Typography / Task 3

14.11.2023 - 17.12.2023 (Week 8 - Week 12)

Tan Sin Mi (0368821)

Typography

Task 3

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CONTENT

1. LECTURES
2. INSTRUCTIONS
3. FEEDBACK
4. REFELECTIONS
5. FURTHER READING

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LECTURES

CLASS SUMMARY

WEEK 8:

Independent study week. We have to select a preferred font from the 10 fonts provided and do a detail dissection of the letters H, o, g, b by using Adobe Illustrator. After that, we have to sketch out own design of ODHNG using 3 different pens in uppercase or lowercase. Each pen will have to explore 3 different writing styles.

WEEK 9:

Today, we have to show our sketches to our lecturer and get feedback, once our sketch is approved by lecturer, we have to write all the letters (o l e d s n c h t i g , . ! #) in the approved style and digitize it.

WEEK 10:

After sketching out all the letters and approved by lecturer, we are going to digitize the final of sketches.

WEEK 11:

This week, we have to import our letter from Adobe Illustrator to FontLab. After importing all the letters, we have to name the letters we created.

WEEK 12:

This week, we're ending our Task 3. We are assigned the last exercise for task 3 which is creating a black & white poster by using our own fonts.

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INSTRUCTIONS

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Task 3: Type Design and Communication

WEEK 8:

I. DISSECTION

We were assigned to select a preferred font from the 10 fonts provided and use the letters H, o, g, b to do a detail dissection of the letters.

I selected Futura Std:

Figure 1.1 Word Tracing ( Hogb - Futura Std)

MY OBSERVATION:

In my opinion, the straight strokes of Futura font are all the same width, and the circle part is not a perfect circle, but more oval. The clear graphic layout makes Futura easier for readers to read in various media.

Then, we have to sketch out the letters O, D, H, N, G using 3 different pens in uppercase or lowercase. Each pen will have to explore 3 different writing styles.

MY SKETCHES OF ODHNG:

1. ROUNDED NIB

Figure 1.2 Sketch of ODHNG (round nib)

1. BROAD EDGE NIB

Figure 1.3 Sketch of ODHNG (broad edge nib)

3. POINT NIB

Figure 1.3 Sketch of ODHNG (point nib)

WEEK 9:

II. SKETCHES

Ms. Hsin approved with my second style of point nib pen and suggested me to draw some guide lines before I sketch my letter.

Figure 2.1 Feedback of Sketch (ODHNG)

I used the 3 pens to sketch out my approved style. After getting feedback from Ms. Hsin, I chose the sketch of using Broad Edge Nib Pen.

Figure 2.2 Sketches of 3 pens (approved style)

After getting the final feedback, I write out all the letters with the final style I improved.

Figure 2.3 Final Sketches of Letters (approved style)

WEEK 10:

III. DIGITIZATION

After done sketching all of the letters, I start to digitize it by using Adobe Illustrator.

1. I have put some Guides before I use the pen tool to draw out the letters follow the picture of sketch.

Figure 3.1 First Version (digitization)

2. After done the first digitization, I added some more Guides to adjust the horizontal width.

Figure 3.2 Second Version (digitization)

3. Then, I added the straight Guides and adjusted the width of the wave of every letters. I adjusted the letter N become the wave parts thin and the middle parts thick after getting feedback from Ms. Hsin. 

Figure 3.3 Third Version (digitization)

MY FINAL DIGITIZATION OF LETTERS:

Figure 3.4 Final Version with guidelines (digitization)

Figure 3.4 Final Version (digitization)

WEEK 11:

IV. TYPE CONSTRUCTION

After done digitization all the letters, I started to process my letters to FontLab.

Follow the tutorial, I have imported all the letters from Adobe Illustrator to FontLab.

Figure 4.1 Importing Letters (FontLab)

After imported all letters, I adjusted the kerning between the letters.

Figure 4.2 Adjust Kerning (FontLab)

Figure 4.3 Final Letters - JPEG (FontLab)

Figure 4.4 Final Letters - PDF (FontLab)

I have tried some sentences to look how was my letters looks like.

Figure 4.5 Sentences use my letters (FontLab)

DOWNLOAD MY FONT <WAVE MI> HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14e8kKBntKJ8FHWPfrNgLE00qzj_TrYdF/view?usp=sharing

WEEK 12:

V. POSTER

For the last, we are required to make a black & white poster by using our own letters.

Figure 5.1 Final Poster - JPEG

Figure 5.2 Final Poster - PDF

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FEEDBACK

Week 8: 

• Independent study week

Week 9: 

• General Feedback: -
• Specific Feedback: Ms. Hsin approved with my second style of point nib pen and suggested me to draw some guidelines before I sketch my letter. I asked Ms. Hsin how about the version of using broad edge nib pen to sketch the letters, Ms. Hsin approved with it. 

Week 10:

• General Feedback: -
• Specific Feedback: Ms. Hsin suggested me to adjust the letter N become the wave parts thin and the middle parts thick.

Week 11:

• General Feedback: -
• Specific Feedback: Need to adjust the kerning of the letters.

