24th April 2024 - 26th May 2024 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Sin Jun Ming 0364638
Advanced Typography / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 1 - Exercise 1 & 2
LECTURES
Week 1 - 1st Lecture
Advanced Typography - Typographic Systems
The typographic systems are similar to the architect term "shape grammar". It has a set of rules which is unique and provides a sense of purpose that focuses and directs the decision making.
Shape grammar - a set of shape rules that apply in a step-by-step way to generate a set, or language, of designs.
1. Axial System - all elements are organised to the left or right of a single axis.
Fig 1.1 Axial System
2. Radial System - all elements are extended from a point of focus.
Fig 1.2 Radial System
3. Dilatational System - all elements expand from a central point in a circular fashion.
4. Random System - elements appear to have no specific pattern or relationship.
Fig 1.4 Random System
5. Grid System - a system of vertical and horizontal divisions.
Fig 1.5 Grid System
6. Transitional System - an informal system of layered banding.
Fig 1.6 Transitional System
7. Modular System- a series of non-objective elements that are constructed as a standardised unit.
Fig 1.7 Modular System
8. Bilateral System - all text is arranged symmetrically on a single axis.
Fig 1.8 Bilateral System
Week 2 - 2nd Lecture
Advanced Typography - Typographic Composition
Principles of Design Composition - emphasis, isolation, repetition, symmetry and asymmetry, alignment, perspective.
Fig 2.1 Emphasis in Principles of Design
The Rule of Thirds - a photographic guide to composition. The intersecting lines are used as a guide to place the points of interest, within the given space.
Fig 2.2 Rule of Thirds
Other models / systems
Environmental Grid - This system is based on the exploration of an existing structure or numerous structures combined.
Form and Movement - this system is based on the exploration of an existing Grid Systems. The placement of a form on a page, over many pages creates movement. Whether the page is paper or screen is irrelevant.
Fig 2.3 Form and Movement
Week 3 - 3rd Lecture
Advanced Typography - Context and Creativity
The importance of studying handwriting in typography
The first mechanically produced letterforms were designed to directly imitate handwriting. Handwriting would become the basis or standard for form, spacing and conventions mechanical type would try and mimic.
Fig 3.1 Cuneiform c. 3000 B.C.E.
Hieroglyphics - the Egyptian writing system is fused with the art of relief carving. Hieroglyphic images have the potential to be used in three different ways:
1. As ideograms, to represent the things they actually depict.
2. As determinatives to show that the signs preceding are meant as phonograms and to indicate the general idea of the word.
3. As phonograms to represent sounds that "spell out" individual words.
3. As phonograms to represent sounds that "spell out" individual words.
Fig 3.2 Hieroglyphics 2613-2160 B.C.E.
Early Greek / 5th C. B.C.E. - Build on the Egyptian logo-consonantal system, the Phoenicians developed a phonetic alphabet consisting of 22 letters. These early Greek letters were drawn freehand, not constructed with compasses and rule, and they had no serifs.
English Half Uncials,8th C. - In England the uncial evolved into a more slanted and condensed form. While English and Irish Uncials evolved, writing on the European continent devolved considerably and needed a reformer. Luckily it came in the Carolingian Handwriting Reform.
Emperor Charlemagne 8 C. CE - After the fall of the Roman Empire, the end of a central advanced culture resulted in general illiteracy and a breakdown of handwriting into diverse regional styles.
Carolingian Minuscule - Capitals at the start of a sentence, spaces between words and punctuation. It was this style that became the pattern for the Humanistic writing of the fifteenth century; this latter, in turn, was the basis of our lower-case roman type.
Black Letter / 12-15 C. CE - Characterised by tight spacing and condensed lettering. Evenly spaced verticals dominated the letterform. Condensing line spacing and letter spacing reduced the amount of costly materials in book production.
The Italian Renaissance - The renaissance embrace of ancient Greek and Roman culture spurred a creative wave through Italian art, architecture, literature and letter form design. Humanist named the newly rediscovered letterform Antica. The renaissance analysis of form that was being applied to art and architecture was directed toward letterform — resulting in a more perfect or rationalised letter.
Movable Type 11 C.-14 C. - Introduction of movable type was introduced in the 1000-1100 CE. This innovation was pioneered in China but achieved in Korea (Diamond Sutra). In the late 1300-1399 CE. several decades before the earliest printing in Europe, the Koreans establish a foundry to cast movable type in bronze.
