Typography / Task 1: Exercises 1 & 2

September 26 - October 27 / Week 1 - Week 5

Sheren Princessa Davon / 0362134

Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Task 1

Lectures

Instructions

Feedback

Reflections


LECTURES

Lecture 1: Typo_0_Introduction

Typography
--> the act of creating letters, geometrical shapes used to create letters/typefaces
- oxford dictionary: style and appearance of printer matter
- style, composition, arrangement of letters/numbers/symbols
- could also be animated (gifs, movie titles)
- affects the listeners mood (ex. bad textbook layouts may discourage a student's learning experience)

found in:
- visible in website designs, good websites have good typography
- visible in app designs
- signage design (in signs, does it help navigate)
- bottle labels, books, posters
- logos 

Typography has evolved over 500 years. From calligraphy > lettering > typography
Calligraphy: writing style
Lettering: drawing the letters out

Font: the individual font or weight within a typeface (ie. georgia bold, georgia regular)
Typeface: the entire family of fonts/weights that share similar characteristics/styles (ie. georgia, arial, times new roman)


Lecture 2: Typo_1_Development

Phoenician to Roman
- writing meant scratching into wet clay with sharpened sticks/carving stone with a chisel

Evolution from Phoenician letters
Writing Direction
Semitic people wrote from right to left.
Boustrophedon: style of writing created by the Greek, where they write from right to left and also left to right. For example in the figure below:

Boustrophedon

Direction of letterforms
- Etruscan carvers painted letterforms before inscribing them, but the strokes varied and there were changes in their weight from horizontal to vertical. 
Evolution of the Phoenician letters to Roman letters


Hand script (3rd to 10th century)
Square capitals
- Can be seen on roman monuments
- They used reed pens which created different weight of the strokes 
-  With serifs to finish the end strokes
- Used in the 4th or 5th century

Square Capitals

Rustic capitals
- Compressed versions of square capitals
- Allows more words to be written on a sheet of parchment
- Required less time to write
- However harder to read since they are more compressed
- Used in the late 3rd to mid 4th century

Rustic capitals

Roman Cursive
- Cursive were used more commonly for every-day transactions
- Was created due to fast writing, thus lowercase and uppercase letters were formed
- Unlike square and rustic capitals, which were used for important documents because they are more time-consuming 
Roman Cursive

Uncials
- The Uncials incorporated some aspects of Roman Cursive, more specifically A, D, E, H, M, U, and Q
- They are simply small letters that are more readable at small sizes than rustic capitals

Uncials

Half-uncials
- Marks the beginning of lowercase letterforms 2000 years after the Phoenician alphabet (C. 500)

Half-uncials

Standardization of calligraphy
- The first unifier of Europe, Charlemagne entrusted Alcuin of York, Abbot of St Martin of Tours to issue an edict to standardize all ecclesiastical text
- The monks rewrote the texts using both majuscules (uppercase), miniscule, capitalization, and punctuation
- It set the standard for calligraphy for a century

Caloline miniscule (C. 925)

Blackletter
- A variation upon Alcuin's script letterform popularized after the dissolution Charlemagne's empire

textura
- A condense strongly vertical letterform
- Used in northern Europe
rotunda 
- A rounder more open hand letterform
- Used in southern Europe

1300 Textura

Gutenberg
- Created the first printing machine, mostly Blackletter for northern Europe
- He invented the mechanism to present information without the need to handwrite (printing)
- Turning point in western printing

Bible created by Guttenberg

Many typefaces were created and digitized afterwards, below is a brief timeline.

