Advanced Typography - Task3 ：Type Exploration and Application
14/6/2024 -19/7/2024 (Week8 - Week13)
Qian Guoyi / 0369462
Advanced Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Task3 ：Type Exploration and Application
LECTURES
AdTypo #4: Designing Type
1. Frutiger
- Font Family: Sans-serif
- Designer: Adrian Frutiger (Swiss type designer, known for Frutiger, Univers, and Avenir)
- Year: 1968
- Purpose: Designed for Charles de Gaulle Airport in France
- Goal: To create a clear, distinctive, and readable typeface that is legible from both close and distant views.
- Considerations/Limitations: Needs to be identifiable in low light or when viewers are moving quickly past signage. Tested by viewing letters out of focus to determine readability.
- Notable Use: The TM logo uses Frutiger. At NID's request, Adrian Frutiger designed a modern Devanagari typeface aimed at simplifying sacred script while preserving its traditional calligraphic expression.
2. Verdana
- Font Family: Sans-serif
- Designer: Matthew Carter
- Year: 1996
- Commissioned by: Microsoft
- Purpose: To be highly legible even on small screens, catering to the growing use of the internet and electronic devices.
- Considerations/Limitations: Features pixel-derived characteristics and addresses common character confusion, such as lowercase "i," "j," and "l."
- Notable Development: AT&T commissioned Carter to improve Bell Gothic, which led to the creation of Bell Centennial with ink traps to enhance clarity at high printing speeds.
3. Johnston Sans
- Font Family: Sans-serif
- Designer: Edward Johnston
- Year: 1916
- Commissioned by: London Underground
- Purpose: To unify the London Underground group’s branding, including posters and signage.
- Goal: The typeface needed to embody a "bold simplicity," combining modernity with traditional roots.
- Considerations/Limitations: Different companies under the London Underground used various signage and advertising. It applied Roman capital letter proportions.
- Influence : Eric Gill, a former student, designed the Gill Sans font based on Johnston's work.
Summary in English:
1. Frutiger: A sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1968 for Charles de Gaulle Airport, aiming for high readability from all distances, especially in low light or when in motion. It has been widely adopted for its clarity and distinctiveness.
2. Verdana: Created by Matthew Carter in 1996 for Microsoft, this sans-serif font is optimized for on-screen legibility, addressing character confusion and ensuring clarity even on small screens.
3. Johnston Sans: Designed by Edward Johnston in 1916 for the London Underground, this sans-serif typeface aims to unify branding with a bold and simple aesthetic, influencing later designs like Gill Sans by Eric Gill.
INSTRUCTIONS
Require：
- Create a font, end result: a fully generated font (.ttf) with an application.
- Explore the use of existing letterforms in areas of interest and explore possible solutions or combinations to increase the value of existing letterforms/letters.
- For an idea to qualify as an experiment, it needs to meet 3 criteria: it could be 3-dimensional, digitally enhanced, edible, unusual, printed
- Music video or fine art.
This week, we started working on Task 3. During this week, we need to complete the proposal for Task 3.
I had two ideas, one was to reference the cafe bakery logo, and the other was to reference the "Frozen" and "Wreck-It Ralph" movie titles.
IDEA1:I observed that coffee shops often use rounded and soft fonts in their logos, which convey friendliness, cuteness, and warmth, aligning with the cozy atmosphere of coffee shops. This font style, which I personally prefer, enhances the brand's visual appeal, strengthens its identity, and makes it more memorable and attractive to customers.
IDEA2:Inspired by the fonts in Disney's "Frozen" and "Wreck-It Ralph," I plan to design fonts with bold, rounded strokes. The "Frozen" font features thick, irregular shapes, capturing a playful and lively essence, while the "RALPH" font in "Wreck-It Ralph" combines pixelated elements with regular, orderly strokes. I aim to blend these two styles to create my own unique font.
Summarize：
1.I want to create a cute font that can be used for coffee shops, bakeries, and their related products. This font needs to convey a warm and friendly feeling, capturing customers' attention while maintaining consistency and recognizability across various brand applications. 2.Problem：The design of the font will incorporate rounded and soft lines, possibly with some unique little decorations to enhance its approachability and charm. This font will not only be suitable for shop signs and menus but also for packaging, labels, and other marketing materials, ensuring that customers can immediately associate this font with a cozy and comfortable coffee shop or bakery. Through this design, I aim to provide the brand with a unique visual identity that attracts more customers and allows them to feel warmth and joy in their brand experience. 3.Solution：I want to combine elements from Idea 1 and Idea 2 to create a unique font. This font will feature rounded and soft lines to convey a warm and friendly feeling. By adding subtle decorative elements, such as curly lines, the font will further enhance the brand image of coffee shops and bakeries, making them more attractive and memorable to customers.
Inspiration Board：
Fig1 Visual reference
Reference from Cafe Bakery Title & Bubble Font.
Week9（17/6-23/6）
First attempt：
I wanted to make the font rounded, soft, and thicker, and I didn't want it to be too plain and monotonous, so I added some small strokes to make it more interesting.
Fig2.First attempt
Week10（24/6-29/6）
Second attempt:Considering the many shortcomings and mistakes in the first attempt, I made a second attempt using Adobe Illustrator. Following Mr. Vinod's suggestion, I specifically focused on adjusting the letter A, using the letter N as a reference for consistency. I modified both the letter A and the letter V to align with the overall shape and stroke style of the letter N. This involved refining the curves and angles to ensure that each letter complemented the others, creating a cohesive and harmonious font design.
