Advance Typography - Final Project

04.06.19 - 25.06.19 (Week 10 - Week 13)
Tamara Audrey Saputra (0335846)
Advanced Typography
Final Project - Design Exploration and Application

Instruction

Final Project - Design Exploration & Application

Brainstorming & Idea Proposal | Week 10

Idea #1

Idea: My initial idea was to create an installation in letterforms which visually gives off an illusion that it is levitating and scattered.

Purpose: Deriving from that idea, I thought about raising awareness regarding Alzheimer's disease.

Below are the references I found for the idea:

Fig 1.1: References

Feedback: After proposing the idea to both of the lecturers, they said that the purpose isn't there yet and to raise awareness about Alzheimer's disease by creating this installation is probably the slowest method to widespread it.

Idea #2

I then look for other ideas that could have more purpose since I found finding the purpose of the idea is much harder than coming up with experimental ideas.

Mr. Vinod then approved the second idea and suggested me to make the roman letters as well as the local script. He told me to look at the Baloo Typeface in Google Fonts as reference.

Designing | Week 11

The Roman Letters

I started out by sketching the roman letters out on a graph paper by keep referring back to the journals that I found to see what elements or characteristics of it that I could implement to the roman letters.

I then scan and digitize it in Illustrator.

Fig 2.2.1: Process in Illustrator

Fig 2.2.2: 1st Attempt

When I showed the 1st attempt Mr. Vinod & Mr. Shamsul suggested me to make some changes to the letters. Such as how the "W", "M", "V", & "A" has a sharp edge that doesn't get along with the other letters and the "U" & "V" should also be adjusted more to make it easier to differentiate between them.

Fig 2.2.3: Changes Made to "W" & "M"

After showing the second attempt of the "M" & "W", he suggested me to make the letters in a minimalistic way as shown above.

Fig 2.2.4: Changes Made to "U" & "V"

Mr. Vinod also pointed out how the "X" & Y" does not have contrast like the other letters.

Fig 2.2.5: Changes Made to "X" & "Y"

Fig 2.2.6: 2nd Attempt

After assembling all the letters together, I feel that I did the decoration too much and making it too bulky. Hence, I decided to simplify it after seeing the "M" & "W".

Fig 2.2.7: Final Attempt

The Lota Script

After finishing the alphabets, I proceed to do the script by using the elements that are used to make letters in order to retain the alikeness.

Fig 3.1.1: Process in Illustrator

Fig 3.1.2: Process in Illustrator

Fig 3.1.3: 1st Attempt

I showed the script along with the letters to Mr. Vinod. He said that the roman letters are good but the script doesn't seem to look right and more work should be done. He encouraged me to introduce slight curves to it and also to not make it too similar with the roman letters as it's difficult to differentiate when but side-by-side as seen below.

Fig 3.1.4: Comparing the script with the roman letters.

I then feel the need to re-study the script again. I looked up to the Buginese script already done by another designer and studied the height and width used in their work.

Fig 3.2.1: Study of the Buginese script.

Fig 3.2.2: Process in Illustrator

Fig 3.2.3: 2nd Attempt

Fig 3.2.4: Comparing script 2nd attempt to roman letters.

Application

For the application, I decided to make a tourism ad for the destinations in Flores as well as the culture they have.

fig 4.1.1: Application first attempt

fig 4.1.2: Application first attempt

fig 4.1.3: Application first attempt

Mr. Vinod suggested me to makes all of the background color similar to maintain its identity. He also said to try to play more with the text layout.

fig 4.1.4: Application

fig 4.1.5: Application

fig 4.1.6: Application

fig 4.1.7: Application Mock-Up

Feedbacks

Week 11

Specific Feedback:
I proposed my idea of creating a typeface adapted from an Ende (Flores, Indonesia) language called Lota with an intention to preserve it as the language is dying. Mr. Vinod told me to look up for examples and references and showed me the Baloo typeface to analyze other designers' adaptation.

Week 12

Specific Feedback:
Mr. Vinod said that my references are great and I'm on the right track, however, I should progress faster. He also pointed out some of the main characteristics of the Lota characters that could be included in the letters. e.g sharp edges, some curves, dots, and double lines.

Week 13

Specific Feedback:
When I showed the 1st attempt Mr. Vinod & Mr. Shamsul suggested me to make some changes to the letters. Such as how the "W", "M", "V", & "A" has a sharp edge that doesn't get along with the other letters and the "U" & "V" should also be adjusted more to make it easier to differentiate between them. Mr. Vinod also pointed out how the "X" & Y" does not have contrast like the other letters.

Online Feedback:
"The roman is good. The script doesn’t seem to look right." "Tamara I think more work necessary with the local script. Don’t be afraid to introduce slight curves. And don’t try to match is completely with the roman letters. Difficult to differentiate." "By itself it looks ok. Use it together with a roman script and in your application and see how that goes."

Reflection

Experiences

Week 11

It was really hard to find the right topic as it has to have a purpose and solves something. In addition, there was also an urge to want to do different things than what others are doing which takes up much more time to decide a topic.

Week 12

It was challenging to fuse the script's characteristics to the roman letters without making it ending up looking like Greek letters due to the sharp edges it shares. I also find it too decorative and have to immensely cut down many stuff to make it look simpler.

Week 13

When I did the script, It took me a while to figure out how to correctly incorporate the contrasting strokes without making it look heavy on one side or imbalance while ensuring the stroke's direction is consistent.

Observations

Week 11

I realize that many of my friends are struggling with a similar problem when trying to figure out what topic they are going to do.

Week 12

I realize that many of my friends decided to look back to their roots and take ideas from their local culture.

Week 13

I realized that by studying an existing typeface really helps a lot to better understand how the design is done. Especially, when dealing with scripts that I'm very not familiar with.

Findings

Week 11

I found out that Indonesia has so many different types of scripts that are also very contrasting to one another due to different roots. Such as the script that I decided to create, Lota-Ende script, I didn't know it existed until I searched about the variety of scripts in Indonesia.

Week 12

When making the roman letters, I found out that there are several shapes of the letters that can't be altered much in order to avoid people from misidentifying the letters.

Week 13

I found out about that by adjusting the x-height and width of the scripts allows for better readability. I realized this after adjusting the first attempt and attempting to refine it by reducing its x-height and allow more flexibility for its width. In addition, I believe by introducing slight curves have also improved the readability a lot.

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Design Journal: Tamara Audrey