Typography - Exercises
29/8/2018- 28/9/2018 | Week1-Week6
Lee Yu Hui | 0335787
Typography
Exercises
Lectures
Lecture Notes
Week 1- 29/8/2018
Introduction
Introduction
During the first day of class, Mr. Vinod introduced us to typography and told us about the origins and basic concept of typography. I later learned that "Font" is a process of creation of the typeface, and I have misunderstood the word "font" for so many years. Typeface is an individual face from one family (within the typefamily) Exp: Arial Bold, Arial Black. Mr. Vinod then proceeded to ask us to get a calligraphy pen and graph papers to practice writing calligraphy. He also asked us to print out a few different typefamily and choose one desired type family to practice our calligraphy as our assignment. He also asked us to prepare graph papers and a calligraphy pen.
Week 2- 5/9/2018
Typography:Describing Letterforms
This week's lecture we learned about the basics of creating typefaces. Basically typefaces are created based on several lines (ascender height, cap height, x-height, baseline and descender height), and we also learned about different names and parts of the typefaces. I also learned about the origins of the word lower caps and upper caps. Besides that, Mr. Vinod has also advised us to borrow books from the library to learn more in-depth about typography.
Week 3- 12/9/2018
Calligraphy (Week 1 -Week 3)
Week 3
Experiences
-Script: Refined version of handwriting
Week 2- 5/9/2018
Typography:Describing Letterforms
This week's lecture we learned about the basics of creating typefaces. Basically typefaces are created based on several lines (ascender height, cap height, x-height, baseline and descender height), and we also learned about different names and parts of the typefaces. I also learned about the origins of the word lower caps and upper caps. Besides that, Mr. Vinod has also advised us to borrow books from the library to learn more in-depth about typography.
Week 3- 12/9/2018
We have no lecture during this week as Mr. Vinod is absent. However, we went on with our calligraphy and lettering practice while Mr. Shamsul gave us feedback on our work.
Week 4- 19/9/2018
Typography: Development/ Timeline
Week 4- 19/9/2018
Typography: Development/ Timeline
For today's class we were taught about the early letter form development of typography. Initially, writing meant scratching into wet clay with sharpened stick. Uppercase letterforms can be seen to have evolve out of these tools and materials.
Figure 1.0: From Phoenicians to Roman
Handscript from 3rd-10th century C.E.
Square capitals were the written versions that can be found in Roman monuments. These letterforms have serifs added to the main strokes. The variety of stroke width was achieved by the reed pen held at an angle of approximately 60° off the perpendicular.
Figure 1.1: Square Capitals
A compressed version of square capitals, rustic capitals allowed for twice as many words on a sheet of parchment and took far less time to write. The pen or brush was held at an angle of approximately 30° off the perpendicular. Though rustic capitals were faster and easier to write, they were slightly harder to read due to their compressed nature.
Figure 1.2: Rustic Capitals
Blackletter to Gutenberg's type
With the dissolution of
Charlemagne’s empire came regional variations upon Alcuin’s script. In northern
Europe, a condense strongly vertical letterform know as Blackletter or textura gained popularity. In the south, a
rounder more open hand gained popularity, called ‘rotunda’. The humanistic
script in Italy is based on Alcuin’s miniscule.
Gutenberg’s skills included
engineering, metalsmithing, and chemistry. He marshaled them all to build pages that accurately
mimicked the work of the scribe’s hand – Blackletter of northern Europe. His type mold
required a different brass matrix, or negative impression, for each letterform.
Week 5- 21/9/2018
We did not have lecture class this week. Mr. Vinod and Mr. Shamsul gave us feedback and let us work on our lettering.
Week 6- 28/9/2018
There was no lecture this week. We were told to animate our letterings in class.
Week 6- 28/9/2018
There was no lecture this week. We were told to animate our letterings in class.
Instructions
We were assigned to practice the use of calligraphy pen.
Figure 1.1 My first attempt on calligraphy.
Figure 1.2 My attempt on writing letter.
Figure 1.3 My reference on the chancery font.
Figure 1.4 Final attempt on writing alphabets (a-z)
Figure 1.5 Final attempt on graph paper.
Figure 1.6 First attempt on A4 paper.
Figure 1.7 Final attempt on A4 paper.
Animated Lettering (Week 3-Week 6)
Mr. Vinod and Mr. Shamsul asked us to come out with a lettering for our name that best describes our personality. I went with a bright and happy personality, and I came up with a few sketches afterwards.
Figure 2.0 My type sketches.