In addition to these adjustments, I paid close attention to the balance and spacing between the letters, aiming to improve the overall readability and visual appeal of the font. I experimented with different weights and styles to ensure that the font conveyed the intended warm and friendly feeling, suitable for coffee shops and bakeries. Through this iterative process, I aimed to create a more polished and professional font that better meets the brand's requirements and enhances its visual identity.
Fig3 Second attempt
Week11（1/7-6/7）
Third attempt：In the third attempt, I expanded the font design by incorporating the strokes and shapes of the larger letters to create a complete set of lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. This involved an extensive process of trial and error to ensure consistency and aesthetic harmony throughout the font.
One of the main challenges I faced was designing the lowercase letters, particularly the letters b and d. Initially, these letters appeared too wide, disrupting the visual flow and balance of the font. To address this, I experimented with various adjustments to narrow them down, striving to maintain the friendly and approachable feel of the font while ensuring legibility.
Fig4 Third attempt
Next, I put the fonts from Adobe Illustrator into FontLab and adjusted the kerning between the fonts. I adjusted the kerning of the letter H first, and the kerning sizes of the other letters were constantly compared with the letter H.
Fig5 Font Spacing
Fig6 Number spacing
Link：https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive?lfhs=2
Fig7 FontLab Final Version
Week12（8/7-13/7）
This week we need to design 5 posters. I downloaded the fonts I designed and put them into Adobe Illustrator. The size of the poster is 1024 x 1024 pixels, 300ppi.
I hope the five posters are from the same series, creating a cohesive and unified visual experience. To achieve this, I have carefully selected a consistent color palette that will be used across all the posters. The primary colors I have chosen are black, beige, and rose red. These colors will be the main elements that tie the series together, providing a harmonious and aesthetically pleasing look.
Black：
Black will serve as a strong, neutral base that adds sophistication and contrast to the designs. It will be used to outline key elements, add depth, and highlight important information. Black's versatility makes it ideal for creating a clean and professional look.
Beige：
Beige will be used to provide a warm and inviting background. This color adds a sense of comfort and coziness, making it perfect for designs aimed at creating a friendly and approachable atmosphere. Beige complements both black and rose red, ensuring a balanced and harmonious color scheme.
Rose Red：
Rose red will be the accent color that brings vibrancy and energy to the posters. It will be used to draw attention to specific elements, such as headings, icons, or key messages. The boldness of rose red adds a touch of modernity and excitement, making the designs more engaging and eye-catching.
By using these three colors consistently, I aim to create a series of posters that are visually connected and easily recognizable as part of the same campaign. The combination of black, beige, and rose red not only enhances the visual appeal but also reinforces the brand's identity, ensuring that the posters stand out and leave a lasting impression on the audience.
Fig8 5 posters
Week13（15/7-21/7）
There are 5 artworks that need to be designed this week.
Fig9 poster design
Fig10 Paper bag printing outer packaging design
Fig11 Cup Logo Design
Fig12 Book cover design
Fig13 Billboard design
Feedback
Week8:Independent Study Week
Week9：
This week, we tried to create fonts using Adobe Illustrator - capital letters. Mr. Vinod thought the overall design was good, and he suggested that I change the letter A, which looked out of place among all the letters. I could refer to the letter N, and then I adjusted the letter V as well.
Week10:
This week we need to continue to complete the design of lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. Mr. Vinod suggested that I make the letter a bigger and put it next to the uppercase letter A for contrast, and adjust the size of the lowercase letters appropriately so that the difference between the lowercase letters and the uppercase letters is not too big.
Week11:
We need to put the designed uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks on FontLab to adjust the size and spacing. I made adjustments based on the letter spacing table given by Mr. Vinod. Mr. Vinod suggested that I could adjust the lowercase letters and uppercase letters together, because in actual applications, uppercase letters and lowercase letters are often used together.
Week12：
After confirming the font from FontLab last week, our next step is to download it and incorporate it into Adobe Illustrator for the poster design. This font, having been carefully crafted and refined, will play a crucial role in establishing the visual identity and coherence of our posters.
Week13:
This week we need to design five artworks using the fonts we designed, which is a font design application.
Reflection
Observation
Throughout the process of font design and application, I observed that design details had a significant impact on the final work. During the font design proposal phase in Week 8, we carefully studied various font styles and decided to use rounded and soft lines. This design can convey a sense of warmth and friendliness, which is particularly suitable for the brand image of coffee shops and roasteries. When designing uppercase letters using Adobe Illustrator in Week 9, I noticed the impact of the proportions and shapes between different letters on the overall visual effect, especially when they are combined to form words.
Discovery
As the project progressed, I found that font design is not only about aesthetics, it also involves practicality and readability. In Week 10, we continued to design lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. I found that the design of each letter and symbol must be consistent to ensure overall harmony. When importing the font into Fontlab for adjustment in Week 11, fine-tuning of spacing and size is essential to enhance the readability and visual balance of the font. Any slight deviation may affect the overall effect and user experience of the font.
Experience
This project made me deeply appreciate the importance of teamwork and continuous iteration. In Week 12, we designed 5 posters with our own fonts. During this process, we need to constantly test and adjust the application of fonts to ensure that each poster can convey a consistent brand image. Finally, in week 13, we designed 5 artworks to further consolidate the application range and visual appeal of the fonts. Through this experience, I learned how to balance creativity and functionality in design, ensuring that each design element can add color to the overall work. I also understand the importance of meticulous design and continuous improvement, which will have a profound impact on my future design projects.
In summary, this project not only allowed me to master the techniques and tools of font design, but also cultivated my ability to observe carefully, discover problems and solve them flexibly during the design process. I believe that these experiences will have a positive impact on my future design work.
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