💧 Final Project
23/06/20 - 07/07/20 (Week 11 - Week 13)
NG MEI YING (0340563)Advanced Typography
Final Project
INSTRUCTION
Final Project: Font Design Exploration
FONT DESIGN
23/06/20 (W11)
With the knowledge and experience gained, students should synthesise and apply the learning in the tasks to be mentioned, allow the knowledge gained guide and inform our decisions for the effective execution of the final project. Students could develop a font that is intended to solve a larger problem or meant to be part of a solution in the area of your interest be it graphic design, animation, new media or entertainment design or any other related area not necessarily reflecting your specialisation.
Otherwise, explore the use of a typeface in our area of interest, understand its existing relationship, identify areas that could be improved upon, explore possible solutions or combinations that may add value to the existing typeface. To be effective you will need to study your area of interest, look at how type is used in the area and identify potential weaknesses or possible areas of further exploration. You can then attempt to provide a creative solution or add value to existing application.
The end outcome could be a designed font and its application in the form or format that it is intending to provide a solution for, or an exploratory process that solves a problem or adds value to existing use. The work can manifest into any kind of format related to the issue being solved or explored: animation, 3d, print, ambient, projection, movie title or game title, use of different material etc.
Fig 1.0 Final Project Ideas Proposal
As a Buddhist, I always had the curiosity and intention to understand the religious text everywhere especially in the poster, book cover and so on. However, I could ever understand the Tibet words written in poster or in the book. I had an idea to design a Roman font that could mimic the text style of Tibet font that could function as a translator or pinyin with good readability. After doing some deeper research, founding shown that the Tibet font belonged in Sanskrit. The older font that used to interpret Sanskrit was Devanagari script which also known as Nagari font.
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| Fig 1.1 Devanagari Font Example 1 |
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| Fig 1.2 Devanagari Font Example 2 |
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| Fig 1.3 Design Reference 1 |
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| Fig 1.4 Design Reference 2 |
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| Fig 1.5 Design Reference 3 |
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| Fig 1.6 Design Reference 4 |
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| Fig 1.7 Design Reference 5 |
The sketches were done based on the reference images founded. The idea at the beginning was to introduce the diagonal line in the alphabet design with some minimal dots added. The fonts design tended to slant to the right-hand side. While the second design had removed the extra diagonal lines in the counter space of the alphabet. Different weight of stroke with feminine curve lines was being introduced and more visual identity of Devanagari fonts was being introduced as well.
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| Fig 1.8 Idea Sketches 01 |
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| Fig 1.9 Idea Sketches 02 |
30/06/20 (W12)
First Design Stage:
Comparing with the font design that was full of feminine curve forms that I had tried for many times before, I found that the font design with the more masculine straight line tended to be harder to design because the mistake in the stroke would be easily spotted; not like the curvy font design, the mistake would not be that obvious as it could be hidden among the curvy lines. This was the main reason I always not dare to challenge that kind of font with formal straight lines. However, this was my final advance typography design, I decided to step out from my comfort zone and try something different.
Below was the first design phase in Adobe Illustrator with Devanagari Fonts in the blue background as a reference below. The Roman fonts design had undergone some simple refinements at the same time the characteristic of the original Devanagari fonts was maintained or adopted as well. As what I expected before I started the font design in AI, I was quite struggling with the stroke design.
Below was the first design phase in Adobe Illustrator with Devanagari Fonts in the blue background as a reference below. The Roman fonts design had undergone some simple refinements at the same time the characteristic of the original Devanagari fonts was maintained or adopted as well. As what I expected before I started the font design in AI, I was quite struggling with the stroke design.
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| Fig 2.1 First Attempt of Font Design (Part 1) |
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| Fig 2.2 First Attempt of Font Design (Part 2) |
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| Fig 2.3 First Attempt of Font Design (Part 3) |
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| Fig 2.4 First Attempt of Font Design (JPG) |
07/07/20 (W13)
Second Design Stage:
Below was the second design phase in AI. Red boxes were placed at the back to observe the existing counter space for each and every of the design of the Roman fonts. The extended length of the cap stroke had to well calculated and measured to ensure that all of the fonts will be connected well soon.
