DES115 Process Book by Victoria Khau

PROCESS BOOK DES 115 | WINTER 2016 |VICTORIA KHAU

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TABLE OF CONTENTS initial drafts.........................................4-5 critique & revision................................6-7 final posters.........................................8-9 DES115 | W16 | AMOS | VICTORIA KHAU | page 3

MINIMAL LETTERFORMS Our first project, Minimal Letterforms, required us as designers to step back from our previous notions and generalizations of type and asked us to notice and analyze the little details. A few elements we were asked to look at were juxtaposition, contrast, form/ counterform, symmetry, and balance. Initially it seemed overwhelming to analyze a font that carefully. But after creating many drafts that zoomed in and out of specific letterforms, it eventually became easier to notice the tiny contrasts of each letter, leading up to understanding what makes each and every font so unique. I have always been more comfortable using sans serif fonts in my design work because they aligned with my ideal style of design and they were also used a lot in modern branding/graphic styles. It was because of this reason that I initially decided to focus on using serif fonts for this project. I wanted to explore fonts that were outside of my comfort zone, and I also thought this was a way to learn how to appreciate classic typefaces as well. I decided to use Bodoni because I was drawn to the curvatures of the terminals in the ascender/ descenders and the grid-like nature of the stems. I played with the regular, italicized, and bolded styles by creating sketches of four different letters in 2x2in boxes. I wanted to focus on the contrasts between the curvatures and the linear elements of each letter.

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INITIAL DRAFTS

Eventually, I was very drawn to the capitalized letters because they looked elegant on paper and each letter was balanced in terms of the grid. While sketching, I also noticed the similarities of the letters W, X, V, and A. They all had identical serifs, and they also all had slender and thick stems. Yet, each letter was unique in terms of their form and counterform. The lower right sketch was my favorite because I was able to showcase the contrast of each letter while also highlighting their similarities. Also, this design was well balanced in relation to the box/grid. DES115 | W16 | AMOS | VICTORIA KHAU | page 5

CRITIQUE & REVISION

POSTER A I took this sketch from my first batch of drafts and re-sketched it to a larger scale. This way, I would be able to analyze the details of the type more carefully. In class, I recieved critique that the A and V boxes did not have the best balance of white/black space. The type did not fill up the square, but instead it looked like a vertical rhombus. This critique would allow me to further edit the placement and font size for my final poster.

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POSTER B With this sketch, I wanted to highlight the unique terminal and finials of some letters. Unfortunately, because of the thin nature of the type and my placement of it on the grid, there was a large amount of white space in the middle, which did not balance well with the black letters. Additionally, there was a lack of symmetry throughout the poster.

g r

Because I ended up not liking Poster B due to difficulties of balance, I tried using Helvetica for some sketches. I discovered that some unique characteristics to Helvetica Bold that I hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t noticed before, such as the thinned out curve of the bowl in letters g and r. I also liked the thickness of the stems of each letter, as they served as balance of black/white space. This poster variation used type that was too small, which prevented the design from filling up the square. Additionally, there seemed to be arbitrary placement of some letters.

POSTER C

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FINAL POSTERS

Bodoni Book: W, A, V, X My final poster highlighted the stems of the typeface. I created a stable connectivity between the letters by aligning the stems of the W/X and A/V. This also gave the poster a centerpoint and balanced the weight of the letters.

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WA VX

g r

Helvetica Bold: g, f, y, r My final poster used the curvatures and linear elements of the letters to create a wellbalanced piece. With the enlargement of the type, you are able to see the details of the weight of each letter. I placed the g and r across from each other because the bowls of the letters almost seem mirrored, giving the upper left and lower right of the poster a sense of symmetry.