SB2: Initial Typography Design

Earlier today, we had our meeting with our collaborators and I've mentioned to them how I'm planning to create a custom typography for the title of the publication. I couldn't show them anything as I haven't started much on it, however I did say how I wanted to make it look, sleek and almost futuristic in order to fit the collages that Olivia is making as well as the fantasy, ethereal feel that we are trying t o create for the publication. I wanted to make it for tonight in order to get feedback form it from my collaborators as quick as possible for quick refinements before starting any layout design.

I started with 'Didot' as I liked it's thin stems contrasting the thick ones as well as the oblong curves which I liked. I thought referencing and manipulating this typeface would be appropriate as it has similar characteristics as the one I had in mind. Furthermore, I chose to the lowercase letter as they have more serifs and curves that are quite flexible and versatile that I can play around with.

Didot

I started to manipulate the letters but cutting its straight rigid serifs to more diagonal stems, creating movement and a dynamic element to them. I also tried to make the curves thinner however you can't really see the difference. and made the bottom serifs slightly curvy contrasting the ascenders. I played around with the idea of movement and mimic 'waves' in the water, referencing back to the water element in Pisces. But, I didn't really like it and thought that it's best to keep in quite simple and figured that I'd be able to play around with the 'movement' using the curves and geometric shapes within the letters, along with the collages that Olivia has made. 

I went for a simpler approach and manipulated 'Didot' in more subtle ways, which in turn has made it easier for me to create 'rules' as I was manipulating them. I had Eric Hu's custom typography for Satie as inspiration as I really liked how sophisticated it looks through the elongated terminals and the large contrast between the stem  and counter widths as they curve up/down. Hu's use of irregular use of the ascenders as well makes the design really interesting in particular as when put in a word for example, though it doesn't follow the regular typography rules, it's still very optically and aesthetically pleasing to look and read. I wanted the Pisces typography to have a similar characteristic to this as well however evoking a more futuristic and sleek look that will highlight the collages that Olivia has made. At first I had a really hard time making adjustments as I haven't seen the collages Olivia did so I didn't know if they would compliment each other, however,, after our meeting with Olivia and Nusheen I figured that the direction I'm moving forward to is something that will go well together with Olivia's own visuals as well so by the end of it I had a much easier time and easier way of suing the typeface with the collages that Olivia made. 

Eric Hu's custom typeface for Satie

The typeface grid was created through referencing the constellation shape for Pisces. I decided to grid it vertically instead of horizontally in order to keep it consistent with how the constellation is shaped as well. However, as I was gridding each point of the constellation it become too complicated because there were too many lines, therefore I decided to only use the more prominent points as the main points of the grid. (The main points are shown with the brown lines on fig 2)

fig 1

fig 2

I decided to lay out the typeface on the centre of the grid keeping it consistent and used the serif ends as indicators for the end of the line. However, this wasn't possibly for some letters such as 'm' and 'w' therefore I tried to make it centred as possibles whilst trying to make it fit the rule that I had as well. 

I decided to use the lowercase letters as I felt it was much easier to manipulate s it had much more curves and more stems that I can manipulate with. I made the counter irregularly thin and quite smooth on the dots on its end creating a very fluid curved shaped especially for letters 'a' and 'c'. On the other hand, I decided to create diagonal ascenders and descenders e.g. 'b' and 'p', making it look more like apex's as I thought this would give the typography a more dynamic aspect especially when used in a word or sentence. it may also help me with griding the words when I compose them on the page? I've made the dots on 'j' and 'i' elongated to also add an irregular odd aspects to the typography much like a Pisceans characteristic of being 'in their own world', I thought this could also reflect when it's used in a word as it takes attention away from the other letters of the as it can stand out. 

This is the final typography that I did, I'm quite satisfied with it, although it may look a bit simple, I think it's quality will shine through when they are composed in a word or phrase as each element can complement something to the composition of the letter on the page and design. 

Final Typeface

I decided to put the letters together as words that I could use for the publication. As I'm only aiming to use the publication for the front and back cover, I thought illustrating example words with the title and sign would be the most appropriate. I also played with the weight, width and height of the letter and words in order to see which one can fit best and also adding more manipulation to the now completed new typeface which will fit the aesthetic of the publication. I personally quite liked the shorter height style and shorter leading with tight kernings as it has a smoother and fluid character to it as opposed to the regular style which actually looks a bit rigid. In order to highlight this fluid aspect, I decided to play around with different letter layouts and found that using the serif ends and curves as 'grids' reinforced this whole aesthetic further as well. I think I will use a similar if not the same approach when I'm laying out type for the content of the publication as well.

Example words

Thoughts &  Reflection:

I had a really hard time trying to use an appropriate typeface to use as a reference for the new type as I wanted the outcome to compliment the collages, however, they weren't sent to me before so I was a bit stuck. However, I decided to go with how I wanted it to look like in my initial designs and upon going to the meeting with Olivia and Nusheen, I was glad to find out that they were suitable and complementary to Olivia's design and went ahead to develop it. 

I also asked for some feedback from Olivia and Jocel to see what they think. Jocel suggested that maybe it's a bit too  basic, however I thought that the simple design was a more appropriate design as I didn't want the overall look of it to be gaudy and over the top. In my head, I thought of using the strong and unique elements of the type e.g. thin stems in order to create interesting layout and composition of text throughout the publication. IF I was too make the typeface more complicated maybe it would look a bit too much, as well as I will also have collages as well, maybe it'll clash with the collage rather than compliment it. 

I also got a reply from Olivia. Olivia liked how contemporary looking the typography was and the dots on certain letters which I was happy about as well as I was anxious she wouldn't think it will fit her style of collages well. Hopefully, I could start making experiments with this type as well as Olivia's collages for the front cover of the publication and get their opinion as well. 

Reply from Olivia