Typography - Task 3 : Typeface

TYPOGRAPHY / GCD60104

17/11/2023 - 15/12/2023 (Week 8 - Week 12)

 
Dea Natasha Binti Mohd Khairul Fauzi (0368610)
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Typography

 
Task 3

LECTURE 

Week 8 (17/11/2023) : We have to post the picture of our font designs in the Facebook group. Then, we were told to choose one out of the nine designs. After that, we have to improve it and we can then proceed to the next step. 

Week 9 (24/11/2023) : The class started with Mr. Vinod commenting on our submission in our blogs. Almost everyone had to edit their blogs as they didn't follow the instructions correctly. After that, our works were checked by Mr. Vinod. He gave some useful feedbacks. We have to continue with this task. 

Week 10 (1/12/2023) : Today, Mr. Vinod checked our progress as usual. Most our works were ok, just needed a bit of improvement. Then, we have to continue designing our letters. We have to watch Mr. Vinod's tutorial videos and follow the instructions given. 

Week 11 (8/12/2023) : Those who are done with their letter design can proceed to the next step which is transferring the letter from AI to Fontlab. After that, we were required to make 3 poster designs using the font that we made. We have to come up with a short random sentence that contains all the letters that we designed.  

Week 12 (15/12/2023) : After Mr. Vinod checked our works and gave feedbacks, we had to fix whatever we have to. Then, those who were done can submit their final file in their blog. 

INSTRUCTION

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j4Ur24IzNbhIV8oGOz8rLWWKylOWGyXd/preview

Task 3

Friday, 17/11/2023

I started by choosing a font with 3 different writing styles which are: 

• ITC Garamond std
• ITC Garamond Std - Bd Ita
• ITC Garamond Std - Lt Narrow 

The three markers that I used are: 

• Pilot permanent marker (broad/chisel)
• Stabilo plan whiteboard marker
• Artline 5100A whiteboard marker (big nib)

Figure 1.1 : Nine designs of a chosen font

Out of these nine designs, I prefer design number 1. 

Monday, 20/11/2023

I improved my font sketch. 

Figure 1.2 : Final design

Saturday, 25/11/2023

I started to digitalise it in Adobe Illustration. 

Figure 2.1 : Digitalising the sketch

Figure 2.2 : Improving first idea

Friday, 8/12/2023

After consulting with Mr. Vinod, I made some improvements. For my first try, I traced my sketches from the paper, so now I did it exactly as the instructions told me to. 

Figure 2.3 : Doing the final design

Then, I began transferring all letters to Fontlab 7. I followed the guide that Mr. Vinod gave us when I'm fixing the kernings. 

Figure 2.4 : Transferring the letters to Fontlab 7

Thursday, 14/12/2023

I exported my font and installed it to my laptop. Then, I started designing three A4 posters.  

Figure 2.5 : Creating 3 poster designs

FINAL SUBMISSION

Tuesday, 19/12/2023

Click here to download font

Font tester

Figure 3.1 : Screengrab of Fontlab process

Figure 3.2 : Final type construction JPEG

Figure 3.3 : Final type construction PDF

Figure 3.4 : Final JPEG A4 black & white poster

Figure 3.5 : Final PDF A4 black & white poster

REFLECTION

Experience : 

This is the first time I do typography. It was a new experience for me, so it's a bit difficult, but very fun. I had to do a lot of designs before getting the final design approved by Mr. Vinod.

Observation : 

Typography is not easy. There are a lot of things to consider when designing a font, like making sure the design isn't racist like the chop suey font. We also have to do a lot of research in order to get inspiration. Only then will be be able to create our very own font.

Finding : 

Many fonts have been designed since hundreds or thousands of years ago. It started with being written on papers to being typed digitally on computers. Back then, hand printing was used to write papers, which was then replaced by a much more efficient way which is the printing press which is still being used until today. It is still being improved as time goes on. 

FEEDBACK

Week 9 feedback

Specific : Improve the writing style. 

General : Make sure to keep the pen at the same angle when writing. 

Week 10 feedback

Specific : The sharp edges of the letters "d" and "h" are too much. Shorten it. The tail of the letter "g" should be longer. The size of the letter "g" should be fixed too.

General : The height of the artboard should be 1000pt. The distance between median line and baseline is usually 500pt. Make sure the size of your letters follow the guidelines.

Week 11 feedback

Specific : Fix the kerning, Make sure the space between each letter is not too far and not too close. In the poster, increase the size of the words. The less white space, the better.
General : Open Fontlab and fill in the measurements of your letters. Copy and paste the letters one by one from AI to Fontlab. Then, in the poster, the less the white space, the better.

Week 12 feedback
Specific : The straight lines in the exclamation mark is not consistent with other letters that have straight lines. There are some issues with the letters "g", "s" and "e". 

General : All letters in the poster must be the same size. Your name, your font's name and the year must be Univers LT Std, 8pt.

FURTHER READING

For this assignment, I read Computer Typography basics by David Creamer to understand more about font designs. 

Figure 4.1 : Cover for Computer Typography Basics by David Creamer

Figure 4.2 : Page 5

This page tells us about font style and families. Some of the styles are plain, italic, bold and bold italic. 

Figure 4.2 : Page 7

This page shows examples of how weights such as standard weight, condensed weight and extended weight look like in some fonts.

Figure 4.2 : Page 8

When designing a font, we must take note of the height of the letters. We use guidelines that can also be used to measure the height of uppercase and lower letters. 

Figure 4.2 : Page 14

Besides letters, there are also special glyphs or characters. 

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THE END

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