Advanced Typography: Task 2

20/9/2023 - 7/11/2023(Week 4 - Week 11)

Seh Zi Qi/ 0355872/ Bachelor of Design(Honours) in Creative Media

Module Name: / Advanced Typography

Task 2

LIST

Lectures

Class Summaries

Task 2A:

Task 2B:

Feedback

Reflection

Further Reading

LECTURES

Click here for the lectures.

CLASS SUMMARIES

Week 4:

In today's class, we were given a brief about our specialisations from Mr Vinod and how we should be certain of our own specialisations; it would be a costly price to pay if we figured out that the specialisation we chose was different from the one we wanted. After that, we were asked to showcase our poster to the whole class, I was inspired by the others and it gave me a boost to do better with my own poster. He also advised everyone to make the poster 1024 x 1024 px, 300 dpi because most people had it A4 size instead of the square. We were then asked to show the word marks we've drawn and he'll give us feedback, he said that I may have the form but if it doesn't have functionality, it's just decorative which is something I need to work on. The whole class had a few laughs since some of the word marks had funny meanings behind their words, he then asked us to create word marks that people would make merchandise and buy from.

Week 5:

Mr Vinod started by asking the entire class to show their wordmark using a big box as our template, we also used a picture of a black shirt as our base to showcase it in an inverted colour. This was done with the whole class so we only did this for the entire lesson. He also told us to find colours we want to incorporate within our wordmark as well as make collaterals, minimum 3, and show it next week.

Week 6:

The class started with checking our final word marks and collaterals we made. Most feedback consists of the colours being too similar and that we needed to create better collateral that didn't just consist of our wordmark on an item. This can be tackled by finding specific traits within the wordmark created, this helps with both consistency as well as finding a graphic that shows the brand which isn't just the word mark itself.

Week 7:

Started the class by checking out the collaterals and Instagram posts we’ve made. He gave his feedback and gave us an hour to do more. He then briefed us about task 3 in typography, we need to make a font, in black and white, to either solve a problem that is within the area of your interest(i.e. animation), explore the existing letterforms and create a new font using those explorations, making a new font with things you find or doing experimental fonts using unconventional items and using those fonts to create something with it. D&AD New Blood Awards is a good place to look at works from students and professionals.

Week 8:

Independent learning week so there wasn't a physical class but an online class that Mr Vinod hosted. He wanted to check our progress on the final project and the ideas that we have. He also wanted us to make a t-shirt using the word mark we made during Task 2.

INSTRUCTION

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Task 2A: Word Mark

"Explore and compose as many permutations and combinations of your name in the form of a wordmark/lettering. The final key artwork must be an elegant solution, well balanced and

composed, not complicated or confusing that leads to a functional and communicable key artwork. This key artwork will subsequently be used in Task 2(B) collateral."

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Research

I started by going to Pinterest to find inspiration for the word mark I wanted to create. Since I already had an idea, finding the word faults I wanted was relatively easy.

Fig 1.1, Pinterest board, 20/9/2023

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Process [Sketching]

We started out by creating a mindmap to show what were our likes and what we wanted to represent in the wordmark we wanted to make.

Fig 1.2, Mindmap, 20/9/2023

What I wanted to represent was to show the artistic and vulnerable side within me so I went with either a flowy or boxy look to represent those sides.

The flowy look comes from my artistic side which also shows the specialisation I want to go into, which is animation. Using a cursive or flowy look helps bring out the movement within the wordmark therefore it's a good fit with what I want to create.
The boxy look comes from the vulnerable side where I want to be more outgoing but I still have this 'safe zone' where I can come back, it also creates a border that shows the inclusivity that I want to show others that I accept towards others.

Fig 1.3, Initial Sketches, 20/9/2023

I've also created sketches using my alias, AKJane since I thought it would be fun to create a few that I can represent the online persona I've created for myself.

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After gaining feedback from Mr Vinod, I decided to push through and use the one I liked but give it a better meaning instead of "it looks pretty".

The explanation I decided I wanted to go with was to use my creativity or artistic side to create a connection with my friends and family. Using the 'intertwining' effect creates this story of me wanting a better connection with the people in my life and since this current stage of my life is to discover myself, using this artistic side can help show my vulnerabilities.

Fig 1.4, Final Sketch, 23/9/2023

Before digitising, Mr Vinod asked us to sketch wordmarks that we would personally use for branding so I did just that.

