In The Shadows Hannah Bruneman
Creating the letters The first step in this project was to create letters using our shadows. This proved to be tricky for some, but for my name, Hannah, I only needed to form 3 letters. I choose to do a mix of capitals and lowercase letters for a variety of shapes and sizes.
I used the uneven surface we were working with to my advantage. The breaks in the walls and ceiling contorted the letter forms. For example, on the H, my hand bends where the shadow met the ceiling. I decided to keep this because it looked like a serif. Also, positioning my body closer to the light allowed for me to create a difference in the stem and the hairline in the letter.
Playing with spacing
Once the pictures were done, I uploaded them to my computer. On InDesign I arraigned them in order and began to align them. The three things I had to keep in mind were the base line, the X height, and the
cap line. To achieve the correct sizing, I had to grow and shrink some of the letters. Once I traced out the first attempt, I realized the kerning between the Ns was uneven.
So it was back to the computer for more accurate fitting. This time, I used the measuring tool ensure even spacing. Using a black permanent marker, I finalized my tracing and moved on to the next step.
Inspiration research
Before I began planning out my typography anatomy chart, I had to do my research. A quick look on Google images was all I needed to see that there are a lot of variations of these charts. I looked through a number of them and settled on a few techniques I was most inspired by. I liked the charts that filled in the portion of the letter with color. This was clear and easy to understand. I also noticed so charts that would fill in the negative spots of the letter, which is just as important. I knew I wanted my chart to be colorful, so I was inspired by the bright look of the chart to the left. The elementary colors stand out and I think showcase the letters really well.
Planning the chart Sketching out the chart came easily once I had finished my research. Shown below was my original design. I wanted a grid background to maintain the technical nature of the assignment. On top of that, I had the title of the chart as well as my letter forms place in order below. I had wanted to split up the title by placing a large H in the middle, but
once I got to working on InDesign, I decided I didn’t like it as much. This is also the stage where I picked out my colors. I considered using complementary colors, but ended up with choosing bright primary and secondary colors that stood out on the page.
Typography chart
I was very pleased with my final personalized typography chart. Not only did it use my own body to form the letters, but the way I arranged and colored the chart is reflective of my personality as well. Aside from lowering the opacity of the background, I ran into no critical changes I needed to make.