Typography | Task 1: Exercise

25.09.2023 — 29.09.2023 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Melvin Yung Khun Yew | 0357241 | Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
GCD60104 Typography
Task 1

This portfolio consists of:
Lectures
Instructions
Work Process
Feedbacks
Reflections
Further Reading

Click on the link to jump to that part of the portfolio

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LECTURES

Week 1 INTRODUCTION & BRIEFING

In the first week of my first semester, I met Mr. Vinod and Ms. Low Hsin Yin as my lecturers to guide me in typography class. He provided the necessary information during a lecture to ease me into this module about using the Microsoft Teams application as the main platform throughout the semester. Later he supplied the whole class with several class materials such as the fonts that I would need to use for this semester's assignments. Mr. Vinod was also kind enough to recommend the class multiple books for referencing and learning about typography.

Mr Vinod cleared our minds by introducing and explaining the differences between font and letterform. The font is all the letterform together with the same design language or elements. While the letterform is a single letter with its own unique design.

Main topics during the lecture:

Usage of laptops for all activities
E-portfolio instructions & samples (Lectures, Instructions, Feedback, Reflections, Further Readings)

Week 1 DEVELOPMENT (Video Clip)

Early letterform development: Phoenician to Roman

Phoenicians wrote from right to left same as other Semitic people
However, the Greeks changed the direction of the writings from left to right (boustrophedon, just like how ox plough from left to right then left and so on.)

Fig 1.1.1 Early reading direction

Still, both of their writings do not have letter space or punctuation.
Etruscan (and later Romans) carvers painted out the letters on the marble before chiselling and inscribing the letter. Because of the tool, there are certain qualities of the stroke such as the change in weight from vertical to horizontal, a broadening of the stroke and the start and the end.

Fig 1.1.2 Augustan inscription in Roman Forum, Roman Late 1st century B.C.E

The letterform had been refined based on the brush stroke.

Hand script from 3rd - 10th century C.E

Fig 1.1.3 4th or 5th century Square Capitals

Square capitals were the written version that can be found on Roman monuments.
As in Fig, these letterforms have serifs added to the finish of the main strokes.

Fig 1.1.4 3th or 5th century: Rustic capitals

As in Fig 1.1.4, these are the compressed versions of the square capitals (rustic capitals) that allowed twice the amount of words on a sheet of parchment and took far less time to write.
Although they are easier and faster to write, they were slightly harder to read due to their compressed nature.

Fig 1.1.5 4th century: Roman cursive

Both square and rustic capitals were typically reserved for documents of some intended performance.
However, everyday transactions were written in cursive hand in which the forms were simplified for speed.
It's the beginning of lowercase letterforms.

Fig 1.1.6 4th - 5th century: Uncials

Uncials incorporated some aspects of the Roman cursive hands, especially in the shape of A, D, E, H, M, U and Q
"Uncial" is Latin for a twelfth of anything, thus some scholars believe that uncials refer to letters that are one inch (one-twelfth of a foot) high.
Uncials have broad forms that are more readable at small sizes than the compressed form of rustic capitals.

Fig 1.1.7 year C. 500: Half Uncials

It's a further formalization of the cursive hand, half uncials mark as the formal beginning of the lowercase letterforms.
The letterforms are replete with ascenders and descenders (2000 years after the Phoenician alphabets)

Fig 1.1.7 year C. 925: Caloline miniscule

Charlemagne who was the first unifier of Europe since the Romans, issued an edict in 789 to standardize all ecclesiastical texts.
The monks from Alcuin of York, Abbot of St Martin of Tours rewrote the texts using both majuscules (uppercase), minuscule, capitalization and punctuation which set standards in calligraphy for a century.

Fig 1.1.8 C. 1300: Blackletter (Textura)

In Northern Europe, a condensed strongly vertical letterform known as Blackletter or Textura gained popularity.
In Southern Europe, a rounder more open hand called the "rotunda: also gained fame.
The humanistic script in Italy is based on Alcuin's miniscule.

Text type classification

1450 Blackletter
The earliest printing type, it is based on the hand-copying style used for books in Northern Europe.
Examples: Cloister Black, Goudy Text
1475 Oldstyle
It's based upon the lowercase form used by Italian humanist scholars for book copying and uppercase letterforms found inscribed on Roman ruins
Examples: Bembo, Caslon, Dante, Garamond, Janson, Jenson, Palatino
1500 Italic
It's condensed and close-set to allow more words per page, echoing contemporary Italian handwriting.
1550 Script
Originally an attempt to replicate engraved calligraphic forms, this class of type is not appropriate in lengthy text settings.
Examples: Kuenstler Script, Mistral Snell Roundhand
1750 Traditional
A refinement of old-style forms was achieved due to the advances in casting and printing. Thick-to-thin relationships were exaggerated, and brackets were lightened.
Examples: Baskerville, Times Roman, Bulmer, Century
1775 Modern
A further rationalization of old-style letterforms. Serifs unbracketed.
Examples: Bell, Bodoni, Caledonia, Didot, Walbaum
1825 Square Serif / Slab Serif
It's a heavily bracketed serif developed for advertising for heavy type in commercial printing.
Examples: Clarendon, Memphis, Rockwell, Serifa
1900 Sans Serif
These typefaces eliminated serifs altogether.
Examples: Helvetica, Gill Sans, Franklin Gothic, Futura, Univers