Fig 1.5, Branding wordmark sketches, 23/9/2023

My favourite out of the new bunch would be the top left as it felt the closest to the one I wanted to create the most. Honourable mentions would be the one beside and underneath the one I chose because it was

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Process [Digitisation]

After choosing which sketch to go with, I went to Adobe Illustrator and started digitising the sketch. I started off by using the Pen Tool to create the strokes, this step was easy but tedious when using the Width Tool; the problem I encountered was when using the Width Tool to delete nodes, it would create weird sizes on each node afterwards. I combated this by redoing some of the strokes as that seemed to work well.

Fig 2.1, First ideation, 23/9/2023

This concludes my first ideation of digitisation and I showed Mr Vinod on the day he wanted feedback. This is what he gave:

The first 4 letters are good but the last 3 felt off.
The letters ‘I’ & ‘Q’ were too low compared to the others, so I had to bring them up to the same height as the letters ‘S’ & ‘H’.
The letters ‘E’ & ‘H’ are a bit too far apart, so I’ll have to close the distance to make it look more connected.

Fig 2.2, Feedback for first ideation, 27/9/2023

Once I got the feedback, I went back and remade the word mark using the feedback given. I started off by using a guide to show the height of what the wordmark should stay in.

Fig 2.3, Second ideation, 27/9/2023

After creating the guide, the word mark felt too simple so I decided to extend some strokes to create a more flowy look towards the word mark.

Fig 2.4, Second ideation, 27/9/2023

Mr Vinod gave me feedback again when I showed him the second ideation and this was the feedback he gave me:

The ending flick on the letter ‘Z’ was good.
The ‘S’ felt too excessive as too much can make it look uglier so tone it down with just a flick upwards; it also looks too clunky which doesn’t fit the smoothness of the other letters, so I’ll have to redo that.
The ‘Q’ needs more work, it can benefit from not having the inner curve. The outer curve can overlap with the circle to make it look more like a ‘Q’.
The ‘I’ and ‘H’ have varying thicknesses so they look out of place, I’ll have to replace the vertical strokes of the ‘I’ to make it look more consistent; if I want to add the top and bottom strokes of the ‘I’, I’ll have to either only do the top or add varying line weight strokes to the top and bottom to create it, if not then just have the vertical stroke by itself.

Fig 2.5, Feedback for second ideation, 27/9/2023

So I went back and redid the digital wordmark which ended up being my final wordmark as I quite liked the outcome.

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Task 2B: Collateral

"Students will work on the animated key artwork first and fine-tune the outcomes before

going on to the other collateral materials and finally an Instagram account. Collateral: Animated Key Artwork (800/1024 px, height and width; GIF format), use mock-ups to simulate the printing of the collateral."

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Expansions

Before going into creating the collaterals, I started off by choosing a colour palette of my choice. I wanted something in purple since it's my favourite colour and it represents who I am. I found 2 choice palettes that I really liked and decided to use them both and see which one I would want to finally use.

Fig 3.1, Colour Palettes, 30/9/2023

While expanding the colour choices of my wordmark, I decided to find what's unique about my wordmark and see what I can extract from it to create graphical elements to help with the collaterals later.

Fig 3.2, Extractions, 30/9/2023

The one I liked the most was the bottom left as it felt like a cartoonish paint splatter which can tie into my nature of being 'silly' so I went with that as my main graphical element.

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Process [Collateral #1 - Mug]

I decided I wanted to do a mug since it's one of the basic collaterals that a lot of people do, it's also a pretty common household item that a lot of people use so it might come in handy if I ever want to make merch of my own wordmark.

I started off by going into Edit>Transform>Warp to get the perspective of the rounded mug as it looks more realistic that way.

Fig 4.1, Warping wordmark, 4/10/2023

After getting the perspective I wanted, I went ahead with using the Curvature Tool to make the paint splatter around the mug.

Fig 4.2, Adding paint splatter, 4/10/2023

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Process [Collateral #2 - T-shirt]

Next, I decided to create a t-shirt since Mr. Vinod told us to make a t-shirt to wear on week 9. I used the paint splatter as a base instead of surrounding the word mark like the mug.

Fig 5.1, Paint splatter as a base, 6/10/2023

I also explored the different possibilities but stuck to my original plan as it felt like the best one that suited me.

