Advanced Typography - Task2:Key Artwork

15/5/2024 -14/6/2024 (Week4 - Week8)

Qian Guoyi / 0369462

Advanced Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Task2:Key Artwork

LECTURES

AdTypo #3: CONTEXT & CREATIVITY

Handwriting served as the foundation for the first mechanically generated fonts, which attempted to mimic the conventions, forms, and spacing of handwritten text. The unique characteristics of fonts were influenced by writing tools and materials such as sharpened bones, charcoal, plant stems, clay, papyrus, and animal skins. The evolution of the Latin alphabet included stages like cuneiform, hieroglyphics, early Greek letters, Roman uncial script, English half-uncial script, and Carolingian minuscule. These developments not only brought significant changes in font forms but also impacted writing speed and style. Gothic script (blackletter) in the Middle Ages featured condensed and tightly spaced letters, while the Italian Renaissance revived earlier traditions with rounded forms. Movable type printing first appeared in China and Korea but did not spread widely due to technical limitations.

Hieroglyphics: Egyptian writing system fused with relief. It uses anagrams and phonograms and can be used as ideograms, determiners, or phonograms to represent sounds and words

•  Cuneiform: The earliest form of writing, using wedge-shaped characters pressed into wet clay tablets with a reed stylus. It evolved from hieroglyphics and was written from left to right

•  Early Greek script: Adopted the Phoenician phonetic alphabet and added vowels, written in capital letters between horizontal guides.
• Pronounced as ox-plough script, letters are freehand and have no serifs. Greek letters gradually became bolder, less open, and with serifs, becoming the model for Roman letters

• Roman Uncials: By the 4th century, Roman letters became more rounded, requiring fewer strokes and being written faster

• -English Semi-Uncials: Evolved into a slanted, compressed form in England

• Carolingian Minuscule became the model for 15th-century humanist writing and the basis for our lowercase Roman typeface

•  Gothic, also known as blackletter, embodied this aesthetic with condensed, tightly spaced typefaces.

The compressed spacing in blackletter reduced the material costs of book production

•  Italian Renaissance: Gothic spirit in Western Europe
•  Embracing Greek and Roman culture
•  A wave of creativity in Italian art, architecture, literature, type design

•  Movable type printing emerged in 1000-1100 AD
• China tried to use movable type printing but failed due to the number of characters and the materials used

INSTRUCTIONS 

Task2A : Key Artwork

Require:

- Use your own name or pseudonym/possibly word mark/letter

(name or pet name or pseudonym)

- Explore and create some artwork ideas that include a few letters of your name (at least 4-5 characters)

- Export JPEG, grayscale, 300ppi (black and white, color and invert)

- Make mind maps, create mood boards or inspo, determine direction and Use words to decipher it

- Go color hunting and choose a palette that suits your identity

- Take a black and white self-portrait and artistically place key artwork over it

- Artwork size: 1024 x 1024

Idea：

I plan to use my English name, Emily, as the central theme for my main art piece. I will integrate my personality and image into the design of this key artwork. My personality is friendly, gentle, and fun. The pronunciation of my English name is quite cute, and I wish to reflect this along with my personality traits. I hope to incorporate circular and droplet shapes as references, aiming to create a sense of cuteness and round, soft textures.

Visual Research：

I want to design with rounded, lively, and cute strokes and fonts. Therefore, I will reference styles with thicker, more substantial strokes. I also hope for a more cohesive combination of fonts to ensure the overall design feels unified and harmonious.Here are the materials I found on Pinterest.

Fig1.1 Visual references

Fig1.2 Visual references

Fig1.3 Visual references

Sketch:

I drew several sketches based on my references, and Mr. Viond provided me with some suggestions. He encouraged me to explore more design ideas. Therefore, after working with rounded strokes, I added another style with more angular yet bold strokes. Additionally, I experimented with various design elements, such as different color combinations and shapes, to make the overall design more diverse and interesting. Through these different attempts, I aim to find the design that best represents my personality and style.

