Typography | Task 3A

5.10.2021 (Week 7) - 26.10.2021 (Week 10)

Nur Allyssa Nabilah Binti Mohd Nizam / 0337796 / BDCM

Typography

Task 3A

LECTURE

For all the lecture notes, refer to this link:

https://lylydesigns.blogspot.com/2021/08/typography-task-1.html

INSTRUCTION

Task 3A: Type Design and Communication

After the completion of Task 2, Mr Vinod briefed us on our next Task which is Task 3A. In this task we are required to design a typeface for certain letters and punctuation ( a i m e p y t g d o b ! , . ) based off a previously known typeface.

Before sketching out my idea, I decided to look at the 10 typefaces that were given to us by Mr Vinod. I typed out each of the letters that we had to design in each of the 10 fonts.

Part 1: Exploration Process

Figure 9.1 Typeface Study (10/10/2021)

After looking over the 10 typefaces, I decided to choose 3 out of the 10 typefaces that I liked and chose a few different setting for each typeface and study them in an even more detail. In the below image are the fonts that I decided to study an even further.

Figure 9.2 Chosen Typefaces (10/10/2021)

With the chosen fonts, I started sketching out my font design. Below are 3 sketch designs that I did inspired by 3 typefaces that I chose which is Futura Std, Univers Lt Std, Bodoni Std.

Figure 9.3 My Typeface Sketches (11/10/2021)

After receiving the feedback given by Mr Vinod, I sketched out more ideas as per advice by Mr Vinod. I decided to explore even more fonts. Below are some of the sketches I did.

Figure 9.4 My Typeface Sketches 2 (14/10/2021)

Even after doing further exploration, I still decided to go with the font that Mr Vinod mentioned was doable. Below is the typeface that I chose.

Figure 9.5 Chosen Typeface (15/10/2021)

Before I started digitizing my typeface, I decided to study 3 letters of the typeface Bodoni since my font itself is inspired by the it. Below are my deconstructions of the Bodoni letters a, m and t.

Figure 9.6 Bodoni Typeface Deconstruction (15/10/2021)

Part 2: Digitizing Process

After deconstructing the letter forms, I decided to start digitizing my chosen typeface that I wanted to do into Adobe Illustrator. Below are some screenshots of the process of me digitizing the typeface.

Figure 9.7 Digitizing Process Part 1 (16/10/2021)

Figure 9.6 Digitizing Process Part 2 (16/10/2021)

Figure 10.1 Digitizing Process Part 3 (16/10/2021)

Figure 10.2 Digitizing Process Part 4 (16/10/2021)

After the digitizing process, I found that I made some changes from my sketch into my digitized work.

Changes made in comparison to my sketch:

I decided to change the letter y's shape
I added small squares at the tip of the letters e, t, y and g to have a more sense of unison for the overall font

With the changes that I have made, I thought of a name to give to my font. I decided since my font is quite squarish, I'd name it Carrée which just directly translates to square in French.

Figure 10.3 Carrée Font (16/10/2021)

After Mr Vinod gave feedback on my digitized font designs, I made the necessary amendments. The picture below is my official digitized font design.

Figure 10.4 Carrée Typeface Outline (20/10/2021)

Figure 10.5 Carrée Typeface Digitized (20/10/2021)

After completing my digitized typefaces, I downloaded the application Fontlab 5 that Mr Vinod asked us to use to make our typefaces into useable fonts.

Part 3: Font Making Process

As I was following the video tutorial given by Mr Vinod, I had an issue by pasting my shape from Adobe Illustrator into the Fontlab 5 application. In the short clip below it shows the issue that I wasn't able to paste my letter into the provided space in Fontlab 5.

Figure 11.1 Fontlab 5 issue (22/10/2021)

Even after deleting and reinstalling the application I still had the same issue so instead I decided on trying the latest version of the application Fontlab 7. Luckily I was able to download the application but I still had issues trying to use the application. I even asked help from some of my classmates with the issues that I'm going through. I also looked up multiple videos on how I could overcome the issue but still I wasn't able to get the issue fixed. (24/10/2021).

