10/06/24 - 14/07/24 (Week 8 - Week 13)
Andrea Choo Qin Hui (0366959)
Andrea Choo Qin Hui (0366959)
Advanced Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Task 3 : Type Exploration & Application
LECTURES
INSTRUCTIONS
EXERCISE
Task 3 - Type Exploration & Application
Figure 1.1 Proposal Presentation (24/06/24)
Based on feedback given by Mr. Vinod, he told me to understand why New Jeans chose
this specific type of pixel font for their album cover.
After researching, I learnt that New Jeans embraced a Y2K-inspired aesthetic, which is
evident in both their fashion and the typography used in their promotional artwork. Their
style features flourishes and display types that were popular in the late '90s and early
typeface for their album covers and stage performance background video.
Part 1 (Design Development)
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| Figure 1.2 Sketches (24/06/24) |
Due to my idea of mixing pixelation and cursive, I decided to take inspiration the cursive
font inspiration from Zapfino.
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| Figure 1.3 Zapfino Font (24/06/24) |
After looking at the font for inspiration, I began working on 'Pixel Elegance', the name of
the font I'm creating which in my opinion suits the concept I'm going for.
Part 2 (Font Design)
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| Figure 2.1 Rough Digitalisation of Font (25/06/24) |
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| Figure 2.2 Outline of Rough Digitalisation of Font (25/06/24) |
To make the font pixelated, I copied and pasted the letters one by one into Photoshop as a
Smart Object.
Steps after creating a Smart Object from the font:
Step 1 - Go to filter and click mosaic
Step 2 - After that, combine the mosaic font with a white background layer
Step 3 - Once combined, go to image -> adjustments -> threshold
Step 4 - Once in threshold, put the threshold level at 255
Step 5 - Pixelation font done! (Repeat for everything)
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| Figure 2.3 Photoshop Process (26/06/24) |
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| Figure 2.4 Pixelated Font PNG (10/07/24) |
After doing the fonts one by one, I then insert these PNG files above into Illustrator. To
make the PNG files into paths, I use image trace.
Steps to convert PNG to paths:
Step 1 - Image trace the PNG
Step 2 - Expand the traced image
Step 3 - Ungroup everything
Step 4 - Delete the white background
Step 5 - Letter path is created!
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| Figure 2.5 Pixelated Font (14/07/24) |
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| Figure 2.6 Pixelated Font Outline (14/07/24) |
Part 3 (Fontlab 7)
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| Figure 3.2 Uppercase Fontlab Adjustments (17/07/24) |
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| Figure 3.3 Lowercase Fontlab Adjustments (17/07/24) |
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Final Task 3 - Font Presentation
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| Figure 4.2 Final Font Presentation #2 (19/07/24) |
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Figure 4.3 Final Font Presentation #3 (19/07/24)
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Final Task 3 - Font Application
Download Pixel Elegance here!
Figure 4.6 Final Font Application #1 - Front Cover (20/07/24)
Figure 4.7 Final Font Application #2 - Back Cover (20/07/24)
Figure 4.8 Final Font Application #2 - Front Cover (20/07/24)
Figure 4.9 Final Font Application #2 - Back Cover (20/07/24)
Figure 4.10 Final Font Application #3 - Spotify Cover (20/07/24)
Figure 4.11 Final Font Application on Album #1 (20/07/24)
Figure 4.12 Final Font Application on Album #1 (20/07/24)
Figure 4.13 Final Font Application on Album #2 (20/07/24)
Figure 4.14 Final Font Application on Album #2 (20/07/24)
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| Figure 4.6 Final Font Application #1 - Front Cover (20/07/24) |
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| Figure 4.7 Final Font Application #2 - Back Cover (20/07/24) |
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| Figure 4.8 Final Font Application #2 - Front Cover (20/07/24) |
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| Figure 4.9 Final Font Application #2 - Back Cover (20/07/24) |
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| Figure 4.10 Final Font Application #3 - Spotify Cover (20/07/24) |
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| Figure 4.15 Final Font Application on Spotify Album (20/07/24) |
FEEDBACK
Week 10
Specific Feedback: Should learn about why they used this font type of pixel font as
new jean's album cover.
