Advanced Typography

Posted by Jasmine Teoh June 11, 2019

Advanced Typography - Project 2

21/5/19 - 4/6/19 (Week 8 to Week 10)

Jasmine Teoh Lee Suan (0331993)

Advanced Typography
Project 2 - Collateral for The Troublemakers Manifesto: A Design Colloquium

Instructions:
Module Information Booklet:

Lecture Notes:

Week 8 (21/5/19)

There were no lectures in class today. We focused on finishing our Project 1.

Week 9 (28/5/19)

There were no lectures in class today. We focused on finishing our Project 1 and 2. Before we were let off, we were given a brief on our final project. I took some notes as the lecturers were giving the brief:

Develop a font that is intended to solve a larger problem or meant to be part of a solution in the area of interest be it graphic design or animation

OR

Explore the use of typeface of your area or interest - innovating - redesigning and making it better

You can think about what you wanna do and find a problem for it or vice versa
New and interesting way
When you cut a cake you can see the person's name there - because usually if you cut it it disappears in front
Introduce the typeface - present it in a unique way
Interactive in a sense - communication
Type in a new movie
You need to know the larger problem to solve OR enhance your existing solution
Stencil??
Have a rationale - what you wanna do - why you do it

EXPERIMENTAL BUT WITH A PURPOSE

They want you surprise them, they want you to think
Explore - animated letters ?? What purpose
Not happy with: someone made a poster and what
Should result in something substantial
If the purpose is very cloudy, not strong enough its a no
It needs to be exciting, you need to be excited, they need to be excited
They have 3D printers, we can use that and the laser cut machine. Figure something out!

Week 10 (4/6/19)

Classes commenced online today as it was e-learning week and Raya hols.

Project 2:

Week 9 (28/5/19)

This is the key artwork from project 1 that I would be incorporating into my collateral for this project.

Figure 0.1 Key Artwork from Project 1 (Black)

Figure 0.2 Key Artwork from Project 1 (White)

Collateral #1: Poster

Failed Attempt (Unconfirmed Key Artwork)

Figure 1.1 Poster with Unconfirmed Key Artwork

Figure 1.2 Poster with Unconfirmed Key Artwork

Attempts on poster with Finalized Key Artwork:

Figure 1.3 Poster Design

Figure 1.4 Poster Design

Figure 1.5 Poster Design

Figure 1.6 Poster Design

FINAL POSTER

Figure 1.7 Final Poster Design

##UPDATE (Week 13): After feedback, I made some changes to my poster design. Here is the finalized and updated version.

Figure 1.8 Final Updated Poster Design

Week 10 (4/6/19)

For the other collateral, we had to make a T-Shirt and we had our own choice of choosing between different collateral like notebooks, drawstring bags, totebags, stickers, badges, pins, mugs, and more.

I decided to experiment with three different collateral, mugs, notebooks and tote bags, and decided to go with the tote bag in the end.

Experimental Collateral: Mug

Figure 2.1 Mug

Figure 2.2 Mug

Experimental Collateral: Notebook

Figure 3.1 Notebook

Figure 3.2 Notebook

I was contemplating on whether to make my collateral black or white at this point and thought that my key artwork would look better on black, therefore I made a white key artwork (which can be seen on top at the start) and tried to keep the theme of the collateral similar so that it would look consistent. Here are my attempts and processes at designing the t-shirt and tote bag.

Collateral #2: T-Shirt

Figure 4.1 T-Shirt

Figure 4.2 T-Shirt

Figure 4.3 T-Shirt

Figure 4.4 T-Shirt

Figure 4.5 T-Shirt

Figure 4.6 T-Shirt

After feedback, I worked on the design of the T-Shirt more and came up with this design based on the suggestions given by the lecturers.

Figure 4.7 T-Shirt (After Feedback)

I didn't really like how that was going though so I decided to stick with one of my previous designs that didn't separate the troublemakers manifesto.

FINAL T-SHIRT

Figure 4.8 T-Shirt Final Design

Collateral #3: Tote Bag

Figure 5.1 Tote Bag

Figure 5.2 Tote Bag

Figure 5.3 Tote Bag

Figure 5.4 Tote Bag

Figure 5.5 Tote Bag

Figure 5.6 Tote Bag

After feedback, I worked on the design of the tote bag more and came up with this design based on the suggestions given by the lecturers.

