Typography / Task 3 / Type Design and Communication

2.6.2023 - 29.6.2023 (Week 9 - Week 13)
Elysa Wee Qi En / 0355060 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Typography
Task 3 / Type Design and Communication

Contents:

• Lectures
• Instructions
• Submissions
• Task 1: Exercises
• Task 2: Typographic Exploration and Communication
• Task 3: Type Design and Communication
• Feedback
• Reflection
• Further Reading

LECTURE

Lecture notes found here.

INSTRUCTIONS

Fig. 1. Module Information Booklet (2/6/2023)

Task 3: Type Design and Communication

For the final task, we had to design our own typeface from scratch. We started the creation process by writing and experimenting with five different tools. 

After testing out and getting a feel for our chosen tools, we had to write with them differently five times. We then chose the method that produced our favourite results and compared these favourites among all five tools. In the end, I liked the look of the ballpoint pen the most and decided to go with that as my font design.

Fig. 2.1. Experimenting and familiarising with tools (30/6/2023)

Fig. 2.2. Using different methods of writing (30/6/2023)

Fig. 2.3. Finalising the typeface style (30/6/2023)

After choosing my favourites of the letters I had written, I began tracing them in Adobe Illustrator with the brush tool.

Fig. 2.4. Tracing my written letterforms (30/6/2023)

Then it was time to adjust the letterforms to make them work well together. I did this by first adjusting the stroke angles of the letters 'k' and 'p', using the same angle as the vertical stroke in the letter 'a'.

Fig. 2.5. Adjusting stroke angles (30/6/2023)

I then decided that I wanted my letterforms to focus more on curved strokes. So I changed the vertical strokes in the letters 'k' and 'p' again to have curved strokes that looked similar to the curved strokes in 't' and 'i'.
After that, I changed the round strokes in the letters 'g', 'y' and 'p' to match the round stroke in the letter 'a'. This helps with consistency and making the letterforms look connected. I also changed the upcurved strokes at the bottom of the 'g' and 'y' to better match the angle of the 't' and 'i'.

Fig. 2.6. Changing/ matching strokes for consistency (30/6/2023)

Now I had the challenge of making the letters proportionate to each other. With the help of my lecturer, I began analysing the heights of strokes of different letters. Using that knowledge I was able to properly adjust the strokes of my letterforms to be proportionate.

Fig. 2.7. Analysing the proportions of letterforms compared to each other (30/6/2023)

Fig. 2.8. Adjusting proportions of my letterforms according to analyses (30/6/2023)

Then I had to create punctuation (. , ! #). To do this correctly, I referenced typefaces with similar characteristics to mine and analysed the heights and dot sizes of the punctuations in them. With the analyses from before and now, I was able to determine appropriate heights and dot sizes for my punctuation that kept the character and followed the overall design of my typeface.

Fig. 2.9. Analysing the heights and dot sizes of punctuation compared to letterforms (30/6/2023)

Fig. 2.10. Creating punctuation and further adjustment of strokes (30/6/2023)

Finally, with the advice of my lecturer, I used the blob brush tool and the pathfinder tool to create a lumpy texture in the stroke, to keep it similar to the original stroke of the ballpoint pen.

Fig. 2.13. Original writing vs Final typeface (30/6/2023)

The next step was to transfer these letterforms into FontLab. 

Fig. 2.11. Kerning process (30/6/2023)

I adjusted the kerning for each letter individually. I went through the list of eleven letters, comparing them to the other ten and itself and adjusting the kerning like this for every letter. The image in the bottom right shows my final sentence and the kerning done between the letters.

Fig. 2.12. Creating the poster (30/6/2023)

I installed the font and typed my sentence out in Adobe Illustrator to create the poster. I wanted to emphasise the words but in different ways, so I used different placement of shadows to fulfil that and also to fill the negative space. I wrote my name the name of the typeface, Fumble Pen, and placed it in the middle to separate the two halves of the sentence and it also helped to further emphasise 'im a king'.  

