Typography - Task 3A

 Typography - Task 3A

4/05/2022 - 18/05/2022 (Week 1 -Week4)

Feng weijie | 0349058

Typography | B' in Creative Media

Lectures:

Mr. Vinod demonstrates the process of designing a typeface and how to develop a sketch from an existing typeface. Studying the parts of an ideal font by deconstructing letters is an interesting journey. Then study the patterns and parts of the font and we can slowly modify or design our font.

Figure 1.0 An example of Mr Vinod's deconstructed letter 

Figure 1.1 Example of constructing letters from sketches

In a pre-recorded tutorial, we learned how to transfer our fonts from Illustrator to Fontlab. First, we have to use the Pathfinder tool to combine the parts of the letter and then create the outline stroke. After that, adjust the axes in Ai while copying the letters. After all the letters are pasted, we need to adjust the kerning and spacing between the letter pairs to make them more visually appealing.

Figure 1.3 Tutorial for transferring a designed font to FontLab

Instructions before continuing

- Sketch 5 possibilities and decide on 1 or 2 designs to digitize.

- Find fonts (from the 10 provided) or from the internet as a reference for the font that most closely resembles your sketch.

- Deconstruct 3 letters from the referenced font/font.

- Create sketches manually or digitally (using illustrator), create final font digitization on illustration, then export to fontlab7 for proper font digitization.

Instructions 

Task 3A: Type Design and Communication

We are going to design the letters - a i m e p y t g d o b ! , .

Type Design Research

While sketching and designing I went to Pinterest and found some great work. This will be of great help to my later creations

Figure 1.0 Inspiration map from Pinterest

Figure 1.1 - 5 sketches of my idea

Based on feedback from Mr. vinnd, he suggested me to use the 5th design sketch

Figure 2.3 Determining baseline, x-altitude, ascent and descent

Figure 1.3 Final font design

Feedback:

Week 9:

General feedback: Check font design for readability, consistency, and legibility. It is recommended to start with designing the letter o, as the curve is related to the a and g. Prevents loops being heavier than the main section, especially the "t". Create a master fill, see the scale.

Specific feedback:

Good design exploration and reference. The idea of ​​developing a design with coffee is a good one to go on. The letter "b" needs to be closer to the stem and make sure the font pattern has the same angle and orientation. The letter "e" could be further improved.

Week 10

General feedback: Idea sketches, the process of generating fonts in Fontlab needs to be documented in an electronic archive. Try not to do it while watching the tutorial, this can lead to missing important steps.

Specific feedback: The font design is good overall, a little inconsistent, but may be part of the feature. For typography posters, the phrase "Obey me" is best placed on the same line and in the description.

reflection:

Experience: My overall experience with the design process was good. However, when it comes to Fontlab, it gets complicated and worrying. When I paste the font, I have a problem with the letter counter filling. After replaying the tutorial and asking my friends, I realized I missed the step to change my preferences. I finally managed to solve the problem, which was a sigh of relief. This is satisfying when the font is finished and exported for different uses.

Observation: Typography is really fun, and every tiny letter detail counts. Every change affects the letter itself, so we'd better determine which design direction we're heading in and stick to a special feature or two to make it iconic.

Results: Throughout the assignment, I've been working on a better research and understanding of type design. This made me understand the challenge and effort required. I really appreciate that typographers have created many useful, beautiful and timeless typefaces.