Advanced Typography - Final Project
Chan Qian Hui 0334447
Advanced Typography
Final Project - Design, Exploration and Application
LECTURE NOTES
INSTRUCTION
FINAL PROJECT
For our final project Design, Exploration and Application, we were tasked to either develop a font that is intended to solve a larger problem or meant to be part of a solution in the area of your interest OR explore the use of typeface in your area of interest, understand its existing relationship, identify areas that could be improved upon, explore possible solutions or combinations that may add value to the existing typeface.
Idea #1
I wanted to create a toy based on the Bead roller coaster to teach them on writing letters. Although Mr Vinod commented that it is interesting, it may not be able to have a larger field of usability when it comes to a toy as kids may get bored of it after time. Besides that, this toy is actually meant for training eye hand coordination and visual tracking for young kids.
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| Fig 1.0 Ikea's Bead Roller Coaster |
Idea #2
For the second idea, I thought of creating puzzles for kids to form letters. This helps kids to learn the shape of letters. Same as the comments above, although it is interesting, it does not have a long shelf life.
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| Fig 1.1 Example of puzzle letters |
Idea #3
For this idea, I wanted to create a typeface which symbolizes Malaysia. It could be used on any sort of medium like posters, announcements or propaganda as the national typeface.
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| Fig 1.2 Examples of Malaysia's Tourism Logos |
Idea #4
This idea was derived from the previous idea when I was sketching the typeface for it. Mr Vinod said I could create a roman typeface for Bahasa Jawi. It does not have to necessary be exactly like Jawi, it works as a typeface which needs to fit well with the Jawi type.
Although I'm afraid the topic might be quite sensitive, I wish to allow people to appreciate the beauty and understand Bahasa Jawi through the help of roman characters.
(1) Khat Kufi Typeface :
For this typeface, it was more cubic unlike the traditional typeface which is curvy.
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| Fig 2.0 Khat Kufi Alphabets |
I started by digitizing the letters and dissect the letters to form new letters.
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| Fig 2.0 Tracing the Khat Kufi letters from picture |
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| Fig 2.1 Forming the roman letters from strokes of original Khat Kufi (with guides) |
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| Fig 2.2 First draft of roman letters based on Khat Kufi (with numbers) |
(2) Khat Jawi Typeface :
After working with both modern and traditional typeface, Mr Vinod asked me to not waste my time and focus on one typeface only. So I chose to work with traditional Bahasa Jawi typeface.
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| Fig 3.0 Example of Jawi alphabets |
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| Fig 3.1 Example of Jawi alphabets |
In order to learn more about the language, I started by learning how to write it which is from right to left unlike most letters. Besides that, I also learnt from my Malay friends that Malaysia Jawi script is derived from Arabic, but with a difference: it has six additional characters added/adapted to represent sounds in Malay not found in Arabic, i.e. /c/, /ng/, /v/, /g/, /ny/ and /p/.
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| Fig 3.2 Sketching of Jawi letters |
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| Fig 3.3 Understanding and practicing with writing style of Jawi |
After that, I move to illustrator to start digitizing the letters and dissect the parts to form the roman letters.
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| Fig 3.4 Tracing letters from picture on Illustrator |
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| Fig 3.5 Forming the roman letters from strokes of original Bahasa Jawi |
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| Fig 3.6 Forming the roman letters from strokes of original Bahasa Jawi (with guides) |
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| Fig 3.7 First draft of roman letters design based on Bahasa Jawi |
After I completed it, I took some time to analyze it and realized that it was more like a Chinese character than a Jawi character. Besides that, I also realized that it was unable to be written from right to left which it should be. Thus I have decided to further improve the typeface.
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| Fig 3.8 Redesign of new roman letters based on Bahasa Jawi (sketch) |
After getting feedback from Mr Vinod, I have decided to focus on one of the typefaces only which is the traditional Bahasa Jawi.
