Brief 3/ Further Type Examples

Carrying on from one of the initial tutorials I did, with creating type from glyphs, I've decided to try this again with different messages and using a different font to see if the variety of glyph choices change.

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I've tried creating a longer message here with a different font, but I don't think it looks as good as the first example I made. I am worried about these looking too childish; I want the focus to be on what I have learnt about typography.

Here I've added a bit of colour but this quote still isn't looking right to me!

Here I have simplified the font to see how this looks but I'm just not happy with the way this message is looking so think I'll try something else.

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Here I've tried a totally different style of font to see if this works better, but after doing this I'm thinking of going back to Arial as I think it works better.

I've been playing about with colour and I quite like this colour scheme. I need to eventually find a colour scheme that will be appealing to both males and females. The text still looks quite simple though, so I definitely need to add some other element to it.

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I've decided to go back to the original quote I wrote, using the font Arial. It looks so simple now, so I decided to add in some of the things I have learnt in other tutorials to it. I have added all these things that I have learnt together to create a piece of type I feel really happy with.

So I've started off by creating the wording using only glyphs, and then I've been applying what I've learnt about the rules of typography, such as how the sizes of each letter interact to create a credible font. I've then joined up and added extra decorative details to the typeface, as I did in a previous tutorial. Then I've added colour and shadows and highlights to make this font look like it is a ribbon, as I also did in a tutorial.

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And this is what the culmination of those tutorials looks like. The style is also inspired by some of the examples of work I have been looking at on my design context blog, such as Jessica Hische and David Carson.

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Here are some screenshots of the progress. I've created a grid to help me edit the position and size of the letters, as it is important this is a credible typeface.

I've then started to join up parts of the letterforms, so each word's letters are interlinked in a few ways. I want the flow of the letters to be smooth.

Here is what the quote looked like before I added the shadows:

I've then taken the quote over to Photo shop to add the shadows and subtle highlights.

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I've done this same process for the other quotes/rules I thought of, using Arial for all. Its quite a fun process but takes ages. I want to use different glyphs in the different quotes so they don't all look the same, as I've noticed some letters are used way more often that others.

Showing the progress:

Before I altered the kerning of each word, this is what they look like:

After I altered the kerning, but before I joined the letters up:

There were a few mistakes and things I had to change along the way, as I wanted the words to be easy to read. I also wanted the kerning to be the same for each word, as all the quotes should work together. Here is an example of the word 'Thinking' where it just didn't look right how I had it before.

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Here is another example of something that just didn't look right. While I want the letters to join up and for it to look quite different, I still want it to make sense.

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These are the final quotes, ready to be altered in Photo shop, but first I need to decide on a colour scheme. This isn't something I want to rush as it will be so important to the whole book. So before I finalise these words, I want to step back and consider what the final product will look like.

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Brief 4/ Initial Development

Proposed design outcomes:

I would be creating the branding and identity for the museum which would then lead on to the design of these products:

- Tour map
- Wall hangings
- Leaflets about exhibition
- Invite for the opening night
- Signage around museum
- Posters for adverts
- Mock up of exhibit space with room decorations (quotes on walls etc)
- Floor stickers
- Outside banners
- Tickets
- Business stationery: business cards, letterheads etc

Answering considerations:

- Where would this be?

The graphic design museum would ideally be in Manchester, as this is a big, popular city, with lots of design studios. London already has the design museum so I think the North need one too, and this is where the Manchester Museum of Graphic Design comes in. The museum could link in with other relevant events that happen in the city, such as the print festival.

- Who is the target audience?

This museum would be ideal for graphic designers and students, but would be family friendly and suitable for even those who don't know anything about design, as it would teach them about it and open their eyes to it.

- How would this be funded?

The museum would be free to go in like art galleries and would be funded in the same way.

- Why do I think there should be a graphic design museum?

There are art galleries in every city but graphic design is not celebrated in the same way, despite the rising interest in it. This museum would be both a gallery and a museum, teaching people as well as inspiring them about something they may take for granted, even though graphic design is all around us.

- Who would attend the opening night private view?

Industry professionals, those involved in design education, students, magazines, the press, graphic design celebrities

Brief 2/ Pixel Type

After researching pixel type and design, I think this is the direction I want my work to go in, so I downloaded a few fonts from dafont.com to play around with. With my other briefs, I've been manipulating existing type faces so I think this is something I could try with these. Here are the examples of fonts I have chosen.

Internet keywords to include in designs:

Internet,    Life,    Online,    WWW,    Website,    Pixel,    Blog,    Email,

Message,    Instant,    Network,    Connect,    Communicate,    Social,

Bulletin,    Browser,    Personal,    Broadband,    App,    Text,    Sharing,

Future,    Create,    Viral,    Recorded,    Copied,    Domain,    Technology,

Digital,    Computer,    Evolve,    Emerge,    Expand

I'm not sure how I feel about using these fonts after playing around with them. Because of the way they look and are designed, its quite hard to play around with them as you would with a normal font. And the fonts don't contain different weights, and quite a few of them are only lowercase, so I think the results I would be able to create would be quite limited. The font that I like the best is the handwriting one, as this is like a different take on the pixel theme, as this is quite unusual.

