TYPOGRAPHY - Project 2

November 13, 2018

TYPOGRAPHY - Project 2

24.10.18 - 31.10.18 (Week 9 - Week 10)

Chiquita Johanna Roosprameswari (0336747)

Typography

Project 2

LECTURES

Lecture 9 : -

We had no lecture this week but we are briefed on our second project, font design.

Lecture 10 : -

We have no lecture this week. But we were taught on how to use a new software called FontLab. Fontlab enables us to design, edit, customise and convert fonts. So, we learn how to digitise our font from Illustrator.

INSTRUCTIONS

Project 2 (Week 9 - Week 10)

Font Design - Study of C Alphabet & Creating our own font name initials (Week 9)

Before creating our own font name initials, we were asked to pick one alphabet or letter from our name initials. We have to study and observe the feature of the letter. We use lines or circles to construct the letter. Lowercase letters have to be at 500pt x-height and for the uppercase, it has to be 700pt.

I choose the letter C from my initial name. The font that I use for this exercise is Janson Text LT Std.

Figure 2.1 Lowercase "C' study (Janson Text LT Std)

From this study, I noticed that the letter has so many circles and details, which makes it a little bit more complicated that other letters.

After the study, we started on to do the next work which is Font Design. We have to make our own font and the letters should be our name initials. My name is Chiquita Johanna Roosprameswari, so the initials are CJR. And I decided to do uppercase.

Figure 2.2 My first sketches

When I ask Mr.Vinod about my fonts, he really likes the second and the third 'C'. But he said that the 'R' is too wide. For the 'J', I should reduce the strokes a little bit at the top part of the J.

Figure 2.3 My second sketches of J and R alphabet

After I done with the sketches, I started to digitise it on Illustrator using pen tool and shape tool.

Figure 2.4 Name initial digitise (First attempt)

When Mr.Vinod saw my digitise font and he told me that the 'R' looks awkward.

Figure 2.5 Name initial digitise (Final outcome)

After we finished digitise our font, we have to generate it in Fontlab.

Figure 2.6 Fontlab

Figure 2.7 Fontlab

Figure 2.8 Fontlab

Figure 2.9 Fontlab

Figure 2.10 Fontlab

Figure 2.11 Thumbnail

FEEDBACK

Week 9
When I ask Mr.Vinod about my sketched fonts, he really likes the second and the third 'C'. But he said that the 'R' is too wide and look different from the others. For the 'J', I should reduce a little bit the two little strokes at the top part of the J. Also the bottom part of the J should be thinner.

Week 10
I asked Mr.Vinod about my digitise word. He told me that the 'R' looks awkward, it is because of the inside curves. It is to wide, so I redo it until it looks better than before.

REFLECTION

Experiences

Week 9
I was confused at first when Mr.Vinod told us to do the lines and curves exercise. But when I try to digitise my sketched fonts and receive some feedbacks from the lecturers that says some curves looks weird and awkward, that's when I get it why we should analyse the curves and lines of a letter. I helps us when we want to sketch. When we sketch we could make the lines as our point of focus and guide. Also, by learning a typeface shapes, it would be easier for us to analyse our own font later on.

Week 10
I found some difficulties on digitising the letters. Especially when it has a curves, I put a lot of efforts on making the curves, trying to make it smooth. At first I use pen tool but still it doesn't look really smooth. But then, Mr.Shamsul teach me on how to make the curve in my letters smooth by using the circle shape tool.

I have some difficulties on deciding the kerning. It took some time for me to decide the kerning. This week, I also learn a new software called FontLab. Overall it is a stressful week for me there's a lot of information that I need to think about, but I do learn a lot this week.

Obeservations

Week 9
I observe that it's important to study other typefaces before we start making our own font. By looking at some typeface in a critical way, will help us analyse our own font later on. I also notice it is important to look our typeface at different size, to see if its readable or not.

Week 10
I have to be careful on making the strokes. We have to get the shape perfect and accurate. Also, I notice that there are some letters that need more kerning, some letters don't. We have to be careful on deciding the kerning. I observe that kerning isn't decided mathematically. It is an appropriate and equal amount of space between letters according to our own eyes.

Findings

Week 9
Designing a typeface may took some time. Before sketching it, we need some time to think what makes our typeface unique? What kind of style are we going to make? I find that we shouldn't make complicated form. Make a good design is cool but if it isn't readable then it's useless.

Week 10
I find that it's better to kern little than over-kern our type. Type that is too tightly spaced is not good and difficult to read. Kerning is all about creating consistent space between a letters. The more consistent the space, the more rhythm and harmony your typeface have.

FURTHER READING

Week 9

Figure 1.1 Cover of the book

Typography is the voice of the written word. On one hand, it can be very expressive: it can shout or whisper, have a regional accent, be strong or fragile, and be as beautiful as it can vulgar. On the other, it can be completely anonymous, carrying the communication with such subtlety that if it draws the slightest attention to itself it has failed miserably.

Figure 1.2 Example of an article

Figure 1.3 Example of an article

I found that selecting a typeface is really really important. As you can see on the first picture (Fig 1.2) it is so hard to read the article. The minus leading result in clash. The closed-up inter-character spacing (too tight), the type size. But on the second picture (Fig 1.3), it is easy for us to read the article.

Figure 1.4 Example of a clash

Figure 1.5 Example of a clash (the red dot)

I also learn a new word clash. Clash occurs when parts of different letters strike one another, usually as a result of the inter-character spacing being set too tight or the line feed being reduced to a smaller measurement than that of the type. Both these should be avoided as they are not foo practice and may affect the legibility and readability of the text.

Week 10

Figure 1.6 Book Cover

The most interesting from this book is about digitising a font. The selection of software solutions that enable you to turn a set of individual glyphs into a usable digital font is not particularly extensive, but the options that are available do the job very well. Software choice should be governed largely by the level of sophistication your own font projects require. I've chosen one of the more 'entry level' applications to showcase here, TypeTool by FontLab.

FontLab (www.fontlab.com) bill TypeTool as their basic font editor, suitable for students and hobbyists as well as creative professionals, so it's a good choice for anyone new to the world of font creation. It runs on Macs and PCs, but do check compatibility with your particular system before you install any software to be sure you're fully compatible with the latest version.