FINAL Type Design Poster

Font download link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WImNM3ITOltUkUFFFHCnr7IrgiTatwLV?usp=sharing

Fig. 3.1. Font information (30/6/2023)

FINAL Type Design Poster

Fig. 3.2. Type design poster (30/6/2023)

Fig. 3.3. Type design poster (PDF) (30/6/2023)

Fig. 3.4. New metrics tab with finalised sentence (30/6/2023)

FEEDBACK

Week 9
General feedback:
- When writing the letters, make sure they are sitting on the baseline
- Letters in a font should have similar characteristics with only slight variations 
- Compare the letters to each other before further detailing, helps keep the consistency
- X-height is a very important factor for the legibility of a font

Week 10
General feedback:
- Fonts should be polished, all letters looking similar by sharing similar horizontal and vertical strokes, and even rounded strokes
- Keep angles the same
- Keep the original intent and idea ('the spirit and the soul') as closely as possible while still refining it. Refining does not equal transformation. 

Personal feedback:
- Add some rugged edges to the letters to add texture
- Either only straight lines or curved lines (on letters like t, p, k etc.), choose one and maintain consistency
- Make sure letters fit within x-height
- Letter 't' should be below the ascender a little
- All endpoints of strokes of similar letters should end at the same height (x-height-only, ascenders and descenders all included)

Week 11
General feedback:
- Consistency is important
- Be careful about the diagonal strokes, keep them at the same angle(s)
- Look at references and be careful about the width of the lines of the punctuation
- In Fontlab, when starting kerning process only adjust right bearing and leave left bearing at 0
- Slanted letters have counterspace, which is the bottom/top being longer/shorter than the other
- For the poster, when writing your name and the name of the font, use Helvetica/Univers 12pt size

Week 12
General feedback:
- Font showcase poster should have personal font be the same font size
- Every letter created has to be featured
- Good composition has balance
- Make sure kerning is consistent 

REFLECTIONS

Experience
Since the type of typeface I was going for had a handwritten style, I decided to do lowercase letters. This proved to be an incredible challenge, as there are a lot of nuances between lowercase letters and it can be difficult to keep track of all the details. However, this also proved to be good learning. I learnt how to analyse letterforms comparatively and more intricately to understand the heights of strokes and how the dimensions should work. I believe this will give me an advantage in the next semester, so I wish to retain all this experience and knowledge. 

Observation
There are a lot of subtleties in letterforms than I suspected. Each letterform is carefully crafted, even down to varying stroke widths by a few pixels to create an illusion of balance. I have also never really paid attention to how letters look compared to each other, and only through the guidance of my lecturer did I realise that the letter 't' doesn't extend as high as the letters 'k' and 'h' do, for example. It's all to make the font more readable, and I now realise there are a lot of details to consider when creating a typeface. It's definitely very difficult. 

Findings
Each font has its own type of style and characteristics, so referencing multiple similar fonts to see how they choose to create their punctuation is helpful. It's not easy to carry the characteristics in letterforms to punctuation symbols, as it relies mostly on visual appeal and there are many ways of going about it. In the end, it depends on how the creator wants their font to look and what kind of 'personality' they want to give it. Solidly knowing this 'personality' and all the font's characteristics make creating punctuation a much smoother process. 

FURTHER READING

Week 14: Rob Carter, Philip B. Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, Mark Sanders: Typographic Design: Form and Communication

Fig. 4.1. Typographic Design: Form and Communication (7/7/2023)

This book is a deep dive into typography. It covers some history, ways to make font more legible, type on screen and much more. It's a very big guide to typography.

Fig. 4.2. Section about 'Optical relationships within a font' (7/7/2023)

This section talks about the smallest details within individual letterforms, focusing on strokes. Things like extending slightly above the rest of the letters, horizontal strokes being thinner than vertical strokes etc to create the illusion that everything is equally sized. It covers very specific details of strokes and how to make your letterforms appear more natural yet more balanced and pleasing to the eye.