TYPOGRAPHY - PROJECT 2

09/10/19 - 23/10/19 (Week 7 - Week 9)
Phoebe Ansel (0340165)
Typography
Project 2

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LECTURES

Lecture 7

For this week's lecture, we learned a lot of new terms for letterforms.

Here are some of the terms:

1. Baseline : the imaginary line the visual base of the letterform.

2. Median : imaginary line defining the x-height of letterforms.

3. x-height : the height in any typeface of the lowercase.

On a letterform, the ascender must exceed the cap height to ensure there's aesthetic balance / equity.

fig1.1: font terms

4. Apex / Vertex : the point created by joining 2 diagonal stems (apex above, vertex below).

fig 1.2: apex/vertex

5. Stroke : any line that defines the basic letterform. 

fig 1.3: stroke

6. Ascender : the portion of the stem of a lowercase letterform that projects above the median.

fig 1.4: ascender

7. Barb : the half-serif finish on some curved stroke.

fig 1.5: barb

Lecture 8

For today's class, we learned more about letterforms. For example, the letter 'A' from Baskerville typeface. The uppercase letter forms suggest symmetry, but in fact it is not symmetrical as it is easy to see the two different stroke weights of the Baskerville stroke form and its the fact that each bracket connecting the serif to the stem has a unique arc. 

fig 1.6: baskerville

The x-height describes the size of the lowercase letterforms. However, for curved strokes like letter 's' must rise above the median (or sink below the baseline ) in order to appear to be the same size as the vertical and horizontal strokes they adjoin.

fig 1.7: lowercase on an x height

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INSTRUCTIONS

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PROJECT

For our second project, we were told to create our own fonts. We started by selecting a specific typeface for us to dissect and analyze. I decided to choose Futura as the typeface I wanted to analyze.

fig 2.1: dissecting the letters

I then created 3 sketches for my font. I decided to choose the second design, as I thought it looked the simplest.

fig 2.2: 3 of my sketches

I then started to create my letters using illustrator, I struggled with it at the beginning, but slowly got the hang of it.

fig 2.3: screenshot of my illustrator board

I then moved all my letters to font lab, and adjusted the kernings for each of the letters.

fig 2.3: adjusting the kernings in font lab

Then I exported and installed the font, and typed it in illustrator.

fig 2.4: final result in jpeg

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Feedback

Week 7

General Feedback : It is important to explain our ideas in the caption for our blogs.

Week 8

General Feedback : We need to update our blog.

Specific Feedback : I was told to keep my strokes consistent.

Week 9

General Feedback : We should generate the font in TrueType format. We have to upload every letterforms to the blog as a JPEG as well when showing all the letters together.

Specific Feedback : I was told to fix the letter 's' as it should be thicker in the lower part, and the letter 'n', as it was too curvy.

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Reflections

Experiences: We started our project during week 7. At first, it was interesting trying to design our own font, but it was quite easy as we were only doing sketches with pencil and paper. However during the 8th week, i really struggled trying to construct my letters using illustrator. Because the letters were not turning out/ did not look similar to my initial idea and my sketches. After quite some time, i finally understood how to fix my strokes and it started looking a lot like my sketches. On the 9th week, i started using font lab and struggled trying to export my font, as i was using font lab 6.

Observations: On the 7th week, i realized that it was not easy creating our own fonts. On the 8th week, i realized that we needed a lot of shaped to construct letters, and really struggled with it. I noticed that a few people around me were struggling as well. On the 9th week, i tried adjusting the kerning, had to do it a couple tries to get it right.

Findings: While dissecting the letters, i realized how detailed and different each font is. On the 8th week, i found that it was definitely not easy trying to digitalize a single letter, it takes a lot of time and patience to get right. On the 9th week, i realized how important kerning was, because without proper kerning our words would look distant and awkward looking.

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FURTHER READING

Typographic Design : Form and Communication by Rob Carter, Ben day, Phillip b Megs, etc.

fig 3.1 : the cover page

This book covers topics such as the anatomy of letters and type families, typographic syntax and communication, design aesthetics, and designing for legibility. 

It also includes four pictorial timelines that illustrate the evolution of typography and writing within the context of world events—from the origins of writing more than 5,000 years ago to contemporary typographic applications.

This book was very interesting as I got to see the evolution of typography and writing in the arly days and it also showcased a lot of modern and fun fonts that are often used today. It was interesting seeing how different font look throughout the years.

fig 3.2: example of typography in the early days