#grad502

what we did in class

the exercise of creating words digitally or analog

playing with ink

creating our typography alphabet

In today's studio class, we discussed Typographic systems. We covered type as a system, how to measure type, type anatomy, type classifications and their classes, within their families. We then moved on to looking at how type can be a voice, through its message or the way it is displayed.

 Point size comparison 

Oldstyle (Goudy)

Modern (Bodoni)

Slab serif ( ITC Lubalin Graph)

Sans serif (Univers)

Script ( Kuenstler Script)

Decorative ( Rosewood)

Characters in a family 

Roman 

Bold

Italic

Small Capitals (drawn)

Small Capitals (manufactured)

Condensed 

Stretched

What are experimental typefaces?

They are generally of the display family and have an unexpected look or interaction, such as animation, different x-heights, or a general disregard for the rules and spacing of letterforms. These text styles include quirky lines, colours and letterforms. Which provides flair and personality. It's a balance between typography as art and typography to convey a message.

We were then shown the evolution of a Typeface, created for 100% New Zealand. They had made their typeface from wood-carved letters, to highlight NZ's fresh and natural reputation.

For the next session of our class, were asked to redesign a word (fitting to our campaign) to play around with the typography. I choose the word concerned, I have included photos of my work below. We were given the option to work digitally or analog and I found that using paper and pencil helped me to produce work quicker. We had to think about the content and tone, readabilities, emotions or meanings and if it fits our message.

After this exercise, we were to repeat the same process but instead use Indian ink and brushes to explore different ways to express our words. I chose to change the word I focused on to Anxiety, as I think it is more fitting to my topic. I have included images of my work below, some of my ideas didn't turn out quite as well as I thought, but it did help me to get a better visual understanding of 'anxiety' and how that can be expressed further than just plain typography.

While I was completing my project, I ran into some issues that resulted in a different outcome for my hand in than I was expecting. I ensured I left myself enough time to print my zine and workbook, however when I went to print at Uni I ran into multiple technical issues.

First, I had an issue with my presentation InDesign document, the edge of my background was bleeding to the edge of the paper. I tried to alter the printing setting by it made no difference. I went to test print in A3 but I wasn't transfer my work to a uni computer. So instead I tried to test print my document from my laptop but unfornelty one printer had run out ink, the other had a error which noted paper jam. I tried to fix it as I couldnt observe a paper jam but it still didn't work for me. I wanted to be sure that I would have something to hand in, I decided to take it to a print shop to be printed.

As I have already planned out what questions/ prompts I am going to ask through my card game, all I had to do was start thinking of how I want to design them.

I wanted to keep it rather simple, so the user can focus on the questions/prompts while still being visually calming and appealing.

This is my final design for my cards:

I liked that I continued to incorporate a soft gradient in the background of my question side of the cards as it helps to connect it to my zine and poster. I have used colours that are a part of my design system to create the gradient.

This is my finalised design for my campaign zine. I decided to change my opinion again from how I incorporated colour backgrounds. I chose to include them on pages with more text as it helps to make the page more interesting to read. It also allows the other 4 pages to feel more open and the viewer's eyes can focus on my character and infographic. I am happy that I decided to use my wifi icon as an infographic as it was a strong way to communicate the statistic that I had chosen. It is also good as my audience (Gen Z) will understand this visual reference of the wifi icon.

I created another character illustration as I felt that I needed another character to help portray addition to screens. As I had my other female character on the 5th page, I felt that having her there didn't quite connect to the infographic on the 4th page. I feel that this new character helps to communicate Gen Z's addition to screens.

I am also pleased that I was able to incorporate another asset to my zine (on the back page) as it helps to create a soft atmosphere to end the work on. I wanted to try to include my spiral-shaped asset into my design somehow as I like the way it represents aura or an individual's flow.

The main changes that I have made to achieve my final poster are the colours and my character's positioning. I slightly altered the colour of my typography so that it isn't too harsh against the softer colours. I think this has helped to bring attention towards the typography as well as the character.

Moving forwards from the character that I had created for our week 9 asset presentation, I decided to focus on two or three characters that I would use to represent my campaign. I wanted to include one who was dependent on phone justice and the other to show the motion of leaving the screen.

I continued to develop my designers by redesigning their clothing to fit into my colour system. I took the girl's jumper I had drawn and tested it in purple and pink. I didn't want to use blue or green as I wanted them to be colours that are displayed in the background of the character more. I also changed the male character's shirt to a darker purple-brown to symbolise his deterioration due to his phone juice. The colours between my character highlight their contrasting differences, showing one is light, soft and moving to a fresh start where as the other is being drained of energy and self identity.

The way I had designed my male character gripping the phone juice box with both hands like he is hugging it. I wanted to indicate his dependence on his phone and how he needs to receive gratification through social media to feel good. I also changed the eye design of my male character to express this feeling of being run-down and unwell.

I wanted to start test printing my posters this week so I can see how all the elements on my poster work together. This was a good idea as it allowed me to see how my colours will print and how the visual hierarchy will work within the poster because of that. While I was printing I received some feedback from my peers to consider some changes to help it seem more appealing to the eye.

I continued testing different zine layouts till I was able to achieve one that I was happy with. For these iterations, I played around with the layout, arrangement of assets and my type. I also looked at adding background colours to the pages. I thought this would help to make my zine more visually appealing, than having too much white space. When I was doing this, I considered how it would be read, so that there is a pattern used for the backgrounds so it remained consistent.

There were two different patterns I explored, one white and one colour and two colour two white. I tested and printed both patterns to see how they would work for my final zine. I decided that I prefer the white one-colour tiling look as it allowed me to keep my 1st and 5th page with a blank background. I wanted this so the background colour wouldn't pull too much attention away from my character.

I am going to continue playing around with the content I include within my zine and how I will incorporate the rest of my assets. I want to keep the design fairly simplistic so the reader can focus on the information that is within the zine.