Typographic Task 3

For the third task on typography I chose the typeface design with which I would develop further into a vector alphabet. I chose the “Lewis Mechanics” as I have named it, sketches as I feel these would be reasonable to create as my first typeface. However from looking at my sketches it was apparent that I had issues in weight throughout the alphabet and therefore I chose one letter to base the width upon the rest. I chose the letter T for this as I felt it has a clear, crisp definition while also retaining a clunky, machine like feel.

Sketches For The Lewis Mechanics Typeface

Before creating each letter on Illustrator I first created the lowercase x. This was used as a guide for where the x-height appears, therefore giving me the median and baseline guides. As I proceeded with my designs I created the ascender height and descender height. These guidelines can be seen in use in my speed video where i created the G. I created the skeleton for the G using the letter D flipped horizontally.

Typographic Task - Part 3 from Nicole H.D.W. Sinclair on Vimeo.

Q Weight Measurements

In order to level the weight out as to be even across the alphabet I used a simple line as a guide to measure the width with. This is demonstrated in this image of my Q. As a stylistic feature on the font I incorporated a circle into each letter where appropriate, with the exception of the letter O. This was also to keep the feel of the inspiration to the font within the apparel.

Legibility Test & Background Variation

Above is a test I made to check the legibility of my typeface. Below you can see my final font, I have also created a few variations to show how it would work on different coloured backgrounds.

White and Grey Backdrops

Final Typeface Design for "Lewis Mechanics"

Overview of Workshop

I found this to be an interesting workshop to take part in and found the process of developing a font takes careful consideration. I enjoyed creating the typeface, however I feel I spent too much time on developing it, though this came out with the above outcome which i feel is successful.

P.S. 28th May - Upon searching for the image which I was inspired by for the above typeface I discovered it was not created by Wyndam Lewis but in fact Edward Wadsworth and is named "Newcastle". In conjunction with this discovery the typeface will no longer be called Lewis Mechanics but Wadsworth Mechanics instead.

Typographic Task 2

Following on from the first task I developed my initial sketches as to create three full alphabets. While doing this I had further inspiration from reflecting on the task and created the following sketches. I then used this page of sketches and that from two other styles to create the three alphabet sheets.

Inspired by Wyndam Lewis

Below are the three sketched full alphabet designs with development visuals.

Inspired by Wyndam Lewis

Inspired by Josef Muller Brockmann

Inspired by Josef Muller Brockmann

Creative Morning Berlin #13 - Erik Spiekermann – Type On Screen

Today I watched a 20 minute lecture by Erik Spiekermann on Vimeo about typefaces and their use on-screen and gathered the understanding as seen below. You can also watch the lecture here: Creative Morning Berlin #13 - Erik Spiekermann

Screen Resolution and Type

Different screens produce different results in terms of on screen fonts; quality and sharpness of the screen can possibly make or destroy the effectiveness of the typeface on screen. This is a risk that is inevitable to take. The answer is to compromise on choosing a typeface, which will hopefully balance between the two ranges of screen resolutions being most commonly used at the time. As time progresses this will hopefully make choosing typefaces for on-screen media much simpler as the range of resolution available to TV and PC monitors increases and therefore lowering the price of earlier models and reducing the gap to which viewers have their screen resolution set at.

Branding Ideas - Apps

We more then ever use paper to quickly create sketched out ideas – this then gets transferred to a mock-up “dummy” upon the computer using a tool called Keynotopia – this is a recourse which can be very helpful in terms of creating quick digital mock-ups for prototype iPhone apps. Using this enables you to create the design in keynote and transfer it onto your phone before moving onto the coding of the app. Antetype is another online recourse in which you can create prototype visuals for apps to be viewed on any type of screen.

Branding and Type

Branding is made clear on the Volkswagen app he helped to design due to use of colour and typeface choice. The consistent use of a typeface within a brand and of certain colours can bring to mind an instant identity.

Red Bull’s app is also branded by colour and use of a particular typeface. And the design is mirrored across onto their website. These examples are actually native Apps as opposed to web apps, so the type is embedded into the software so it cannot be stolen.

Poster design – for the Red Bull music academy posters they chose to create very anti-branded designs, this is because Red Bull as a brand has very much an ethic of whatever you want to do, you can do it. It is for the extreme, fast and crazy sports and encourages individuality through this and music. They found this really exciting as a project for a design agency as it opened up a variety and breadth of possibilities to which they took on board. The style of the poster is dictated by the style of music on show at each particular music festival.

Screenfeeder app – Spiekermann explains that if they were to use Helvetica on this app it would just bring to mind Apple and therefore by using this alternative font they have given it a unique identity. It is fresh and contemporary but yet references to the old typewriter to give a look similar to that of old-fashioned telegrams.

With a further project he worked on in regards to television screen-based media they used a typeface based upon the typewriter, this type was clunky in form in terms of being asymmetrical as to reflect the old-fashioned typewriters. They then were required to create some iconography and so due to the choice of typeface they decided to reflect the look of this into the icons as to create a more “dynamic” look. To me when Spiekermann presents this idea it infers movement and natural form and employs a sense of approachable friendliness due to the hand-drawn look achieved by the aesthetic approach.

Typographic Task 1

Generating Typeface From Translating Visual Imagery

Generate at least three typeface options using the letter anesg. After watching the film “Putting Back the Face into Typeface” I noticed these are the same letters Erik Spiekermann uses when experimenting with type. This is possibly due to the variation in shape each of these presents, while the a and e can arguably be quite similar in shape this can vary depending on the stylising of the typeface design.

Visual Imagery Provided for Inspiration

We were asked to take a few printed examples of different artworks and graphic designs. I chose to take five variations as I felt this would give me a wide breadth to take influence from. The only artwork I struggled to translate into type was that of Lauri Rosenwald as I felt the ideas that came to mind from viewing this piece were very similar to what I vaguely remember seeing elsewhere. Although as Spiekermann says himself, he believes a few of his typefaces may be very alike to those previously existing due to having seen and stored them in his cerebrum memory.

Below are the different sheets of designs I created with annotation to say which pieces inspired me for the different designs.

Inspired by Wyndam Lewis and Herbert Beyer, Weimer

Inspired by Lauri Rosenwald and El Lissitzky

Inspired by Josef Muller Brockmann

Mixture of Above Developed and Drawn Out Neater

Mixture of Above Developed and Drawn Out Neater

I enjoyed this task and found it interesting to see and think of how typography can be created from studying abstract imagery and the world around us. I found translating a few of the images slightly challenging in comparison to the others, those of which may be clear to identify from the amount of designs for each of the images I looked at.