I think with these fonts, the look will be created through how it is printed, for example if I was to laser cut or apply a print finish to them, as seen in some of the things I have researched. But on their own I'm not sure these fonts work, they definitely need something with them to make them look a bit more interesting.

I'm going to ask others their feedback on these fonts and what I can do with them to help me decide which direction to go in.

Brief 2/ Initial Development/ Product & Range

Proposed Range of Products & Why

Because my theme is the internet, I am thinking of creating a range of products that are relevant to technology and the internet - such as mouse mats, printing on to USBs etc, as well as a range of products that would have been used more before the internet, such as a letter writing set, to get a mix of before and after the internet. I am both celebrating the internet, and considering life before it, which is a bit like the content of the Bradford Media Museum Life Online exhibition, which is where I would propose that these products would be sold.

This brief is about considering product, range and distribution, and I am proposing to create around 30 products with the same designs theme running throughout.

Digitally Printed

Poster Prints - Merchandise

Wrapping Paper & Gift bags - Before the Facebook Happy Birthday

Letter writing sets - Before the instant messaging

Stickers - Merchandise

Postcards - Before the email

Notebooks - Before the blog

Storage boxes - Before the hard drive

Photo albums - Before Facebook

Address book - Before the phone

Magazine file - Before the blog

Pen Pots - Before the keyboard

Exercise books - Before the blog

Folders - Before the hard drive

Ringbinders - Before the hard drive

Bookmarks - Before the kindle

Playing cards - Before the xbox

To do list notepad - Before the app

Mini set of drawers - Before the hard drive

Desk tidy - Before the hard drive

Screen Printed

T-shirts - Merchandise

Tote Bags - Merchandise

& Foil / other print finishes

Laser Cut / Handcrafted

Greetings cards - Before the Facebook Happy Birthday

Tags - Before the Facebook Happy Birthday

External Printing

Special edition stamps - Printed by Royal Mail (£10.44 for 10) - Before the email

Mouse mat - Asda Photo print  £5 - Computer stationery

Phone case - Asda Photo print  £15 - Computer stationery

USB stick - Vistaprint £8 - Computer stationery

Pens / Pencils - Merchandise

Pencil case - Asda Photo Print £5 - Before the keyboard

Stamp to stamp objects?

Magnets - Snapfish £3 - Merchandise

Answering considerations:

These products would be sold in museum gift shops, stationery shops, independent gift shops, places like this where people go to buy little presents. For the prices, I will look at what other companies like Paperchase would charge and propose similar amounts.

I would propose how I would print these products if I was printing a large quantity of them, but for my project, I will use some external printing companies to print some items, but mainly print most of them in digital print and make them up myself.

Products to cover:

I have bought a variety of different sized notebooks from Wilkinson's to cover, as well as a magazine folder, lever arch file and pencil set. There are still a few more items that I need to look for as I want to cover them with my own designs.

Brief 3/ TYPE back to basics

When I was doing some of the type tutorials I realised how little I actually seem to know about type because I haven't been putting it in to practise, so I've decided to go back to basics learning about type!

Resources I have looked at:  Fontshop  

Education   Creative Bloq - Basic glossary of type terms and rules

Typedia   Ilovetypography   Friendsoftype   Fonts.com   Fontsinuse

Putting this in to place:

Font - Galant

After reading through many type websites and looking at information that I had touched on in the first year, I wanted to put this in to practise to try and help me remember what I have learnt. I have drawn out a word and tried to make it as accurate as I can. I think this style of accurate type looks better than free hand drawings. I have done this not because I want to work with hand drawn type but I think it is the best way for it to sink in.

I've then added in the information about what the lines are called, what certain parts of each letter are called and so on. I'll keep looking back at the websites I have looked at today as I continue to work with type. This has made me think about legibility and making type as accurate as I can. I want to go back to some of the type tutorials I have done and alter the final pieces so that the type is more accurate, and things work together as they should.

Brief 3/ Hand Drawn Type Practise

Today I've been playing about with hand drawn type. I started out by looking at some examples of existing hand drawn type by others that I liked, [see blog post] and then created some of my own with the motivational messages from the rule book. With some of the examples, I started out with an existing font, and edited this, as you can see, but with some I just made them up as I went along. 

My type:

 

While this has been a fun exercise, I think it is good because it has made me realise that I want to move away from hand drawn type, and create typography which looks more professional and appealing for my book. I think to make my type look interesting I've made it a bit too girly and decorative which is something I want to avoid. I like the results from editing existing fonts like I have been doing in some of the tutorials so think this is something I'll try out in my next design examples.