Fig 5.2, Exploration of different designs, 6/10/2023

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Process [Collateral #3 - Boxes]

Similar to the mug, I surrounded the boxes with paint splatters and left the wordmark in the middle.

Fig 6.1, Process of collateral #3, 10/10/2023

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Process [Collateral #4 - Tote Bag]

Similar to collateral #1 and #3, I surrounded the bag with paint splatters and had the wordmark in the middle

Fig 7.1, Process of collateral #4, 14/10/2023

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Process [Animation]

I made a storyboard of what I wanted to make:

Fig 8.1, Storyboard sketch of animated wordmark, 20/10/2023

The idea was to spawn a circle that uses itself to create the wordmark, symbolic of my need to sacrifice things to be able to connect towards people and have it spell/write out the wordmark to create that hand-drawn look.

This whole process was made within Adobe After Effects.

For the opening transition, I used the Shape Tool to create the circle and used the Position and Scale nodes to make it go where I wanted and also to increase and decrease the shape.

Fig, 8.2, Creating opening transition, 21/10/2023

Using Easy Ease Ins and adjusting the speed graph helps to create smooth transitions that feel natural to the eyes. I also added Motion Blur to create a smoother transition from the middle to the top motion.

Once I was done with the opening transition, I used the Pen Tool to draw the specific lines that would create the wordmark. I would use the Stroke effect to make the line look like it's moving on its own without needing to use the position and scale nodes.

Fig 8.3, Creating moving lines, 21/10/2023

I then went into making the writing animation by using the Pen Tool to mark out the path of the wordmark and also using the same effect, Stroke, in the wordmark; although it worked alright, the letters would appear before intended so I went ahead with stripping the wordmark into a PSD file that had each stroke on a separate layer which made it somewhat easier.

Fig 8.4, Creating the writing animation, 21/10/2023

Once I was done with the main part of the animation, I felt that it was too short and decided to add a sequence of my wordmark in the different colours of the colour palette I chose. This was a little bit hard as I needed to create a smooth transition for when the colours changed and to have the specific frames to put in the different colours of the wordmark.

Fig 8.5, Creating coloured transitions, 21/10/2023

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Process [Instagram Post]

Before actually posting my collaterals and animated wordmark on my Instagram, I made some sketches to see which layout was the best layout.

Fig 9.1, Instagram layout sketches #1 - #4, 26/10/2023

Out of all the layouts, I like sketch #2 the best as it shows that everything connects back to me which is what I wanted to show. Once I was done choosing the layout I wanted, I went into Adobe Photoshop to make the Instagram post.

Things to note when making the post:

To make an interesting layout, I need to showcase my items in a way that makes people want to scroll through my account.
Having a quote can help people relate towards my brand as they know what I want to show.
Having funny bios for people to read through can help with people's moods :D

Fig 9.2, Process of making an Instagram account, 27/10/2023

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FINAL Key Artwork, Collateral & Animation

Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/sehziqi/

Fig 10.1, Final Colour Palette, 3/11/2023

Fig 10.2, Final Key Artwork(Black & White), 3/11/2023

Fig 10.3, Final Key Artwork(Coloured), 3/11/2023

Fig 10.4, Final Key Artwork(Lightest BG with Darkest K.A.), 3/11/2023

Fig 10.5, Final Key Artwork(Darkest BG with Lightest K.A.), 3/11/2023

Fig 10.6, Final Animated Key Artwork, 3/11/2023

Fig 10.7, Collateral #1 Mug, 3/11/2023

Fig 10.8, Collateral #2 T-shirt, 3/11/2023

Fig 10.9, Collateral #3 Boxes, 3/11/2023

Fig 10.10, Collateral #4 Tote Bag, 3/11/2023

Fig 10.11, Instagram Post, 3/11/2023

Fig 10.12, Final work in PDF, 3/11/2023

Fig 10.13, Final Animated Key Artwork in PDF, 3/11/2023

FEEDBACK

Week 4:

- General Feedback:

Don’t make a design that doesn’t have meaning behind the words. Keep your words simple when explaining to express what you want to show and become. Sometimes, less isn’t more, please give more concepts. A concept is a derivative of an idea, don’t be fixated on one idea. Extra parts towards word marks need to be subtle to not take away the focal point of the word mark.

-Specific Feedback:

For the poster design, it’s alright but it could be better:

The colour clashes with the font, so change that
The font isn’t connected with the original image, it looks like foreground and background.