Week 11
Specific Feedback: The font looks interesting but everything should be the same size.
Week 13
Specific Feedback: Mr. Vinod showed me another way to make the pixels, but since I
was almost done with everything, he said I could use the method
he showed me if I wanted.
REFLECTIONS
Experience: Even though this task was kinda difficult to do due to the amount of letters etc we have to make, I would say I really enjoyed making the posters for the font. Although it did take me awhile to get the creativity to do so.
Observations: I discovered that I slacked off alot during this task. Whenever I don't get the creativity to design further, I'll just look at my phone, which took me even longer than I expected to complete task 3.
Findings: Throughout this task, I found out that you must maintain consistency in your typeface or else it will look weird. I had shown a friend my typeface while designing it and he told me that some of the letters look like it's from a different font, which made me realise that I had to redo some of it. Although it was frustrating for me to redo some of them, the process was really helpful, as it highlighted the need for consistency in design. This also made me realise that feedback is critical during designing.
FURTHER READINGS
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Typographic Design: Form and Communication was written by Rob Carter, Philip B.
Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa and Mark Sanders. For graphic designers, there is no
better resource than Typographic Design: Form and Communication, which offers a
thorough introduction to visual word art. Typography, when executed effectively,
conveys far more than mere words alone. The impact of a message, the connections you
draw and its overall effectiveness are all impacted by its typographic design. An
essential part of nearly any graphic design job is typographic design, which
encompasses both print and digital media. Aspiring designers would benefit greatly
from this book's comprehensive coverage of type, which includes letterforms, negative
space, messaging, procedures, and history, among other important topics. (taken from
Amazon)
Legibility
Typographic legibility is often misunderstood and overlooked by designers, yet it
demands careful study and ongoing evaluation. Achieving legibility involves managing
the inherent qualities and attributes of typography that make text readable. These
attributes enable readers to comprehend typographic forms with minimal effort.
Typographers and designers have a significant responsibility to their readers to
communicate as clearly and appropriately as possible. This responsibility is echoed by
Henry David Thoreau in Walden: "A written word is the choicest of relics. It is
something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of
art."
Basic Principles of Legibility
Letters, as symbols representing sounds in spoken language, are fundamental to legible
typography. Their primary purpose is to convey recognizable meaning to the reader's
mind, making it essential for letterforms to be designed with clarity and distinction
within the alphabet. The contrast among individual characters allows readers to
decipher written information without confusion.
The most legible typefaces are timeless examples characterized by three essential
qualities: contrast, simplicity, and proportion. These typefaces exemplify beautiful and
functional letterforms. A close examination of typefaces such as Garamond, Baskerville,
and Bodoni reveals why their forms remain vital and effective since their initial design.
However, using well-designed typefaces alone does not guarantee legible typography.
Effective typography depends on factors such as the communication context and the
subtle adjustment of letterforms and their spatial relationships, all of which impact how
easily typography is read. Achieving legible typography is a masterful accomplishment
that requires a process of intelligent decision-making.
Distinguishing Characteristics of Letters
The alphabet consists of twenty-six letters, each having gradually evolved over centuries
to occupy a unique place within this system of signs. This evolution is not accidental; the
individual shapes of letterforms have developed to improve the communication process.
As the alphabet has evolved, it has become a flexible system in which all letters are
distinct yet work together harmoniously as visible language.
Despite the countless variations in size, proportion, weight, and elaboration in
letterform design, the basic structure of each letterform must remain the same. For
example, the capital 'A' always consists of two oblique strokes joined at the top and
connected by a horizontal stroke at their midsection. There must be sufficient contrast
between the letters in a font to ensure they can be easily distinguished.
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| Figure 1.2 Distinguishing Letters #1 |
Letters can be categorized into four groups based on their contrasting properties:
vertical strokes, curved strokes, a combination of vertical and curved strokes, and
oblique strokes.
Within these groupings, one can observe that while letters share many similarities, they
also exhibit important differences. Letters with similar characteristics are more likely to
be confused, whereas those with distinct qualities offer contrast within a word.
Consequently, words are most legible when their letters are evenly distributed across
these groups, balancing the contrast and reducing the likelihood of misinterpretation.
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| Figure 1.3 Distinguishing Letters #2 |
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