Typography task 2 : Typographic exploration and communication

 Typography task 2 : Typographic exploration and communication

11/28/2024 - Week 6

Khansa Raudlatus Syahiidah / 0374511

Typography / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Task 2 : Typographic exploration & communication

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TABLE OF CONTENTS :

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Process work

    3.1 Research

    3.2 Ideation

    3.3 Final outcome

4. Feedback

5. Reflection

6. Further Reading 

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5. LECTURES :

Lecture week 6 : 

    During the lecture week 6, which was also the start of our task 2, we were quickly demonstrated on what work we'll be doing. As Mr. Max finished explaining, we were told to start straight away on our 4 sketch for our headline, some were luckily approved during class but for those who haven't finish may continue until next week.

Lecture week 7 : 

    We continued receiving feedbacks on our sketch and for some may also have started to digitize their work. We we assigned to digitize the work, and start to create the lay out of the headline and the text.

Lecture week 8 :  

    We had Independent learning week during our week 8. However, Mr. Max still held a meeting, which was not mandatory for all to join, for students who wanted feedbacks and some may ask for their finalize design.

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• Pre - Recorded Lecture : Type_0_Introduction

    Typography : Letters / Understanding letterforms

    The uppercase letterforms below suggest symmetry. But in fact, it is not symmetrical. It is easy to see the different stroke weights of the baskerville stroke form (below) ; more noteworthy is the fact that each bracket connecting the serif to the stem has a unique arc/

    Typography : Letters 

    The uppercase letterforms may appear symmetrical, but with a close examination, it shows that the width of the left slope is thinner than the right one. Bothe baskerville, and univers demonstrate the meticulous care a type designer takes to create letterforms that are internally harmonious and individually expressive.

    A complexity of each individual letterform is neatly demonstrated by examining the lowercase "a" of two similar sans-serif typefaces - helvetica and univers. 

    A comparison of how the stems of the letterforms  finish and how the ball meet the stems quickly reveals the palpable difference in character between the two.

             

    

    Typography : Letters / Maintaining ex-height

    Ex-height generally describes the size of the lowercase letterforms. However, curved stroke such as the one is "s", must rise above the median / sink bellow baseline, in order to appear to be the same size as the vertical and horizontal strokes they adjoin.

    Typography : Letters / Forms / Counterform

    It is important to develop a sensitivity to the counterform / counter - the space describes, and often contained by the strokes of the form. When letters are joined to form words, the counterform includes the spaces between them.

    One of the way of understanding the form and counter of a letter is to examine them in close detail. The examination also provide a good feel for how the balance between form and counter is achieved and a palpable sense of letterform's unique characteristics. 

    Typography : Letters / Contrast

    The basic principle of graphic design apply directly to typography. Contract - the most powerful dynamic in design - as applied to type, based on a format devised by Rudi Ruegg.

    The simple contrast produces numerous variation : small + organic / large + machined, small + dark / large light.

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2. INSTRUCTIONS

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3. PROCESS WORK :

3.1 Research

    During the process of sketching, I tried to start of with imagining how a word would look like, from there one, I tried to play it around until the wanted design shows.

3.2 Ideation

Initial sketches :

    I had one of my sketches approved during week 6. However, after showing Mr. Max my new sketch the next week, many was rejected and from all the sketches I made. Due to that, I started using the time in class sketching and continue asking for feedbacks on what could be better or whether any sketches are eventually approved.

Digitization :

    In these 4 designs shown, I tried playing around with the word "unite", merging the u and n / n and i to form the image of being together (unite). However, looking back to my rough sketch, I was starting to be less creative with using the word "unite", as my sketch were told to almost looks the same. Therefore, instead of sticking with the word unite, I tried to started to us " Visualise". In these deign, visualise is a circle form was meant to seem a a perspective.

Blocking :

3.2 Final outcome

4. FEEDBACK :

Week 6 :

General feedback : Feedback on our progress for task 2

Specific feedback : the "visualise" design was accepted

    Week 7 : 

General feedback : Feedbacks of our sketches and digitization of our sketches for task 2 : Typographic exploration & communication

Specific feedback : Sketches are mostly similar, keep sketching for the 4 design

    Week 8 : 

General feedback : Digitization of 6 design and finalization of our exercise 2 : Text formatting

Specific feedback : -

5. REFLECTION :

Experience :

    In the process of working on my task 3 : exploration and communication, I was able to understand more about the purpose of InDesign, hoe to space paragraph without clicking enter, laying out the text and headline, and many more.

Observations : 

    I learned many things throughout the process of finishing this work such as, time and focus on details.