Timeline of typefaces created and digitized throughout the years
Timeline of typefaces created and digitized throughout the years


Type Classifications
- Typeforms and classification developed due to technology, commercial needs and aesthetic.
1450 Blackletter (eg. Cloister Black, Goudy Text  
Blackletter

- 147 Oldstyle (eg. Garamond, Bembo, Calson, Dante)
Oldstyle

1500 Italic 
    - Complimented by straight forms
Italic


1550 Script (eg. Kuenstler Script, Mistral, Snell Roundhand)
Script

1750 Transitional (eg. Baskerville, Century, Times New Roman)
Transitional

- 1775 Modern (eg. Bell, Bodoni, Caledonia)
Modern

1825 Square Serif/Slab Serif (Clarendon, Rockwell, Serifa)
Square Serif/Slab Serif

- 1900 Sans Serif (Helvetica, Futura, Gill Sans)
Sans Serif

1900 Serif/San Serif (eg. Rotis, Scala, Stone) incorporate both Serif and Sans Serif
Serif/Sans Serif


Lecture 3: Typo_3_Text_P1

Kerning: the automatic adjustment of space between letters 
Letter spacing: add space between letters

Kerning example

Tracking
the addition & removal of space in a word/sentence, usually in paragraphs

normal tracking: easy to read, usually in large amounts of text
tight tracking & loose tracking: reducing the recognizability of the patterns which these words form, harder to read when used in large amounts of text

Normal tracking, tight tracking & loose tracking

Usually uppercase letters are usually letterspaced, unlike lowercase letters that require the counterform created by these letter spacings in order for them to be easily readable. Thus, why designers are not encouraged to letterspace lowercase letters.

Example of normal tracking and loose tracking


As can be seen in the example above, the one on the right is easier to read as its in its normal tracking.

Text Formatting

Flush left
- format that most closely mirrors the way we write (from left to right)
- each line starts at the same point but ends whenever the last word on the line ends
- spaces between words are consistent
gray value: text on white page
ragged right: jagged end point on the right side of a flushed left text

Example of flush left text

Centered
- symmetry upon text w equal weight to both ends of a line
- creates a pictorial quality to the text
- sometimes difficult to read cause it has different starting points
Example of centered text

Flush right
- emphasizes on the end of a line instead of the start
- a bit harder to read because it starts in the opposite way we read
- but it's useful to indicate specific captions for a specific picture

Example of flushed right text

Justified
- it is like centering however the starting and ending point of the text is the same
- it's achieved by expanding/reducing spaces between the words
- due to these spaces, "rivers" of white space may be produced (try to avoid this as much as possible)
- hyphens can be used to prevent these

Example of justified text

Texture
- different typefaces suit different themes/moods
- typefaces with a high x-height/heavy stroke produces a darker mass on a page
- unlike those with smaller x-heights/lighter stroke
- these differences in color is fundamental to producing a good formatted text

Anatomy of a typeface

Different serif typefaces
Different sans serif typefaces


Different typefaces have different levels of gray value resulting in different levels of readability, but it is also subjective. 

Leading and line length
The goal in setting type text is to allow easy and prolonged reading

3 things to decide when formatting text:
Type size 
- text should be large enough to be read at arms length

Leading: space between adjacent lines of a typeface
- type that is set too loosely creates striped patterns that distract the reader from the material
- usually 2-2.5 larger than point size text
Examples of different leadings

Examples of bad leading (too tight and too lose)

Line length
- rule of thumb: keep the line length between 55-65 characters (per line)

Type Specimen Book
- sheet/book that shows samples of typefaces in various sizes to provide an accurate reference for type, type size, type leading, type line length, etc.

Type Specimen Sheet example

Compositional requirement
- text should create a field that can occupy a page/screen
- ideally, text should have a middle gray value

Different gray values 

Right one looks lighter.

It's useful to enlarge type to 400% to get a clear sense of the relationship between descenders on one line and ascenders on the line below.

If your type is meant to be printed, it will be different than judging it on a screen beforehand, thus it's better to print it out.


