Brief
To create an alphabet and 6 glyphs for a partner, as well as a name badge, based on five adjectives which describe the partner. The alphabet should be created by manipulating existing letterforms.
Eddie's Adjectives
For Eddie, I decided he was laid back, informal, mysterious, fun and indecisive. I then defined these words to get a better understanding of what I would be to communicate.
Laid Back: Relaxed, unhurried, free from stress, easygoing, carefree, horizontal, not strict, free from tension Fun: Amusement, enjoyment, playfulness, jokes, whimsical, flamboyant, animated, social, not serious, merry, foolery Mysterious: Obscure, full of mystery, puzzling, secretive, curious, not easily explained, confusing, inexplicable, unknown, strange, baffling, incomprehensive Informal: Casual, irregular, natural, easy, breezy, cool, light hearted Indecisive: Unsure, uncertain, unstable, doubtful, shaky, lacking assurance, inconclusive, mixed, wavering, insecure
Possible typography ideas
Existing typeface experimentation
I decided to experiment with existing fonts which I felt were relevant to what I was trying to communicate about Eddie by copying out his name in each style. It was important to make sure that each style worked with Eddie's name, as I would also be creating a name badge.
Champollion Outline - Jigsaw - Wyvern Blocko - Glyphic Neue Wide - TX Gitter - TX Tiny Tim Gimpy - Trisec - Nurse Ratchet - Liquid Sex Italic - Crystopian - Twister
- This is Eddie's favourite of the fonts
Development
There are different elements from the fonts which I like, so I continued my development by creating new ideas bringing together these elements.
Trisec (Uppercase with shadow) - Trisec (Uppercase with backwards italic and bits missing) - Mix of Twister and Trisec (with shadow) - Mix of Trisec and Champollion Outline (with shadow and backwards italic)
More experimentation with Mix of Trisec and Champollion Outline
Mix of Trisec, Wyvern Blocko and Jigsaw
The a has opened edges, the b has closed edges with shadow and the c just has closed edges.
I thought the style of the b worked the best, so decided to also mix in Champollion Outline, the font which Eddie preferred, and experiment with some letterforms in this mix. I also experimented with the idea of physically leaning back a letter, to show how I believe Eddie to be laid back.
I really liked the style I had created from the mix of existing fonts, so decided to continue this experimentation with the rest of the alphabet and the chosen glyphs. However, I was unsure whether I wanted the letterforms to be leaning back or not, so tried some letters with this idea and some without. After asking Eddie which style he preferred, and thinking about which style I personally thought was more attractive, I decided not to lean back the letters.
I decided to use each glyph for a particular reason. The division sign shows how only a percentage of Eddie is revealed to me. The asterix is used to block out letters in offensive words, so I have used this to show how Eddie blocks some of himself out. I have used the email symbol to show that Eddie is confident with technology, and the pound sign to show he is interested in money. I decided not to use the and symbol as I didn't think it would work at a small size. I developed the symbols so they would fit in with the letterforms I had created.
Final Name Badge
Based on the design decisions I had previously made, this is Eddie's 4.5cm x 9cm name badge.
Final Pieces
A1 White Paper & A1 Tracing Paper
Hand Drawn Typefaces
On these A1 sheets feature my completed and neatened alphabets and 6 glyphs after development.
Testing Readability
I scanned in each letter, and re arranged these on to the computer to test the readability of the typeface when used for sentences, and at different sizes. I think it would look too much because of the quantity of lines to use this font for a large area of text, but I am pleased that the typeface does work at different sizes.
I also tried Eddie's full name for a different name badge.
Illustrator Experiment
To test whether handcrafting was the right idea, or if this style of letterforms would have been better suited to being created on illustrator, I experimented with creating the letter a with the pen tool. At this stage I have very little knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, so I have simply created this letter by tracing my hand drawing. The curves are cleaner and smoother, and there are no mistakes or smudges as with the hand drawn style. However, I don't think the imperfections in my hand drawn type face matter, as perfect and neat was not what I was attempting to portray. Instead of perfect curves, I prefer my slightly messy hand drawn style.
Further Development
After recieving feedback from my tutor, I decided to take a step back from my illustrator experiments and continue to develop my designs. The feedback can be seen on my PPD blog.
I have created this small design to show how the letters should look if they were in the correct proportion. I have also removed the block shadow and made each letter harder to read, and removed the closed lines, all of these being issues that arose after feedback.
The shape of the maze line in some letters gave away what the letter was about, which was not what I was trying to portray, so these design ideas are examples of what my alphabet could look like if it were truly portraying the characteristics I believe Eddie to be.
T was a problem letter as it did not look visually correct, so I have tried to fix this.
