Advanced Typography - Task 1 : Exercises 1 & 2

22/04/24 - 20/05/24 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Andrea Choo Qin Hui (0366959)

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

Task 1 : Exercise 1 & 2

LECTURES

Week 1: (Advanced Typography - Typographic Systems)

All design is based on a structural system. There are 8 major variations with an infinite

number of permutations.

・Axial System:

All elements are organised to the left or right of a single axis.

Figure 1.1 Example of Axial System (22/04/24)

・Radial System:

All elements are extended from a point of focus.

Figure 1.2 Example of Radial System (22/04/24)

・Dilatational System:

All elements expand from a central point in a circular fashion.

Figure 1.3 Example of Dilational System (22/04/24)

・Random System:

Elements appear to have no specific pattern or relationship.

Figure 1.4 Example of Random System (22/04/24)

・Grid System:

A system of vertical and horizontal divisions.

Figure 1.5 Example of Grid System (22/04/24)

・Transitional System:

An informal system of layered banding.

Figure 1.6 Example of Transitional System (22/04/24)

・Modular System:

A series of non-objective elements that are constructed in as a standardised units.

Figure 1.7 Example of Modular System (22/04/24)

・Bilateral System:

All text is arranged symmetrically on a single axis.

Figure 1.8 Example of Bilateral System (22/04/24)

Week 2: (Advanced Typography - Typographic Compositions)

Figure 2.1 Principles of Design Composition - Emphasis (03/05/24)

・Principles of Design Composition:

Emphasis, Isolation, Repetition, Symmetry and Asymmetry, Alignment and Perspective

Figure 2.2 Rules of Thirds (03/05/24)

・Rules of Thirds:

A photographic guide to composition, it suggests that a frame/space can be divided into

3 columns and 3 rows.

Figure 2.3 Environmental Grid (03/05/24)

・Environmental Grid:

Based on the exploration of an existing structure or numerous structures combined.

Figure 2.4 Form and Movement (03/05/24)

・Form and Movement:

Based on the exploration of using existing Grid Systems

Week 3: (Advanced Typography - Context & Creativity)

・Handwriting:

It was the first mechanically produced letterforms were designed to directly imitate

handwriting. It would then become the basic or standard for form, spacing and

conventions mechanical type would try and mimic.

Figure 3.1 Evolution of Latin Alphabet (11/05/24)

・Cuneiform:

The earliest system of actual writing, was written from left to right.

Figure 3.2 Cuneiform C. 3000 B.C.E (11/05/24)

・Hieroglyphics :

It is fused with the art of relief carving and is a mixture of both rebus and phonetic

characters - the first link into a future alphabetic system.

Hieroglyphics images have the potential to be used in 3 different ways:

1. As ideograms, to represent the things they actually depict.

2. As determinatives to show that signs preceding are meant as phonograms and to

indicate the general idea of the word.

3. As phonograms to represent sounds that 'spell out' individual words.

Figure 3.3 Hieroglyphics 2613 - 2160 B.C.E (11/05/24)

・Early Greek :

- Built on the Egyptian logo-consonantal system.

- Were initially drawn freehand, not constructed with compasses and rule & had no

serifs.

- In time the strokes grew thicker, the aperture lessened and serifs appeared.

Figure 3.4 Early Greek 5th C. B.C.E (11/05/24)

・Roman Uncials :

- By the 4th century, Roman letters were becoming more rounded, the curved form

allowed for less strokes and could be written faster.

Figure 3.5 Roman Uncials (11/05/24)

・English Half Uncials :

- In England, uncials evolved into a more slanted and condensed form.

Figure 3.6 English Half Uncials 8th C. (11/05/24)

・Carolingian Minuscule :

- Was an important development as the standard Roman Capital - for it was this style

that became the pattern for the Humanistic Writing of the fifteenth century.

Figure 3.6 Carolingian Minuscule (11/05/24)

・Black Letter :

- Gothic was the culminating artistic expression of the middle ages, occurring roughly

from 1200 - 1500.

- It is characterised by tight space lettering and condensed lettering.

Figure 3.7 Black Letter 12- 15 C. CE (11/05/24)

・Movable Type :

- It was introduced in 1000 - 1100 CE.

- Was pioneered in China but achieved in Korea (Diamond Sutra).

Figure 3.8 Movable Type 11 C. - 14 C. (11/05/24)

・Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) Script :

- Oldest writing found in the 'Indian' subcontinent

- Is as yet undeciphered and seems to be somewhat logo-syllabic in nature.