Figure 2.1 My digitized word - (happy)
Figure 2.2 My final work - (happy)
Type Expression (Week 5- Week 6)
We were given 6 words (blur, sparkle, heavy, rage, float, tall) to design a type expression for each given word.
Figure 2.3 My final type expressions.
Then, we were required to animate one of the word, which I've chosen the word "Heavy" to be animated in the end.
Figure 2.4 My intial animation for "Heavy"
Then, Mr. Vinod suggested me to do the animation in a slightly different way, he suggested me to have the "H" squishing the other letters. And this is my final outcome:
Figure 2.5 My final outcome for the gif animation.
Feedback
Week 2
Mr Shamsul commented that my circles are too small (did not touch all four edges) and he advised me to draw the circle with two strokes instead of one. He also advised that I do not press hardly on the paper, which made my hands feel uncomfortable and the results didn't turn out well.
Mr Shamsul commented that my circles are too small (did not touch all four edges) and he advised me to draw the circle with two strokes instead of one. He also advised that I do not press hardly on the paper, which made my hands feel uncomfortable and the results didn't turn out well.
Week 3
On the first attempt, Mr. Shamsul said that my letters were a bit shaky and may need a bit of work. He also commented that my x-height is inaccurate with different letters. He adviced me to not write too slow else the strokes would look shaky and horrible. During my second attempt, he complimented my letters are much better, however, certain letters like "L" and "k" are not quite there yet. He then say that the spacing is ok, and the layout overall is good.
Week 4
Week 4
Mr. Vinod said that my spacing between words in my calligraphy (exp: the "L" and the "I") is not really consistent. He also said that some words that are supposed to be slanted are not slanted. For my lettering, I initially didn't know we have to come up with 4-5 letterings, hence I only did one. However, I did took my time and did it in class, and Mr.Vinod said that my letters would look more nicer with the letters placing slightly in motion. After I did my corrections, Mr. Vinod said that my letterings are ready to be digitized.
Week 5
Week 5
Mr. Vinod said my digitizing was good, it looked like the one I drew on paper. On my first attempt on digitizing, Mr. Shamsul commented that I could do more with my animations, and on the second attempt, Mr. Shamsul said that the frames looked a bit choppy and slow, but I was doing a great job.
Week 6
Week 6
Mr. Shamsul said he all of them are okay, except for the lettering "Sparkle", he suggests me to make a flare instead of a glow. After making a few adjustments, Mr. Vinod had a look at it and he approved of my work, hence I started with my animation. For the first few animations, Mr. Shamsul and Mr. Vinod gave me suggestions on how to improve my work, they suggested me to change my intial animation where I let the "H" fall down towards the "eavy" to where the "H" fall sideways to the "eavy" and for the final output, Mr. Vinod and Mr. Shamsul liked my animation for "Heavy".
Reflection
Experiences
Week 1
Today's lecture is interesting but it felt long. I presented my calligraphy works to Mr. Vinod, and he gave me some suggestion on how to improve my work. I do think that I need to improve on my calligraphy as it was my first time writing calligraphy and I have a hard time getting the verticle lines and the circle right.
Week 3
We practiced writing calligraphy and getting feedback for most of the class as Mr. Vinod is absent. Overall I had fun writing calligraphy, but at times I get a little frustrated as I can't get certain letters right. Proceeding to the lettering design, I was a complete lost at first as I have no idea how to design letters according to my personal traits and characteristics.
Week 4
Today I learned about the history and development of typography. It's interesting how people develop typefaces based on their experiences to what we have today. Lettering was fun, but it was a little hard to come out with original ideas for our assignments.
Week 5
Observation:
Week 1
I noticed that this class is a lot more harder than the other classes that I have attended so far. It requires a lot of skills and practice to get good at it.
Week 2
I noticed that calligraphy is more about practicing and getting the angles right, it was harder than I thought, and I see several people doing multiple copies of the same work.
Week 3
The introduction was good but I felt a little stressed out after hearing what Mr. Vinod explained about the assignments and projects we need to do. However, the lecture really opened my eye about the world of typography.
Week 2Today's lecture is interesting but it felt long. I presented my calligraphy works to Mr. Vinod, and he gave me some suggestion on how to improve my work. I do think that I need to improve on my calligraphy as it was my first time writing calligraphy and I have a hard time getting the verticle lines and the circle right.
Week 3
We practiced writing calligraphy and getting feedback for most of the class as Mr. Vinod is absent. Overall I had fun writing calligraphy, but at times I get a little frustrated as I can't get certain letters right. Proceeding to the lettering design, I was a complete lost at first as I have no idea how to design letters according to my personal traits and characteristics.