The Brahmi script 450-350 BCE - The earliest writing system developed in India after the Indus script. It is one of the most influential writing systems; all modern Indian scripts and several hundred scripts found in Southeast and East Asia are derived from Brahmi.
Fig 3.3 The Brahmi script
Handwriting
the oldest writing system present in Southeast Asia were Indian scripts. There were a few, but the most important would be Pallava, a South Indian script originally used for writing Sanskrit and Tamil.
Jawi, the Arabic-based alphabet. In modern Malaysia, Jawi is of greater importance because it's the script used for all our famous work of literature.
Week 4 - 4th Lecture
Advanced Typography - Designing Type
General Process of Type Design
1. Research
- Understand type history, anatomy, conventions and terminologies when creating type.
- Determine the type's purpose and examine existing fonts for inspiration/ ideas/ reference etc.
2. Sketching
- Traditional tool set (brushes/ pen, ink and paper) or digital tool set (Wacom).
3. Digitization
- Professional software used for digitization (FontLab and Glyphs App)
- Some use Adobe Illustrator for letterform design, but this is frowned upon by the purist.
- Attention should be given to the whole form and counter form.
4. Testing
- Testing and prototyping are important in the process of refining and correcting aspects of the typeface, they lead to important feedback.
- Readability and legibility are important considerations for typeface.
5. Deploy
- Even after deploying a completed typeface there are always teething problems that did not come to the fore during the prototyping and testing phases.
- Revision still needed after deployment.
- Rigorous testing is important to minimize teething problems.
Typeface Construction
Using grids (with circular forms) can facilitate the construction of letterforms and is a possible method to build/create/design your letterform.
Fig 4.1 Construction grid for roman capitals using 8 x 8 cells
Construction and considerations
Different forms and constructions must be taken into account when designing a new type. An important visual correction is the extrusion of curved (and protruding) forms past the baseline and cap line (overshoot). This also applies to vertical alignment between curved and straight forms.
Week 5 - 5th Lecture
Advanced Typography - Perception and Organisation
Perception - a way in which something is regarded, understood or interpreted. In typography, perception deals with the visual navigation and interpretation of the reader via contrast, form and organization of the content.
Fig 5.1 Contrast
Contrast / Size - provides a point to which the reader's attention is drawn. People will see big letters first before the small.
Contrast / Weight - describes how bold type can stand out in the middle of lighter type of the same style. Besides, using rules, spot, squares also provide a "heavy area" for powerful point of visual attraction or emphasis.
Contrast / Form - the distinction between a capital letter and its lowercase equivalent, or a roman letter and its italic variant, condensed and expanded versions.
Contrast / Structure - the different letterforms of different kinds of typefaces. For instance, an italic and a blackletter, or a monoline sans serif and a conventional serif.
Contrast / Textures - the way the lines of type look as a whole up close and from a distance.
Contrast / Direction - opposition between vertical and horizontal and the angles in between.
Contrast / Colour - the use of colour is suggested that the second colour is often less emphatic in values than plain black on white.
Form - The overall look and feel of the elements that make up the typographic composition. It is the part that plays a role in visual impact and first impressions. When a typeface is perceived as a form, it no longer reads as a letter because it has been manipulated by distortion, texture, enlargement, and has been extruded into a space.
Gestalt Theory
- The Law of similarity - gestalt grouping law that states that elements that are similar to each other tend to be perceived as a unified group.
- The Law of Proximity - gestalt grouping law that states elements that are close together tend to be perceived as a unified group.
- The Law of Closure - the mind's tendency to see complete figures or forms.
- The law of (Good) Continuation - holds that humans tend to perceive each of two or more objects as different, singular, and uninterrupted abject even when they intersect.
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 1 - Exercise 1: Typographic Systems
In this exercise, we are assigned to create typographic design using InDesign according to the 8 systems we have learnt in the 1st lecture which are Axial, Radial, Dilatational, Random, Grid, Modular, Transitional and Bilateral system.
