Advanced Typography Task 3 Type Expression + Application

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2024-06-21 - 2024-07-21 (Week 9 - Week 14)
Jolin Ceria [Student ID 0363784]
Bachelor of Design and Creative Media in Taylor's University
Advanced Typography Task 3

Proposal

Fig 1.1 Initial Proposal

After some deliberation with myself, I decided to use both the ideas for Captain Fantastic and using my own handwriting to make into a font. I converted the file to a pdf (At least I hope it actually is a pdf).

Making the Typeface

I made two font prototypes, one for my handwriting idea and one for Captain Fantastic

Fig 1.2 Handwritten font

While I could just copy/trace my own handwriting and be done with it, the same can't be said for the captain fantastic idea. The font that it originally used (Typocopia) has since been privated/archived so I couldn't really rip anything from there. I then had the thought: "What if I just traced it with Ibis Paint instead then traced it with Illustrator?" And so I tried to do that.

Fig 1.3 Ibis paint tracing (That's kinda sad ngl)

If you couldn't tell from that screenshot and the fact that I only managed to trace the letter A, I dropped that idea pretty quickly after realizing that it probably wouldn't have worked out well since I wasn't as good at using my fingers as I used to be. 

I honestly would've taken the thing with IbisPaint to the grave if it weren't for the fact that I was forgetful, I was too focused on finishing the font shapes and did not screenshot anything (Never do that. Record your progress kids). I opted to use another font as a reference instead, specifically the Bernard MT Condensed font, for the sole reason that the A looked similar enough to the A in the poster I was referencing. I don't really know if it's immediately obvious, because I more or less eyeballed and freehanded my letterforms.

Fig 1.4 Old letterform and Bernard MT comparisons

Mr. Vinod saw my progress on the Captain Fantastic font and immediately gave feedback on it, indicating that it was the idea he wants me to proceed with it. I was surprised to find out Mr. Vinod had watched the movie before, which was honestly enough to convince me to actually watch if it I wasn't going to already. It was a nice movie and I ended up rambling about the movie to my partner but I don't think I will show that because I want our conversations to be private (And also my rambling didn't make sense because I tend to be all over the place). 

He told me that the stroke widths for my first letterforms were quite inconsistent. Although not immediately obvious to me at first, it's more apparent the more you look at it.

Fig 1.5 Look closer at it, the Cs and Os are culprits especially if you note the difference in thickness for both letters

I was advised to reuse some assets to save time (Such as the stem for the letter I and the letter O itself), and Mr. Vinod showed me the shapebuilder tool, that I could use to save even more time because I had been using the knife tool (Admittedly a pain in the ass). I screengrabbed a video of me using it as a demonstration.

Fig 1.6 Shapebuilder

The remade letterforms look a lot more like their references now? I guess? Sort of? Maybe just for some of the letters.

Fig 1.7 Letterform comparison (2)

Fig 1.8 Letterforms

Fig 1.9 Font showcase on a separate canvas

Fig 1.10 Outlines after pressing Ctrl+Y

Measurements (Done by eye in FontForge):

  • Cap height: 515pt
  • Width: 961pt max (Letters), 685pt max (Numbers), 635pt max (Punctuation)
  • X-Height: - (Unicase font)
  • Baseline: 85pt
  • Ascender: 20pt
  • Descender: 85pt

Fig 1.11 Letterforms in fontforge

Final submission: Font link

Font presentation

Fig 2.1 Process screenshot

The newspaper image was the one I started with. Since we were advised to make headlines, I decided to take that literally. My decisions were weighed between "Operation: Free the food" and the moment that they managed to bust Leslie's funeral and read the speech. I decided to choose the funeral scene because it sounded more bizarre at a first glance as a news article. I honestly just winged the other ones, especially the other red one.

Font presentation final submission

Fig 2.2 Final submission of the font showcase in pdf format (With margins)

Fig 2.3 Ditto without the margins

Fig 2.4 Showcase 1

Fig 2.5 Showcase 2

Fig 2.6 Showcase 3

Fig 2.7 Showcase 4

Fig 2.8 Showcase 5

My favorite one out of these is honestly the one with the bus, I had tried to build the bus from scratch using characters to circumvent the usage of pictorial elements, but unfortunately I don't think Mr. Vinod noticed. The news article is a close second, though. 

Font Application

Fig 2.9 Progress screenshot

I decided to make the font application a magazine, since it was in line with suggestions that I have received. I used this link as a reference for the application, since they also used a book format.

Fig 2.10 Application

Fig 2.11 Application 1

Fig 2.12 Application 2

Fig 2.13 Application 3

Fig 2.14 Application 4

Fig 2.15 Application 5

I did not receive any feedback in regards to the font application, although the images had incorrect sizes (They were all 1024 x 768 (Or the other way around for the book cover)... Oops). Although I could just crop the book cover image and resize it, I wasn't sure how to make it work for the pictures of the pages, since they were all horizontally formatted. I decided to stretch the wooden pattern of the table to fit the empty space.

Fig 2.16 I don't know if you notice it but look closely

Font application final submission

Fig 2.2.1 Font application final submission (pdf)

Fig 2.2.2 Application 1

Fig 2.2.3 Application 2

Fig 2.2.4 Application 3

Fig 2.2.5 Application 4

Fig 2.2.6 Application 5

Feedback

Week 8:
General:
  • If you find that you lack confidence or time to complete at a pace that allows you to finish by week 12, do it at a unicase instead.
Week 11:
General:
  • Use the exclude setting in pathfinder if you want to import a letter with a counter in it (For example, O, P, etc.). Turn off rounds when editing 
Specific:
  • The stroke widths look quite inconsistent.
  • You can calculate horizontal and vertical stroke widths with other letters, preferably using the letters O and I as references. 
  • One thing you can do is make a box to estimate the height of the letters and make a vertical bar for your stems and also to estimate horizontal stroke widths. If the stroke widths are not equal to the width of the box, adjust accordingly
  • The crossbars for the letter T are generally thinner, but it's okay if you want to maintain the same thickness as the other parts.
  • Letters that curve at the top (G, O, C, Q) generally have a small overshoot.
  • Using the shape builder tool saves a lot of time when building certain letters while combining elements (For example the letter U) compared to manually joining the parts
Week 13:
General:
  • Make sure to add margins to your work
Specific:
  • Reduce the thickness of the outlines on the bus to make space for text
  • For the application, use pictures of the characters from different scenes and use big text, as if you're introducing them

Reflections

  • Experience: Surprisingly, I honestly was the most on track for this task, even though someone would usually be slumped by the end.
  • Observations: I was unsure what to do with the colors since there were multiple different versions of the original movie's poster, so I realized that I could choose whichever depending on what kind of vibe I wanted to go for.
  • Findings: Captain Fantastic is still a great movie. A fantastic movie even.

Further reading

Fig 3.1 A type primer - John Kane

I found that we tend to have preconceived notions on how things should look, and it tends to be a hinderance. I found myself struggling with this too when it came to my type presentations when it came to the newspaper one, because I wasn't sure where to place and format the images. You should also keep in mind to not make the type so distracting that the intended message to convey comes second before the type itself.

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