Notes for the collaborative typeface concept

 The brief

'Moodglyph' (our chosen name so far) is a collaborative typeface based on typographic responses to emotion. The project involves creatives submitting singular letters they have designed, each based on an individual emotion. Collectively, this will create a full collaborative typeface, with different styles and visual tones for each letter. I will be working alongside a fellow graphic designer on this brief, as there are a lot of complexities involved, and I really wanted an opportunity to collaborate for this module. 

Brainstorming/ things we've covered:

• The initial concept so far is very reliant on submissions to create a typeface. Once we receive a full alphabet, our roles as designers will be to curate and focus on the editorial elements of the process
• Our aim is to create a publication (like a printed type specimen) with this alphabet, alongside merchandise that can be personalised with the typeface 
• We also want to get in contact with Village Books to see if they'd be interested in stocking the final publication. Also, Spencer had the suggestion that we could donate profits to a mental health charity; this would work really well with the theme of emotional responses, as well as creative a nice sense of community within the project
• We want to stick to a black and white colour scheme so the focus is entirely on the type and how each letter communicates emotion
• Some names we've come up with so far; moodglyph, brainglyph, thinking cap, mindglyph, swash. Moodglyph isn't set in stone but its our favourite so far

Things we need to do at this point

• Because the project is very submission orientated, we need to create some call out posters to get the word out 
• Also, we were thinking of designing a template that people can download to email us their letter designs 
• We need to create an instagram and email; this will make the whole project much more professional 
• Our main focus at this point is to get the word out and make people aware of the project; so stuff like posting on instagram and spreading awareness 
• I think after the break, we're going to print out posters around uni to really get people to notice the project; ideally we need as many submissions and as many people willing to buy the products in order to raise money 
• We need to create some kind of time frame so we can stay on track with everything 
• Also we need to decide on our roles in the brief; due to it being collaborative, we need to make sure everything is evenly delegated 

Initial ideas

• To make sure each of our designs are visually consistent, we have decided to stick to using Helvetica and Times New Roman for the poster and instagram content (before we make the actual typeface). This is because they're kind of the classic typefaces, thus placing more emphasis on the need for expressive type
• We could maybe involve colour with the paper stock? E.g if people want to specify colour, we could print theirs on coloured paper 
• We could create an instructions sheet; be creative, follow your instinct, submit as a vector, png or pdf?
• Put the rules/ guidelines on the template?
• For the actual publication, we could add a contents page/ glossary of each letter, what emotion its based on and who its designed by
• For the poster/ instagram content, we could have a play on missing posters; like we're missing type, have the letter outlined in dotted lines maybe? 
• We both really like the idea of introducing illustrative elements to the visual language; it would be interesting to emotively bring the typeface to life by creating a little glyph character for each letter; this would also relate the the theme of moods and emotion more, as well as creating a playful undertone 
• We could make characters by simply adding eyes; cartoon eyes could be a motif for the project? Sounds cringy but eyes link to the concept of emotion, as they are very humanistic 
• We could turn these characters into physical clay type/ letters? Could be part of the exhibition, like a table full of little typeface characters
• We need to come up with some kind of logo; we both agreed on having some kind of character or symbol relating to the theme of the project; something like a little cartoon brain or thought bubble? 

After having a google meet with Spencer, we've both decided that it would be best to have a head start at trying to get some submissions for the typeface in. Due to this, this week we're going to produce some posters, send out a call out email, and design elements to promote stuff on our instagram. My role at this stage is to create the downloadable template for people to draw their typefaces on, as well as creating some visuals for our instagram. We have now set up both our instagram and email, so can now start to receive submissions before we start in January (fingers crossed).