Lecture 4: Typo_3_Text P2

Indicating Paragraphs
- pilcrow (¶): symbol avail in most typefaces, used to indicate paragraphs
Pilcrow example

- line space: if line space is 12pt, the paragraph space should be 12pt
Leading example

line space vs leading 
leading: space between 2 sentences
line spacing: baseline of ascender to descender 
Difference of leading and line spacing

- standard indentation: an indent in the first line, typically same as the point size/line spacing
Standard indentation

- extended paragraph
Extended paragraph


Widows and Orphans
widow: short line of type left alone at the end of a column of text
orphan: a short line of type left alone at the start of a new column
Left: Widow, Right: Orphan example

(Try to avoid these as best as possible, by reducing column length, rebreak line endings, etc)

Highlighting Text
Different way to highlight certain text in a large body of text

Left: Italicizing the text, Right: Bolding the text

Left: Bold and changing typefaces, Right: use a different color

Note: Suggested colors to use in highlighted text are black, cyan, magenta
When using a sans serif & serif typeface, make sure to reduce the point size (by 0.5 usually) of the sans serif typefaces generally look larger. 

Different point sizes in typefaces
Univers looks bigger than Times New Roman even though they have the same point size.

Numbers generally follow the capital letters format, to make the numbers not stick out too much, we can reduce the point size numbers.
Numbers with different point sizes

Another way to highlight text is by adding a box to the text:
Left: has no indent, Right: has indent

Adding typographic elements (bullet points, quotation marks):

Left: has no indent, Right: has indent



prime (top ones, not slanted):
to indicate inches/feet, different from quotations

Headlines within Text
A Head: indicates a clear break between topics within a section
Different examples of headlines

B Head
: Subordinate to A, sub-category within A head
Examples of B Head

C Head: Sub-sub category within B Head
Examples of C Heads
Examples of different Heads

Cross Alignment
- making sure two bodies of text with different properties still look cohesive and aligned
No cross alignment

Cross alignment example

Lecture 5: Typo_2_Basic

Describing Letterforms
Baseline: imaginary line at the base of the letterforms
Median: imaginary line defining the x-height of letterform
X-height: height in any typeface of the lowercase 'x'
Stroke: any line that defines the basic letterform
- Apex/Vertex: the point created by joining two diagonal stems            
- Arm: short strokes off the stem of the letterform (horizontal: E, F, L) (upward: K, Y)
Ascender: portion of the stem of a lowercase letterform above the median
Barb: half-serif finish on some curved stroke
Beak: half-serif finish on the same horizontal arms
Bowl: rounded form that describes a counter
Bracket: transition between serif and the stem
- Cross Bar: horizontal stroke in a letterform that joins two stems together
- Cross Stroke: horizontal stroke in a letterform that joins two stems together
- Crotch: interior space where two strokes meet
- Descender: the portion of the stem of a lowercase letterform that projects below the baseline
- Ear: the store extending out from the main stem or body of the letterform
- Em/en: originally referring to the width of an uppercase M, and em is now the distance equal to the size of the typeface; an en is half the size of an em
- Finial: the rounded non-serif terminal to a stroke
- Leg: short stroke off the stem of the letterform (at the bottom: L; inclined downward: K, R)
- Ligature: the character formed by the combination of two or more letterforms
- Link: the stroke that connects the bowl and the loop of a lowercase G
- Loop: bowl created in the descender of the lowercase G (in some typefaces)
- Serif: right-angled or oblique foot at the end of the stroke
- Shoulder: the curved stroke that is not part of a bowl
- Spine: the curved stem of the S
- Spur: extension that articulated the junction of the curved and rectilinear stroke
- Stem: vertical or oblique stroke
- Stress: the orientation of the letterform, indicated by the thin stroke in round forms
- Swash: flourish that extends the stroke of the letterform
- Tail: the curved diagonal stroke at the finish of certain letterforms
- Terminal: the self-contained finish of a store without a serif, it may be flat, flared, acute, grave, concave, convex or rounded as a ball or a teardrop (see finial)


The Font
- Uppercase and Lowercase 
- Small Capitals: uppercase letter forms that are the same x-height of the typeface
Small capitals vs Capitals

- Uppercase Numerals/Lining Figures: same height as uppercase letters & have the same kerning width
Uppercase numerals

- Lowercase Numerals/ Old Style Figures/Text Figures: numerals that are set to the x-height with ascenders & descenders
Lowercase numerals
- Italic

- Punctuation, miscellaneous characters:
changes from typeface to typeface
Punctuation, miscellaneous characters

