Typography / Project 1 - Text Formatting and Expression
29.9.2020 - 06.10.2020 (Week 6 - Week 7)
Jocelin Agustia / 0345436 / BDCM
Typography
Project 1 - Text Formatting and Expression
LECTURES
Lecture 6: Letters
Understanding Letterforms
figure 1.1 Asymmetrical Letterform 1
From the picture above, we could see that the letterform is in symmetry but it is actually not. We can look at the two different stroke weights of the Baskerville stroke, the fact is that each bracket connecting the serif to the stem has a unique arc.
figure 1.2 Asymmetrical Letterform 2
The same case here, they appear similar but is actually not. Notice the width of the left slope is thinner than the right stroke.
The complexity of each letterform is neatly demonstrated by examining the lowercase "a" of the two seemingly similar sans serif typefaces - Helvetica and Univers. Here is an example:
figure 1.3 Helvetica and Univers Lowercase of 'a'
Maintaining X-height
Curved strokes such as in letter "s" must rise above the median or sink below the baseline in order to be on the same size as the vertical and horizontal strokes they adjoin.
figure 1.4 Maintaining X-height
Counterform
Space describes and often contained by the strokes of the form. When letters are joined to form words, the counter form includes the spaces between them. Counterform is particularly an important concept when working with letterforms.
figure 1.5 Counterform 1
One of the wat to understand the form is to examine in close detail. By doing examination it could also provide a good feel for how the balance between form and counter is achieved, it also gives us a glimpse into the process of letter-making.
The letter 's' holds at each stage of enlargement while 'g' tends to lose its identity, as individual elements are examined without the context of the entire letterform.
figure 1.6 Counterform 2
Contrast
The basic of Design Principle is also applied in Typography which is Contrast. The simple contrasts produce numerous variations: small + organic/large + machined, small + dark/large + light, etc.
figure 1.7 Contrast
INSTRUCTIONS
Week 6
figure 1.1 Module PDF
Our first project is to format an Editorial Text, there are 3 options to it and I decided to go with "A Designer’s Code of Ethics". I sketched out many designs but I only did 3, some of my formatted designs are different from the sketches because I changed them when I started to format in InDesign.
figure 1.2 Sketches (21/09/2020)
figure 1.3 Margins and Columns (28/09/2020)
figure 1.4 First Design JPG (28/09/ 2020)
figure 1.5 Second Design JPG (28/09/2020)
Since my type expression in the second design don't show I made another design for it.
figure 1.8 Type Expression First Design (01/10/2020)
But it didn't really show a pencil/pen so I changed it again. By giving a rectangle and changed the typefaces.
figure 1.9 Type Expression Final Design (01/10/2020)
FEEDBACK
Week 6
For the first project, I need to improve my type expressions because it doesn't show and the shadows in the headlines are unnecessary.
Week 7
Sir said my idea of type expression is interesting but it will be more interesting if the lines beside my text were in form of a pencil too. Sir also said that I could highlight the 'Code of Ethics'.
REFLECTION
Experience
When working on the first project I found lots of inspirations both from the seniors' blog and from Pinterest. I had a lot of fun searching for inspiration and am excited to make my own design. But I'm not really sure how to express the headlines because the idea I thought of is a little too simple.
Observations
I see that lots of editorial works have an interesting way of expressing the text, and I would like to try it out so I made a lot of sketches and modify them in InDesign.
Findings
It seems that what I have in mind doesn't really work well so I adjust them a bit but it turns out that they differ from the sketches I made, but I am quite happy with it although there might be some flaw in it.
FURTHER READING
Type Rules! The Designer's Guide to Professional Typography 2nd Edition (Ilene Strizver)
Legibility and Readability
Legibility and Readability are often seen as one but they are different from each other. Legibility refers to the actual design of the typeface while Readability refers to how the typeface is set. The legibility of a typeface is related to the characteristics in its design including the size of its counters, x-height, character shapes, contrast, serifs, or lack thereof, and weight.
figure 1.1 Legibility
All of them are related to the ability to distinguish one letter from another. Note that not all typefaces are designed to be legible and this is more of a consideration for text designs where the degree of legibility relates directly to holding the reader's attention.
Readability is related to how you arrange the type. There are factors that could affect readability which are size, leading, line length, alignment, letter spacing, and word spacing.
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