designed by abigail timms
Glassatura
an elegant typeface designed for sophisticated bakeries
Table of Contents Choosing A Recipe Problem Concept
Measuring the Ingredients Research Inspiration
Mixing the Ingredients Development Experimentation
Baking
Digitization Evolutions
Glassatura
Specimen
Buon Appetito Mockups
Choosing a Recipe Problem and Concept
Problem Baking is both a science and an art, requiring precision and caution. Typography is similar. It is an art form that goes largely unnoticed by the general public, unless it is wrong. Kerning, tracking, and leading, like the steps in baking, all require similar precision and attention to detail. Typefaces each have inherent characteristics which lead to a distinct ‘flavor’ and these must be treated like the ingredients in a recipe to create a coherent and legible publication. Looking for a typography problem to solve for this project was simple, I did not have to look far. A locally owned bakery in my own hometown was in need of an upgrade. The issues with their current typefaces and
logo design were very apparent, along with their lack of branding and merchandise for the store. I found that their script typeface was not legible and it was paired with many different typefaces in different contexts. For example, their business card alone had four different typefaces, all of which were illegible especially at such a small size. Their website also featured many different typefaces, showing the company’s need for clarity and consistency. As the company is close to home for me, I wanted to provide them with a consistent and clear design for their brand that would leave a lasting impression.
Concept
Once I had chosen a problem to fix, I decided what direction I wanted my concept for The Posh Cakery to take. I visited the store to get a feel for the atmosphere and visited some other bakeries to compare them. Current bakery logos were another resource I turned to while focusing in my concept. I wanted to see what was being used and created currently. I found that many bakeries had a similar problem of illegible script typefaces in their designs, proving that this was an issue I needed to try to correct. I decided I wanted to create a serif type that would be a reflection of Posh’s current logo, while increasing legibility. When I
looked around The Posh Cakery, I felt welcomed by the friendly atmosphere and knew this was something I wanted to show in the typeface as well. As most bakeries include French and Italian pastries, I decided to research the forms of those desserts for inspiraton. Now that I had narrowed down my concept, I decided on three key adjectives that I wanted my typeface to reflect. These three adjectives, elegant, welcoming, and vivid, guided my research and eventually my decision-making.
Measuring the Ingredients Research and Inspiration
Research The research stage of this project was kind of all over the place, as I drew inspiration from many different sources. Similarly to carefully reading a recipe and measuring out ingredients, I had to carefully research. I had to find my ‘ingredients’, or inspiration, and measure out how much of each source I wanted to emulate. I began by examining both The Posh Cakery’s type issues, as well as common issues with other bakeries. I discovered that a lot of modern bakeries had avoided the problem of illegible type by switching to a sans-serif. I considered also doing this with Posh, but I stuck with a serif, as I believed that this would be more friendly. Next, I began to look
to specific typefaces to see what their serifs looked like. I looked to typefaces like Caslon, Baskerville, and Minerva Roman as key sources of inspiration for me. I filled many pages in my Moleskine sketchbook with drawings of specific terminals and serifs of other typefaces as I decided what I wanted to emulate. During this reasearch I came to realize that a lot of typefaces that I looked to had sharp or pointed serifs while I wanted more soft and elegant curves. This led me to find search for other sources for inspiration. Desserts and pastries made sense as I was designing for a bakery, so that was my next step.
Inspiration My first step in the inspiration stage was similar to my other graphic design projects, making a Pinterest board. My account is filled with boards for different projects, where I can gather images, tutorials, examples, and ideas. I gathered the following images and created a living mood board, that I would open and reference while designing my typeface. Simply having these images in front of me while sketching helped me keep in mind the message and feel of my typeface. Searching on Pinterest also helped me find the colors for this booklet, along with logo inspiration. After I
had gathered images to capture the feeling of my typeface, I looked for forms to base my letters off of. I looked at the designs, curves, and patterns found in desserts and pastries. The organic curves of the edges and lines of many pastries became a key element that I wanted to include in my typeface. From all of these images, I was able to narrow down my the message I wanted to send with my typeface. Once I had finished drawing the pastries commonly sold in bakeries, I was ready to begin developing my letters.
