Advanced Typography- Task 3: Type Exploration and Application

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26/9/2022- 23/10/2022 / Week 9- Week 13
Chuah Kwai Pin / 0348376
Advanced Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University 
Task 3: Type Exploration and Application

LECTURES:

All lectures 1 - 5 completed in Advanced Typography- Task 1:Exercises

INSTRUCTIONS:



TASKS

Task 3: Type Exploration and Application

Students are required to either:
-Create a font that is intended to solve a larger problem, or mean to be part of a solution in the area of your interest.

-Explore the use of typeface in your area of interest, understand its existing relationship, identify areas that could be improved upon.

- Experiment, which must be novel and unique. Working with material that might be 3-dimensional, digitally augmented, edible, unusual, typographic music video or fine art.

The end result is to have a complete typeface generated (.ttf) and the applications.

1) Ideation

Proposal of Ideas


Initially, I came up with 3 ideas for the creation of my typeface. Although they were interesting, it might not be very workable as it requires some good crafting skills especially for idea #2. Hence, I searched for more inspirations and found idea #4. I really like the uniqueness of the font and its overall shape of the letters.


2) Sketches
Fig.1.1 Idea #4 Inspiration, Week 9 (25/9/22)

Fig.1.2 Uppercase sketches of Idea #4, Week 10(1/11/22)

By referring to the lowercase letters of Idea #4 Inspiration (Fig. 1.1), I notice that the letters have somewhat the same width and height which can be implemented into the uppercase letters. I sketched out all 26 letters so that I can get a better understanding of how the letters should be formed during my digitalisation process. By sketching all of them out, it also helps me see whether or not the letters look consistent overall.

3) Digitalisation

Fig. 2.1 Using shapes to measure the width and height of letters, Week 10(1/11/22)

While crafting my typeface, I realise that the measurements for the strokes and counterspace are what makes my letters appear consistent. I begin crafting the first few letters and keep a measurement of them using the coloured shapes so that I can use them again to measure the other letters. 
Fig. 2.2 How I crafted my Uppercase letters, Week 10(1/11/22)

To begin with, I first measured the height and width of the existing letters from Idea #4 Inspiration (Fig. 1.1) and then duplicated the shape for all of my other letters so that it will be the base where I start working on. Based on the letter I am creating, in this case the letter "R", I will reuse the triangular shape that I had used previously in my letter "A" as the counterspace and also the rounded-corner rectangle that I had measured from the inspiration to overlay onto the base. I then selected all of the shapes and the base and then divided them so that I can cut off the counterspace from the base. 

From there, I can already see the shape of an "R" but I still have to round the corners as it is still sharp after the cut. For all of the corners, I round it to 0.13cm to keep it consistent with the original curve of the base.


Fig. 2.3 How I crafted my Lowercase letters, Week 11 (9/11/22)

For my lowercase letters, it is more or less similar to how I crafted my uppercase letters, except the base has been reduced to a proper x-height. Other than that, I used the same toolbox to craft my lowercase letters and rounded the corners so they do not appear too sharp.
Fig. 2.4 First Draft of Uppercase Letters, Week 11 (9/11/22)


Fig. 2.5 First Draft of Lowercase Letters, Week 12 (16/11/22)

Fig. 2.6 First Draft of Numbers and Punctuation Marks, Week 12 (16/11/22)

After Week 12 Feedback

Fig. 2.7 Changes made to the letters, Week 12 (16/11/22)

After the feedback session, I made changes accordingly to the letters "W", "w" and "m". I also had a quick check through with all of the letters in Fontlab and realised that the descender was a little too low. Hence, I cut it shorter so that it fits exactly on the descender that was pre-set by Fontlab. I also made the counterspace wider for some letters like "x", "h" and "u" because when I was looking at all the other letters as a whole, these 3 letters felt a little too tight and dense. 


4) Font Generation

Fig. 3.1 Copying letters into Fontlab, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Ascender height: 750px
Cap height: 700px
x-height: 500px
Descender height: -250px


Fig. 3.2 Full Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers and Punctuations in Fontlab,
Week 13 (23/11/22)
After transferring all of the letters, I then proceeded to kern the letters one by one by typing all of the out. I set the letter spacing to a 100px and kept it consistent throughout all uppercase and lowercase letters.

Fig. 3.3 Before kerning uppercase letters, Week 13 (23/11/22)
Fig. 3.4 After kerning uppercase letters, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 3.5 Before kerning lowercase letters, Week 13 (23/11/22)


Fig. 3.6 After kerning lowercase letters, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 3.7 Full type after kerning, Week 13 (23/11/22)

5) Application

Fig. 4.1 Piccolo Kids Cafe, Week 12 (16/11/22)

After doing a lot research and findings on what my typeface can be used for, I eventually settled on a Kids Cafe concept. I had a really long stare at my typeface and felt like it would be either used for a board game or something fun and educational. I went to search for existing kid cafes and found this interesting and cute typeface used for Piccolo Kids Cafe. As much as it is fun and unique, the typeface is only used in the name itself and not much on any other things they offer. Since it is such a recognisable typeface, it would have been really nice to use it as well on cards, posters, stickers and more to publicise their cafe as well. 

