oh the lolz

Final Draft CULT

Rationale:

For my font I chose to createa display font using Pop Cultural references superimposed and integrated into the characters.

I came upon the idea of using Pop Culture after seeing the “Zoo Display Type” example on our first type creation exercise. I began attempting my own similar font using objects relevant to myself; originallyby integratingthe silhouette of a Volkswagen Van (my favourite car) into an upper case K. Afterwards I decided that rather than expanding on my favourite objects it would be more appealing to create a Popular Culture type using icons such as the van. This would also expand the amount of potential uses.

The basic shape of the letters was inspired by the Slab-Serif Rockwell and how its lettering is geometric but still interesting. However, becauseunlike Rockwell my font had no serifs, I used a similar technique to Arielof cuttingaway small segments from some letters (i.e. the terminal of the shoulder on the lower case ‘a’ is slanted) to create interest.

I used a scanner to import my type concept into Adobe Illustrator and traced it onto a grid to ensure proper geometry. Once I had laid down basic lettering I began planning which letters would represent which icon. After choosing each letter’s corresponding image I imported and traced their basic silhouette and features.Then using the pathfindertool in Illustrator I introduced the traced images into the letters. Depending on how the image was originally (i.e. if the image was an actual silhouette or my own improvisation) I had to use different techniques to capture the image. This is most prominent between the G where I used one solid print and Zwhere I mixed lines and solids together.

Finally I created the modified types; firstly using my original base type as a bold version. For my second modification I chose to create a light font over italics as it would have more real world application than abold serif type which is rarely used.

Research

Geoff Mcfetridge

Geoff Mcfetridge is a Californian based graphic designer who is skilled in many media from film to textiles to 3d visuals. He began doing small works with local artists and eventually began touring with his Beautiful Losers Exhibition around the world gaining the interest of many graphic designers.More recently in his career he’s begun doing work for large corporations such as Nike, MTV and Pepsi.

In 2009 he was asked to create a typeface for the upcoming film adaption of Where the Wild Things Are.He along with Mojo designs were told to create a unique font that reflect the playful nature of the film as well as distinguish it from the book which type face was greatly out dated.“It was meant to look like the writing of the lead child actor, and the studio responded very positively to the lettering”. After digitising the font they found that they lost the handwritten appearance and had to create an entirely separate type to lose all uniformity.

The font is instantly recognisable by its drastic vertical stretch, organic shapeand awkward placement on the baseline. I love the A-symmetry on the ‘A’ and ‘W’as I find it helps push your eye from the left to right which avoiding tongue twisting as you read it. At first glance the type looks suspiciously similar to othertypefaces such as in Men in Black intro credits and Freaks and Geeks logo; although on closer inspection you can see there is a drastic difference of cap heights between the two fonts.  The Freaks and Geeks’ font is also far more grungy and appears to be etched rather than drawn.

Bright Ideas

Bright ideas has been creating display fontsfor over 5 years. Who makes the fonts remains a mystery over the internet as the typographer has no site, bio or even portfolios. However there is no denying that they have made a profound impact recently when there font Black Rose became the iconic type of the Vimeo logo. It is a contemporary display font that has obvious influences from the calligraphy style. The fonts small tracking all9ows each stroke to flow into the following character, though this doesn’t always align well (i.e. where the ‘m’ flows into the ‘e’) but usually look great. The upper case letter are unique and incorporates spontaneous flicks and strokes that catch and please the eye though I found that on some letter such as the upper case F that this was too heavily used and doesn’t fit with the uniform lower case that follow. The font has huge potential especially as its thickness allows a large range of colours to fit without effecting legibility. I would love to use this in my own work.

Maniakers Design

Maniakers Design is a Japanese company that is known mostly for their large array of light hearted comic and bubble fonts. They create both English and Japanese display types as well as graphic design and have even published two books. In 2001 one of their typographers Masayuki Sato began work on a rounded sans-serif font called Pico-Alphabet. The original font was hollow, using a thick white outline to illustrate the letters which works well with the mono-spacing. The shapes are minimalist to say the least using only essential features on each letter, for example the a has no terminal or shoulder and letters like the e and g have no cross bar. The upper case only changes the M and Y to fill the cap height with no other anatomical change. Although this font sounds bizarre it is quite aesthetically pleasing and would work great for web design as it did when Twitter used it for their logo in 2006. However twitter altered the text, giving the e a cross bar and lowering the X-height on the t’s. I thought this approach strengthened the font on this particular design as it prevented the e for being mistaken for an ‘a’.

First concept for CULT

This is my Pop Culture display font i have been creating. I chose this over my other fonts because i knew i would really enjoy the task despite how large the workload was. I am currently creating a list of each letter, what it will look like and what its corresponding Pop Culture picture is.

First Type creation exercise

We were given the task to create a font draft on an A3 peice of paper. For this I chose to create a display font using Monsters. I gave the characters a cartoon look and used cross hatching for the shading. This was a good warm up for our final task of creating a type at the end of the sessino and allowed me to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Omnomatapia

We were now asked to create a visual Omnomatapia, such as the one seen in comic books. The way to create this is by altering the baseline, leading, tracking and cap height to create a look of transforming or traveling through space.

Type matching exercise

For this excersise we were given a list of names for hypothetical oragnisations (for e.g. Funeral Palour, Party Store). We were then instructed to think up names for each type and colour them appropriately.

Initials Design Project

For this exercise we were instructed to use our initials with or without our middle name) and create a logo out of them. At first I began with a monochromatic combination of A and P with the C overlayed in white. to empahsize the theoretical space inside of the C i places a dot, this also helped to balance the piece. For my second type I used a retro sans-serif to create a Cocacola-esque style logo. I once again used a small C to create interest in amongst the letters.

For my final types i chose to try something more challenging. I used Webding and Windings fonts to create a motif of my initials. My favorite out of the two is the pointing hand which actually looked fairly nice.

Type QnA

Typography revision session 1

1. What is sans serif also referred to as?

Gothic or grotesque

2. In what context would having a typeface with a large x-height be an advantage?

If you have small type a large x-height helps readability

3. How is type height measured and how do they relate to generic measurement in inches (list both ways)?

1/72 of an inch

Pica = 12 points

4. List 4 variations of a typeface that you would commonly see in a typeface family.

Bold

Regular

Italics

Slim

5. Why would having a proportionally spaced font be an advantage over a monospaced font?

Because it takes up less space and is more readable

6. What does the term leading refer to and how can you adjust it in Adobe Illustrator?

Leading is the vertical space between lines of text measured in points and defines the space between the base lines of both texts, in adobe illustrator the leading can be altered through the characters menu in the top right corner of settings in the dialog box

7. What is the difference between kerning and tracking? 

Tracking is the spacing between all the letter of a word, kerning is the difference between two letters in a word

8. How would you identify an old style serif font?

Old serif font tend to be more slanted and have angled serifs, modern texts have a more vertical pattern and a higher stroke contrast

First Post!

Welcome to my Graphic Design blog the X-Height. This year will be dealing with mostly my typography unit as well as my personal works. Enjoy!