- Ornaments: only available in some typefaces
Ornaments

Describing Typefaces
- Roman: derived from inscriptions of Roman monuments
- Italics/Oblique: Italics are for serif typefaces, Oblique usually for sans serif typefaces 
- Boldface: Thicker stroke than roman, can also be called semibold, medium, black, extra bold
- Light: Lighter stroke than roman
- Condense: Compressed/condensed version of roman
- Extended: Extended version of roman

Describing typefaces

Lecture 6: Typo_2_Basic

Understanding Letterforms
Uppercase letters tend to suggest symmetry, but not all of them are.
Eg. Baskerville "A" vs Univers "A"

Left: Baskerville, Right: Univers

Each individual letterform is unique, even in similar sans-serif fonts such as Helvetica and Univers.
Eg. the lowercase "a" has different stems in the way they finish off the letter.
Helvetica vs Univers "a"

Maintaining x-height
X-height of the letters should be the same, specifically in curved strokes such as "s" as they tend to cross the median line


Lowercase letters maintaining its x-height
Form/Counterform
Counterform (counters): the space that forms when letters are joined together to make words
- this is just as important as it helps in the readability of the text

Example of forms and counterforms
- white space: form
- black space: counterform

- the best way to examine the forms and counterforms is by examining them in detail
- also helpful to take note when designing letterforms
Forms and counterforms of Helvetica and Baskerville

Contrast
Contrast is one of the principles in design found in typography
- contrasts of small + organic / large + machined / small + dark / etc
- different types of contrast can be found:
Different types of contrast

Lecture 7: Typo_6_Screen&Print

Different Mediums
Typography used to only refer to printing on paper, but now it can be both print and screen use.

Type for Print
Most commonly used typefaces for print: Caslon, Garamond, Baskerville
- versatile
- easy to digest
- serif fonts
Example of old print

Type for Screen
- Typefaces used on web are usually modified to enhance readability 
- taller x-height
- wider letterforms
- heavier and thin strokes in serif fonts
- Typefaces designed for screen: Georgia and Verdana

Hyperlink
- Word/phrase/image that allows user to click on it and redirects them to a new document/section
- usually blue and underlined by default
- when cursor is moved over it, the arrow should change to the small hand pointing at the link

Font size for Screen
- 16-pixel text; same size as text printed in a book/magazine
- This size is accounted for reading distance
- In print/books/novels/etc, they're usually 10-12 points
Left: Screen, Right: Print

Web Safe Fonts
- Each device has their own pre-installed font selection based on its OS
- Windows, MacOS, Google, Android, they all have their own selection
- A certain font might not be compatible with a certain operating system, causing a website too look ugly/unorganized

Web safe fonts
- appear across all OS, small collection of fonts that overlap from Windows to Mac to Google
- fonts include: Open Sans, Lato, Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Courier New, Verdana, Georgia, Palatino, Garamond

Pixel Differences Between Devices
- Screens on our devices are different (phone, laptop, tablet, TV, etc.)
- thus the text differs in proportion too, cause they have different sized pixels
- 100 pixels on a laptop is different from 100 pixels on a big 60 inch HDTV
- There are even variations on a single device (Samsung, Iphone, etc.)

Static Vs Motion
Static
- Has minimal characteristics in expressing words however still dynamic
- No matter the different purposes (informational, promotional, aspirational, etc.), the level of impression and impact on the audience is related to the emotional connection with them

Static typography

Billboard with static typography

Motion Typography
- Temporal media offers typography the chance to "dramatize" type, to make them more kinetic or fluid
- For example in film title credits
- Motion typography can be animation, motion graphics
- Usually overlaid on music videos and ads, set in motion to the rhythm of a song/soundtrack
- Helps set the mood/establish the vibe of a brand


INSTRUCTIONS


Task 1: Exercise 1 - Text Expression
For Exercise 1, we were given 6 words and we were required to make text expressions for 4 of them. The words that were given are Chaos, Spring, Dive, Bounce, Float, Crush. First we sketch out some designs, making sure not to use too many graphical elements.