Refinement process of the letters :
This is the second design I made for Roman Letters based on Bahasa Jawi.
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| Fig 4.0 First redesign of letters based on Jawi |
Mr Vinod said I should refine more and remove the dots and try not to include too many characteristics of Bahasa Jawi.
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| Fig 4.1 Refinement of letters (removed dot and reduce strokes) |
After showing to Mr Vinod, he said I still need to refine a lot more, I should make the Jawi stroke element subtle. It must just be a hint and not too apparent. Although certain characters look pretty but there is too much character. If it's placed next to the Jawi letter which has a lot of character, both will fight.
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| Fig 4.2 Refine of letters (reduce stroke curves) |
Mr Vinod said it is much better but I need to remove or make it subtler for the curve part in some letters. Some letters are fine already and I need to take note of ensuring the strokes are consistent.
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| Fig 4.3 Parts to change pointed out by Mr Vinod |
After making adjustments, I made two different outcomes of letters. One with subtler curve on stroke end while the other completely removes the curve.
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| Fig 4.4 Refinement of letters (subtler curve on stroke ends) |
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| Fig 4.5 Refinement of letters (removal of curve on stroke ends) |
After comparing, the final letters which were chosen are the ones without the curve end. I move on to adjusting the thickness of the strokes to make sure it is consistent and also the height of each letters using baseline.
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| Fig 4.6 Refining letter E and L |
Final Letters :
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| Fig 4.7 Final letters (A-Z) |
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| Fig 4.8 Final letters with baseline (A-Z) |
APPLICATION
Application #1 : Alphabet Poster
For this application, I thought of creating an poster to teach people about the alphabets of Bahasa Jawi and also guide them through on how to read Jawi Script.
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| Fig 5.0 Alphabet poster application |
Application #2 : Flash Cards
For this application, I wanted to create flash cards to teach people on how to read Jawi Script. The examples include numbers from one to ten and also some simple greetings in Malay Language.
Application #3 : Poster
Since both of my previous applications are educational related, I wanted to include the typeface into some posters or products to work with Jawi Script. Below is one of the posters I found and incorporated my typeface in the poster.
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| Fig 5.1 Poster of Eid Mubarak |
FEEDBACK
Week 10 :
No feedback due to public holiday
Week 11 :
General feedback :
Mr Vinod told us to take our blog seriously and we need to properly write our caption as people who are reading the blog needs to understand as they do not know about the content unlike the writer. We need to make sure the PDFs and documents are public as well and check everything thoroughly.
Specific feedback:
Mr Vinod said that my first idea is interesting but I should do more research about the toy before hand because it is meant to teach young kids on hand-eye coordination purpose. Besides that I should take note about the purpose of the toy in a long-term run as it serves a limited purpose unlike lego which is not just limited to creating one thing only but can be built into more things. Besides that, it would be better to apply on softwares like phone applications which gives the player to draw and repeat and collect points. For my other idea, it is creating a typeface for Malaysian culture which can be applied in the tourism aspect. Mr Vinod said it could be created as a national typeface which can be used in propaganda posters, advertisements. It could be extracted from a specific society
Week 12 :
Specific Feedback :
Mr Vinod said I should work on the typeface which were inspired by Bahasa Jawi. There are 2 types of Bahasa Jawi, one is the modernized kufi khat style, which I can use it to create a roman typeface that fits well with it. Or I could either work with khat jawi style which I need to understand the stroke style and make sure the end result does not look too similar to chinese font style. I do not have to create the exact same typeface as seen I just need to work to allow the typeface work well with the Bahasa Jawi.
Week 13 :
General feedback :
We were told to remove the lecture note section as there are no lectures. Mr Vinod told us to make sure that the description of our blog should be elaborated clear and concise. Besides that, we have to compile everything by next week in the final compilation.
