Advanced Typography

24 August 2020 - 14 September 2020 (Week 1 - Week 4)

Mohamed Shaayif Shakir (0332075)

Advanced Typography

Exercises

Lectures

Week 1 - Typographic Systems

The first lecture was on Typographical Systems which are commonly classified into 8 variations. Which are Axial, Radial, Dilational, Random, Grid, Modular, Transitional and Bilateral.

Axial can be identified as elements organized to the left or right of a single axis. The axis does not have to be straight and can be bent. This is similar to Bilateral which is when the elements are arranged symmetrically on a single axis. Radial system is when the text extends from a single point of focus, and Dilational is when elements expands in a similar way but in a circular fashion. Grid and Modular systems are also very similar, Grid is when the texts are in a horizontal and vertical division while Modular is when non objective units same in size are standardized. Next is transitional which can simply be explained as banding or in a wavy motion. Final one is random which is basically what it implies, no specific pattern or relationship.

Week 2 - Typographic Composition

This weeks lecture was on typographical compositions, Which highlights the evolution on composition through generations to what it is now. In the earlier days text compositions were mostly in grid or modular compositions, which were explained in the previous lecture, but in time the modern generations especially the punk influence, started experimenting with other compositions like random transitional and so on. Beyond that it explained environmental composition which are based on environment on architecture.

Week 3 - Context & Creativity

This weeks lecture was on context and creativity in typography. Which was mostly historical context of how letterforms and handwriting evolved through the years. Starting from the ancient Egyptians to Greek and roman letters. The lecture also touched on movable type or what we are familiar with as printing. The history of printing and how wooden blocks were used to print writing on paper to make is mobile.

Week 4 - Designing Type

This lecture touched on what goes into designing a type face. The lecture discusses the purpose, Motivations and the considerations to be had while designing a typeface. The typefaces taken as a subject of discussion was Univers by Adrian Frutiger, Verdana & Georgia by Mathew Carter, and Underground by Edward Johnston. The lecture shows what went into making these typefaces and its importance of how it has influenced other type faces. The general processes of designing a type face were also discussed, which were Research, Sketching, Digitization, Testing and Deploy.

Instructions

Task 1 - Exercises

Exercise 1 - Typographic Systems

This weeks exercise is to create 2 layouts for each of the 8 typographic systems given.

Figure 1.01 - Radial

Figure 1.02 - Dilational

Figure 1.03 - Random

Figure 1.04 - Grid

Figure 1.05 - Transitional

Figure 1.06 - Modular

Figure 1.07 - Bilateral

Figure 1.08 - Axial

After getting feedback I was told to increase leading for most layouts body text, but other than that the overall feedback was good. Below are the revised versions.

Figure 1. 09 - Radial

Figure 1.10 - Dilational

Figure 1.11 - Grid

Figure 1.12 - Transitional

Figure 1.13 - Modular

Figure 1.14 - Bilateral

Figure 1.15 - Axial

Figure 1.16 - Random

Figure 1.16 - PDF of Typographic Systems

Exercise 2 - Type & Play

Our objective for this exercise is to dissect and image an find letter forms withing the image.

Figure 2.01 - Image used for dissection (Carpet)

Figure 2.02 - Traced Image

Figure 2.03 - Letter forms highlighted

Figure 2.04 - Crude letter forms (A was flipped to be used as V)

Figure 2.05 - Progression (Straightening some of the lines)

Figure 2.06 - Progression

Figure 2.07 - Current outcome

After getting feedback, I was told to keep the ragged feel of the crude letters so I started over

Figure 2.08 - Starting over from crude

Figure 2.09 - Resizing A and V to match others

Figure 2.10 - Further refining

Figure 2.11 - Reducing raggedness, and making it more consistent

Figure 2.12 - Final Outcome

I kept a bit of the raggedness and made the whole thing more even and consistent throughout, tried to keep the stroke thickness as consistent as possible.

Figure 2.13 - PDF

Exercise 3 - Type & Image

This exercise requires us to implement a text into an image, the text and image must work well. I decided to use an image I took and edited for my Instagram.

Figure 3.00 - Original Image

Figure 3.01 - Edited Image

Since the image is of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers I decided to look into some ads and designs of Air Jordan and Nike.

Figure 3.02 - Reference

Figure 3.03 - Reference

Figure 3.04 - Reference

Figure 3.05 - Reference

I decided to do the text AIR and Jordan on the image, by putting in behind and within some elements of the picture. I put air behind the Jordan jump man logo in Futura light, and Jordan behind the shoe in Haettenschweiler. The Jordan is not fully visible but I kept it that way since it is a very well known brand and majority of the people will know what it is.

Figure 3.06 - Design 1

I also made 1 more design. I wanted to make it a bit more complicated and shoes the shoelaces to write AIR JORDAN, with the shoelace that is extended being implemented into the text. I gave it more of a street style look.

Figure 3.07 - Lasso tool to duplicate part of the shoelace to be used to make the type

Figure 3.08 - Design 2

Lecturer mentioned that design 2 was better so I went with that.

Figure 3.09 - PDF

Feedback

Week 1

No feedback as it was first class

Week 2

Specific : Got feedback for first exercise. Overall got good feedback. Only issue was to increase leading for body text in most layouts and letter spacing in one of the layouts.

General : Pay more attention to alignment, and visual hierarchy.

Week 3

Specific : Extraction was really good but since i smoothed out the whole thing, It wasn't

going in the right direction. I was told to keep the original raggedness and start over again, by making the V and A narrower. I was also told to work in a single artboard.

General : Staying true to the original feel of the object was more well received than over refined work.

Week 4

No feedback as it was public holiday

Reflection

Week 1

Experience : Class was shorter than most of my typography classes last year, but felt very much similar, like a continuation of the class

Observation : The class went into exercises and lectures immediately without much of a brief unlike last years typography class, so we had to apply most of the knowledge gained from last year to make the blog and to do the exercise.

Findings : I had forgotten alot of the knowledge of Indesign but I managed to get back into the workflow after referring to the video given my Mr.Vinod.

Week 2

Experience : Class started just like old classes, with a feedback session.

Observation : The feedback given was a lot less detailed, as there were many students.

Findings : I found that listening to others feedback, helps you bring improvements to your own work.

Week 3

Experience : Classes have become a bit more fast paced, quickly going through feedback sessions

Observation : The lecturers favored designs that were more true to the extraction than refined ones.

Findings : I found that Coming up with ideas have become easier than last semester.

Week 4

Public holiday - watched the feedback session and project 1 brief online.

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Mohamed Shaayif Shakir (0332075)