1. Sketches

The words I have chosen for this exercise are Crush, Chaos, Dive, and Bounce.

Fig 1.1 Type Expression for "Crush" and "Chaos"

Fig 1.2 Type Expression for "Bounce" and "Dive" Sketch

Crush - I used the letters of the word to somehow crush each other.

Chaos - I tried to capture the word "chaos" in the boxes using ripples, disarranging the letters in the word, using different sizes of letters.

Dive - I tilted the letters in an angle to make it seem that the letters are diving.

Bounce - For #1 I made the word "bounce" look like it was bouncing while in #3 I manipulated the letter "o" to bounce around the walls of the square.

2. Digitization 
Then, I started to digitize my sketches using Adobe Illustrator. I created a few digitization sketches with the original sketches I made on paper. I tried out different fonts and typefaces and also mixed and matched them.
Fig 1.3 Digitization Sketches - Week 2 (07/10/23)

Bounce     
Fig 1.4 Bounce Digitization Drafts - Week 2 (07/10/23)

At first I used the font Bodoni MT Italic however I thought that it didn't really match the meaning of the word since it is a serif font. Then I replaced the typeface with Futura Std Bold Condensed and I liked it better. I also used ITC Garamond Std Ultra Condensed for the other sketch I had but I decided to stick with the draft #2.

Dive 
Fig. 1.5 Dive Digitization Drafts - Week 2 (07/10/23)

For this word I mostly used sans serif fonts, Futura Std Heavy, Univers LT Std 55 Roman, as well as a serif font ITC Garamond Std Book Condensed Italic for contrast. 
For all the drafts, I rotated the letter "i" to make it seem like a person. 
For draft #1 and #2 I made it seem like the letter were diving in. 
For draft #3, #4 and #5 I made it seem as if the "i" was diving into the "v". 

Crush
Fig. 1.6 Crush Digitization Drafts - Week 2 (07/10/23)

I incorporated the same idea for all drafts; the letters crushing the other letters in the word "crush". 
For draft #1 and #6 I used only Univers LT Std 65 Bold and Univers LT Std 63 Bold Extended), making the "C" and "R" crushing the letters "u" "s" "h".
For draft #4 and #5 I used Futura Std Light Condensed as well to give the effect of the condensed letters being crushed by the more extended letters. 
For draft #2 I used a combination of Universe LT Std 73 Black Extended and Janson Text LT Std 56 Italic. 

Chaos
Fig. 1.7 Chaos Digitization Drafts - Week 2 (07/10/23)

At first I used purely sans serif fonts (Univers LT Std 75 Black, Univers LT Std 65 Bold) in different sizes and positions. I scattered the letters in order to give it the "chaotic look" however I didn't really like it. Then in draft #4 and #5 I tried changing some of the typefaces such as Univers LT Std 75 Black, and Bodoni MT Bold Italic. In draft #5 I changed the letter "h" to Bodoni MT Poster Compressed and flipped the letter "s" horizontally to give it the final look.

After consulting with Ms. Hsin, we decided on the final type expressions for each letter.

Final Task 1 - Exercise 1: Type Expression
Fig 1.8 Final Text Expression - JPEG (Week 3: 10/10/23)


Fig. 1.9 Final Text Expression - PDF (Week 3: 10/10/23)

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jdtulv__ozKQZ6UA6CbhF1gPhHG6JDtQ/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

3. Animation
Next, we had to choose 1 out of the 4 words to animate. We were instructed to watch the tutorial by Mr. Vinod where he showed us how to animate the chosen word with Illustrator and Photoshop. The word I chose was "bounce" since I already had quite a motion-type design for the text expression. 

Below is the first animation I came up with, however I felt like the end was too choppy as the "o" suddenly cuts back into the frame. 
Fig. 1.20 First Attempt of Text Animation - Week 3 (15/10/23)

I wanted to make the animated look like it looped so I remastered it by adding another frame at the end which resulted in the final animation of the word "bounce".