Figure 3.9 Indus Valley Civilisation Script 3500 B.C - 2000 B.C.E (11/05/24)

・Brahmi Script :

- Earliest writing in developed in India after the Indus Script.

- All modern Indian Scripts and several hundred scripts found in South East Asia are

derived from Brahmi.

Figure 3.10 Brahmi Script 450 - 350 B.C.E (11/05/24)

Week 4: (Advanced Typography - Designing Type)

Type Design Process

1. Research :

- Understand type history, anatomy and conventions.

- Should know terminologies, side-bearing, metrics, hinting

- Determine the type's purpose or what different applications it will be used in.

- Examine existing fonts that are presently being used for inspiration / ideas /

reference / context / usage pattern / etc.

2. Sketching :

- Some sketch typeface their typeface using the traditional or digital tool sets.

3. Digitalisation :

- Professional software that are used for digitalisation. (Fontlab & Glyphs)

- Some use Adobe Illustrator to design or craft the letterforms, but it is frown

upon on by the purist.

- Attention should be given to not only the first form at this stage but also to the

counter form.

4. Testing :

- Important component in the design thinking process.

- Results are part of the testing process of refining and correcting aspects of the

typeface.

- Depending on the typeface category (display type / text type) the readability

and legibility of the typeface becomes an important consideration.

- However, it is not as crucial if the typeface is a display type, where expressions

of the form takes a little more precedence.

5. Deploy :

- Even after deploying a completed typeface there are always teething problems

that did not come to the fore during the prototyping and testing phases.

- Thus, the task doesn't end on deployment.

- The rigour of testing is important so that the teething issue remain minor.

INSTRUCTIONS

EXERCISE

Task 1 - Exercise 1: (Typographic Systems)

For our first task, we are supposed to create 8 posters based on the 8 systems:

(Axial, Radial, Dilational, Random, Grid, Transitional, Modular and finally Bilateral)

Expected Final Outcomes:

- JPEG @ 300ppi (1024 px)

- PDF with guides and without guides

Figure 1.1 Axial System (29/04/24)

Figure 1.2 Radial System (29/04/24)

Figure 1.3 Dilatational System (29/04/24)

Figure 1.4 Random System (29/04/24)

Figure 1.5 Grid System (29/04/24)

Figure 1.6 Transitional System (29/04/24)

Figure 1.7 Modular System (29/04/24)

Figure 1.8 Bilateral System (29/04/24)

Final Task 1 - Exercise 1: (Typographic Systems)

Figure 2.1 Final Axial System JPEG (01/05/24)

Figure 2.2 Final Radial System JPEG (01/05/24)

Figure 2.3 Final Dilational System JPEG (01/05/24)

Figure 2.4 Final Random System JPEG (01/05/24)

Figure 2.5 Final Grid System JPEG (01/05/24)

Figure 2.6 Final Transitional System JPEG (01/05/24)

Figure 2.7 Final Modular System JPEG (01/05/24)

Figure 2.8 Final Bilateral System JPEG (01/05/24)

Figure 2.9 Final Task 1 - Exercise 1 (Typographic Systems) PDF without Guides (02/05/24)

Figure 2.10 Final Task 1 - Exercise 1 (Typographic Systems) PDF with Guides (02/05/24)

Task 1 - Exercise 2: (Finding Type)

Figure 3.1 Attempt #1 of Exercise 2 - Finding Type (10/05/24)

After receiving feedback from Mr. Vinod, he made me realise that no one would know

where the fonts come from after looking at the image. So I decided to find another more

suitable image for this exercise.

Figure 3.2 Attempt #2 of Exercise 2 - Finding Type (10/05/24)

After looking on Pinterest for awhile, I came across this image of corals and decided to

use it for this exercise.

Figure 3.3 Attempt #2 of Exercise 2 - Finding Type (10/05/24)

Here are the alphabets (A,R,Y,H & O) I found in this image. Ultimately, I decided to

only do 4 of the 5 alphabets (A,Y,H & O).

Figure 3.4 Digitalisation Attempts (10/05/24)

Figure 3.5 Letter Tracing (10/05/24)

I decided to design my font with rounded edges instead of the straight sharp edge and

straight edge from the reference font, but I tried to make it as similar to the letter

extractions as well as the reference font. Honestly, I wanted to just submit my work

without the dot texture from the coral but I thought that the type would look and seem

more accurate with the dots on the side as it's part of the coral's core features.

