Typography - Project 2

Week 7 - Week 9
Jenani Raja Saker (0334331)
Typography

Project 2

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Lecture 6 : Basic / Describing Letterforms
(Week 7)
This week’s lecture was very much related with our Project 2, which is to create our own fonts. Hence, we were briefed about the basic terminology that comes into play when describing letterforms which will be used by the lecturers when criticising our work, (also for job interviews, cause more often than not, the interviewer wouldn't know it themselves.)

Ascender Height: The height of upward vertical stem on some lowercase letters that extends above the x-height is the ascender. The ascender must exceed the cap height as the capital letters tend to occupy space. So, to ensure that there is an optical balance the ascender is higher than cap height. It is also called equity. 

Cap Height: The height of a capital letter above the baseline for a particular typeface.

Median: The imaginary line defining the x-height of letterforms.

X-height: The height in any typeface of the lowercase ‘x’. When referring to the x height it also means an area. 

Baseline: The imaginary line, the visual base of letterforms. 

Descender Height: The height of some lowercase letters that extends or descends below the baseline.

Figure 1.10 : Ascender, Cap-height, Median, X-Height, Baseline & Descender.

Stroke: Any line that defines the basic letterform. 

Figure 1.11; The stroke, the backbone of a letterform 

Lecture 7 
(Week 8)
We  continued from last weeks lecture, touching on stroke thickness, brackets and arcs, baseline and median, counter space and negative form.

Figure 1.12; Stroke Thickness of Sans Serif typeface.

Figure 1.13 ; Serifs and Brackets

Fig. 1.14 - Letters/Form/Counterform

Lecture 8

(Week 9)

There was no lecture as we continued working on our Project 2.

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INSTRUCTIONS



PROJECT 2

For Project 2, we are required to create out own fonts, but there are several steps we are required to do before hand:

1. Dissect a few letterforms from a selected typeface and understand the formation of the letterform.
2. Sketch out your modifications based on the selected typeface. The required letters are :
    d, g, i, s, h, o, e, n, t, k, r, !,
3. Digitize your letterforms on Adobe Illustrator.
4. Upload them into Fontlab Studio v.5

Below is the dissection process of my chosen typeface, Gill Sans Regular:
Step 1: Dissection 

Figure 2.10; Dissection of the alphabet K, Gill Sans.

Figure 2.11; Dissection of the alphabet O, Gill Sans.

Figure 2.12; Dissection of the alphabet I, Gill Sans. 

Figure 2.13; Dissection of the alphabet T, Gill Sans.

Step 2 : Modifications

Figure 2.14; Modifications; 1st from top left is Gill Sans Regular, rest are Sketch 1(top right), Sketch 2 (bottom left), Sketch 3 (bottom right)

For the first sketch, Mr. Vinod commented that the serif at the end should not be sharp and should have an edge to it. Or else, it would seem to continue forever as per the figure below :

Figure 2.15; Left serif has no edge whilst right serif has an edge. 

As for Sketch 3, I was advised to add curvature, at strategic places as opposed to simple visual decoration. Mr. Vinod gave an example of Bell Centennial designed by Matthew Carter. This specific typeface had ink ducts which was used when printing telephone books. At times the ink printed would spread and create blobs in the letterforms, hence the creation of Bell Centennial which had inc ducts. These ink ducts were sort of 'holes' where when they were printed and the ink would spread, it fit perfectly into the ink ducts and not distort the letterforms :

Figure 2.16; Example of ink ducts being filled in by the ink. 

Figure 2.17; Bell Centennial, Letterform N with ink ducts.

Figure 2.18, Bell Centennial, Letterform R with ink ducts. 

 Step 3 : Digitising 

I first began with the letterform k, and o, getting the basic shapes right before designing the other letterforms. Below is the outline:

Figure 2.19 ; Letterform k, left is my designed font while right is Gill Sans.

However, Mr. Vinod and Mr. Shamsul suggested to curve the stem of my 'k'. Below is the correction made : 

Figure 2.20 ; Suggested modification to the letterform 'k'

Figure 2.21 ; Letterform O, left is my designed font whereas right is Gill Sans.

Using these basic shapes as advised by Mr. Vinod, I began constructing the other letterforms, as can be seen below:

Figure 2.22; Outline of 'b' using 'o' and 'k'

Figure 2.22 ; Outlines of all my letterforms in my designed font. 

Figure 2.23 ; Joined outline using pathfinder tool

Figure 2.24 ; Combined letterforms of my font. 