Fig. 1.21 Final Text Animation GIF - Week 3 (15/10/23)

Task 1: Exercise 2 - Text Formatting
For Exercise 2, we were supposed to format a block of text with a picture of our choice.

Kerning and Tracking Practice
Before we started Exercise 2, we practiced kerning and tracking with our names with the different typefaces provided. 
Fig 2.1 Kerning and Tracking Exercise - Week 4 (16/10/23)

Layout Exercise
Then, we could finally start the layout formatting exercise. With the text given along with a picture of our choice, we were able to experiment different layouts on our own. I came up with 4 different layouts below.
Fig 2.2 Layouts - Week 4 (16/10/23)

For layout #1 and #2 I decided to keep a symmetrical approach, however I thought it looked too plain and a bit boring. Then, I decided to experiment more, resulting in layout #3 and #4. I also changed the image I used for the last two, which I liked more than my first attempts.

I finally selected option #4 for my final result. Then I noticed that some of the paragraph lines have not so great of a ragging, I went ahead and adjusted the kerning and tracking myself for those lines.


Fig 2.3 Without tracking


Fig 2.4 With tracking

Final Task 1 - Exercise 2: Text Formatting
Fig 2.5 Final Text Formatting (without grids) - JPEG, Week 5 (25/10/23)

Fig 2.6 Final Text Formatting (with grids) - JPEG, Week 5 (25/10/23)

HEAD
Font/s: ITC Garamond Std Ultra Italic 
Type Size/s: 45 pt (headline), 33 pt (byline)
Leading: 43 pt (headline), 35 pt (byline)
Paragraph spacing: -

BODY
Font/s: Univers LT Std 55 Roman
Type Size/s: 9 pt (body text), 8 pt (caption)
Leading: 11 pt (body text), 10 pt (caption)
Paragraph spacing: 11 pt (body text)
Characters per-line: 59 characters
Alignment: Left-aligned 

Margins: 15 mm (top and bottom), 12,7mm (left and right)
Columns: 2
Gutter: 4,233 mm


Fig. 2.7 Final Text Formatting (Without grids) - PDF, Week 5 (25/10/23)

Fig. 2.7 Final Text Formatting (With grids) - PDF, Week 5 (25/10/23)


FEEDBACK

Week 1
General Feedback:
- label sketches (option 1, 2, etc.)
- further reading & reflection every week
- individual sketches
- base the sketches on the typefaces

Week 2
General feedback:
- for the labels add the week & date
- start writing reflections

REFLECTIONS

Experience
Typography class is very interesting, I got to learn about the history behind fonts, typefaces, techniques in a good type expression. The first assignment was also quite fun, I got to experiment different words and I got feedback from Ms. Hsin. Her feedback, it being general or specific, helped me improve my design. 

Observations
I got to see my classmates' works and it really inspired me. I found that even though our works are quite different, the feedback given to them could also be implemented on my work. 

Findings
I found that design is very versatile and many people can have different interpretation of a word, for example in our type expression exercise, people utilized both meanings of "spring", as in the season and also the verb.


FURTHER READING

The Vignelli Canon by Massimo Vignelli

This book follows some basic typographic principles that may be useful for designers, especially beginners like me. 

There are 3 design aspects that are important to Massimo Vignelli, Semantic, Syntactic, and Pragmatic. 

Semantics
Semantics are the basic essential component of a designer's process. In design, semantics means an understanding to the subject in all aspects, making sure that the true meaning of the design is communicated properly. A good design always has purpose behind each element, otherwise the design will be senseless.

Syntactics
"God is in the details." This phrase encapsulates the essence of syntax, the proper use of grammar, construction of phrases and language used in design. It can also include the structure, the grid, the typefaces, the text, headlines, illustration, etc. used in the overall design. Each element must portray an accurate representation of the subject/text being presented. Syntactic consistency is an important essential in graphic design.

Pragmatics
If a design we think are semantically correct and syntactically consistent but no one understands the final result, the design is now pointless. Clarity must be present in a good design, in a way that is elegant yet not too complicated.

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