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| Fig 2.5 Working Process in Adobe Illustrator |
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| Fig 2.6 Second Attempt of Font Design |
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| Fig 2.7 Second Attempt of Font Design (JPG) |
While I was doing the font-kerning in FontLabStudio, several issues were found upon the form design on the specific text like the letter "C", "W", "X", "T", "O", "G", "S". The inconsistency in the height of the font was the biggest issue of the font design. As for the normal font design, the font would have a similar X-Height. As this font design was following the Devanagari Script design characteristic which all of the text was naturally aligned to the top of the cap height but not actually following the baseline.
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| Fig 2.8 Font Kerning in FontLabStudio |
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| Fig 2.9 Font Kerning & Design Issues |
Third Design Stage:
It was quite hard to find out the balance to design the roman font (a font with a consistence x-height) with the characteristic of Devanagari Script (a font without a consistence x-height). Besides, the kerning space between the letter was another challenge to overcome as well. Below was the third design stage aiming to refine the design of the letter "C", "W", "X", "T", "O", "G", "S", "Z" too.
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| Fig 2.10 Third Attempt of Font Design |
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| Fig 2.11 Final Attempt of Font Design |
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| Fig 2.12 Font Design Development Throughout The Design Progress |
Final Design Stage:
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| Fig 2.13 Final Font Design (JPG) |
Fig 2.14 Final Font Design (PDF)
DESIGN APPLICATION
14/07/20 (W14)
First Design Stage:
After completing the font design, I continued to proceed to design collaterals with my fonts. The first idea of collateral design was using my font to create a translation and transliteration on the Devanagari quotes. On the other hand, I decided to design books cover as well. Below was the first design attempt. Mr Vinod commented the book design was nice but avoid using black colour. While for the translation design, he suggested that it would be better to use normal text for the transliteration.
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| Fig 3.1 First Attempt of Translation Card Design |
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| Fig 3.2 First Attempt of Book Cover Design |
Second Design Stage:
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| Fig 3.3 Second Attempt of Translation Card Design |
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| Fig 3.4 Second Attempt of Book Cover Design |
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| Fig 3.5 First Attempt of Paper Cup Design |
Final Design Stage:
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| Fig 3.6 Final Translation Card Design (JPG) |
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| Fig 3.7 Final Book Cover Design (JPG) |
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| Fig 3.8 Final Paper Cup Design (JPG) |
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| Fig 3.9 Final Book Mark Design (JPG) |
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| Fig 3.10 Final Invitation Card Design (JPG) |
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| Fig 3.11 Final CD Design (JPG) |
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| Fig 3.12 Final Cassette Design (JPG) |
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| Fig 3.13 Flat Lay of Collateral Designs (JPG) |
Fig 3.14 Flat Lay of Final Collateral Designs (PDF)
FEEDBACK
23/06/20 (W11)
- General feedback: Try to avoid choosing to redesign the "popular" font style like Chinese font which had a numerous amount of good design out there as we might not able to design a new font that was better than that. When we try to redesign the font, we have to observe the pattern of the previous font and come out with a better design with good refinement. Students needed to work fast and smart as normally the project took 4 weeks to accomplish but we only have 2 weeks left.
- Specific feedback: Mr Vinod did not accept the idea of Tibet Font and Coding Font as it was lack of a strong fundamental base to support the design idea. He suggested searching more about Pali and Tipitaka languages and the font script they used as well. Mr Vinod's reminds that there was a lot of font design of Devanagari Font out there, I have to find out the solution to make it better. Mr Vinod recommended me to take a reference from the Nepali Font design so I could have a better grasp from the design developments.
30/06/20 (W12)
- Specific feedback: Mr Vinod mentioned the fonts fairly consistent and recognizable. He loved the design of the letter "Z". Also, certain liberty had been taken to the stroke without overstated their importance, which meant that good imagination was applied to the font design and the result was good. The tempting of the design was not an easy job. In fact, I was able to do it without several revisions by him was consider to be excellent. The contrast introduced that the font required was really good and well managed. The biggest problem would be definitely the appearance of awkward space when typing out the font (in FontLabStudio). As the font was designed with the stroke bar at the top, ensure the stroke bar was extended far enough. Further refinement was needed while doing the fonts connection to avoid awkward space between fonts. Lastly, I was on the right track and good to continue.
07/07/20 (W13)
14/07/20 (W14)
- Specific feedback: Mr Vinod mentioned the font design was looking good and I was in a better position to identify the areas for improvement. A small suggestion was given to tightening the kerning space between the letters if it did not look better then just continue as it was.
