ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHY - EXERCISES

27/8/2018 - 01/10/2018 (week 1- week 6)

Alicia Lee Hui Min ( 0331719 )

Advanced Typography

Exercises

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LECTURE NOTES

Lecture 1: Introduction to Advanced Typography and Typographical systems.

27/8/2018 (week 1)

We were divided into groups and were each given a system to present , here is the final compilation of all the systems in PDF.

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INSTRUCTIONS

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Design Layout Systems ( Week 1-2)

27/8/2018  (Week 1)

Fig1.0 Axial System

Fig1.1 Axial System

Fig1.2 Radial System

Fig1.3 Radial System

Fig1.4 Dilatational System

Fig1.5 Dilatational System

Fig1.6 Random System

Fig1.7 Random System

Fig1.8 Grid System

Fig1.9 Grid System

Fig 2.0 Transitional System

Fig 2.1 Transitional System

Fig 2.2 Modular System

Fig 2.3 Modular System

Fig 2.4 Bilateral System

Fig 2.5 Bilateral System

Fig 2.6 Thumbnail

After receiving feedback on my designs, I revised some of them and here is the final outcome.

Fig 2.7 Axial System Revised

Fig 2.8 Axial System Revised

Fig 2.9 Radial System Revised

Fig 3.0 Radial System Revised

Fig 3.1 Dilational System Revised

Fig 3.2 Dilational System Revised

Fig 3.3 Random System Revised

Fig 3.4 Random System Revised

Fig 3.5 Grid System Revised

Fig 3.6 Grid System Revised

Fig 3.7 Transitional System Revised

Fig 3.8 Transitional System Revised

Fig 3.9 Modular System Revised

Fig 4.0 Modular System Revised

Fig 4.0 Bilateral System Revised

Fig 4.1 Bilateral System Revised

Fig 4.2 Thumbnail for revised

Fig 4.3 Thumbnail for revised

    Fig 4.4 PDF of Final

Type and Play Part 1 ( Week 3 - Week 4)

Since today is a public holiday, we resume to doing the exercise that we were briefed on last week by Mr Vinod. The exercise was to create letters from the photograph we had taken wether it be a man made structure or nature. I decided to use a building that I took a picture of and crop it and use the windows to make the letters.

Fig 5.0 Picture Taken

Fig 5.1 Black and white version ( cropped)

After that I opened this image in illustrator and started to outline the window and started to create letters from it.

Fig 5.2 Lowered opacity of the Image

Fig 5.3 Outline the image

Fig 5.4 Letter H

Fig 5.5 Letter O

Fig 5.6  Letter P

Fig 5.7  Letter E

Fig 5.8  Letter G

After receiving feedback from Mr Vinod I went on to amend the letters by making sure that they have the same thickness and also that they're of the same height.

Fig 5.9 Grid of Picture

Fig 6.0  Letter H revised

Fig 6.1  Letter O revised

Fig 6.2  Letter P revised

Fig 6.3  Letter E revised

Fig 6.4  Letter G revised

Fig 6.5  Placing the letters on a baseline

Fig 6.6  Using guides to ensure that the height is the same

Fig 6.7  Revised H O P E G with outline

Fig 6.8  Revised H O P E G

PDF of Final Outcome

Type & Play Part 2 (Week 4)

For the next part, we needed to use our own images which contains either man-made objects, structures or nature. We were asked to use any 1 of the 10 type families given to us previously. One colour is allowed for this part of the exercise, and the size should be A4.

(Week 5)

I went through my gallery to select photographs and found some street photography. Then, I imported the photos on Photoshop to use grayscale and also use the duotone feature to add a single colour.

Here are my attempts.

Fig 6.9 First Attempt

Fig 7.0 Second Attempt

(Week 6)

I did a few more attempts instead of the words being stagnant I decided to make them flow more and suit the picture. 

Fig 7.1 Picture of my friend dancing

Fig 7.2 Black and White Version

Fig 7.3 First Attempt

Fig 7.4  Second Attempt

Fig 7.5 Third Attempt

Fig 7.6 Fourth Attempt

Fig 7.7 Final Piece

PDF of Final Piece

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FEEDBACK

Week 2

General Feedback: While applying the system effectively is important we shouldn’t forget about having a good composition, communication (readability) and hierarchy. We should also be careful when using colours and they should only be used as a highlight. We were also told that we shouldn’t fill the background with colour as a mean to fill up the space and instead focus on fixing the composition.