Therefore, with that said, I have decided to explore my typeface on the things that a kids cafe might produce such as a t-shirt, poster or even paper cups. The main objective is to be able to maximize the usage of my typeface on different items as much as possible so that it becomes a significant representation of the "cafe".
Fig. 4.2 First Attempt, Week 12 (16/11/22)
This was the first attempt on the applications. I wanted to go with a fun and party-like concept, but since the main focus is on the expansion of the typeface, it is best to limit the graphical part of the design and just focus on the words.
Visual References:

To get some visual inspirations for posters made to attract kids, I went to search for the common colours, patterns and compositions used. Most of them look very simple but it still portrays the fun and childlike feel on the posters.

Fig. 4.3 Kids poster references, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 4.4 Kids poster references, Week 13 (23/11/22)
For the main colours of the typeface, I have decided to go with red, blue, green, yellow and purple because I feel like those are the most contrasting and eye-catching colours that attract kids. The choice of colours are reminds me of youth and energy, much like the colours we see during a children's sports day.

I have decided to make 3 different posters with catchy phrases that best relate to kids and also scribbled and doodled on the poster to add on a more childlike feel to it. Besides that, I also made stickers as a gift prize and also a personalised Kudos T-shirt that has the name of the child. Other than the physical items, I also created 3 separate social media quiz posts that can help to boost the engagement and interaction of the account by attracting people to answer the quizzes. 

Final Outcomes:
Fig. 5.1 RoundBlock-Regular Final Type Design, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.2 Kudos Display Poster 1, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.3 Kudos Display Poster 2, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.4 Kudos Display Poster 3, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.5 Sticker designs, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.6 Sticker design mock-up, Week 13 (23/11/22)


Fig. 5.7 Kudos T-shirt Front, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.8 Kudos T-shirt Back, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.9 Kudos Social Media Post 1, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.10 Kudos Social Media Post 2, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.11 Kudos Social Media Post 3, Week 13 (23/11/22)


Fig. 5.12 Kudos Instagram Feed, Week 13 (23/11/22)

Fig. 5.13 Final Task 3 Compilation- PDF, Week 13 (23/11/22)



FEEDBACK

Week 9
Specific Feedback: Idea 2 can be experimented for different food groups, but it requires very good crafting skill in order to achieve letters based on food. Idea 3 is mainly on reduction which does not work well for long paragraphs.
General Feedback: Might have to rethink and find more ideas that are workable.

Week 10
Specific Feedback: The counterspace of the letters should be considered, how much of a space is given in the counterspace of letters like "G". Letters like "B" still does not look resolved, and the triangle inside letter "D" is too sharp.
General Feedback: Make sure the triangles in the letters are not too sharp, it should be used sparingly and strategically. Some of the points can be rounder.

Week 11
Specific Feedback: Try putting the uppercase and lowercase letters side by side and see how it works. The ascender is a bit too tall, so most likely the x-height will have to be bigger.
General Feedback: Complete the lowercase, numbers and punctuation. Start thinking about the application and the solution to the problem.

Week 12
Specific Feedback: Have to make letters "w" and "m" much wider for both lowercase and uppercase.
General Feedback: Explore more with the applications, and maximise as much as possible using the typeface. Explore the type horizontally and have a proper colour scheme which can be used for a IG feed.

REFLECTION

Experience
Honestly speaking, before I started working on this task, I thought I was going to struggle a lot with the time given to complete the typeface and the applications. Working on this task reminded me of Typography where we had to craft a few of the chosen letters and punctuations. However, I actually enjoyed crafting the uppercase and lowercase letters this time around. I'm glad that I learned from my lesson from previous semester and chose to go with a more manageable typeface that I can complete within the short period of time given.

Observation
This task has required me to look at all my letters in an overall picture to judge whether or not it is consistent. I realise that even though I try to keep consistency by following all the measurements, some letters just look very out of place. From there, that is when I have to adjust accordingly so that they look like they belong in the same family. It was a lot of trial and error and finding what looks right for some of the letters in my typeface. 

Findings
I was reminded again about how to craft our punctuation marks like the period, comma, colon and semi-colon. Although they look similar in size, I realise that the size of a comma should be slightly smaller than a period. Not only that, I realise that the height of an ascender is much shorter than I initially thought. When I was crafting my letters with ascenders, I had to compare it with reference fonts to find out that it is just 1.5x the x-height.


FURTHER READING

Exclamation marks and Question marks by Grili Type

Fig. 6.1 Size of dot smaller than period

Fig. 6.2 Stylistic exclamation marks

Fig. 6.5 Similar angle of terminal

Fig. 6.4 Stylistic question marks

While I was crafting my punctuation marks such as the exclamation mark and question mark, I was not too sure as to how I should construct it since my typeface is slightly more unique in its rectangular form. Taking a look at these posts gave me ideas on how I would want to construct my exclamation and question marks.

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