Typography - Exercise
Vun Wan Min (0334263)
Typography
Exercise
LECTURE NOTES
Lecture 1: Briefing5/4/2019 (Week 1)
The first week of lecture was a briefing of the entire 14 week that we would be doing. After Mr Vinod was done, he started to teach us to use our blog website, which was WordPress. After that, we were given our first exercise, which was to design 10 different lettering of our name with one personality.
Lecture 2: Introduction of Typography
12/4/2019 (Week 2)
Typography is a way to communicate and express in written words. It helps to analyze and evaluate words.
In dictionaries typography has different meaning.
Oxford Dictionary: "The style and appearance of printed matter."
Wikipedia: "Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed."
Important terminology in Typography:- Font: From the word "Foundry", where a place that make/cast lead or metal.
- Typeface: An individual type or weight within type family. Example: Georgia Regular, Georgia Bold, Georgia Italic.
- Type Family: An entire family of fonts that share similar characteristics. Example: Ariel, Georgia, Times New Roman, etc.
19/4/2019 (Week 3)
As with any craft that has evolved over 500 years, typography employs a number of technical terms. Mostly describe specific parts of the letterforms. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with lexicon.
 |
| Fig. 1.1: Anatomy |
Capline: An imaginary line that runs along the tops of capital letters and the ascenders of lowercase letters.
Median: An imaginary line that establishes the height of the body of lowercase letters
Meanline: An imaginary line that establishes the height of the body of lowercase letters.
x-height: The distance from the baseline to the meanline.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/serifandsan-serif-56a2f6593df78cf7727b4db6.jpg) |
| Fig. 1.2: Example |
San Serif - Fonts that does not have extending features at the end of strokes. It includes Helvetica, Avant Garde, Arial, and Geneva.
Roman, Italic, Boldface, Light, Condense, Extended
10 typeface that we would be using:
Garamond
Janson
Caslon
Baskerville
Bodono
Serifa
Futura
Gill Sans
Univers
Lecture 4: Development/Timeline
26/4/2019 (Week 4)
In the early years, letterforms were meant to write by scratching into wet clay with sharpened stick or carving into stone with a chisel. The Greeks changed the direction of writing. While the Phoenicians wrote from right to left, the developed a style of writing called ‘boustrophedon’, which meant that the lines of text read alternately from right to left and left to right. As they change the direction of reading they also changed the orientation of letterforms:
These are some sketches that of some personality I have and tried to design.
I went with a cat-liked personality because cats are calm, and watching cats make me feel at peace.
Digitalize Design (Week 2)
This is the first design of my expression of calm but after the lecturer had a look at it, they said to cut it to the same size. Hence the second design.
At first, it did not have the same thickness because I was having trouble remembering the steps to trace it and the result was not what I have hope for, because of that I kept redoing it. But after some time, I was able to remember the steps.
Animating (Week 3)
This is now the finalize design.
At first, I did not understand what Mr Vinod was trying to say but Mr Vinod was patient enough to explain again and again. Finally, I understand what he was trying to say. I just had to follow what he had gave me the answer but I just kept thinking that I had to modified what he gave. After that realization, I followed that design and re-did it.
This is the first animation I did, which was simply done by just stretching the design.
Mr Vinod suggested me to make it look like its growing by starting with a line.
Type Expression (Week 4)
For this exercise, we had to express the meaning for each six words using a specific typeface. We had seven words but we need to pick six words. The words are "Levitate", "Hungry", "Loop", "Bounce", "Faint", "Angry" and "Freeze". We are not allowed to make any changes to the typefaces.
After the lecturer take a look at it, Mr Vinod said that ''Levitate" looked likes it's floating, the meaning of "Faint" is falling and "Angry" doesn't looked angry.
Week 1:
Since it was the first week and Mr Vinod gave us the exercise and briefing. We did not have a feedback.
Week 2:
After showing my design, Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul told me to do more, as the personality that I chose didn't fit into the design. The personality that I have design was describing about childish and fun, it did not fit with calmness. So after the design was finalize, I started to transfer it into Illustrator. Mr Vinod told me that I should do my design with the same thickness and make it even to express calm.
Good. upload the digitisation process unto your eportfolio before the next class.
Week 3:
Exercise: After Mr Vinod looked at my design, which was still not the one he expected when he explained to me last week, that I was not cleared about. I had to make some changes to my design. After the design was approved, I animated in Illustrator. Mr Vinod suggest that I should make mine grow because the animation was too simple.
