Typography : Task 3

June 04, 2024

|| 06/04/2024 - 07/22/2024 (Week 7 - Week 14)

|| Bertrand Alden Gani / 0370471

|| Typography

|| Bachelor Of Design In Creative Media

|| Task 3: Type Design & Communication

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Task 1

4. Feedback

5. Reflection

6. Further Reading

LECTURES

Lecture 1-4 refer to Task 1 & Lecture 5-6 refer to Task 2

INSTRUCTIONS

TASK 3

In this task, we are instructed to select a font from the 10 provided fonts then we are required to do a detail dissection of the letters "H", "o", "g", "b". The purpose of dissection is to help us understand how the shapes are created, as well as notice the detail and variation in thickness.

Then we were instructed to create a typeface for the letter "o", "l", "e", "d", "s", "n", "c", "h", "t", "i", "g" as well as punctuations such as comma, period, exclamation mark, and hash tag . Upon completion, we are required to create an A4 B&W poster while using the typeface that we have created. 

Letter Dissection

I chose Univers LT Std Light

After dissecting these letters, I began to understand how creating a letter work. It involved various combination of shapes, each can be in different size and thickness. This has opened my eyes to many design possibilities.

Research

First, I did some research about typeface anatomy. Here's what I found:

There are 5 main parts of a letter:

1. Baseline: The invisible line on which all characters sit.

2. Cap-height: The height of uppercase letters from the baseline to the top of the letter.

3. X-height: The height of lowercase letters from the baseline to the top of the letters, excluding ascenders and descenders.

4. Ascender: The part of a lowercase letter that extends above the x-height.

5. Descender: The part of a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline.

After that, I searched for various typeface style for inspiration. Here's what I found:

1. Oriental Style

2. Graffiti Style

3. Square Style

4. Stylistic Style

Sketches

After doing research, I proceed to do some sketching. We were instructed to do the sketching for letter "o", "h", "d", "n", "g" using 3 different pens. Here are the pens that I used:

- Artline Calligraphy Pen

- Artline Drawing System Brush

- Unicorn Dual Nib Permanent Marker

From those sketches, Ms Hsin thinks that the bottom left with Unicorn Dual Nib Permanent Marker is the most interesting. But she said that typeface should have consistency in their shape. So I did some modification.

Digitisation

After the modification, I began digitizing my typeface design in Adobe Illustrator.

After consulting with Ms Hsin, she said that the "e" should have consistent shape style with "o", "g" and "c" and the "t" shouldn't be as tall as "h". Here is the result:

Type Information:

- Ascender line: 738 pt

- Cap line: 698 pt

- Median line: 500 pt

- Baseline: 0 pt

- Descender line: -200 pt

Ms Hsin said the design was fine so I continued to the next step.

Developing in FontLab 7

After downloading FontLab 7, I watched the tutorial because this is my first time using FontLab. I imported the font and did some adjustment in consistency and space between the letters.

Then I did some testing using words that can be formed by letters that I've design.

After finalizing it, I need to give my font a name. I chose "Dagger" because the font looks like it was made with sharp tool instead of brush.

Final Outcome

Download font: Dagger

Screen Grab of FontLab:

Final Type Construction:

Final Poster:

I reused and combined the shape of the letter "i" to make the hands.

FEEDBACK

Week 9

General Feedback : Write all the letters (o l e d s n c h t i g , . ! #) in the approved style and digitise

Special Feedback :

- Ms Hsin thinks that the bottom left sketch with Unicorn Dual Nib Permanent Marker is the most interesting.

- Shape consistency need to be considered

Week 10

General Feedback : Watch the tutorial video before digitising the font

Special Feedback : 

- Ms Hsin said that the "e" should have consistent shape style with "o", "g" and "c"

- The "t" shouldn't be as tall as "h"

Week 11

General Feedback : Finalize the design before importing it to FontLab

Special Feedback : The design is fine already

Week 12

General Feedback : Import the font to FontLab

Special Feedback : 

- Before adjusting the spacing, adjust the sidebearing of the letters

- Adjust the space between letters to make it look good

Week 13

General Feedback : Make a simple black and white poster using your font

Special Feedback : Try to use your font shape characteristic to make other shape to decorate the poster

REFLECTIONS

Experience : 

It was a really nice first time experience making my own typeface. I learned a lot especially about FontLab which I've never used before. Coming up with idea of typeface design was really fun and also witnessing my own typeface result and actually using it, was really satisfying.

Observations :

After learning this module, I realized that designing a typeface is not as simple as it looks. There are a lot of of things that need to be considered, for example, the consistency of the letter shape, the readability of the letter, and the aesthetic value of the typeface design. I also observed that typeface is quite complex, because it is formed by many components.

Findings :

I find it fascinating that different combination and formation of shapes could form so many different typefaces. While doing this assignment, I was also intrigue by how others utilize these different combinations of shapes to make their ideas unique and stand out.

FURTHER READING

"The Anatomy of Type: A Graphic Guide to 100 Typefaces"

by Stephen Coles

This book explains various typefaces, from traditional typefaces to modern typefaces, each in very detail. It shows the full character set from each typeface. It also contain important information such as the designer, the year of release and the different weights and styles of the typefaces. 

This book is the ultimate stylistic guide to intricacies and design of typefaces. Overall, I highly recommend this book for those who want to learn more in depth about typefaces.