 2nd attempt for exercise Part 2

This represents how I felt, & I wanted to express my anger in colors & also the form/the way the words are expressed. The words are expressed in the form of a flame, same goes for the color.

FEEDBACK

Week 01: No feedback on the first week.

Week 02: Mr. Vinod said that when doing the Typographic System exercise, we have to abide to the system; and also, ensure that the output/composition is well layed out. Plus, there has to be a clear communication when doing the exercise. Same with readability, and hierarchy of information must be emphasized. After that, alignment is an important principle in design. Next, Mr. Vinod also stated that shades of black and/or white are pretty difficult to play with. Lastly, when using "justified", large rivers are bad in Typography; and that good designers will leave some room/gap in the composition to promote the reader's imagination. He also reminded us that the color on our screens and the color output by the printer will differ. Furthermore, we should avoid using a 45-degree angled axis and instead should use lesser than 45 degrees.

Mr. Shamsul told me to use hyphens when I want to put words/sentences together. My example for Radial system leaves too much space, and that my Random system seemed too controlled and not random. I should use the rule of thirds when making a composition.

Week 03: Public holiday.

Week 04: Public holiday.

Week 05: The composition for dilation seems blocky, and transitional is not well composed. For exercise Part 1, I have to dissect/outline the chosen image. And, also refine the letterform for 'i'. And for exercise Part 2, the chosen images were overwhelming the words. I need to emphasize more on the symbiotic relationship between the image and the text. My compositions aren't visually attractive, imaginative, and expressive. Mr Shamsul said I should experiment with different typefaces.

Week 06: My group & Ron's group had a presentation today, & Mr Vinod was please with it. Regarding our Project 1, our lecturers state that our key artwork should/can be used anywhere (in many different mediums). For example, badges, posters, T-shirts. We should also, again, try to relate the key artwork to the image & portray a metaphor. Lastly, as designers, we should display our intimacy with typography.

REFLECTION

Experience

Week 01: I can feel the stress coming even though I haven't start the work yet.

Week 03: Public holiday.

Week 04: Public holiday.

Week 05: Since I was told to make my artwork more expressive, I literally express how I felt.

Observation

Week 01: We have a new student in our class, and everyone seems to be on board in class this week.

Week 03: Public holiday.

Week 04: Public holiday.

Week 05: I basically just did what I feel.

Findings

Week 01: From what I can see in the briefing, we're going to have to grind extra hard for this semester.

Week 03: Public holiday.

Week 04: Public holiday.

Week 05: Good way of releasing tension is to express it through work.

FURTHER READING

Week 01:

JUST MY TYPE: A book about fonts by Simon Garfield.

In the chapter ‘The Worst Fonts in The World’, there was a questionnaire that was sent out to more than a hundred designers & were asked to identify three things: the fonts they used the most, the ones they believed were most highly visible, the ones they liked best.

Used Regularly

1. Frutiger
2. Helvetica/Helvetica Neue
3. Futura
4. Gill Sans
5. Univers
6. Garamond
7. Bembo; Franklin Gothic
8. Minion
9. Arial

Highly Visible

1. Helvetica/Helvetica Neue
2. Meta
3. Gill Sans
4. Rotis
5. Aria
6. ITC Officina Sans
7. FuturaBold Italic Techno; FF Info; Mrs Eaves; Swiss; TheSans; Times New Roman

Least Favorite

1. Times New Roman
2. Helvetica/Helvetica Neue
3. Brush Script
4. Arial; Courier
5. Rotis; Souvenir
6. Grunge Fonts (generic)
7. Avant Garde; Gill Sans
8. Comic Sans

Twenty-three respondents said, for the Least Favorite, the fonts were misused or overused; 18 believed they were ugly; others found them to be boring, dated, impractical or cliched; 13 expressed either dislike or blind hatred.

Week 02:

Ready to Print: Handbook for Media Designers by Kristina Nickel.

Text hierarchy there are various text hierarchies for arranging a text. If its substantial, up to four or five different arrangements can be represented – any more is too many to guarantee that they can be distinguished from one another.

• Clear text hierarchies
• Headline
• Subheadline
• Subheading
• Text
• Color subheading

Headings should be distinguishable from the body text, and this can be done by using a different weights or colors.

The simplest way to distinguish type is by selecting different type sizes. As a rule, the heading is always bigger than the text that follows it. Different type sizes should be really distinguishable so that the text hierarchies are recognizable at a glance.

Style sheets are very useful for large works. The text can be formatted easily and quickly into the various text hierarchies. Different formats can be applied to whole paragraphs or individual characters with a single click or by using keyboard shortcuts.

Style sheets are principally used for whole paragraphs. This is also known as paragraph formatting. One can only apply one paragraph format to a paragraph. However, additional character formats may be applied to single characters or sections within a paragraph. Character formats are used for such for such things as color or italic emphasis within a body text.

Mixing typefaces. Different typefaces may be used to help differentiate text hierarchies. There are two rules that are useful to bear in mind when selecting different typefaces to be mixed together. The first rule is: different typefaces from different type families in the same style should never be used together. For instance, a sans serif typeface should never be mixed with another sans serif, or a transitional with another transitional typeface. If one needs a different typeface for a heading, one should either choose one from the same type family or in a different style.

REFERENCE

Garfield, S. (2010). JUST MY TYPE: A book about fonts. USA: Penguin Group.

Nickel, K. (2010). Ready to Print: Handbook for Media Designers. Berlin, Germany: Die Gestalten Verlag.