Week 4:
The word 'levitate' needs some adjustment, the meaning of 'faint' is falling and the word 'angry' doesn't look angry. Other than that the rest is fine. After the improvement, I showed the lecturer again and Mr Vinod said make the letter 'F' of 'faint' lowercase, use the typefamily of Futura for 'loop' to make the letter 'O' rounder and Mr Shamsul told me to tilt the letter 'p' a bit to match it. Then, Mr Vinod suggested that I animate 'bounce'.
Week 1: I had a hard time having some ideas for my design, which was a "cat-like personality". They are calm and I tried to sketch some out.
Week 2: I was sad that my designs where not suitable for the personality I chose. However, Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul were right.
Week 3: I have learnt about the basic letterform.
Week 4: Making animation is straining my eyes but fun to make.
Calligraphy A Complete Guide by Julien Chazal
Since typography is the evolution of calligraphy. This book is about the fundamental of calligraphy.
It teaches the steps and tools that are use. It's quite interesting to learn the strokes of the alphabet in varies ways. I found it interesting about the tools they used.
In the book from the Introduction in page 7. "Writing is the product of the human desire to leave a visible mark, an expression of their speech that could passed on to future generations."
It is true that writing is to express their speech and without it would be hard to show what we feel.
Typographic Design: Form and Communication (7th Edition) by Rob Carter, Sandra Maxa, Philip B.Meggs and Ben Day
Roman, Italic, Boldface, Light, Condense, Extended
10 typeface that we would be using:
Garamond
Janson
Caslon
Baskerville
Bodono
Serifa
Futura
Gill Sans
Univers
Lecture 4: Development/Timeline
26/4/2019 (Week 4)
In the early years, letterforms were meant to write by scratching into wet clay with sharpened stick or carving into stone with a chisel. The Greeks changed the direction of writing. While the Phoenicians wrote from right to left, the developed a style of writing called ‘boustrophedon’, which meant that the lines of text read alternately from right to left and left to right. As they change the direction of reading they also changed the orientation of letterforms:
 |
| Fig. 1.3: Example of Earlier Letterform |
INSTRUCTIONS
EXERCISE
Lettering (Week 1)These are some sketches that of some personality I have and tried to design.
 |
| Fig. 2.1: Sketch 1 |
 |
| Fig. 2.2: Sketch 2 |
 |
| Fig. 2.3: Sketch 3 |
 |
| Fig. 2.4: Sketch 4 |
 |
| Fig. 2.5.1: First Design of Calm (Sketch) |
 |
| Fig. 2.5.2: Second Design of Calm (Sketch) |
 |
| Fig. 3.1: First Digitalize Design of Calm |
At first, it did not have the same thickness because I was having trouble remembering the steps to trace it and the result was not what I have hope for, because of that I kept redoing it. But after some time, I was able to remember the steps.
Animating (Week 3)
 |
| Fig. 3.2: Explanation of Mr Vinod for Calm (That I didn't understand at first) |
 |
| Fig. 3.3: Final Design of Calm |
At first, I did not understand what Mr Vinod was trying to say but Mr Vinod was patient enough to explain again and again. Finally, I understand what he was trying to say. I just had to follow what he had gave me the answer but I just kept thinking that I had to modified what he gave. After that realization, I followed that design and re-did it.
 |
| Fig. 4.1: First Attempt of Animation for Calm |
Mr Vinod suggested me to make it look like its growing by starting with a line.
 |
| Fig. 4.2: Screenshot of my Illustration artboards for Calm |
 |
| Fig. 4.3: Final Animation Design of Calm |
Type Expression (Week 4)
 |
| Fig. 5.1.1: Screenshot of First Design |
 |
| Fig. 5.1.2: First Design of "Faint" Before changing |
 |
| Fig. 5.2: Final Design |
After that, I modified the the words and it looked better than before. I use the typeface of Gill Sans Std for "Levitate", Serifa for "Angry". I also changed the typeface of "Loop" using Futura.
With Mr Vinod suggestion I animated "Bounce".
 |
| Fig. 5.3: First Animation |
The first animation is a bit messy and Mr Shamsul advised me to make the letters more scattered.
 |
| Fig. 5.4: Second Animation |
 |
| Fig. 5.5: Thumbnail of Bounce |
After re-animating, it contains 16 frames. I made the "O" as a ball, so when the "O" the in place of "Bounce", it will make the other letters to bounce and scatter off. The challenging part was to make the rest of the letters to scatter off in a natural way.
FEEDBACK
Since it was the first week and Mr Vinod gave us the exercise and briefing. We did not have a feedback.
Week 2:
After showing my design, Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul told me to do more, as the personality that I chose didn't fit into the design. The personality that I have design was describing about childish and fun, it did not fit with calmness. So after the design was finalize, I started to transfer it into Illustrator. Mr Vinod told me that I should do my design with the same thickness and make it even to express calm.