Week 12:

• General Feedback: -
• Specific Feedback: Make sure all letters aligned at the x-height correctly.

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REFLECTION

Experience

In this task, I learned how to create a font and observe the past fonts. After 12 weeks of courses, I can operate Adobe proficiently now. Although the assignment is sometimes complicated, it can be completed successfully with the help of lecturer.

Observations

While doing the detail dissection of the letters H, o, g. b, I realize that every font actually are a combination of straight line and circle or irregular shape. On this basic, we can design an interesting font by adding an interesting design! Fonts are used everywhere in our daily life; an interesting font can make the user experience better.

Findings

Various media require the use of fonts for design, which shows the importance of fonts in media. I can refer to more different font designs and designs more different fonts in the future.

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FURTHER READING

Intellectual Elegance

Massimo Vignelli's perspective on intellectual elegance underscores the importance of clarity, precision, and simplicity in conveying complex messages. 

• It is the elegance of Architecture of any period, the Music of all times, the clarity of Science through the ages.
• Intellectual elegance is also our civic consciousness, our social responsibility, our sense of decency, our way of conceiving Design, our moral imperative.
• It is not a design style, but the deepest meaning and the essence of Design.

Timelessness

Massimo Vignelli emphasizes the importance of creating designs that don't succumb to short-lived fads but instead possess a timeless quality that remains relevant and visually appealing over the years.

• We like a typography that transcends subjectivity and searches for objective values, a typography that is beyond times - that doesn’t follow trends, that reflects its content in an appropriate manner.
• Strive for a Design that is centered on the message rather than visual titillation, prefer design that is clear, simple and enduring.

Responsibility

Massimo Vignelli stresses that designers have a responsibility to society, clients, and users to create designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also socially and environmentally conscious.

• In graphic design the issue of responsibility assumes particular importance as a form of economic awareness toward the most appropriate solution to a given problem.
• As designers, we have three levels of responsibility:

1. To Ourselves, the integrity of the project and all its components.
2. To the Client, to solve the problem in a way that is economically sound and efficient.
3. To the Public at large, the Consumer, the User of the final design.

• On each one of these levels, we should be ready to commit ourselves to reach the most appropriate solution, the one that solves the problem without compromises for the benefit of everyone. 
• A design should stand by itself, without excuses, explanations, apologies.

Equity

Massimo Vignelli underline the importance of maintaining harmony and equality among different components to create a cohesive and visually pleasing composition.

• A logo gradually becomes part of our collective culture; in its modest way it becomes part of all of us.
• When a logo has been in the public domain for more than fifty years it becomes a classic, a landmark, a respectable entity and there is no reason to throw it away and substitute it with a new concoction, regardless of how well it has been designed.
• What is new is NOT a graphic form but a way of thinking, a way of showing respect for history in a context that usually has zero understanding for these values.

PART 2: THE TANGIBLES

In part 2, Massimo Vignelli talked about various details that should be paid attention to when designing, and even listed 16 key points that should be paid attention to when designing. From the size of paper to the white space, Massimo Vignelli wrote down his explanation in every detail.

In this part, he conducted a detailed analysis and discussion of:

1. Paper Sizes
2. Grids, Margins, Columns and Modules A Company Letterhead
3. Grids for Books
4. Typefaces, The Basic Ones
5. Flush left, centered, justified
6. Type Size Relationships
7. Rulers
8. Contrasting Type Sizes
9. Scale
10. Texture
11. Color
12. Layouts
13. Sequence
14. Binding
15. Identity and Diversity
16. White Space

After Massimo Vignelli talked all the 16 main points, he also makes a collection of experiences, this provides new designers with some of his experience. I have listed some points from this collection of experience.

• The use of standard and modular sizes of paper in the printing industry can achieve considerable savings.
• Standardization related to the size of construction materials can bring significant savings in any three-dimensional project.
• It is imperative that a designer becomes familiar with all these aspects of design and the realization process. It is part of our ethics as well as our design vocabulary.
• Economy doesn’t mean cheap design. Economy in design is the most appropriate and lean solution to every problem.
• Quality is not necessarily more expensive than cheap solutions. Good design doesn’t cost more than bad design.
• A personal canon - which becomes a recurrent element of our creative vocabulary. 
• process of sifting and selecting extends to everything around us - colors, textures, materials. It involves every detail, thickness, width, and height. 
• Every sense of our body gets involved but it must be processed, analyzed, evaluated, and finally filed in our memory according to our personal canon, not in an arbitrary way.

CONCLUSION

At the end, Massimo Vignelli have done a short conclusion before he ends his book. He reflects on the creative process and the importance of carefully curating a personal vocabulary of design elements. He stresses the need to sift through various materials, colors, textures, and experiences to build a unique language for expressing solutions to design challenges. Besides, Massimo Vignelli values objectivity in this process, acknowledging that even objectivity is inherently subjective. Despite a love for fluidity, he emphasizes the importance of a consistent frame of reference, providing a sense of responsibility for every detail in the creative endeavor.