Week 4
Today I learned about the history and development of typography. It's interesting how people develop typefaces based on their experiences to what we have today. Lettering was fun, but it was a little hard to come out with original ideas for our assignments.
Week 5
We learned about animating our lettering in photoshop and illustrator. Later in the day Mr. Vinod assigned another assignment that we have to do for the next week, in which we have to do lettering based on adjectives that were given to us.
Week 6
Today we were asked to animate our lettering, and I was happy that Mr. Vinod and Mr. Shamsul liked the outcome. It was a bit tiring today, as the animating process was slow and I redid my animation a few times.
Week 6
Today we were asked to animate our lettering, and I was happy that Mr. Vinod and Mr. Shamsul liked the outcome. It was a bit tiring today, as the animating process was slow and I redid my animation a few times.
Week 1
I noticed that this class is a lot more harder than the other classes that I have attended so far. It requires a lot of skills and practice to get good at it.
Week 2
I noticed that calligraphy is more about practicing and getting the angles right, it was harder than I thought, and I see several people doing multiple copies of the same work.
Week 3
I noticed that calligraphy requires a lot of patience and practice. I saw people who wrote really well, as well as some who need a little work. However, most of them did a really great job on their calligraphy. Proceeding to the lettering design, I saw quite a few people who came up with interesting and creative ideas to design their names according to their personality.
Week 4
Week 4
I noticed a lot of people who came out with amazing ideas for their design. Mr. Vinod even asked a senior of ours to share his experiences about his final project. It was interesting how he came up with the idea for his typefaces, and I am simply in awe for his hard work.
Week 5
Week 5
Animating was fun but in the same time it was tiring as we have to go frame by frame in order to get a good animation. I found people who did interesting work and they manage to animate their lettering well. I am a little in shock of what others could do, including when looking at the previous semesters student's work.
Week 6
I'm starting to get the hang of animating though the process was tiring. I was animating my letters way quicker than before. I noticed a few of my classmates who struggled to come out with the type expression "sparkle" and "rage". Nevertheless, the one that really gets to me is the word "sparkle", as I had limited ways to express the word.
Findings:Week 6
I'm starting to get the hang of animating though the process was tiring. I was animating my letters way quicker than before. I noticed a few of my classmates who struggled to come out with the type expression "sparkle" and "rage". Nevertheless, the one that really gets to me is the word "sparkle", as I had limited ways to express the word.
Week 1
I realize the significance of typography and how it affect us in our everyday lives.
Week 2
I noticed that readability and legibility is an important factor when creating typefaces. Typography is a huge sector of design and it's a fundamental part of design.
Week 3
I realize the significance of typography and how it affect us in our everyday lives.
Week 2
I noticed that readability and legibility is an important factor when creating typefaces. Typography is a huge sector of design and it's a fundamental part of design.
Week 3
I understand that calligraphy requires a lot of practice and patience whilst lettering is more on how you put your creativity into good use.
Week 4
I find it interesting to see how people from the older days develop their writing styles. Even typography is related to our history and I find it simply intriguing. Even though I am not a huge fan of history, I still find the lecture quite interesting.
Week 5
Week 5
I realize that we have to really get into details if we want good and smooth animation. Animating is fun but also it consumes a lot of mental energy.
Week 6
I find that I actually enjoyed the designing of the type expression more than I anticipated, it was actually fun doing it however the animation part was a bit tiring.
Week 6
I find that I actually enjoyed the designing of the type expression more than I anticipated, it was actually fun doing it however the animation part was a bit tiring.
Further Readings:
Design: Type A seductive collection of alluring type designs by Paul Burgees/Burge Agency
Week 1- Week 2
Week 1- Week 2
Book Cover
This book covers different lettering designs made by different people. I wanted to dive deeper and expose myself to more interesting typefaces and works of others instead of just looking online works. This book mainly is about the designs that people make, hence there is no terminologies inside it. However, I found a few unique designs that caught my eye.
Interesting artwork that I find
This is a project by Alex Trochut from Spain. This design is from the project: "10 Ways to Get a Job". I find this particular artwork interesting as I think it looks somewhat abstract, but the words still pop out in some way. He uses lines as guidance to let the viewers recognize the words easily.It also has sort of a retro vibe to it. Overall, it looks really intersting and I enjoyed looking at details of his work.