Good. upload the digitisation process unto your eportfolio before the next class.
Week 3:
Exercise: After Mr Vinod looked at my design, which was still not the one he expected when he explained to me last week, that I was not cleared about. I had to make some changes to my design. After the design was approved, I animated in Illustrator. Mr Vinod suggest that I should make mine grow because the animation was too simple.
Week 4:
The word 'levitate' needs some adjustment, the meaning of 'faint' is falling and the word 'angry' doesn't look angry. Other than that the rest is fine. After the improvement, I showed the lecturer again and Mr Vinod said make the letter 'F' of 'faint' lowercase, use the typefamily of Futura for 'loop' to make the letter 'O' rounder and Mr Shamsul told me to tilt the letter 'p' a bit to match it. Then, Mr Vinod suggested that I animate 'bounce'.
REFLECTION
Experience:Week 1: I had a hard time having some ideas for my design, which was a "cat-like personality". They are calm and I tried to sketch some out.
Week 2: I was sad that my designs where not suitable for the personality I chose. However, Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul were right.
Week 3: I have learnt about the basic letterform.
Week 4: Making animation is straining my eyes but fun to make.
Observation:
Week 1: I went to get some inspiration from the internet and found some quite unique. Some have curly strokes and some have bolder stroke.
Week 2: I observe that I have a lot to improve with designing and understanding about personality.
Week 1: I went to get some inspiration from the internet and found some quite unique. Some have curly strokes and some have bolder stroke.
Week 2: I observe that I have a lot to improve with designing and understanding about personality.
Week 3: I obverse that I should be more attentive to what the lecturers are trying to say.
Week 4: I should had wore my reading glasses when staring in front of a screen for long hours.
Week 4: I should had wore my reading glasses when staring in front of a screen for long hours.
Findings:
Week 1: I found that expressions have a lot of variety in strokes.
Week 2: I found that I still do not have a strong understanding about Adobe Illustration and still learning and improving. I also found that designing something cool and soothing would be hard.
Week 3: I found that expressing calmness was challenging.
Week 4: I found that wearing my reading glasses reduce the strain for my eyes.
Week 1: I found that expressions have a lot of variety in strokes.
Week 2: I found that I still do not have a strong understanding about Adobe Illustration and still learning and improving. I also found that designing something cool and soothing would be hard.
Week 3: I found that expressing calmness was challenging.
Week 4: I found that wearing my reading glasses reduce the strain for my eyes.
FURTHER READING
Calligraphy A Complete Guide by Julien Chazal
5/4/2019 (Week 1)
 |
| Fig. 6.1: Calligraphy A Complete Guide (Back Cover) |
It teaches the steps and tools that are use. It's quite interesting to learn the strokes of the alphabet in varies ways. I found it interesting about the tools they used.
In the book from the Introduction in page 7. "Writing is the product of the human desire to leave a visible mark, an expression of their speech that could passed on to future generations."
It is true that writing is to express their speech and without it would be hard to show what we feel.
Typographic Design: Form and Communication (7th Edition) by Rob Carter, Sandra Maxa, Philip B.Meggs and Ben Day
12/4/2019 - 19/4/2019 (Week 2 - Week 3)
 |
| Fig. 6.2: Typographic Design: Form and Communication (7th Edition) |
- Stroke-to-height ratio
- Contrast in stroke weight
- Expanded and condensed styles
- x-height and proportion
16/4/2019 (Week 4)
 |
| Fig. 6.3: An A-Z of Type Designers |
According to the author, John Baskerville (1706 - 1775 GB) is one of the first printers to use type which moved away from the old face patterns of the preceding two centuries. His work was frequently derided in his native England and influenced continental printers like Didot and Bodoni. His types were sold by his widow Sarah after his death in 1775 and they eventually came into the possession of Debemy Et Peignot typefoundry. Matthew Carter and John Quaranda, Berthold Baskerville Book by Gunter Gerhard Lange and most recently Mrs Eaves, by Zuzana Livko of
Emigre.
Giovanni Battista Bodoni (1740 - 1813) was one of the first to cut a modern face, that is, a typeface which has hairline serifs at right angles to the uprights, vertical stress and abrupt contrast between thick and thin strokes. At the age of 18, he become a compositor at the press of the Vatican's compositor at the press of the Duke of Parma. His early types are based on the those of the Pierre Simon Fournier, whose work he admired, but he experimented with these letter forms to create his own. The contrast of the light and shade in his types can produce a sparkling effect on the page. The book he printed reveal a taste for large sizes of type, generous use of white space and few ornaments. In addition to his romans, he also produced a great many script types.
Comments
Post a Comment