Step 4: FontLab

This step was tough as the required version of Fontlab could not be used on my laptop hence with the help of my classmate, Jonathan we uploaded the fonts. Below are screenshots of some of the process :

Figure 2.25 ; Screenshot of uploading my font into FontLab

Figure 2.26 ; Screenshot of uploading my font into FontLab

Figure 2.27 ; Screenshot of uploading my font into FontLab

After that, it was time to figure out the kerning of my font which from urgency, would be named Saf Saf. After going back and forth in adjusting the kerning of the 'kerning' as well as other letterforms. Below is the completed sentence using Saf Saf.

Figure 2.28; My font, Saf Saf

We then proceeded to arrange the sentence in an A4 sized artboard in Illustrator. Below are few of the options that I have done :

Figure 2.29 ; Option 1 (Chosen One)

Figure 2.3 ; Option 2

Figure 2.31 ; Option 3

Figure 2.31 ; Option 4

I chose to go with Option 1 as my final design. Below is the JPEG and PDF version of my design :

Figure 2.32 ; Final Chosen

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FEEDBACK
(Week 7)
General Feedback :
1. Explain what it your image means and explain the idea, people don’t read if you have typed above, they like to read the brief captions, it is important to make sure your caption consists of the main idea. In two or three lines -not an essay-.
2.Make sure the label is not separate for pur project and exercises, it should be just for TYPOGRAPHY. 
3. We only need to embed our final design as a pdf. 
4. Document all feedbacks from our feedback form in the e-portfolio. 

Specific Feedback :
Well done on Project 1. The expression is appropriate and well composed, and layout is tastefully placed in the context of the space and typesetting is good.
Thank you Mr. Vinod. 

1. The edges of the serif -of sketch- should not be sharp, it should be a completed egde. 
2. When adding elements, they should be added strategically and not just simply all over the letterforms, e.g : Bell Centenial by Matthew Carter.

(Week 8)
General Feedback :
1. We should update our feedback immediately after receiving it. 

Specific Feedback :
1. Mr. Vinod and Mr. Shamsul suggested to make the stem slightly curved as it suited the curve on the top and bottom of the alphabets. 

(Week 9)
General Feedback : 
1. The link of the alphabet 'g' should rest on the mean line. 

Specific Feedback :
1. It looks good to go, just need to fix the alphabet 'e', the letterform 'o' does not seem even.
2. Fix the alphabet 'e' once more as well as, the stroke on letterform 'g'. Generate font once complete.


(Week 10)
Specific Feedback : 
1. The kerning between my 'g' and 'n' is not consistent and the stroke of my 'e' is also slightly inconsistent.  
2. It looks awkward from far but once we zoom it in, the font looks consistent on the most part. 
3. There are elements that need to be worked on but we have to move on. 
4. I have to outline "purposeless' a tad bit to make it clearer. 
5. Add outlines to the word 'purposeless' in my placard. 

General Feedback: 
1. Type out your font name, name and the year in Helvetica 7pt.
2. Try different alignments for our A4 design. 

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REFLECTION
Experience :
Project 2 was overall a better experience compared to Project 1, as during the exercises we have technically designed our own alphabets for our names. It sort of gave me the foundation I needed to march and take upon this Project with a little bit more confidence. O did have some hiccups when it came to FontLab, thankfully I did get some help from my classmate and friend. There are so many quirks and important things to note when creating a typeface especially the kerning, When adjusting the kerning, the alphabets would look fine next to certain letterforms but would look messed next to some other. It is not an easy feat to create typefaces. I feel a lot of respect to the designers that have created ever-lasting fonts such as Helvetica, Baskerville, Gill Sans and so on. 

Observations :
I observed that there is a certain intelligence or pre planning required when creating fonts. For example, when creating my font I jumped right in and began designing any letterform that I wished to not realising that if I had gotten my basic shapes of alphabets such as 'O' and 'k', it would've been much easier. I had to retrace back and began again to get on the right track with equal measurements. 

Findings :
It may be a competitive world out there, but at times I found out that we will always need friends and connections because there will come a time where we will not be able to complete a task by ourself and help will be needed. I am lucky to have classmates and friends that are very much willing to lend a helping hand when needed. 

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FURTHER READING

Figure 5.1 ; Typography Sketchbooks

Figure 5.11 ; A page inside

I would definitely need to admit guilty of not being able to read much due to the piling project work hence choosing a very visual book.  This book is filled with sketches highlighting design showcases and process of achieving the end result. Accompanied by information regarding the creative process of different designers, I get to learn about their philosophies  thoughts, ideas, go-to style and technique as well as inspirations/thought behind their process.