Studio Brief 3 - Alphabet Soup - Typeface

Creating a typeface that represents a partner, I was placed in a group of 3 with Jess and Will, I will be creating a typeface based on the characteristics of Jess and Will will be creating a typeface based on my characteristics.

We first filled out the generic Q&A we were provided with, we agreed this was close to useless and believed a better approach was to simply talk to each other while making notes on each other personalities. For reference I created a second questionnaire that was much more useful.

I created this questionnaire to gain better information from Jess.

After looking at Jess's responses to both questionnaires I created a mind map.

I gathered these main aspects of Jess's personality

• Sarcastic
• Friendly
• Fun
• Illustration design
• Composition design
• Favourite designer - Achraf Amiri (fashion illustrator)
• She would describe herself a detailed sans serif typeface (but not a script font)

Looking at Jess's interests gave me a great indication of her character. The main aspects of her personality I discovered had created 4 main groups.  

Jess is from Aughton near liverpool, she is a social 19 year old girl who has a great love for animals and has just completed a textiles course. I would describe as lively, enthusiastic, confident with a slightly alternative dress sense.

I came up with several concepts that related to Jess, some more literal than others but learning from the first brief, I found the more conceptual responses seem to be stronger.

The B and T of the Beatles logo are emphasised to exaggerate 'Beat' and the logo was designed for £5 by part time drummer Ivor Arbiter.

The view from the clock face of the Liver building.

A literal interpretation of Liverpool, I looked into the architecture, the liver building and bird as well as the type used on the Liverpool FC emblem. Liverpool was named the capital of culture therefore is rich in heritage and culture.

Another very popular aspect of Liverpool has to be the 'scouse' accent, I found this type design by Ben Marsh. 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' is shown here however it is very close to being illegible, this may be portraying the understanding of the scouse accent however this would not be effective as a typeface.

I enjoyed looking into some the context of these designs however I do not believe Jess can be portrayed well enough by the aspects of the city, I changed the direction of my design process and started with the aspects and anatomy of typography that I believe express her personality.

This resulted in a much stronger concept to my work, working with denotations of type, I decided on several aspects that denote Jess's personality.

These flourishes denote a contrast of elegance and sharp thorns 

A soft hand written with contrasting line weight 

The use of uneven tone and the thin finials of serif can create an idea of a busy, social personality. This could fit with Jess's character. 

An interpretation of Bodoni, the context of the use as the typeface of Vogue denotes elegance, fashion as well as contemporary matter.

The use of curls can create a child like typeface which is unwanted.

The use of a circle on the tittle of the i denotes child stories as it used on the Walt Disney logo.

Jess says she wouldn't use a decorative font, like the two examples above, to portray herself.

This contrast of line weight could relate to a contrast in character or relate to Jess's sarcastic manner. Sarcasm is usually created using the contrast between phrases.

I came across several grunge fonts when looking into the use of ink and contrast within type, although a grunge font wouldn't represent Jess, there are some aspects that do relate.

I researched into grunge type and found the popular work of David Carson, the so called 'Godfather Of Grunge'. I can relate the use of production 'ripping, shredding and remaking' to Jess's past in textiles and fashion.

Looking into grunge, I discovered the use of several textures, loose ink and the overlapping of several different materials. I experimented with these attributes.

I found this grunge like font which has been created using ink, I invested in some indian ink and several different instruments and started experimented.

This was one of my results from experimenting with watercolour and indian ink.

The relation between Jess and grunge was there however I didn't believe it was a strong enough concept to carry on developing. I went back to the aspects of type I believed to express Jess and looked at the handwritten, illustrative concepts I had discovered when looking at Jess's like of Illustration.

A great contrast between cap height and x height here denotes a rushed signature that could relate to my idea of elegance and sociality of Jess however Jess did say she didn't believe a script font would portray her well.

Looking into these handwritten fonts became increasingly similar to the type used in fashion illustration, I would look into the genre later. 

These are some of the first research elements I looked into, handwritten fonts created with ink and pen. I still had to experiment with some of the elements of type I believed related to Jess. Above is the use of Didot (the vogue type) in a range of x height variations to portray the idea of tall and thin type to relate to Jess's confident nature although she isn't of great height physically. 

Achraf Amiri, the illustrator Jess mentioned in the questionnaire I created. The use of watercolour and ink is clear, while the type is not the focus of the image, unlike Graphic design, this created an interesting idea. The idea of the type not being a key aspect of the image creates the denotation of inconsideration, rushed and carelessness. These denotations relate to Jess's personality in many aspects, her social attributes and like of material and texture while being contextualised in her like for fashion and illustration. This seemed like the right direction to develop.

The use of crayon here to create a type that doesn't particularly adhere to any rules of anatomy, base line angle varies, x height differs as does cap height. This ignorance of organisation creates the rushed denotation however, conceptually, could be used to portray a person as rule breaking. 

Looking at the type used in these illustrations, I had to deconstruct the type and create a list of defining characteristics.

A few experiments using pen to create a mix of grunge and illustrated type. I created a list of characteristics that defined these fashion illustrations: A varying x-height, extended legs and arms, tall x height and thin glyph width, similar to signature style type and the use of watercolour and ink with water.