Since neither Fontlab 5 or Fontlab 7 wanted to work with me and I was running out of time, I decided to scratch using the Fontlab application and go with the alternative option which was to use the website that Mr Vinod suggested to use which was Calligrphr.

Figure 11.2 Calligraphr Demo (24/10/2021)

After watching the video given by Mr Vinod, I started using the website to produce my font design. Below are screenshots of my progression for developing the font in the website Calligraphr.

Figure 11.3 Calligraphr Progression 1 (24/10/2021)

After signing up for the website, I followed the first step which was to download the PDF template. I renamed the PDF template to my font name and I downloaded it.

Figure 11.4 Calligraphr Progression 2 (24/10/2021)

Figure 11.5 Calligraphr Progression 3 (24/10/2021)

After downloading the PDF template, I opened it into my Adobe Illustrator and began pasting all my letters into the spaces provided. I then saved the PDF file and imported back the PDF file into the website. The attached PDF document below is my letterforms in the template given by the Calligraphr website.

Figure 11.5 Carrée Font Template (24/10/2021)

Figure 11.6 Calligraphr Progression 4 (24/10/2021)

After importing the PDF file into the website, I decided to check and adjust on each of the letter whether in is perfectly on the baseline.

Figure 11.7 Calligraphr Progression 5 (24/10/2021)

Finally after completing the process of readjustments, my font was ready to be downloaded and used.

As I have completed my font design and converted it into a font I decided to test the fonts that I made and typed out a test phrase for my font.

Figure 12.1 Testing Phrase (25/10/2021)

Final Part: Task 3A Submissions

Font Download Link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1x1sGkkqIvhIXqe3nf-STtSbVHnfaBMVY?usp=sharing

Figure 12.1 Carrée Final Font Design JPEG (26/10/2021)

Figure 12.2 Carrée Final Font Design PDF (26/10/2021)

Figure 12.3 Final Carrée Typography Poster JPEG (26/10/2021)

Figure 12.4 Final Carrée Typography Poster PDF (26/10/2021)

FEEDBACK

Week 8 (Independent Learning Week)

General Feedback:

Mr Vinod looked over some of the typeface sketches.

Specific Feedback:

Mr Vinod adviced me to do more exploration and sketch out even more typeface designs. Based on the sketches that I have done he said that the 3rd sketch is the most doable one just that I should decrease the descender line so I wouldn't have any issues of creating it in Fontlab later.

Week 9

General Feedback:

Mr Vinod looked over our digitized typeface sketches.

Specific Feedback:

He found my typeface to be interesting just that for my letter g's o shouldn't rest on the baseline. My comma shouldn't be a thin line and my !'s .(dot) and |(line) should have more space between them. He also mentioned that the letter 't' should have a smaller space.

Week 10

General Feedback:

Mr Vinod looked over our final submission for our fonts

Specific Feedback:

By Mr Vinod:

Good research process. The font has a high contrast with thick and thin lines. Re: the FontLab issue, sometimes, the letter form has been pasted but you can see it in the window, so you have to zoom out to locate where it has been pasted and drag it to the centre of the bearings (guide lines). I hope this helps. It should work. I hope you watched the FontLab 5 vid as well, it helps to drop your X & Y guides next to your letter when copying into Fontlab. Poster lacked alignment, composition can be better. Other than that the font is pretty consistent in look and feel albeit a little on the simplistic side.

REFLECTION

For this very task I found it actually quite fun yet tiring. I'm quite disappointed that I wasn't able to access the Fontlab application like how my other classmate were able too and to resort into the alternative option. Honestly speaking looking back at my useable font, I found that there are still some flaws here and there that I wish I could fix. Overall this task has taught me new things and even though it was quite tiring process I actually enjoyed it.

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Nur Allyssa Nabilah 0337796