Figure 5.7 Tote Bag

FINAL TOTE BAG DESIGN

Figure 5.8 Final Tote Bag

FINAL COMPILATION OF COLLATERAL:

Here is my final compilation of collateral for this project, alongside the print versions of each collateral.

POSTER:

Figure 6.1 Final Poster Design

T-SHIRT:

Figure 6.3 Final T-Shirt Design

TOTE BAG:

Figure 6.5 Final Tote Bag Design

PRINTED COLLATERAL:

Figure 6.6 Printed and Framed Poster

Figure 6.7 Printed Tote Bag Front

Figure 6.8 Printed Tote Bag Back

FLATLAY OF COLLATERAL:

Figure 6.9 Flatlay of Collateral

EXTRA:
We also did a microsite for this event in our other class, Interactive Design. Here's the link to the microsite: https://project2microsite.000webhostapp.com/index.html

Feedback:

Week 9:
Specific Feedback: Mr Shamsul said that I could work more on the poster's layout and make it messier, make it so that it fits with the key artwork and the theme.

General Feedback: The lecturers advised us to let other people who don't know what we're doing look at our work and give us their opinions and feedback on it, which is called user testing.

Week 10:
Hello sirs, sorry for not contacting you guys during the Raya break about my collateral or final project, I have been enjoying my vacation too well and I hope you guys did too. With that being said, I will be working twice as hard till the end of this sem!

Week 11:
Specific Feedback: The lecturers gave me feedback after looking at my blog and said that the "The Troublemakers Manifesto" should be together as they are one, so maybe I can think about that for my design. Mr Vinod also suggested for me to create something like a pattern from the original key artwork but focus on the negative space instead of the words to make a counterpart for the key artwork. The lecturers also agreed that the collateral worked better in black than white.

General Feedback: When you finish making your collateral, you should make a flat lay including your key artwork, collateral, presentation of collateral 1 and 2. The presentation should be explicit and understandable, don't think that because Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul so you present it like they know already. It should be presented like an identity.

Week 12:
Specific Feedback: I showed the lecturers my design for my tote bag and my poster and got their approval before going to print them.

Week 13:
Specific Feedback: I showed the lecturers my poster and tote bag that I've printed out, and they liked the tote bag even though it wasn't printed out as it should be. Mr Vinod gave me some feedback on my poster, which I made changes to it and printed it again in a different size.

Reflections:

Experience:
Week 9: I felt like I was in trouble and very behind on things as I only got my key artwork for project 1 approved and done by this week whereas my friends had already done some of their collateral by this week.
Week 10: I felt stressed as I was going through my raya break because I went back to my mom's hometown for vacation from the Friday after classes ended till the Sunday before classes started and I went out with my family on most days. Nevertheless I tried to work on my collateral when I had free time at night after a long day.

Observations:
Week 9: I saw that when you design a mug you should use a flat surface template of the mug's surface area to plan your designs and that there were many different kinds and sizes of tote bags.
Week 10: I noticed that my progress for this project was slow as well and that I don't really know whether I'm doing it correctly or not.

Findings:
Week 9: I found that I kept worrying about what I wasn't completing according to the deadline instead of actually trying to complete it and I really needed to get that out of my head or I would waste a lot of time.
Week 10: I realized that I have anxiety when I need to ask my lecturers for feedback online and I tend to drag my plans of doing so till its too late to do so, I hope I can find a solution for that as it is a very dumb thing for me to be doing yet I can't seem to escape from this habit.

Further Reading:

1. Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals
by Wayne Collins, Alex Hass, Ken Jeffery, Alan Martin, Roberto Medeiros, Steve Tomljanovic

From this journal, I learnt that using texture thoughtfully will enhance a visual experience and amplify the context for the content. It can also tie one piece of design to another, or become a defining element of a brand or a series of communications. I have applied what I learned here into my designs for my collateral for this Project 2 as I've included the texture of print into my design for my T-Shirt, Totebag and Poster. I also included the texture into my microsite's background.

Not only that, I also learnt that there are composition rules for typography and the proper composition of visual elements generates not only visual stability, it also enhances mood through composition. Designers use these rules in their work to make the reader enter their work and experience a design environment that is calm yet exciting, quiet yet interesting. I realized that I never really got the hang of compositional rules and went with my gut feeling / design sense on these kind of things

Furthermore, the journal talks about grid and modular systems that designers can practice and think about when creating publishing content. When a designer creates a grid for a document that is complicated, he or she may use multi-column grids because they allow for a complex hierarchy and provide more options for integrating text and visuals.