Illustrator Induction

This is the first thing we did to get used to the 'Pen Tool' on Illustrator.  We followed the exercise to create straight lines; shapes and curves.

Next we experimented using the pen tool and began manipulating anchor points within a letterform to change the way it looks.  Above I have chosen a 'G' in the typeface 'Bebas Neue' that i used in our first 'Alphabet Soup' brief.

Chosen letterform:

This specific letterform is from the typeface I created for Sarah in the 'Alphabet Soup- pt 2' brief.

-above is my experimentation with creating a patterned swatch.

These are the final letterforms I have decided on creating..however i think they can be improved slightly using colour changing the opacity etc.

ILLUSTRATOR FINAL:

Visual Language.

First CTS lesson groupwork-

ELECTIVE- PRINTMAKING. A to Z- A Visual Investigation.

MONOPRINT INDUCTION:

Mon 4th Oct:

Today we had our first Printmaking elective.  We were told to create some letterform stencils that would work with monoprint.  From this we were then instructed how to roll the ink onto the table tops using the rollers above, and then roll it onto our plastic sheets, which would then get sent through the printing press to create the prints below.

Above are my prints from the session (click on the right image to see a more detailed version).  Below is my plastic sheet from the same session.  By going through the printing press the stencils forced the ink out to create the type once again on this sheet.  I thought it looked interesting so i decided to keep it.

LETTERPRESS INDUCTION:

Mon 11th Oct:

For this induction we were asked to come up with a few lines of text that we could work with for the letterpress induction.  I used a quote from Henry David Thoreau- 'It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see'.  I thought it was relevant and just generally interesting.

Above is the quote i was using.  This image illustrates the piecing together of the individual letters with the appropriate spacing between them.  Once complete i needed to check to see if it was wobbling at all and sort it out by inserting different sizes of leading inbetween the end pieces of metal.  If the letters were wobbling then this would have caused an uneven, bad quality print.

Below is the type ready for print, compressed against itself to, again, make sure it doesn't move at all.

Below is the Letterpress that we printed from. 

Alphabet Soup- Part two

Above is my final design for the lower case typeface.

There are some specific letterforms that do not need re-designing because they work the same as a lower case i.e. 'U'; 'C';'Z';'X' etc.  It would be necessary to change the point size from the original upper case letterforms and make them smaller so they work as lower case.

I then attempted to create this typeface in lower case.

Above is my Final design for Sarahs' typeface.

Bold

Hard to read

Nostalgic

Fun

Excitable 

I have covered all of these aspects of her personality and incorporated them into the design of the typeface.  I think it is a consistent type and is simple yet effective.

Above is my final design for this letterform.  I have traced the new design over the original to show how much it has changed.  -it is a subtle difference but it increases its quality because it fits with the design.

Next i experimented with the letterform 'Z'- I thought that the counters were too widely spaced which didn't make sense considering there is room within the letterform to manipulate it to have smaller counters. 

Above is the original letterform I used to present my work.  I was unhappy with it because of its inconsistency.  Above that is my edited version.  I thought that making the counter come to a point would mirror the rest of the letterforms, however, I, including many others agree that it looks too much like the 'Pacman' symbol and had totally different connotations to what i want to achieve with this typeface.  So, above that is my final design for this letterform.  I have taken on aspects of the edited 'H' and cut off the point within the counted to create a 'non-pacman' letterform.  It is much more consistent within the design in my opinion.

I also wanted to have a go at redesigning the letterforms 'C' and 'Z' as i felt that they could be more consistent within the typeface.

I asked people who didn't know about my brief to tell me what the word said and every one of them said 'Nash'.  I think this is a lot more clear as to what the letterforms are, and more importantly they still work together because I've not forgotten the adjectives I am working on to make this typeface reflect Sarah.

-A slight adjustment.  I've incorporated a vertical line through the point in the counter.  This mirrors the general rule for the letterform 'H', except I have changed it to fit my typeface for Sarah.

Above i've pushed the counters further into the letterform in the hope that it would make it more recognisable, I think it is still unsuccessful in this because of its' similarities with the final 'N' letterform I have chosen.  

I then tried turning the 'Z' on its side to see how that would work.  At first it was too wide and wasn't consistent enough to fit with the rest of the letterforms.

So I first started on the 'N' and the 'H', as you can see above just increasing the counter was not enough.  I increased them and then put it into context with a word that has both these letterforms.  -It is not clear enough. 

Final Crit:  I was told that the letterforms 'N' and 'H' were still too illegible.  And also that I should try this typeface in lower case to see if it would work.

Below is my experimentation and exploration through her 'exciteable' side.  I think that the multiplication of letterforms and kerning gives a feel of movement that is created through excitement.  I think it looks visually pleasing because of its complexities, however, i think that it is just too illegible and i have pushed it too far.  

Here i experimented with line.  I thought that tracing the outline of the letterforms would give a more light feel that reflected Sarahs' personality more effectively.  Because the outline is hand- crafted it gives a more playful, childish feel that then focuses more on her exciteable and nostalgic aspects, whilst still giving a powerful bold look.

I really like this version of the typeface- it is a deeper experimentation looking into a bold and almost 'illegible' feel.  I am going to again experiment further to see what i can come up with using these two aspects as a cornerstone for the design.  I think this specific design above is too dark and sends the wrong message because of the negative connotations with black. -it doesn't

Above is my direct experimentation from the typeface below.  The first line shows the typeface wholly blocked out in black and pushed further to see how far it can go and still be legible.  The second row is a more illustrated approach that was inspired by her hair as it is one of her main features that you first see.  It also incorporates an elegant look, but i felt this did not reflect her personality.

Above is my chosen typeface- 'Sans Serif Shaded'.  I found this typeface on 'DaFont.com', I felt that to begin with it mirrored aspects of Sarahs' personality because of its' cold nature and childish shading effect.  I also thought that there was a lot of room for manipulation with this typeface so it seemed logical to go ahead and experiment with it.

This is the beginning of my research into 'who is Sarah Pritchard...?', my partner for this brief.  I have come up with a few adjectives that as far as i can tell describe her accurately.  

-ignore the dog.