Joe Leadbeater
OUGD601
Context of Practice
Practical
Background Into Dissertation
Practical Concept
The dissertation which has informed this practical is entitled ‘The Reinvention of Typography In A Digital Era’. The essay closely analyzes the effect of the computer and font file formats on typographic design and the industry itself.
The idea behind the practical is to communicate these positives of being a modern day type designer. The aims of the project were to:
Traditionally an exclusive skillset, cheaper and easily accessible tools have democratised the industry, allowing type designers to work independently, with no previous craft skills needed. With file formats originally quite limiting for type designers, the most recent file format, OpenType, allows the inclusion of over 65,000 characters. These include functional characters (like multi-script characters for global language use), as well as aesthetic options (like ligatures and swashes). With font software like ‘Glyphs’ being easy to use and just 240 Euros (£185), the tools are easily accessible. Furthermore, the Internet has created a level playing field for font licensing, as well as communication. It is now easier than ever to get in touch with experienced type designers for advice.
- Use a modern day typographic software - Glyphs. - Create a font with a large character set, allowing global lingual use and giving the choice for a variety of functions. - Interact with renown type designers. - Use the Internet’s file sharing capabilities to collaborate on a typeface globally. All of the above have been achieved. Clothworker contains multi-scripts, ligatures, ornaments, borders and more. Highly experienced and well known type designers with experience at Adobe, Lost-Type and Fatype Type Foundry all gave advice. Finally, the typeface had contributors working from the UK, Slovenia, Spain, France, Austria, Czech Republic and the USA.
01 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
01
OUGD601
The Revivalist Approach
Context of Practice
Practical
Jonathon Hoefler
Designing The Specimen
After researching into type designer Jonathon Hoefler for the dissertation, his revivial approach was mimicked with Clothworker. Hoefler looks at pre-digital type specimens, and creates a digital typeface based around the features discovered, as seen by Hoefler Text above. The font also takes advantage of OpenType’s large character set capabilities.
When examining classic type specimen’s, it was clear that a distinct layout is often used. The typeface is displayed at a variety of sizes, for comparison of context. The point size is also illustrated to give the potential buyer an idea on what they could use.
Clothworker originates from an Edwardian metal plate, with unique letterforms. Being personal to a single plate in Leeds, Clothworker was developed digitally so it’s form could be shared by anyone globally.
Using such a classic reference, Clothworker suited being expressed in a similar manner.
02 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
OUGD601
Context of Practice
Practical
À Á Ã Ä Å Ç È É Ê Ë Ć Č IJ Œ Æ Ŋ Ō Ő — JAN JANECEK £ 5 7 — MARSI DESINO N V W E— FRANZI WEITGRUBER
02
Contributors / Critiques
A Way of Contacting
Critiques
Last summer I went to ‘TypeClinic’, a type design week long course in Trenta, Slovenia. There I met lots of type designers from all around Europe. The Facebook group contains lots of people’s profile that I have met, as well as others who have gone previous years. I used this to contact people that could possibly contribute.
A sample PDF was sent out, as well as the .OTF file itself for critique purposes. The large picture above shows some corrections Tomato Kosir had illustrating for me. Tomato was my tutor in Slovenia.
All of the contributors were contacted using this method. The image on the top right shows sketches drawn by Marsi Desino from Spain. She later developed this digitally. The image below it shows examples of letters contributed by different type designers.
Other designers like Adobe’s Thomas Phinney and Lost-Type’s Riley Cran simply chose to critique through descriptive emails that also proved useful.
03 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
03
OUGD601
Ornament Research
Context of Practice
Practical
William Morris
Ornamental Carvings
I chose to look at work by William Morris as inspiration for ornaments, as he designed patterns and ornaments at a similar era the original inscription was produced. I visited an exhibition on his work in Oxford, which was hugely inspiring in terms of shape and form considerations.
Since Clothworker is bringing something unique and personal to Leeds to a digital format, I also wanted to share some other features seen in Leeds. Research was undertaken into historic buildings in Leeds, with stone carvings closer examined and used as an aesthetic influence.
04 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
04
OUGD601
Outcomes
Context of Practice
Practical
Specimen Book
User Manual
The 52 page specimen aims to consider ever character available within the typeface, both expressing the character on it’s own, as well as in different contexts at a variety of point sizes.
As Clothworker takes advantage of a large character set, it was important that users understand how to use them. Although most users will be experienced in adding these characters, a simple and brief instructional manual was designed to help with usage in the most popular design software when working with type.
05 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
OUGD601
Context of Practice
Practical
06 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
OUGD601
Context of Practice
Practical
07 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
OUGD601
Context of Practice
Practical
08 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
OUGD601
Context of Practice
Practical
09 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
OUGD601
Context of Practice
Practical
10 / 11
Joe Leadbeater
OUGD601
Context of Practice
Practical
11 / 11