Type Classification Posters Zoe Ekonomou
Sketches
So when researching each type family and gathering my information, I kind of had an idea in my head of what I wanted my posters to look like. I love simplicity so I wanted my posters to convey that. But I sketched out a few different ones that aren’t like that because I knew I had to get out of my comfort zone and try some new things. I put stars next to my two favorite sketches. The top right sketch is the one that the class decided they liked the very best. The bottom sketched I liked but I knew the design would only work with a few of the type families so I had to scrap that one. With the top sketch, I told the class that I liked the simplicity of it. I would justify the text so that the edges aligned perfectly. For critiques, peoples’ only concern was that it worked with every type family, especially decorative. So I knew for the next round of drafts I had to make sure my template worked with every type family.
I sketched the decorative type out specifically and I thought it looked pretty good so I decided to keep with that simple design and template. I knew I might have to play around with different decorative types to find the best one, but for now, I was using
Rosewood .
First Drafts 1)
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These three designs were the favorites out of all nine of my first drafts that I showed in class. They were also my favorites as well. The first design was the favorite of the sketches I showed the class. It is the original sketch I was planning on doing. But while I was doing my designs, I thought it was a bit too boring and basic. I wasn’t sure how to make it not boring. I knew adding color would ruin the simplicity of it, so I decided to experiment. This is how I came up with the other two designs. I thought taking the letters a bit off the page was a good idea. I also decided to just use one letter instead of a couple different ones. When everyone showed theirs in class, the ones that used the same letter each time always looked the best. For critiques, everyone loved the idea of the tail of the Q leading into the research. Their only concerns were that not every type face I chose would do that same thing. So for my next round of drafts, I knew I had to find the right font for the Q’s to do what I wanted them to do.
Second Drafts
So for my second drafts, it was really just taking that one template I had that the class liked and matching it to every type family. I never got the opportunity to finish putting all the research on there. But with this, you can still see how the main letter is going to look. I decided to use Q across every poster. After showing the class these during critiques, they all agreed that I still needed to find a better decorative Q. I also needed to make sure that all of my Q’s lined up well and that some weren’t too dark or overpowering compared to the others. Neil also told me I had to make my alphabet smaller and to justify the text. I ended up doing that for my final posters.
Final Posters
For my final posters, I didn’t change a whole lot with my type faces. I did end up changing the decorative font because I found one whose Q had a better tail. I also made my headings all the same font and the same size. Originally, the heading would be in the font of the huge Q but I didn’t like the way it looked. So at the bottom of the poster where I have the different examples of type faces in the family, I have the one used underlined.