Though this book is all about designs, it also has thoughts and description from the designers. One of them happen to be Jay Roeder. Jay Roeder is based from USA, and in the book, he mentioned why he liked hand-drawn typography. He thinks that hand-drawn typography is uncharted territory, where the rules pertaining to typography can be broken, though he also thinks that a foundation in typography is an absolute necessity. Hence his works are more on the creative side, his designs are quite fun and cheery, and it is not the typical typography that you might see outside. He describes his style as embraced imperfection, and it actually took him a while to accept the crooked lines and illegibility that his lettering took on character and interest.
Designs made by Ray Roeder.
The Newspaper Designer's Handbook (5th Edition)
Week 3
In short, this book mainly focuses on the basic guide for the layout of newspaper feeds. It also gives tips on different aspects of designs such as web, story, graphic, and page design. It was interesting enough to keep me reading as it covers a variety type of design.
Book Cover
Chapter: Story Design
The part that was interesting to me is the part where it talks about story design. It says that in a typical newspaper, about 70% of the stories run without any art, 25% use just one piece of art (a photo, chart or map), and only 5% use two or more pieces of art. In short, stories in newspaper could run vertically or horizontally, and stories run vertically when the headline is on top, the text drop straight down below it.
It also teaches us how we can use mug shots to attract the readers attention. It also covers the basic size, cropping and cutline for mug shots. In terms of size, mugs usually run the full width of a column, 3-4 inches deep. For cropping, mug shots should fill the frame tightly, but not too tightly.
Basic Graphic Design and Paste-Up
Week 4
Book Cover
Chapter: Typography
Basic Styles of Type:
-Roman: Sometimes referred to as a serif typeface.
-Gothic: Sometimes called a Sans-Serif typeface, Sans means without.-Script: Refined version of handwriting
Types of Typefaces
Although the selection of typefaces that are available may seem endless and confusing, all the typefaces you will find are variations of the three types shown above.
As you become more aware of type, you will start to notice that in the mountain of printed material which is a daily part of your life, certain pieces stand out above the others. Their quality is readily apparent. Investigation will show that their exceptional look is partly the result of the use of only one or two well chosen typefaces.
Texts on Type: Critical Writings on Typography
Week 5
Book Cover
Chapter 1: Aesthetics- Art on Type Expressions
The revival of printing which began in the 1890s has had a very marked effect on both commercial and book printing of today, bringing to light specially designed types for private use, which in turn have served as models or suggestions for other types for general use.
When tradition is renewed and advanced into our own times personal expression is made possible. The old forms were simple; the meaningless lines or excrescences upon which so many modern designers, without ability to reach the higher beauties, rely in their endeavor to conceal their lack of genius or taste, were never present in the types of the golden age of typography.
The type designer's work will not be so much a mere drawing of letters, but rather something growing naturally into being, well defined and vividly alive.
Grid and Design Philosophy
The use of the grid as an ordering system is the expression of a certain mental attitude in as much as it shows that the designer conceives his work in terms that are constructive and oriented to the future.
What is the purpose of the Grid?
The grid is used by the typographer, graphic designer, photographer, and exhibition designer for solving visual problems in two and three dimension. The graphic designer and typographer use it for designing press advertisements, brochures, catalogs, books, periodicals, etc.
By arranging the surfaces and spaces in the form of a grid the designer is favorably placed to dispose his texts, photographs, and diagrams in conformity with objective and functional criteria.
Draw Your Own Fonts
Week 6
Book Cover
Now, this book is quite a fun one. It has enough graphic materials to attract a person's attention, and it easily tells you the basics of font and all you need to know to create a font on a computer. Overall, I enjoyed reading this, and I definitely learned quite a lot of how to create a font using a computer.
Drawing and Scanning Fonts
First of all, use good quality paper with a smooth surface that won't snag your pen as you draw. Also, try to use paper that has a low absorption level so it doesn't ruck up and distort the letterforms when you use pen and ink.
Digitizing Your Fonts
Software choice should be governed largely by the level of sophistication your own font projects required. One of the more "entry level" applications to showcase here, TypeTool by FontLab.
When you begin to create a new font, something you can do either by clicking on File > New from the menu bar or by opening an existing digital font that you wish to edit, the first window you'll see is the main Font window, containing all the available slots for each glyph.
Digitizing Your Fonts
Software choice should be governed largely by the level of sophistication your own font projects required. One of the more "entry level" applications to showcase here, TypeTool by FontLab.
When you begin to create a new font, something you can do either by clicking on File > New from the menu bar or by opening an existing digital font that you wish to edit, the first window you'll see is the main Font window, containing all the available slots for each glyph.
The Font Window
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