- General feedback: For the blog of project 2, students should remove the lecture section and ensure all of the pdf files was visible to the public. All of the JPG and PDF file of the final design result should be arranged properly at the end of the section.
- Specific feedback: The book cover design was nice but avoid using darl black for the background and make it a little brighter. For the quote translation, it was better to use normal text typeface as the transliteration under the Devanagari text and only use the custom design font of mine for the main quote translation. No visual needed for the translation, the clean background would do. A comment was given to make more collateral to see the impact of the font design as well.
REFLECTION
23/06/20 (W11)
- Experience: I found that I was almost lack of idea at the when preparing the proposal for our final project. Besides, I was facing 2 difficulties during the idea proposal as I was thinking to design something that I had never tried before as an attempt to step out of the comfort zone but the available time left for us may not allow me to play with something too crazy.
- Observation: I found that quite a number of students were still doing their collateral design which I think they really took the project 2 design task seriously to ensure the design was up to the par. Some of the students had started proposing their idea for the final project and I found their idea was quite fresh and challenging.
- Findings: I found that there were almost 3 students propose the idea of redesigning the Chinese font (as I expected). Mr Vinod was seemed to be quite disappointed haha (not surprised) when I propose the idea of Chinese font as well. When it came to the Tibet Font redesign idea, Mr Vinod could not understand students idea always surrounded by religion. I guessed it might be the influence of Hubungan Etnik Course 😅
30/06/20 (W12)
- Experience: I was quite worried that I might be the one who only done the rough design without any refinement as time was too less for me to do the better refinement for the font which was "visually acceptable" enough to show Mr Vinod.
- Observation: I realised that a great idea might not work if we were working in the wrong direction. This was the first time that I truly realised a great idea was not equal to a great outcome. There were different working stage which needed detail observation and good refinements. 📌🥶🥶🥶
- Findings: While continue working with the font design of Devanagari Script, it was quite interesting and fun to do. However, I found it was quite challenging to maintain the consistency form and characteristics for the font to make it neither a too hand-written script nor highly modernised design. The angle of the stroke had to be adjusted differently for each font to create a good balance and consistency visual illusion. 👌🏻
07/07/20 (W13)
- Experience: Sometimes I felt that the anxiety that caused by the stress would affect my thinking and working efficiency on the task on hand as the deadline was near the corner. I found myself refused to go to bed early and wake up early to continue the work as I would still think about the task I haven't done throughout the night in my dream. 🐑😪😱
- Observation: I found that the font design might be hard with my existing design ability and aesthetic standard. Things would be easier when I didn't have any high expectation on the design but since I had decided to start the one and only font design of mine, I was not going to give up easily. I was going to make use of every second of my time to do my best to refine the font.
- Findings: When I was looking for more design out there, I found that my font design was quite ugly after the COMPARISON haha. However, I supposed to let go of the mind of perfectionism and embrace what I had and try my very best to refine it. It was because this was the precious learning process that would slowly accumulate as my design experience in the future that was worth embracing. That was nothing wrong with it and I should always remember the lesson during semester one Life Skill & Millennial Class: "Taylor's student must learn how to fail." 🪁
14/07/20 (W14)
- Experience: This was the last class that our lecturer would give us feedback on our font design application. It was quite stressful on the last week as I was afraid that I couldn't come out with a good collateral design as I expected haha. However, I realised that things weren't that horrible as I thought. 🤔
- Observation: I found that some students had successfully come out with a unique and interesting fonts design that I like as well. Some of them seemed to be had improved by leaps and bounce in the sense of design aesthetic and design application as well which was the good things to learn from them.
- Findings: I found that I had gained much confidence to work on the final font kerning and the rest of the collateral design as I believed that I had come out with presentable font design. Although it might not highly refined but I believed there was still a way to highlight its advantage by making full use of my design elements and principle knowledge. 👾🌟
FURTHER READING
Book Name: The 3D Type Book
By: Agathe Jacquillat, Tomi Vollauschek
About the book:
This book is the most comprehensive showcase of three-dimensional letterforms ever written, it showcases the incredible creativity on how designer breaks the font design restriction and come out with stunning imaginative and experimental artwork. As well as pioneering milestones from as far back as the 1940s, this book focuses on recent and brand new typographic projects. 3D type specialist Andrew Byrom explains the context and motivation behind these innovative works in an insightful foreword.
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