Cool Quotes at the end of the lecture: "If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it's part of a tree." — Michael Crichton

Week 2 TEXT FORMATTING (Video Clip)

Text/ Tracking: Kerning and Letterspacing

"Kerning" - the automatic adjustment of space between letters.
"Letterspacing" - to add space between the letters.
'Tracking" - the addition and removal of space in a word or sentence.

Fig 1.2.1 Examples of text with kerning formatting

Margin spacing is extremely important
When dealing with text, we must use the measurements of point systems
InDesign shortcut keys:
"Ctrl + ; " = Turn on/off the margin guides
"Alt + Left arrow "= Decrease kerning spacing between letters

How do you raise/reduce the amount of kerning spacing when using the shortcut key?
(Why so? It's to have more control over the kerning)
Preferences > Edit preferences > Units and Increments > Keyboard increments > Kerning/ Tracking

Designers tend to leave more spacing between the capital letters (VIsually appealing, smoother, more presentable)

Fig 1.2.2 Two different capital words with different kerning spacing.

Fig 1.2.3 Tracking between the text

It is worth noting that larger kerning means lower readability. (as the spacing reduces the recognizability of the letter patterns when a person reads it.)

Conclusion: Uppercase letters are drawn to be able to stand on their own, while lowercase letterforms require the counter form created between the letters to maintain the line of reading.

Fig 1.2.4 Comparable examples of normal tracking and loose tracking in paragraphs

The left-side paragraphs undoubtedly are easier to read compared to the paragraph on the right.

Flush Left (Most Natural Formatting)
This format closely mirrors the asymmetrical experience of handwriting.

Starts at the same point
Ends on the last word on the line.
Spacing between words is consistent throughout the text (Even grey value)

Centred
This format imposes symmetry upon the text, assigning equal values and weight to both ends of any line.

Adds pictorial quality to non-pictorial materials by nature.
The centred format creates a strong shape outline
It's important to amend line breaks to avoid jagged paragraphs.

Flush Right
This format places emphasis on the end of a line.

Useful in situations like captions where the relationship between text and image might be ambiguous without a strong orientation to the right.

Justified
Seems like the centring format, but it also imposes a symmetrical shape on the text.

Expands or reduces spaces between words, even between letters sometimes.
Produces a lot of white space in a paragraph.
Requires attention to the line breaks and hyphenations.

WHEN settling in the field of typography,

Typographer's first job: Clear, appropriate presentation of the author's message.
A type that attracts the reader's attention before one can get to the actual words is simply interference and should be avoided. Keep it simple, if you see the type before seeing the words, change the type.

It's important to understand how different typefaces feel as text.
(Different typefaces different messages)
Take into consideration of different textures of the typefaces.
(Type with relatively generous X-height/ relative heavy stroke width = a darker mass and vice versa.)

Fig 1.2.5 Structures/Anatomy of a Typeface

Fig 1.2.6 Example of how different weight and value of typefaces affects readability

The goal in setting text type: Easy, prolonged reading. Thus, factors to be accounted for:

Type size (Large enough for arm length distance reading)
Leading (Create a balance between tight and loose leading spaces between letters to avoid distractions and confusion)
Line length (Shorter lines require less leading, and vice versa)
Rule of thumb: Keep line length between 55-65 characters.

Without printed pages of typeface samples, no one can make a reasonable choice of type.

Composition of text: Text should create a field that can occupy a page or a screen.

Fig 1.2.7 Good composition of text

Here's a clear sample of typefaces used for the first semester of BDCM in Taylor's:

Fig 1.2.8 Samples of typeface

Week 3 INDICATING PARAGRAPHS - HIGHLIGHTING TEXT

There are several options to indicate paragraphs:

Use "Pilcrow" symbol ( ¶ ), how to type: "Alt + 0182" on PC
Use line space (leading) between the paragraphs (Ensure cross-alignment across columns of text)

Fig 1.3.1 Difference between line spacing and leading

Indentation

Standard indentation where the indent is the same size as the line spacing or the same point size of the text. (Saving space for more printing)

Fig 1.3.2 Indentation to indicate paragraphs

Two unpardonable gaffes (a blunder) in commercial publishers:

Widows

A short line of the type left alone at the end of a column of text

Fig 1.3.3 Example of "widow"

Orphans

A short line of the type is left alone at the start of a column of text

Fig 1.3.4 Example of "orphan"

In justified text, both widows and orphans are considered serious gaffes.
In flush left or right text, they are somewhat more forgiving towards widows by a bit. Not the orphans.