Mixing the Ingredients
Experimentation and Development
Experimentation My next step in figuring out the exact forms for my typeface was experimentation. This was where I mixed together my ‘ingredients’ or research together in different ways. Experimentation was probably my most favorite stage of the project as I got to work outside of the box and play with frosting! As I had researched many different types of pastries and desserts, I found a common element is frosting, icing, or glaze. So, I decided that experimenting with frosting hands-on would be a good next step! I went down to Ingles, bought a can of frosting and a few dozen cookies, and got to work. Between icing bags exploding in my hands, and eating a few too many cookies, I found some
interesting aspects to pull from. The way frosting flows and pools directly influenced my letter’s curves and counters. I spent a few hours piping different designs and ideas for letterforms, and this helped me immensely. Frosting became the most central inspiration for my typeface forms, and eventually also became the name. Glassatura is the Italian word for frosting, so it seemed fitting for that to be my typeface name. Experimenting with the frosting in this stage also let to the design of the imagery for the cover art of this book.
Development The development step in this project consisted mainly of drawing my letters over and over and over. And over again. I am not really good at drawing the same thing twice, so a lot of this stage was trying to copy certain aspects of a letter while experimenting with others. Maybe I found a stroke weight I liked but then I had to draw it again with a different terminal, which was difficult. Then I was introduced to this magical tool called a lightbox. It kind of saved my life. I was able to begin narrowing down and combining my favorite aspects of my serifs, stroke weights, and terminals.
There were a few characteristics that I knew I wanted from the beginning, such as the dollop shape at the end of my c, f, and g. However, there were other aspects like my early serif that I completely eliminated. I had originally intended to be curved on both sides but eventually changed to curve only on the outside edges. The swoop of my X was adjusted many times, as it had to work for my R and K as well. Once my first six characters, A, B, H, O, P, and X were finished, I had the building blocks to the rest of my typeface.
Baking
Digitization
Digitization Once I had all of my letterforms drawn on vellum paper, I was able to begin the next step in the process, digitization. Like the step of baking, this is where my typeface was adjusted and finalized. I built my letterforms in Adobe Illustrator first, before moving them over into Glyphs, so I would be able to use my typeface in this book. This was the most frustrating part of the process, and quite possibly was the cause of a few emotional breakdowns, but it was such a large turning point in the project. My typeface grew in leaps and bounds, from some rough drawings
to a clean and polished and working typeface. Even though this step was very frustrating and sometimes discouraging, it was rewarding and encouraging. Once all of my letters were finalized in Glyphs and I typed in my typeface for the first time it reminded me why I am doing this in the first place. To be able to create something that is definitely still flawed, but that fulfills its purpose was very rewarding.
Evolution of Serifs As previously mentioned, my serifs went thorugh a lot of revision. The different terminals changed almost every time I drew them, so I went through a lot of different versions before finding my final forms. I looked to curves of how frosting flows for the forms of the serifs. Frosting typically pools at the beginning and ends of piped lines, and that helped to determine the terminals of letters that did not end in a regular serif. I also took inspiration from the cake stands that these desserts sometimes lay on for the flat shaped serif with rounded corners. I transferred drawings of my
serifs and specific building blocks from my sketchbook to Adobe Illustrator, and they began to come together. As I tried different options on Adobe, I was able to simplify and polish the serifs. This helped me more easily build all twenty-six letters with the same pieces. Transferring the serifs to Glyphs was a challenge, as Glyphs liked to ‘eat up’ my serifs (it seriously looked like bites were taken out). Thankfully I was able to work it out and smoothly transfer everything into Glyphs where I could start typing!
Evolution of the M Several of my letterforms went through significant changes from sketch to Glyphs. This is particularly evident in my m, which can be seen in the following images. I went through several verisons as I had difficulty blending together my soft curves and serifs with a letterform that is traditionally more sharp and straight. I compromised by including smooth strokes alongside swooping curves that varied in thickness along the stroke. In the images on the following spread you can see the changes that occured in the first six letters of my typeface.
Similarly, in the images on the right, you can see the layers of sketches, Illustrator vector designs, and the final Glyph forms on top of each other. While some letters did not make a drastic change from sketch to final form, many subtle changes were made. Size, set width, and stroke weight are examples of these subtleties. Eventually, all changes were made, all of the building blocks were finalized, and I had my final version. My working typeface, Glassatura, the icing on the cake of my designs for The Posh Cakery.
Glassatura Specimen
A
B
C
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K L
Q R Y Z
S T A E
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G H
M N
O P
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U V W X I O U C
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Buon Appetito Mockups
Sources https://pin.it/dngp3fpnsk54qh www.unsplash.com www.theposhcakery.com www.linotype.com