31.5.21 - 26.6.21 (Week 10 - 13 )
Sajiya Mir (0340836)
Advanced Typography
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Final Project
Week 10:
Monday, 31 May 2021
This week we finished with our Project 1 and Mr. Vinod briefed us on our Final Project. We even got to see some of the seniors work as examples to help us get a better understanding of what is required. We were given some time to think about our topic, and Mr. Vinod reviewed them, letting us know if it was a good idea.
Week 11:
Monday, 7 June 2021
This week was a public holiday but we got a 1-hour session to show Mr. Vinod our ideas for the final project and get approved. Week 12:
Monday, 14 June 2021
This week we showed Mr. Vinod our progression of the letterforms and got feedback on what we need to improve.
Week 13:
Monday, 21 June 2021
We showed Mr. Vinod any progression we made on our letterform and collaterals.
Instructions
Final Project
For our final project, we were to develop a font that is intended to solve a larger problem or meant to be part of a solution in the area of your interest or related area of your specialization.
Fig.1.0 Final Project Ideation (7/6/21)
For my idea, I wanted to incorporate the alphabets of my mother language which is Assamese, and design a typeface for tea branding. As Assam is known for their tea but in many cases, they don't have a proper branding for it. If not for tea branding it could also be used for the tourism advertisement.
Fig.1.2 Final Project inspiration (8/6/21)
I started off with a simple sketch of what I wanted the letters to look like. I used some letters of the Assamese alphabet to help me style the fonts. Once I had a rough idea I started constructing them in Illustrator.
Fig.1.3 Sketch (8/6/21)
I started with constructing the letter O as previously taught by Mr. VInod in Typography. I took letters of the Assamese alphabet (in red) and used that to help me make my own fonts. I experimented with the counter space and stroke width.
Fig.1.4 Letter 'O' construction (8/6/21)
I chose the letter B second because it seemed similar to a letter in the Assamese alphabet. I wanted to explore what I could do with it because it looked a lot like the letter B. I kept the line in the middle running downwards in the middle and focused on making the letter more rounded than the original's sharp pointy edges. I wanted to maintain the line on the top but decided to make it a little shorter.
Fig.1.5 Letter 'B' construction (8/6/21)
I followed the same process for the next few letters, finding a letter in the Assamese alphabet that looked similar to the English alphabet and using it as a guideline to create my own typeface. For the letter C, I decided to keep the c at the end of the letter since I thought it was unique and could reflect back the inspiration.
Fig.1.6 Letter 'C' construction (8/6/21)
Fig.1.7 Letter 'J' construction (8/6/21)
Fig.1.8 Letter 'D' construction (8/6/21)
Fig.1.9 Letter 'K' construction (8/6/21)
For the letter, I couldn't find a reference to I tried to keep the same characteristics and same stroke width.
Fig.2.0 Letter construction (12/6/21)
I got feedback from Mr. Vinod to work on the letters S, X, Y, and Z more and he also suggested I use Optima as a reference to help me.
Fig.2.1 Letter construction (12/6/21)
I fixed the letters and started working on the numbers and punctuations.
Fig.2.2 Letter construction (13/6/21)
Once I was done with all the letters and numbers I downloaded a software called Birdfont to create my font. It is similar to FontLab and it's free, it was really simple to use and I was able to transfer my letters in each cell quickly.
Fig.2.3 Birdfont (20/6/21)
Once I had all the letters and numbers into their respective cells I started working on the letter spacing and letter kerning. Finally, I exported my font and named it Aschai combinations of the words Assam and Chai which means tea. Not the most creative but it works.
Fig.2.4 Birdfont letter spacing and kerning (20/6/21)
With the font done I started creating the tea packaging. I used the font in the name and logo of the tea and designed it around it. I came up with a couple of designs and research variations of Assamese tea to add as labels.
Fig.2.5 Tea packaging design (24/6/21)
I finalized two of the designs I really liked and used them for the mockup.
Fig.2.6 Final Tea packaging design 1 (24/6/21)
Fig.2.7 Final Tea packaging design 2 (24/6/21)
Final Outcome
Fig.2.8 Final Collateral 1 - JPG (26/6/21)
Fig.2.9 Final Collateral 2 - JPG (26/6/21)
Fig.3.0 Final Collateral 3 - JPG (26/6/21)
Fig.3.1 Final Collateral 4 - JPG (26/6/21)
Fig.3.2 Final Collateral 5 - JPG (28/6/21)
Fig.3.3 Final Project - PDF (28/6/21)
Feedback
Week 12:
General Feedback: The application of the typeface is very important. Even if you create a good typeface, if the application is not right it will not work. Always keep the problem in the forefront of your mind when working or otherwise you will stray.
Specific Feedback: The S, X, Y, and Z needs more work. The common mistake with these letters is to center the intersections but with the letter X the intersection needs to be lower and with the Y it needs to be higher. Try looking at the font Optima as a reference otherwise it looks good.
Reflection
Week 10:
We had to come up with a concept for our final project this week. I wasn't sure what "issue" I wanted to answer at first, but after seeing some of my peer's examples, I decided to look for ideas closer to home. I chose to do something with my parent's hometown in Assam, which is known for its tea plantations. While researching the topic, I discovered that Assam tea had very little good branding, therefore I chose to 'solve' that problem for my final product. The Assamese alphabet comprises thirty consonant letters, each with its distinct qualities such as the top line stroke, the loops of the letter, and the ascenders. These characteristics I hope to reflect in my typeface.
Week 11:
This week was another easy week, as we received Mr. Vinod's approval for our concepts and began work on our typeface. It was good to be working with letters I was already familiar with. Although I had forgotten many of these letters, my mother was overjoyed that I had rekindled my interest in Assamese. I tried to examine how the letters were created while working on the typeface and how I could keep some similarities while designing a new typeface. My research revealed that Assamese is also known as Asamiya, something I was unaware of because most people refer to the language as Assames.
Week 12:
This week was hard not because of anything to do with typography, but because of all the other assignments I had to complete for my other modules. It was difficult to balance all of my tasks, and I was unable to make much progress on my work.
Week 13:
This was another hectic week and because I had missed a week completing all of my other work, I had to make up for it this week. Fortunately, I didn't let the lack of time hinder the quality of my work; instead, I concentrated on making all of the letters as consistent as possible, and I was quite pleased with the end result. It appeared to be just what I was looking for, and it achieved its goal in terms of tea branding. Designing the tea packaging was more fun because it was something I was more comfortable with, and I was relieved that I was able to come up with at least two designs that I could utilize.
Further Reading
Fig.1.0 Creative Pro Article (12/6/21)
https://creativepro.com/ampersand-history-usage/?fbclid=IwAR257S63t4D1yBriBkG3Q66v4Nir7nlJvvCVV1OtolKKR2K2aB40texcHNg
- The ampersand is a symbol that represents the word and. It's a ligature made up of an e and t from the Latin word et, which means "and.
- The original, classic (&), and the type that appears more like an E or an et, often with the addition of curves, are the two main forms of the ampersand, with variations to both.
- An ampersand appears in many corporate names and logos. They can be intended to be subtle and blend in with the rest of a wordmark or logo, or they can be accentuated in some way to stand out for a more personalized look.
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