Studio week one - type

Studio Practice - Week One

Study Task One - Manipulating Existing Letterforms

Brief

The brief for this study task was to develop a new typeface using elements from existing fonts; each typeface had to include the five letters 'Mphix' with roughly 20 designs and iterations. 

Initial Ideas

I carried out my research around my given word 'malignant'; defined as 'evil in nature' or 'very virulent or infectious (typically describing malignant cancer)'. Resultantly, my initial ideas were inspired by themes of violence and disease associated with the word - I wanted to play with the idea of my typeface aggressively spreading.

Initial Designs

I approached the practical design work not knowing exactly how I wanted to portray my focus on the idea of spreading; I experimented with tracing existing fonts and duplicating them, alongside making collages to create quite a chaotic appearance. I found that manipulating the fonts through tracing didn't really capture the violent nature of 'malignant', as the shapes were too neat and formal, as well as creating the issue that you could see the previous fonts in my own new type. Due to this, I concentrated on the collage aspect of my experimentation, and took a lot of inspiration from serifs on blackletter fonts to create the sense of growth. I then decided on my favourite collage design, which featured many blocky serifs and jagged edges to represent violence and spreading.

Through verbal peer feedback, it was suggested that this initial font was too chunky to represent the infectious nature of 'malignant'; I agreed with this and opted to iterate it and add thinner, sharper serifs to really capture a threatening appearance.

Digital Development 

Now that I had a general idea for the shape and structure of my typeface, I wanted to create a cleaner, more angular version digitally on illustrator. I decided to make the serifs for the type super hairline thin to reflect a certain sharpness, which I am quite happy with how it turned out. The type I created does relate to the word 'malignant' pretty well, as I think that the angular nature shows an aggression, as well as the serifs providing the illusion of the font spreading. 
  

Crit Feedback

Overall, I think my typeface for study task one is quite successful, and I am happy with the feedback I have received as I agree that the font captures an atmosphere of spreading. However, there is a vast area where I could improve some elements, for instance experimenting more with line weights as mentioned in my crit. Additionally, I think the typeface I created looked too clean and could have possibly leaned towards a more gritty aesthetic in order to reflect the violent elements of 'malignant'. 

Study Task Two - Using Grids To Create A Typeface 

Brief 

This study task involved using a grid to develop 10 versions of a four lettered word; one typeface/word then had to be translated physically and had to link to (my) previous word 'malignant'.

Initial Ideas

I knew straight away that I wanted to continue with my concept of a type that looked as if it was spreading, but approached from a grid perspective. Initially, I decided on the word 'daze' as it mirrors a sense of shock in relation to the uncontrollable nature of malignant cancer. Due to this, I wanted to incorporate a 'cancerous' approach to this typeface. 

Initial Designs

Here I digitally used various grids to create different perspectives of the idea of spreading; I used some traditional grids alongside pictorial ones of images such as cancer cells to create that link to 'malignant'. I felt that the more abstract and almost blobby fonts worked the best for the brief, as they gave the illusion of expansion and a kinesthetic appearance. 

 Development

In order to expand on my theme of growth in relation to 'malignant', I chose to experiment with the idea of distortion through liquifying my typefaces. This contributed to the previous illusion of movement, yet it didn't work well for some fonts, as they became too spiked which strayed from my concept of a rounded typeface. I decided on my favourite distorted font, and realised that it was slightly too complex to cut out for the physical outcome; consequently, I filled in some gaps to create singular shapes and finalised the digital type. 

Physical Outcome 

Due to my focus on the idea of spreading cancer and diseases, I wanted to incorporate physical body parts in my physical outcome to develop a stronger link to illness. As a result, I came up with the concept of using my digital design as a stencil which was cut out and stuck onto an arm; this allowed me to paint on the shape to leave a 'cancerous' mark on the skin. I opted for using red lipstick to stain the arm as it provided irritated imagery, thus linking to an infectious theme. Furthermore, I wanted to edit this image in order to darken and discolour the arm to amplify the imagery of illness and disease. Additionally, I made a secondary edit which focused on a black and white/grain aesthetic in order to convey the sense of a dark and sinister atmosphere associated with the 'evil in nature' of 'malignant'. 

Crit 

I think that my feedback is very agreeable, as my final typeface is difficult to read, thus prompting questions about it's legibility. However, this lack of clarity was caused by my decision to distort the font in order to reflect growth, so there is an argument that this was done so for a purpose. Overall, I think that I used my grids in quite an unorthodox manner, through quite a distorted perspective; this allowed my type to link well with my theme, as well as communicating the idea of spreading disease in my physical outcome. I think that I could definitely improve my introduction of rules into my type design, as having a clear type rule will help expand my ideas.