A N O R I G I N A L T Y P E FA C E B Y M A R I A N A P O V E D A
OP ART MOVEMENT In 1964 Optical Art, or best known as “Op Art,� was created to capture a sense of movement within a stationary two-dimensional plane, such as the surface of a painting. Op Art creates optical illusions, often using only black and white paint to impact the impression of pattern, hidden images, flashing, and movement. Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely are its most famous exponents. They made extensive use of the traditional perspective techniques
originally developed to allow for the accurate representation of the natural world in art, in order to create the feeling of depth and space within their paints.
Bridget Riley, Movement in squares. 1962
Victor Vasarely, Double Zebra. 1937
OP ART FASHION IN 1960. After the 1965 exhibition in New York, “The Responsive Eye,” which showcases the work of Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely, Op Art patterns suddenly started appearing on everything from clothes to advertisements, stationery, furnishing fabrics, etc. The trends for Op Art fabrics, such as cut-outs, patterns, and geometric fashions, were incredibly striking in black and white. This black and white trend is still one of the most copied looks of the 1960s.
The British fashion designer, Mary Quant, created the mini skirt which premiered when she opened her first shop. She was inspired by the beautiful patterns of Op Art using black and white. Andre Courreges, a French fashion designer, stimulated Paris’ fashion with his innovative Couture Future collection using a lot of lines, geometric forms, and black and white colors.
Mary Quant, Mini Skirt. Photographed by Bruno Benini. 1966
Andre Courreges, Ensemble. Photographed by F.C. Gundlach. 1965
PARIS FASHION WEEK 2017 France is well known for their good taste in fashion and Paris acts as the center of the country’s fashion industry. Famous fashion designers such as Balmain, Chanel, and others are well known in French Fashion. The purpose for this typeface will be for Paris Fashion Week 2017. Acoa’s will be used in all types of advertisements. This typeface is designed to be an extra tool to promote this luxurious event. Acoa will be in posters, invitations,
free shopping bags, banners, t-shirts, etc. The elegance of Acoa displayed throughout the show brings poise and grace to the models, specifically to the show itself. Using Acoa as the typeface for this fashion show, will help to create it to be one of the most memorable fashion shows.
Balmain, Paris Fashion Week. 2015
Chanel, Paris Fashion Week. 2015
INSPIRATION The first step in gaining inspiration was creating a mood board, or a collage, of all different fashion’s typefaces adding Op Art paintings, Op Art fashion from the 60s, and runway models. After the collage was complete, the decision was made that the typeface would have Bodoni’s base since it is a well known fashion typeface. Then, research began and the connection was made between the Eiffel
Tower’s height and models’ height. Finally, the curve at the base of the Eiffel Tower and the different poses that models make with their bodies was analyzed as a vital piece of inspiration.
Mood board as the first step of the inspiration.
Bodoni’s typeface is a well known fashion typeface, it is Acoa’s base.
Both the Eiffel Tower and models have the common characteristics of being tall and having curves.
PROCESS With the strong characteristics from Op Art, runway models, and the Eiffel Tower, different ways were creating to play around with the thin and thick strokes which are a huge part of Op Art movement. To incorporate a negative space between these two strokes into the typeface helped to create the illusion that when viewed from a distance the thin line is nearly impossible to see. However, the closer to the typeface the more visible the thin line becomes. This is how Op Art is, it may not be seen, but it is there.
First sketches of putting together the ideas from the inspiration in different ways with the two strokes and curves.
FINAL SOLUTION Having a clear vision of what my typeface would look like, the final solution was using the two types of stokes. This goes hand in hand with the patterns of Op Art and how models use their bodies, along with the position of their hands. These two aspects, along with the inspiration from the Eiffel Tower, gave rise to the new Acoa’s typeface.
PROBLEMS During the building process of the typeface there were specific problems that arose, especially with letter A, U, and C. The direction of the little curve at the bottom in all the letters next to the straight line is consistent with the type. However, in letter U and C there are no straight lines compared to the other letters. This turned out to be problematic in the construction of the two letters. When letter A was created on grid paper, the thick and thin line
was parallel on the right stem. When this letter was placed on its own, it fit with the consistency of the rest of the alphabet. However, the problem arose when the letter A was placed in different words to view its overall appearance. The letter A did not coherently fit with the rest of the words. To solve this problem and to give visual balance the two strokes were kept in the same order, but were simply moved to the right stem.
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