Design Practice: OUGD404- Study Task 2: Creating a Typeface

Typography:

1 point = 1/72

12 Points = 1 Pica

Pica goes up in multiples of 12

Difference between font and typeface:

From researching the difference between a font and a typeface as well as the autonomy of type I chose one of the typefaces I had collected as part of a previous task and removed the serif's. I have also begun to experiment with changing my chosen font into regular, bold, italic and light as part of a font family.

Questions which affect whether the manipulations are correct:

Does the response work across all glyphs?

Are glyphs legible?

Is it consistent and recognisable?

Are modifications consistent?

How distinct are the fonts?

Feedback from analysing the group's manipulations:

Italics are difficult to create and understand- oblique is for sans serif and italics is for serif fonts only. Italics should be at a maximum of 12 degrees and the width/distance should be no more than half the x height.

Review modifications based on how distinctive they are;

how bold can bold be? how light can light be? how sheer can italic/oblique be?

How accurate is the anatomy?

Try working on a larger scale, it is easier to make slight and subtle manipulations to a larger point size.

I started removing the serif's and made the letterforms much larger so they were easier to work with. I also found that because these letterforms were initially a serif (Garamond), the difference in within the letterforms is entirely opposite. Serif's tend to more consistent in their weight.

I began working with the idea of BOLD and how on the "A, B and C" this could be made larger one one side:

After these initial changes I found that I will go back to my original letterforms and create Garamond into more of a sans serif font which will include changes such as adjusting the weight of the font.

Examples of how sans serif fonts appear:

I noticed when looking at fonts such as Gill sans:

The BOLD becomes much physically wider, and therefore I think my experimentations have failed because the letterform doesn't support or balance the weight of the line strokes.

My changes/ edits to the original font (Garamond) without serif's:

- Create one part of the letterform to be larger than the rest.

This in theory should follow the initial shape and form of Garamond, but without serif's. In terms of the C I will make this letterform an equal width and just change it in terms of bold, light and so on.

Experimentations:

I started looking at bold and light in terms of the "A":

I found that through experimenting with different line weights, through changing both sides too much this could break the letterform and make it illegible. I also found that to make the letterform "more bold" this can be done by making the letter wider as well as making the line weights thicker. On letters such as Z and X opposites could be made thicker or thinner.

The third (on the top row) I think is a true possibility for the BOLD Letterforms, this is because it is highly distinctive from the regular, however I might push this a little further into experimenting with other letterforms.