The content of design:
The Design School,
Taylor’s University
All Ripped Up: Punk Influences on Design
or
The ABCs of Bauhaus Design Theory
or
Russian Constructivism and Graphic Design
Open Public Lectures:
June 24, 2021
Lew Pik Svonn, 9AM-10AM
Ezrena Mohd., 10AM-11AM
Suzy Sulaiman, 11AM-12PM
June 25, 2021
Lim Whay Yin, 9AM-10AM
Fahmi Reza, 10AM-11AM
Manish Acharia, 11AM-12PM
Lecture Theatre 12
Requirements:
- size must be 200mm x 200mm
- black & white, additional color is allowed
- minor graphic elements are allowed
1. First attempt
Fig 6.1 Axial System first attempt (27/4/2024 - Week 1)
Fig 6.2 Radial System first attempt (27/4/2024 - Week 1)
For the radial system, I wished to create text expanding from circular elements to create circular motion of eye movement when reading the text. Hence, I played with graphic element - circles, in my design. I also used additional color - red, for the circles to create contrast because I think black and white would be a bit boring for these designs.
Fig 6.3 Dilatational System first attempt (27/4/2024 - Week 1)
Fig 6.4 Random System first attempt (27/4/2024 - Week 1)
For the random system, I played with random elements on the left design, using different shapes, colors, type sizes and typefaces. For the design on the right, I replicated the detail information and made them stacked together, the headline was also placed in random position and somewhat rotated.
Fig 6.5 Grid System first attempt (28/4/2024 - Week 1)
Fig 6.6 Transitional System first attempt (28/4/2024 - Week 1)
For the transitional system, I played with different styles in two designs. On the left-hand side, the text is connecting in the middle. On the right-hand side, I cut the details information into two parts, but still connected through the patterns of their waves.
Fig 6.7 Modular System first attempt (28/4/2024 - Week 1)
I created 6 columns and 4 rows for these modular designs, and placed the information in different boxes, with different type size. I also tried to use some additional color like red color and frames to store the detail information.
Fig 6.8 Bilateral System first attempt (28/4/2024 - Week 1)
Since I did not attend the second week online feedback session, I checked on Mr. Vinod feedback on peers' work, and I noticed that some part of my dilatational system is a bit oval, it needed to be circular, so I did some refinement.
Fig 6.7 Final outcome of dilatational system (2/5/2024 - Week 2)
For the bilateral system, I also noticed that my text is not aligning on the central line, so I refined it.
Fig 6.9 Final outcome of bilateral system (2/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.10 Final axial system JPEG (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.11 Final radial system JPEG (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.12 Final dilatational system JPEG (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.13 Final random system JPEG (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.14 Final grid system JPEG (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.15 Final transitional system JPEG (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.16 Final modular system JPEG (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.17 Final bilateral system JPEG (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.18 Typographic System Final Outcome (PDF) (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Fig 6.19 Typographic System Final Outcome with grids and guides (PDF) (5/5/2024 - Week 2)
Requirements:
- Uppercase or lowercase only
- Choose reference typeface from the 10 typefaces provided by Mr. Vinod
Fig 7.1 Image chosen - first attempt (6/5/2024 - Week 3)
Fig 7.2 Type and Play first attempt (6/5/2024 - Week 3)
In week 3, I received feedback that Mr. Vinod said my chosen object "sand" does not have a proper shape, he advised me to search for other image like sand dunes.
Following Mr. Vinod's advice, I found an image of sand dunes and started the letterform extraction process.
In week 4, Mr. Vinod advised me to refine on the letter "S" as the curve is not smooth and straight enough like sand dunes do, and the background image is not showing enough curves of sand dunes, I need to change the image also.
Fig 7.15 Final letterforms (15/5/2024 - Week 4)
Fig 7.3 Chosen image - second attempt (8/5/2024 - Week 3)
Fig 7.4 Letterforms extraction (8/5/2024 - Week 3)
Fig 7.5 Extracted letterforms (8/5/2024 - Week 3)
From the extracted letterforms, I observed that the letterforms are fat and wide, while the crucial feature is the unusual bend at curved part.
Fig 7.6 Reference font - Univers LT Std Black (8/5/2024 - Week 3)
Fig 7.7 First refinement (11/5/2024 - Week 3)
For the first step, I enlarged the width of the strokes to match with the thick stroke of the reference font. The details are still well kept from the extracted letterforms for now.
Fig 7.8 Second refinement (11/5/2024 - Week 3)
On to the next step, I focused on refining the curves of the letterforms to match with the reference font but also keeping the crucial feature of it, which is the unusual bend on edge of the curves.