Specific feedback :
Mr Vinod told me to use brush tool and change the angle to create the letters and I am currently using pen tool which uses a long time. Besides that, Mr Vinod told me to just work with one of the typefaces only. For the letters, Mr Shamsul commented that my letter C looks like one of the alphabets from Bahasa Jawi and I need to refine it more. Mr Vinod said it should only take one of the characteristics of the language like the strokes and not make it look too much like Bahasa Jawi.
Online feedback :
"Refine some more. A lot more. Make the Jawi stroke element subtle. It must just be a hint and not too apparent. Take for example the O, it’s very beautiful, BUT there is too much character. Put next to the Jawi latter which has a lot of character... both will fight. Choose a core element Right now you have too many core elements."
"Start using it with Jawi now. Ask someone who knows how to write Jawi and then you translate in Eng. Make sure thickness of stroke for both Jawi and Roman is same or nearly same size.Choose different works. Imagine that you are teaching how to learn simple words from English to Jawi, Do like Hello, Thank you etc."
REFLECTION
Week 10 :
No class due to public holiday
Week 11 :
- Experience - When I was told to find ideas for the proposal, I realized that I could only discover ways to solve problems. I still did not know much about what to experiment on. I was surprised to see some of my friends experimental ideas which were really creative and it made me feel like I need to work harder
- Observation - I realized that one of my ideas was the same with my friend which I sort of expected actually in the beginning. I still realize that we are often not taking time to research and often walk the same path that our seniors did which was quite boring. It felt like we were playing it safe instead of trying to approach something new which we should.
- Findings - Not just our own work, I realized that sometimes Mr Vinod give comments that we should work like how our seniors did which is doing the same thing but with a different material. This not just influence us but also made us dependent on seniors work which I didn't really like.
Week 12:
- Experience - I realized that I was actually quite worried about my project because I am not a Malay who could read and write Bahasa Jawi. I was worried that it would be very offensive and disrespectful for an outsider like me to try to bring the language and create a roman version of it. But at the same time I wish that my risky action may bring light to other cultures to appreciate and understand the language more.
- Observation - I observed a few unique traits about Bahasa Jawi as I started by learning, understanding and writing the words first. Although some certain strokes and aspect made it similar to other languages writing style but there are a few characteristics which are special to the language only.
- Findings - When I was working through my work, I thought of different ideas which I could have potentially worked on. This made me realize how we should have actually taken more time in the beginning like 2 to 3 weeks to research more idea before straight jumping in to work. We were too focused on our project 2 which made our final started really late.
Week 13
- Experience - For the final week I was quite anxious because most of my friends have already completed their work or left application only. I was still on the progress of refinement my letters and I was trying to catch up with their speed. I started my application quite late as well and it was quite stressful for me.
- Observation - I observed that some of my friends work are really unique and interesting especially those who are working with experimental typography. They came up with really fun ideas and it looked really interesting as well. I was afraid that my work was not very interesting compared to theirs.
- Findings - I found out that although initially I did not agree with Mr Vinod on reducing so much characteristics of the letters, the application surprised me as the typeface actually worked really nicely with the Jawi scripts and I was quite relieved. Although I'm not sure how Mr Vinod thinks about it, but I have tried to properly refine it and adjust it so it fits well with the script.
FURTHER READING
The Complete Manual of Typography: A Guide to Setting Perfect Type by James Felici
This is a really good book for anyone who works with type. This book features quite a lot of content such as History, basic concepts, and anatomy of good typography, instructions for how to manage fonts, handle corrupted or missing fonts, and find the characters you need, Clear and useful explanations of what makes good type good (and bad type) . Detailed guidance on controlling the fundamentals of type, including measure, point size, leading, kerning, and hyphenation and justification. Practical advice on how to fix and avoid composition problems such as loose lines, bad rags, widows and orphans. Hard-to-find rules for managing indents and alignments, skews, wraps, expert-set characters, and tables. Scores of workarounds that show how to wring good type out of uncooperative word-processing and layout programs.
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