Fig1.4 sketch

Digitization：

Fig1.5 Digitization

-I labeled the sketches from the first to the fifth, all of which feature bubble lettering with round and teardrop shapes. The fifth sketch combines elements from the first four sketches, aiming for a more cohesive design. However, I wasn't quite satisfied with these sketches, so I changed my design approach and drew the sixth sketch. In this one, I retained the bold strokes I wanted while making the lettering more angular and unified. Despite this, I didn't want to abandon the round and teardrop-shaped bubble lettering from the earlier sketches. Therefore, I combined elements from the fifth and sixth sketches to create the final design.

-After digitizing the sketches, I added some bubble elements to the final design, which enhanced the round, teardrop, and bubble-like lettering effect I was aiming for. These adjustments successfully increased the overall roundness and playfulness of the design, making it align more closely with my initial creative vision.

Fig1.6 Initial design submitted for feedback

Fig1.7 Initial design submitted for feedback

Mr. Viond gave me some advice, pointing out that I only had one design idea and that I should explore more possibilities. Taking his suggestion to heart, I went back to the drawing board and created several new sketches, experimenting with different shapes, lines, and elements to broaden my design perspective. After evaluating these new sketches, I combined the two most promising ones and digitized them, further refining and enhancing my design.

Fig1.8 Digitization of the final version

Fig1.9 Black and white font

For the final font design, I aimed for a more cohesive and unified look by adopting a square style. However, I still wanted to retain the soft, rounded feel of the bubble font. This design appears more like a stamp, combining structural stability with a gentle and smooth touch.

Expansions：

Colour palette ：

Fig1.10 Applying colours

Fig1.11 Choosing the right colours for my key artwork

After deciding the color palette, we were told to try out with the colors to see if the colors are really suitable for our key artwork.I prefer the combination of gray and pink because this contrast is not only more striking but also appears more harmonious. This color scheme can convey a sense of fashion without being too jarring, blending softness with modernity to achieve a well-balanced visual effect.

Task2B : Collateral

Fig2.1 Instagram Post Picture

Instagram link:
https://www.instagram.com/qianyyy8?igsh=bmpudnZpaDQxcmU4&utm_source=qr

Fig2.2 Application of logo on bag

This is a bag (such as a coin purse or a small canvas bag). Since I believe the overall logo resembles a stamp, I have arranged them neatly to create a patterned effect. In the center, I placed a complete logo. I chose a color scheme of yellow and pink; these warm tones not only make the bag softer but also highlight the cute style of the font. This design is not only aesthetically pleasing but also attracts more customers, enhancing the product's appeal and brand recognition.

Fig2.3 Application of logo on mug

I want to keep my design simple and avoid making it look too cluttered. For the color scheme, I have chosen pink and yellow, aiming to create a striking color impact. This design is not only straightforward but also attracts attention through the strong color contrast, enhancing the overall visual effect.

Fig2.4  Collateral

I want to make the design more interesting, so I split the logo into two parts, placing them on the left and right sides. The empty space in the middle is filled with neatly arranged patterns. This approach not only adds an element of fun but also enriches the overall visual effect, making it more unique.

Feedback

Week5:

In the fifth week, I began working on Task 2: Key Artwork. I created several sketches based on my personality traits and the style I wanted to convey. Mr. Viond provided some feedback, noting that my sketches seemed to reflect only one idea, as they were all variations of a bubble-style font. He suggested that I explore a few more different design concepts to showcase a broader range of creativity.

Week6:

General feedback: In the sixth week class, the teacher gave me some suggestions on font modification and taught me how to try to modify the font.

Specific feedback: My font design should be more holistic, and I need to pay attention to the changes in font thickness, the smoothness and flatness of the font shape.

Week7:

General Feedback: The items should hold significant meaning. The collateral and font are generally acceptable, but you can refer to the key collateral works provided on the website to understand how others have made their concepts relevant and appealing.

Specific Feedback: You could take a part of the overall design and use it as the logo for the collateral, which would make it stand out more. Additionally, consider adding one more color to your chosen palette to create a smoother transition between black, white, and gray.

Week8:

Independent Study Week