Fig 7.9 Comparison between first (top) & second (bottom) refinement (11/5/2024 - Week 3)
Fig 7.10 Third refinement (11/5/2024 - Week 3)
In the third refinement, I re-examined back on the shapes I extracted and after observation, I observed that the curves on sand dunes are smooth and clean, hence I did some changes focusing on this aspect. Other than that, I sharpened the vertex of the letter "D" based on previous extracted letterform "D".
Fig 7.11 Second attempt compilation (11/5/2024 - Week 3)
I am satisfied with this third refinement for now, hence I started to do the next step which is creating a movie poster. I started to search for some sand dune images as my poster background image.
Fig 7.12 Movie poster first attempt (12/5/2024 - Week 3)
In week 4, Mr. Vinod advised me to refine on the letter "S" as the curve is not smooth and straight enough like sand dunes do, and the background image is not showing enough curves of sand dunes, I need to change the image also.
Fig 7.12 Refinement on letter "S" (before- top, after- bottom) (15/5/2024 - Week 4)
Fig 7.13 Comparison between extracted letterforms (top) & final letterforms (bottom) (15/5/2024 - Week 4)
Fig 7.14 Final compilation (15/5/2024 - Week 4)
After finishing on the letterform design, I continued with the poster design.
Fig 7.17 New image chosen for poster (15/5/2024 - Week 4)
I decided to add some texture on my letters using Texturizer tool in Adobe Illustrator and apply similar color on it.
Fig 7.18 Final movie poster design (18/5/2024 - Week 4)
Fig 7.19 Final movie poster design (PDF) (18/5/2024 - Week 4)
FEEDBACK
Week 1
General Feedback:
Read the documents given by Mr. Vinod to understand the rules and download the 10 fonts for further exercise.
Week 2
General Feedback:
Watch the lecture videos to fully understand the 8 Typographic Systems. There is a specific video that focus on the modular system. Make sure the pattern in dilatational system is circle, not oval. For bilateral system, make sure the central alignment is there, no other alignments beside it.
Specific Feedback: -
Week 3
General Feedback:
We need to observe the image in a bigger picture instead of focusing on minor shapes inside the image.
Specific Feedback:
The image that I have chosen - "sand" is not specific as the shape of sand is not fixed. Maybe can use "sand dunes" instead of "sand". After I have done the extraction from "sand dunes", Mr. Vinod advised me to focus on the fat and wide pattern on letterform, consider using black font or bold font or fatter reference font.
Week 4
Specific Feedback:
The "S" letterform needs refinement, it seems more like a river instead of sand dunes. It needs refinement on the curve's smoothness, try to make it straighter. The poster image is not showing enough sand dunes, try search for other images that show much dunes shape. The layout is fine.
General Feedback:
We need to make sure the object of image for poster is the same as the object we extracted letterforms from. Another thing important is the combination of letterforms and the background image, try to blend in the letterforms into the background image.
REFLECTION
Experience
To be honest, I would say the past few weeks' assignments are just heavy loaded. I think maybe it's the reason that the semester just started and the lecturers need us to get in form as soon as possible. The first exercise which we needed to finish 8 typographic systems layouts in the first two weeks took me a lot of time, from research to the final outcome, but I guess it's all worth it now because we got to learn more things after that. The first type and play outcome was not accepted, I was disappointed at first because I thought the sand would be a good idea to trace out the shapes, but I realized it's crucial to find an object that has fixed shape because the letters we create must carry the meaning of the object, also we need to do a movie poster after it, the sand idea definitely would not work. I'm glad the sand dunes idea work and I like how the letterforms integrated with the sand dunes in the movie poster.
Observations
From the first exercise, I have observed that typographic systems act a huge in typographic designs that can be used on poster, flyer etc. A good typographic system layout can make a design more appealing and draw attention effectively.
Findings
At first, I thought the typographic systems are very stubborn and the design layouts are fixed. However, after doing research, the systems could be present in different kind of way to express the content in the typographic systems.
FURTHER READING
This is a website by my lecturer, Mr. Vinod. In this website, Mr. Vinod writes about the details of the typographic exercise- Finding Type.
Fig 8.1 Finding image
The thing I noticed first is the first step of Finding Type, which is finding a suitable image. In this website, Mr. Vinod mentioned about finding an image that has strong characteristics, and best a repetitive nature, it can be natural or man-made. From my first attempt on Finding Type exercise, I chose an image which is not appropriate because sand does not have strong characteristic.
Fig 8.2 Identify a reference typeface
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