Findings :

    Certain task may seem less difficult than you think, all you have to make up is to actually start doing it. Although you may still get confused using the illustrator, as you continuously get better, you will find it slowly getting less tricky than use to be.    

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FURTHER READING : 

    Visual characteristics :

    Old style

    While this type classification was influenced by the first romans or Humanist typefaces created in Venice by printer Nicolas Jenson in the later part of the fifteenth century, their further development was guided by type designers such as Claude Garamond (French, 1480–1561, see here), Robert Granjon (French, 1513–1589), and Jean Jannon (French, 1580–1658) in the sixteenth century as they produced new and refined forms of this genre. Finally, mid-eighteenth century Old Style typefaces designed in England by William Caslon (English, 1692–1766) appeared heavier and more visually substantial, representing the full development of this type classification.

    Robert Granjon was a French punch cutter and type designer. He designed many Renaissance and Mannerist Romans, italics, Greeks, a Cyrillic, Hebrews, and the first successful Arabic typeface. His most notable contribution to type design was his italic type, Parnagon de Granjon (ca. 1550), which possessed a greater slant angle, slanted Roman capitals, and a reduced stroke weight. Granjon’s italic was the primary influence for italic type design until the revival of the Arrighi model in 1920. (Ludovico Degli Arrighi’s (Italian, ca. 1480–1527) italic typeface (ca. 1527) derived from Renaissance Italian handwritten scripts known as cursiva humanistica).

Le Premier Livre des Narrations Fabuleuses title page, 1558 Robert Granjon (French, 1513–1589) The title page for Le Premier Livre des Narrations Fabuleuses (The First Book of Fabulous Stories) shows Granjon’s cursiva letterforms, known as Parnagon de Granjon, which he used for the text of this 127-page publication. The serpent ornament framed by vertical roman capitals is Granjon’s trademark.

Visual Characteristics 

Old Style typefaces include some of the most beautiful, legible, and welldesigned text typefaces in use today. They are primarily based on roman proportions, therefore do not have strong contrasts in stroke weights

Visual characteristics :

    Transitional 

    The Transitional type classification covers typefaces that transition from Old Style to Modern letterforms and first appeared in England and France in the mid-eighteenth century. 

    The Romains du Roi marked a significant development in the history of typography. It was the first new typographic development that diverged from the Old Style genre prevalent throughout Europe during this time period, therefore it’s identified as the first Transitional typeface. 

Visual Characteristics

    The distinguishing visual characteristics that separate Transitional typefaces from their Old Style predecessors are letterforms that are derived from geometry rather than hand-drawn forms, the introduction of a vertical stress in their curved letterforms, and sharper bracketed serifs that are less pronounced and subtler in profile. They are also characterized by a more pronounced contrast in stroke thickness, and a larger x-height defines their lowercase letters.

    Transitional typefaces also possess more contrast in stroke variation which, was controversial at the time since it had an obvious and immediate impact on readability. This typographic detail was improvements in printing technology, the introduction of hot-pressed papers, and improved printing inks. These defining characteristics were precursors to the next typographic refinement with the Modern classification of typefaces

Applications

    Transitional typefaces are designed to function extremely well as large bodies of continuous book-scale text, as well as large-scale display settings. The majority of typefaces within this classification possess a visual cohesiveness since their italic equivalents have been designed as integral parts of their typographic families. These characteristics provide a graphic designer with a broader palette of options for creating visual emphasis and differentiation than with the italics of earlier Garalde or Humanist typefaces.

Seminal Transitional Typefaces: Bell (Richard Austin, 1788) Bulmer (William Martin, 1792) Caledonia (William Addison Dwiggins, 1938) Caslon (William Caslon, 1725) Electra (William Addison Dwiggins, 1935) Fournier (Pierre Simon Fournier, 1742) Meridien (Adrian Fruitger, 1957) Perpetua (Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, 1928) Plantin (Frank Hinman Pierpont, 1913) Spectrum (Jan van Krimpen, 1957) Stone Serif (Sumner Stone, 1987) Times New Roman (Stanley Morison, 1932) ¶ 

Historical influence :

Romains du Roi

• Romains du Roi was designed using a strict 48 by 48 square grid comprised of 2,304 modules
• In 1745, the Romains du Roi type family was comprised of 86 fonts and marked a significant break from the Old Style typefaces of the period

Type designer profile :

Giambattista Bodoni 

(Italian, 1740–1813) 

• Giambattista Bodoni was one of the most renowned punch cutters, type designers, and printers in Europe and the creator of one of the first Modern typefaces
• Typefaces created during this same time period by designers Pierre Simon Fournier (French, 1712–1768) and Firmin Didot (French, 1764–1836) influenced Bodoni’s work