Module TFD1064. Design for Communication Design Graphic design group Project – “Artist typeface” Sam Blower U1262183 u1262183@unimail.hud.ac.uk 07565535563
Artist Typeface
“Of all the achievements of the human mind, the birth of the alphabet is the most momentous� Frederic Goudy
Brief
Font Bureau is a digital type studio and a leading foundry for typeface design. Over the past 22 years, Font Bureau has designed custom typefaces for almost every major American publication, and its retail library includes some of the most celebrated fonts on the market. Font Bureau intend to release a new series based on; art & design movements, designers and artists. You are required to design a pictorial typeface to be included in their Font Bureau Art range. The finished design will be reproduced in black and white but for promotion, Font Bureau have asked to see designs in full colour. If accepted the designs will be used in a number of point sizes, to include 60pt, 72pt and 84pt. You will probably need to design on a larger scale than this but please bear in mind that the reduction to the given sizes will bring attendant problems of legibility. You will also be required to design an advertisement for your new typeface which will be available as a downloadable pdf available from the site and a type specimen page to be included in the Font Bureau One - Line Type Specimens book. You should document all stages of the research and design process, which should demonstrate a critical understanding of the design process. You should be inventive and demonstrate your ingenuity in solving this design challenge. It is important you generate several design solutions, taking your selected justified idea forward to a final refined solution.
Initial research and sample experiments.
Christo & Jean Claude
This art is made by hanging sheets over existing structures to make them look much different due to the flowing nature of the sheets in the wind.
I designed a few letters in a similar style. The idea was to make it appear as if regular letters have had sheets hung over the top of them so they look similar in style to the peices of work by Christo & Jean Claude. I feel that they work quite well as a basic typeface but I feel that they can only be developed to a certain extent.
Wassily Kandinsky
This work by Kandinsky is very visually interesting. The thickness of the line changes and there are lots of unsual shapes.
I have designed a few letters that are halfway between the two paintings in the way they are styled. I have varied the line thickness and created unusual shapes within the letters. I think it could work well as a typeface because it is simple looking but can be made to look interesting depending on how it is layed out.
Jean Tinguely
This 3D work by Jean Tinguely is built up of cogs and gears that are attached together within a framework. I think that the way it fits together could work well as typography if designed correctly.
I designed a few letters based around the sculptures made by Jean Tinguely and a letter Q based around his sketches. I really like the idea of using shapes from wheels and frameworks to create the shapes needed to create actual letters that I can make words from.
Bruce Gray
This art by Bruce Gray consists of geometric patterns and circular designs. They have a consistent outline and bright colour choices which I think could work as an interesting design.
I designed a couple of letters based around the peice of work that is made from straight lines because the way they are built up creates intersting shapes. I also designed quite a few letters based around the circle based painting. Rather than just having letters with the shapes inside, I thought it would be interesting to use the lines from the circles overlapping the edges of the letters. I think it works well as a typeface idea because the letters are still legible, and it will be interesting to experiment with using vectors.
Pablo Picasso
This painting by Picasso depicts an awful bombing that occurred in during the war. Despite depicting humans and animals, the work is mainly made up of abstract shapes which could work well if developed into a typeface.
I think that transforming the shapes of the characters and objects in the painting into different letters works quite well. I am not keen on the solid black ones because although they resemble the letters, they don’t look as much like the orginal painting. As a whole this design works well as a typeface at its current size, however I’m not sure how legible it would be at a smaller size.
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtensteins work appeals to me because of the bold lines and use of ben day dots. I think that these 2 elements could be used to create a typeface.
I designed a few letters in a similar style to Roy Lichenstein using a marker pen and drawing in the dots by hand. I then experimented with printing the dots, cutting them out, sticking them down and drawing the outlines of the letters over the top. I think they work well as individual letters as well as when placed together.
Joan Mir贸
I particularly like the style of this work by Miro. I picked these designs because of the thickness and texture of the black lines. I think they work well because they are quite rough. I also like the sections of colour and I think that they will be interesting to experiment with when creating a typeface.
I think that the designs by Miro work quite well as the letters that I have created. The typeface is easy to read but is still recognisable as the work by Miro due to the rough edges and sections of colour. I particularly like this style and am interested to see what other letters could look like.
Niki De Saint Phalle
These bright and colourful designs by Niki De Saint Phalle appealed to me because they could easily be transformed into very interesting designs. The colour and bold lines could create a unique typeface.
I created a few different letters in a style that is similar to the work by Niki De Saint Phalle. I used bold curvy lines to match the style of the “Nana’s” that she creates. I split them into different sections using bolder lines, then I filled each section with similar style patterns. I also experimented with colour on one of my letters. I think it works quite well at the current size, however it may look slightly messy if shrunk to a different size.
Transcribing three artists work into typeface.
Roy Lichtenstein
I created the word “WHAM” and the background explosion from printed dots on paper.
I created a larger version of a letter using a mixture of collaging printed ben day dots and outlining using a marker pen. I like this style of lettering however I’m not sure how well it works when you have multiple letters next to each other because the background gets in the way. I also experimented with using negative space, however I’m not sure how that could be transcrbed into a typeface.
I digitally created some letters for this typeface, I made them quite jagged and defined so as to fit into the theme and then added the dots to the inside to fill them in. I decided not to continue the idea of having the dots on the outside because they would clash with each other when put together.
Bruce Gray
Using a helvetica font, I placed simple letters over the top of designs I created to resemble Bruce Gray’s work.
I experimented using colour to fill in the sections or the letters. I also experimented with just black and white sections so that I can see what it would look like as a functional typeface.
I also used just the basic outlines and then filled in the sections with solid black. I think it looks visually interesting and works well as a design, however as a typeface it is not very clear what the letters are, so I prefer the versions where the letter is outlined and more obvious.
Joan Mir贸
I painted the letters on the previous with black acrylic and quite a thick brush. I like the way the edges look, because they are rough in a similar way to the original paintings. Although it looks good in solid black, I had to check what it would look like as an outline to check that it wouldn’t look messy.
Creating a font from the most appropriate artist.
Creating a base Font
I have decided to create a font based around the work and experiments I did based around the work of Bruce Gray. I digitally created each individual letter using a series of straight lines and 90 degree curves. I decided to create them like this because then they match the geometric shapes of the paintings by Bruce Gray.
I placed the letters over the top of some vector drawings that I created to look like the work by Bruce Gray. I then used the mask tool to remove the geometric patterns from a certain distance around the edge of the letter.
The finished Typeface.
Regular
Italic
Bold
Here is the typeface as it would appear on the Font Bureau website.
Here is the typeface as it would appear in the advertisement.
Here is the typeface as it would appear in the specimen book.