#istd2014

The option of exploring and choosing a brief from the ISTD Student 2014 collection was a great opportunity to define and develop a project that would not only fully use my skills and attributes with type, but to hopefully produce, even without further potential refinement at this stage, a strong piece of work for inclusion within my portfolio, and I feel that I have somewhat achieved this.

Noticeably, I unfortunately did not have enough time to fully realise the Egyptian Slate specimen concept(s) due to the increasing workload, although this did allow me to expand thoughts and ideas further upon the ITC Bodoni specimen to form the high-quality designs I hoped to achieve.

Upon reflection, the Egyptian Slate specimen could have been started earlier in-line with the ITC Bodoni creation, potentially allowing me to finish the brief at this stage in its full requirements; this could be developed with an initial creation of a timetable plan.

I decided upon working particularly with these two typefaces initially because of their variety in style and approach (following initial research), and, as opposed to the initial exploration and intention of a link between two of them, I felt that it was potentially stronger to represent a variation to help in presentation with the Monotype folder concept created additionally.

Expanding further on the Monotype folder concept, it also allowed for inclusion with additional Monotype typefaces (for promotion), forming extended specimens indirectly and somewhat successfully in expansion to the norm of what was required. 

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Throughout the development process I increasingly wanted to use a range of research methods, and with the majority image-based from books, the internet and photography, I still felt I could have looked into the topic even further with blogs, journals and associated articles, so this will become a strong consideration in the next project.

As a strategy comparative to previous projects I have undertook, I really wanted to fully analyse all sources, noting ideas and concepts throughout to directly expand on the obvious progressional routes, forming original and possibly even more interesting design approaches. This I felt was somewhat presented well within the Bodoni specimen particularly, and if I do wish to return to explore the Egyptian Slate concept (for refinement), this would need to be reconsidered once again.

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This project admittedly was my favourite of all undertaken during the Visual Communication course, and I am very happy with feedback given; I believe my development in working with type has improved considerably, and would love to continue with a similar approach into the next brief. 

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Change in approach for Egyptian Slate Type Specimen

Following an extensive discussion into the potential direction to take the Egyptian Slate typeface, it was felt that, after referring to the true meaning behind the typeface name, the potential could be very interesting to represent napoleon's campaign across Egypt, covering extensive samples of various areas to the journey.

Presented is some key research regarding the campaign:

Military Campaign

'The Napoleonic Invasion of Egypt' - Linda Hall Library

'French campaign in Egypt and Syria' - Wikipedia

Napoleon in Egypt - Archeology Archive

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Discovery Campaign

'Mapping Egypt' - Linda Hall Library

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About Napoleon

The key finding of the expedition, the Rosetta Stone (stored in the British Museum, link with the item and typeface?) must be included within the type designs for Egyptian Slate.

Tom Lynham - The Ham and Cheese

An utterly brilliant article documenting the journey across Italy documenting the flavours and tastes along the way, including the rich cuisine of Parma Hams and Parmigiano-Reggiano of Parma.

Porcini Mushroom and Parma Ham Risotto - Channel 4

(Reflective directly of the comments made by Monotype on the characteristics of ITC Bodoni?)

Parma Ham Risotto - Discover the Origin