I came across this image by Craig Ward showing the use of water and ink together. These materials create an interesting contrast of sophistication and being rushed, characteristics I used to describe Jess. I would definitely experiment with these.

'Illustrashion' by Achraf Amiri, a mix of the two words illustration and fashion, this seemed to fit with Jess perfectly, two aspects of her life I believe to be important while being created by her favourite designer. 3 strong points I couldn't ignore. Fashion, Illustration and the work of Achraf Amiri being three subjects that Jess strongly liked while also containing denotations of sophistication, high fashion and also a the concept of her social life making her rushed (varying x heights and anatomy), busy (un-organisation) and lively which is displayed through the use of colour. These are all aspects I noted earlier. I would have liked to use colour however the brief states the final has be printed using black ink, a problem I would later solve.

Developing the concept of using a fashion illustrated type, I looked into the type used in the these fashion brand logos. The majority of well established brands use serif typefaces however there are several uses of sans serif here. Jess stated she didn't believe a sans serif type would represent her well and I agree, sans serif would not be as expressive as a serif although sans serif typefaces can be used well to portray, I believe a typeface to represent me would be sans serif. 

Taking inspiration from these logos, I experimented using the same typeface.

The most popular fashion magazine, Vogue uses Didot, a high vertically stressed serif type. Didot was created by Firmin Didot in the early 1800's in France. Didot originates from France and Vogue translates to style in French. The typeface denotes sophistication, elegance and class due to its fine stem widths, carved cross bars and high contrast.

Half way through this brief, we had an interesting critique. Instead of presenting our work to others, we would leave our work on a table and each peer would look through each others design process and leave feedback anonymously, I believe this creates more critical and honest feedback, which of course is a positive thing.

My feedback contained a range of responses:

'I like the focus on fashion! Have you thought about the method to create the type?' - I then bought the ink and experimented

'You could try combining the techniques of contrasting line weight'

'Vogue font feels most accurate. Interesting research, would like to see more 'creation' looking fonts (seams, stitching)' - Although Jess has an interest in fashion, she has said she doesn't like textiles so this creation concept would not be fitting.

'Would like to see more structured designs on a grid'

'Her personality seems to suit the contrast in thin and thick stroke'

'Show social personality. Leaning forward' - This inspired me to use italic.

I have to base my manipulation upon an existing typeface, I believe the context and denotations of Didot fit perfectly between portraying Jess's characteristics and in context of her interests in fashion.

Bodoni upper case, 'G' is the letterform that makes the difference between Bodoni and Didot the clearest.

Didot upper case.

Didot lower case, I am going to concentrate on the lower case as an upper case type would denote anger, shouting and strength; these would not fit with Jess's personality.

An imitation of fashion illustrated type with watercolour and an experiment using a fountain pen and indian ink. I used a fountain to create the vertical stress.

I believe the italic font would be the most suitable of the type family to use as an italic denotes an extra sense of sophistication while adding to the similarity of a rushed signature.

An experiment to create texture on the upper case.

I intend to create a type with several denotations:

A quick loose ink would portray the rush of a busy lifestyle

A contrast of elegance and the alternative fashion sense I mention in the mind map to show Jess's interest in fashion and urban culture.

Placing context in the use of Didot to show Jess's roots in fashion and textiles.

Creating a grunge aspect to the type that would relate to Jess's social attributes, for example the use of water and ink can relate to the spilling of drinks or a mark left from the glass of a Tommy's marg (Jess's favourite drink).

Hand written type shoes the un formality of Jess's attitude

Deciding on a lower case italic didot, my development became a lot faster. 

An experiment with ink water inspired by 'Water and Ink don't mix' poster. An experiment with pen and ink inspired by the work of Achraf Amiri.

A very fortunate mistake. While attempting to create a lower case didot with a higher x height, I spilt a little water over the ink, in a rush I got some tissue and attempted to dab this water off. The result was a great texture while the indentations created from the nib of the fountain pen were left, a very fine stroke created the outline of each letterform.

The brief states the creation of 6 extra glyphs is necessary. 

Glyphs:

Ampersand represents the social side of Jess and her inclusion in activities. E.g Jess & friends

Speech marks represent Jess's friendliness and talkative attitude.

Question marks represent Jess's questioning nature and talkative attitude.

Exclamation mark represents Jess's dramatic and fun attributes

@ represents Jess's online sociability, E.g @JessTwitter @JessWood

Comma glyph represents Jess's talk ability

 

I continued experimenting with material however I believed the example at the top of this photo representing Jess the best, the examples at the bottom of this image is the typeface without the texture and I believe this seems too formal to portray Jess.

The brief states the typeface must be only produced in only black ink. I mention this previously, my favourite design wasn't produced in only black ink, it had been created using black ink AND water. To overcome this, I digitised the design and then printed in only black ink.

The original type I created.

The typeface digitised.

A name badge 

Focusing on two of the main concepts of the typeface, 'illustrashion' seems to fit very well in this typeface. I would have liked to be able to use colour within this brief however these mandatory requirements push my design process to become more professional.