For the sketches, it’s good but:

The sketches are good, but they need more meaning towards the forms/word marks you’ve created.
Form over function, if not, it’s just decorative.
Simplify the concept to a few words since no one knows what art is, a simple explanation should do.

Week 5:

-General Feedback:

Not much for general feedback but just to check our work properly before giving him

-Specific Feedback:

The first-word mark was good but had some problems:

The first 4 letters are good but the last 3 felt off.
The letters ‘I’ & ‘Q’ were too low compared to the others, so I had to bring them up to the same height as the letters ‘S’ & ‘H’.
The letters ‘E’ & ‘H’ are a bit too far apart, so I’ll have to close the distance to make it look more connected.

The second iteration of the word mark was also good but had some problems as well:

The ending flick on the letter ‘Z’ was good.
The ‘S’ felt too excessive as too much can make it look uglier so tone it down with just a flick upwards; it also looks too clunky which doesn’t fit the smoothness of the other letters, so I’ll have to redo that.
The ‘Q’ needs more work, it can benefit from not having the inner curve. The outer curve can overlap with the circle to make it look more like a ‘Q’.
The ‘I’ and ‘H’ have varying thicknesses so they look out of place, I’ll have to replace the vertical strokes of the ‘I’ to make it look more consistent; if I want to add the top and bottom strokes of the ‘I’, I’ll have to either only do the top or add varying line weight strokes to the top and bottom to create it, if not then just have the vertical stroke by itself.

Week 6:

- General Feedback:

Things to do for our word mark & collaterals:

Don’t just add your work mark to a product, you have to create a pattern using your word mark to stand out from the rest.
Colours need to be reversed when the background is black, which can depend on your colour palette.
The colour palette MUST NOT be pastel because it would be too hard to work with or just plain bad to use when creating a word mark.
You can’t discard your full wordmark, we need to use the full wordmark when creating collaterals.
A good way to expand our collaterals is to find a specific part that can be used as a mark or stamp to solidify your word mark’s intention.
When you have a very noisy mark, using repetition can create even more noise, so instead of using the entire thing, you should use parts of it to create less noise.
Shifting the word mark around can help create unique compositions that stand out, we can’t use graphics but we can use graphical elements derived from the word mark created.

- Specific Feedback:

My own word mark needs work because:

The first coloured version doesn’t work because it can’t work on a black background.
The second coloured version looks better though I’d be careful if I want to use it since the shadows have to be added to the original, aka it becomes thicker and harder to see in a black and white colour scheme.
The colour scheme is alright but I need to work on it more if I want to use it.

Week 7:

- General Feedback:

Instagram post recommendations:

Creating better visual designs by using more compositions and colours, helps with the expansion of the identity of the word mark.
Don’t just have your wordmark as the collateral, you need to expand from the wordmark to create a better identity towards what you want to represent.
Enlarge certain collateral parts to entice people to scroll through your Instagram post.

- Specific Feedback:

My Instagram post needs more work because:

Good colours
Needs 3 more grids for the entire Instagram feed
Collaterals need to be expanded upon further, not just a wordmark on a T-shirt.

Week 8:

- General Feedback:

For Task 3:

Don't do something too generic, be more specific about the font you want to create.

- Specific Feedback:

No specific feedback since I didn't show him anything.

REFLECTION

Experience

This task made me think like a graphic designer which is quite intriguing as there are a lot of thought processes when it comes to creating an entirely new brand just with typography alone. It was quite gruelling but experimental as the expansion of both the key artwork and collaterals made me think of how to engage an audience that doesn't know anything about me and who I am. Even with the lack of skills and knowledge within this field of work, I quite enjoyed the time that I experienced when working on this task since it wasn't something I would go into personally but helped me achieve an understanding of why graphic designers have it hard when it comes to creating a brand.

Observation

What I've seen from the inspiration within Pinterest and other students was creativity. Each of them had key artwork that showed their own sense of style that they wanted to portray and the direction each of them took was simply inspirational towards someone like me who couldn't think of much when it comes to tasks like these. From the font to their colour palette, all of them had a unique taste that can pass as professional grade branding and marketing if it ever were the case!

Findings

I found out that I need to have better time management as this assignment was mostly completed by the end of the deadline so I want to step up my game when it comes to planning out my task 3.