OUGD403. Alphabet Soup: Typeface...

Design a typeface for a full alphabet and glyphs that represents the personality/character of your partner...

Having been given a partner, mine being Dan Everett, we were asked to fill in a questionnaire providing answers about ourselves, our likes/dislikes, personality traits and so on. this gave me a basic understanding of who dan is and how he thinks/acts.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR?
Blue.

WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY?
Falling off a wall as a child.

WHICH LIVING DESIGNER DO YOU MOST ADMIRE AND WHY?
Andreas Guzman.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION?
Laptop.

WHAT WOULD YOUR SUPERPOWER BE?
To fly.

WHICH GRAPHIC DESIGN DO YOU WISH YOU HAD CREATED?
The Nike tick.

WHO WOULD PLAY YOU IN THE FILM OF YOUR LIFE?
Will Smith.

WHO WOULD YOU INVITE TO YOUR DREAM DINNER PARTY?
Mum.

WHAT MAKES YOU UNHAPPY?
Not having any money.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR FANCY DRESS COSTUME OF CHOICE?
Captain Scarlet of the Thunderbirds.

WHICH WORDS OR PHRASES DO YOU MOST OVERUSE?
'Now Then'


Having answered each others questions we were then to get on with designing our typeface, however, me and Dan were enjoying the conversation and felt it would be a good idea to just talk for a while longer to get a real sense of each others personality. We asked some more questions and talked about topics of similar interest and i feel as though this really helped me get to know Dan as a person.

FUTHER INFORMATION.
Dan likes to skate, play the guitar and listens to The Streets.
Dan is from Kendal.
Dan enjoys tidying and organising but does not like help from others - he has his own methods.
Dan likes Smoothies.
Dan likes Nike, Adidas, Vans.


From this futher information, and my grasp of Dan as a person, i felt as though i had a good body of research with which to begin designing. Before i began looking at any letterforms or considering shapes/forms i thought it necessary to organise and condense what i knew about Dan into useable data.

i took the main points and made a spider diagram so i could easily see also the info and use it all together. the blue notes are my interpretations/reactions to the info about Dan and ways that i could translate said info into typographic/design concepts. Dan was interested in geometry and minimalism and i thought these would be potentially interesting themes to pursue.

  From the more concise spider diagram, i took the main points and put them into categorical sections with which i then begain to draw some very initial reactions. i was drawing my 'off the top' interpretations of each factor and not thinking too much about the brief. this gave me a set of completely original and uninfluenced ides which i could then develop. the notes on the right and my reactions to the central designs and paths that i could potentially take.

my own exploration of serifs, i feel, delivered some interesting outcomes. i particularly like how sporadic the placement of serifs is, while still maintaining some logical pattern. 

the gentle flow of the calm designs fits the word and resembles some aspects of Dan.

i think these could have been simpler and better considered however i do still like the middle one and the 'e' on the bottom example.

when it came to aesthetics i went all out which may have been a bit much but i still like the aesthetic composition of each. readability and legibility, however, are somewhat difficult.

my investigation into negative space, i feel, was the most successful in exploring the word and representing it.

i think the middle retro one works the best.

My next step was to find a suitable typeface that i could work off. i wanted a base structure that would work with the themes i had generated and so considered a number of different styled and constructed typefaces. the assessment of the potential typefaces is on my design context blog.


Having considered a variety of typefaces in line with my interpretations of Dan i chose to base my designs on the Skia Regular font.

Skia Regular
Dan 


having chosen a suitable font i thought it necessary to go back and do some more hand drawn designs, but more in line with the chosen font. as it an alphabet to be designed by me i think its important that my own ideas and original designs are inputted. i used Skia as a basis for my drawings but went further into how i could make them more suitable to the brief.

i particularly like my consideration of counters and the negative space that makes them. i wanted to maintain a simplicity of line when working on the mai stems. i think the use of two single lines hints the idea of a stronger weight without the letters actually being thick.

when presented in the first crit, the above designs got a good reaction and i was advised to pursue this theme further. i decided that this was a strong point in my designs and so went on in this style.

having got my ideas down it was then a case of transferring my designing to a digital format. i chose to use the lowercase Skia Regular font because there is a lot more potential in terms of bowls and curves and i felt that id be able to input more over overlaps and such.

i did some initial experiments into how counters and overlaps may affect my outcomes.

i began by using the pen tool to make my initial outlines. i wanted to maintain the idea of a box weight but through a single line instead of blocked shapes. 

i spent a long time manipulating the handles to get the exact curvature because i wanted to stay true to the basic structure of each letterform.

in order to make it a working typeface i had to make sure that certain aspect were the same throughout. the semi boxing of the top terminal of the k is the same with the l, b, d, h etc. similarly the dots above the i and j are in the same format.

mapping the curves was quite difficult in some respects as getting the correct angle means a lot of trial and error with the anchor points and their handles.

the o was also difficult as i wanted to maintain the line going back on itself theme but most others were on straight parts of a letter instead of a curve.

having completed my alphabet plus glyphs i had to organise them into a printable version. i think when all laid out the letters look pretty good as a set.

designing the name badge was the true test of whether my alphabet worked as a proper useable font. i think it was successful in this respect. i decided to fill in the counters on the name badge to make it a bit different and i think this works aswel. 

overall i really enjoyed this brief as it was engaging and challenging. as a last test of the functionality of my alphabet i was asked to consider a brand logo or brand that i thought my font would suit or work with. i considered the old Diadora logo as its actually a really similar style.

because its so similar i decided that it was too easy and so searched for other logos that i thought might be appropriate. i ended up choosing the clover logo because it has a similar basic form but isn't that resemblant. i think the ethos and brand image surrounding clover relates well to my designed font. 

i redrew the tub with my font and in a single line illustration style.