Specific Feedback: Some of the compositions were wrong and I needed to change them and also Mr Vinod said that I need to take a break and look back at my composition after that with fresh eyes. He said that my dilatational designs were good. 

Week 3 

Specific Feedback:When you choose a selected part of the image, of would be necessary to dissect that image in to lines as part of the process. Your process unlike many of the other students seems to have yielded an outcome that is already relatively refined. I would suggest placing your letters on a baseline, to view its x-height, ascended, descender and cap height to check on proportion, consistency and character. Just continue the refinement upon. Remember to ensure some element of the original character (it needn’t be very obvious). Presently there is visibility of its original form to a certain degree already. 

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REFLECTION

Experience

Week 1; The assignments for this semester looked tougher than the first semester but it also looked interesting. Today we learned about the 8 typographic systems which was really interesting and widen my knowledge on how typography works.Week 2; It was hard to come up with good designs and complete all the systems in one sitting , instead I should look at it with fresh eyes the next time.Week 3; Today was a public holiday therefore there was no class but Mr Vinod did brief us a week before on what to do so we carried on to do the next exercise. Week4; this week's exercise was not as easy as I thought it would be in fact it was very hard and a lot of thought process had to be done in order to come up with a good composition.

Observation
Week 1;I observed that I got myself confused with some of the systems as it was new and took awhile to understand and also some research and references.Week 2;I observed that some of my designs for the typographic systems were wrong and I understood better after Mr Vinod's explanation. I also realised that some of my designs did not apply hierarchy and also I forgot to consider the readability for some of the designs. Week 3; I observed that I should place the letters on a  baseline to check the proportions and consistency. Week 4; I observe that it is hard to compose a design whereby both typography and visuals connect.

Findings
Week 1;I've realised that we have actually used the typographic systems last semester just not knowing that what we did was actually a typographic system, we mostly played around with it for the final project last semester.Week 2, I've found out that when designing a poster such as this that we should create a design that allows the viewer to use a bit of their imagination instead of being too straightforward and also that we as designers should prioritise hierarchy and readability.Week 3; At the end I should always remember to keep the letters consistent and in proportion.Week 4, I found it hard to combine images together with words as they would not connect so I have found that I should look at more references and study how they combine visuals and typography together.

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FURTHER READING

Exploring Typography Second Edition by Tova Rainbinowitz Deer

27/08/18 - 3/09/18 (Week 1-2)

Fig 7.0 Front Cover of Book

I decided to read on legibility and readability, it's one of the most important elements in typography as words are meant to be read. The readability is essential in a design to keep a reader engaged. Legibility refers to the ease with which a reader can recognise and differentiate between letterforms. When letterforms vary too much from their simplest forms, readers may feel confused or frustrated; hence, reducing comprehension. Readability refers to how easily a page of text can be read and navigated.Even if the text is legible, readers may find it difficult to read if a layout is messy or crowded.

Factors that influence legibility is the style of a typeface such as type styles, colour and value, typographic colour and also texture type. Size and shape of the the type is also one of the factors.Background whereby it contrast with the text is also another factor.

On another hand, factors that affect the readability is the typeface selection which can be tough to tackle as there are a lot of typefaces and choosing one that is optimal for that particular design is hard. The next factor is the arrangement of letterforms that is alignment, measure, widows and orphans. Another factor is the use of negative space in a layout such as kerning, word spacing, tracking and letterspacing. 

Advertising Design and Typography by Alex W.White

10/09/18 (Week 3 - Week 4)

Fig 7.1 Front Cover of Book

Display type is usually the big type meant to be read first. It is crafted to attract attention and, second only to the image, gives a large degree of "style"to an ad. The one piece of display type that appears everywhere in a campaign is the company's logo. More than any other typographic element, it represents the product in the marketplace. Logo is a Greek for "word". It is a term that is applied to any trademark, though it is properly used only for marks with a written name like Nike but not the tick which is a symbol.

All logos are symbolic and abstract to some degree. Abstract marks must be learned through repeated contact, which is an investment in time and money just for recognition. Smaller, local businesses tend to have less abstract, more literal, marks. Companies whose businesses can't be easily illustrated benefit from more abstract marks, as do conglomerates and global entities.