Ultimately, the dots itself was quite complicated to do as I couldn't decide if I wanted it

all over the type or just in some parts. In the end after analysing the image again, I

discovered that most of the corals have those dots basically everywhere on their 'stem'.

For the movie poster, I decided to reuse the image I did 'Finding Type' on.

Requirements:

- 1024px x 1024px

- 300ppi

Figure 3.6 Attempt #1 of Finding Type Poster (12/05/24)

For the first attempt, I felt like it was incomplete and it was as I had forgotten to insert

the movie poster credits onto the poster. For the bottom of the poster, I wanted to give

it some sort of effect so I used the liquify tool to drag the image down slightly to create

the end effects. I also added some noise and adjusted the brightness and contrast and

hue/saturation to make it more 'aesthetic' like.

Figure 3.7 Attempt #2 of Finding Type Poster (13/05/24)

After receiving feedback from Mr. Vinod, I decided to try again. In attempt #2, I

changed the colour of the main typeface into the background colour as red doesn't
really stand out as the corals are already red.

Once I've shown Mr. Vinod my second attempt on the poster, he said that the white

texts in my posters are too distracting and I need to find a way to make the main type-

face stand out more instead of the white subtexts.

Figure 3.8 Attempt #3 of Finding Type Poster (16/05/24)

In my last attempt, I took what Mr. Vinod said to me in class and applied it onto my

poster. I played with the brightness and contrast and made the poster image darker. I

also added more movie companies' logos at the bottom as I felt like what I already had

was not enough.

Final Task 1 - Exercise 2: (Finding Type)

Figure 3.9 Final Task 1 - Exercise 2 (Finding Type) without Dots Applied (10/05/24)

Figure 3.10 Final Task 1 - Exercise 2 (Finding Type) with Dots Applied (10/05/24)

Figure 3.11 Final Task 1 - Exercise 2 (Finding Type) PDF #1 (11/05/24)

Figure 3.12 Final Task 1 - Exercise 2 (Finding Type) PDF #2 (11/05/24)

Figure 3.13 Final Task 1 - Exercise 2 (Finding Type) Poster JPG (16/05/24)

Figure 3.14 Final Task 1 - Exercise 2 (Finding Type) Poster PDF (16/05/24)

FEEDBACK

Week 2

General Feedback: Random System has to take an artistic approach towards it,

artistic elements should not be that 'loud' (tone down colours).

Specific Feedback: Information in E-Portfolio at the top is clear and accurate.

Week 3

General Feedback: Image chosen has to be the main focus of the font. Therefore, we

should find an image that doesn't have other 'distractions'.

Specific Feedback: Work given was inadequate. If someone looks at your image, will

anyone know what your type is made from?

Week 4

General Feedback: Use the same image from the finding type exercise with the

poster. Add movie production companies' logo onto the poster so

it looks like and actual movie poster.

Specific Feedback: Letterform for finding type is fine, but the poster for it needs to

edit slightly as the subtext overpowers the main letterforms.

REFLECTIONS

Experience: My initial thoughts about Advanced Typography before attending my first class was that it was going to be harder than Typography. In a way, I was correct but it wasn't only hard, it was quite eye opening as well. In Task 1, I struggled with being creative with the layouts and it took me awhile to make a decent design. Since creativity wasn't my strong suit for this task, I decided to work on the easier layouts first and it definitely helped me save a lot of time instead of going from the top to bottom of the layout list. By trying to find inspiration for the harder layouts, I decided to look at some seniors' work. For Task 2, I struggled to find a decent image that Mr. Vinod would approve of but eventually, I found one. In my opinion, I this task was more fun and I really enjoyed designing the poster.

Observations: In Task 1, I had realised that consistency and balance between all the texts was important as there was rules to follow to make the correct layout for each specific system. By doing Task 2, I realised that typography can be made by basically any image you chose. As you analyse the image the letters will slowly be more obvious to see. When I was doing Task 2, I realised that consistency was also important here as you needed the letters to be the same width and size. By observing my classmates submissions, I also saw that everyone had different ideas on how they want to execute their ideas for this task.

Findings: After doing both tasks, I realised that there are more to Typography than fonts. It also involves arranging the type to be more legible and visually appealing for viewers to see. Therefore, understanding the basic rules of Typography is important for these 2 tasks. This made me want to push my creativity more to make my design not only visually appealing but also readable.

Andrea Choo Qin Hui (0366959)

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