Solutions to Widow: Rebreak the line endings throughout the paragraph so that the last line of paragraphs is not noticeably short.

Solutions to Orphans: Make sure no column of text starts with the last line of preceding paragraphs.

HIGHLIGHTING TEXT

Different kind of emphasis requires different kind of contrast, such as italic or bold...

Fig 1.3.5 Italic paragraph on the left and bold paragraph on the right

Or colours.

Fig 1.3.6 Orange colour paragraph with the black colour.

Typically the san-serifs text is larger than the serifs text. Thus, they may look different even if they have the same point size.

When need to change the font family from serifs to san-serifs, reduce the text size by 0.5 points.

Fig 1.3.7 Comparison of serifs and san-serifs

Highlighting the paragraphs using the field of colour at the back of the text, it's best to maintain a left reading axis (Examples on the right) to ensure better readability.

Fig 1.3.8 Left side: Field of colour indent. Right side: Left reading axis.

Fig 1.3.9 Different alignment of bulleted points on the reading axis

However, using the alignment on the left side of the image for the bulleted point is visually more appealing.

Sometimes extending the special typography characters outside the reading axis is necessary, for example, Quotation ("")

Quotation marks on the upper paragraph can create a clear indent, thus breaking the left reading axis.

Thus, let's compare it with the second paragraph with the text following the left reading axis.

Fig 1.3.10 Different alignment of quotation marks (") in paragraph

FACTS:

People often misunderstand that the prime marks ( ' ) are not quote marks ( " ). The prime marks are used for the abbreviation for inches and feet. Thus,

BE CAREFUL OF THIS PROBLEMS!

HEADLINE WITHIN TEXTS

A head indicates a clear break between the topics within a section

Fig 1.3.11 A Header in bold, Header extended to the side, Larger header size, and small CAPS header

Fig 1.3.12 B Header in small caps, italic, bold serifs and bold san serifs

Fig 1.3.13 C Header in small caps, lowercase italics, bold serifs and bold san serifs

As such, the sequence of subheads can form a hierarchy. While there is no single way to express hierarchy, the possibilities of it can be limitless.

Week 4 BASIC/ DESCRIBING LETTERFORMS

Typography employs several technical terms that describe specific parts of the letterforms which has evolved over 500 years.

Baseline
The imaginary line of the visual base of the letterforms
Median
The imaginary line defining the x-height of letterforms
X-height
The height in any typeface of the lowercase "x".

Technical terms of the letterforms

Beware of how our brains decipher the forms that may cause some optical illusions when designing a font (strokes)

Stroke
Any line that defines the basic letterform

Apex / Vertex
The point is created by joining two diagonal stems (apex above and vertex below)

Arm
Short strokes off the stem of the letterform, either horizontal (letters E, F, L) or inclined upwards (letters K, Y)

Ascender
The portion of the stem of a lowercase letter that projects above the median.

Barb
The half-serif finish on some curved stroke

Bowl
The rounded form describes a counter. The bowl may be either open or closed.

Bracket
The transition between the serif and the stem.

Cross Stroke
The horizontal stroke in a letterform joins two stems together.

Crotch
The interior space where two strokes meet.

Em/en
em is the distance equal to the size of the typeface (48 points), and en is half the size of an em.
Often used to describe em/en spaces and em/en dashes.

Ligature
The character formed by the combination of two or more letterforms

Link
The stroke that connects the bowl and the loop of a lowercase G.

Loop
In some typefaces, the bowl is created in the descender of the lowercase G.

Spine
The curved stem of the S

Spur
The extension of the articulates the junctions of the curved and rectilinear stroke

Stem
The significant vertical or oblique stroke

Stress
The orientation of the letterform is indicated by the thin stroke in round forms.

Swash
The flourish extends the stroke of the letterform.

Terminal
Self-contained finish of a stroker without a serif.

The full font of a typeface contains much more than 26 letters from numerals to a few punctuation marks. Thus, make sure that you are working with a full font to work successfully with type.

BASIC/ THE FONT

Small capitals, previously known as expert sets, are designed for the particular purpose of not disrupting the reading flow of the paragraph when there is the need to include multiple uppercase letters for a name (Example: The Design School = TDS)

Uppercase numerals, also called lining figures have the same height as uppercase letters and are all set to the same kerning width. (Used in tabular materials or in any situations that call for uppercase letters)

Lowercase numerals also known as old-style figures or text figures, they are set to x-heights of ascenders and descenders.

Uppercase numeral = Stick out more, lowercase numeral = Stick out less

Extra Facts from Mr Vinod:

To find and use lowercase numeral

Adobe InDesign > Type > Glyphs > Character map > Scroll down to lowercase numeral

Punctuation, miscellaneous characters

Ornaments are used as flourishes in invitations or certificates. Only a few classical or traditional typefaces contain ornamental fonts as part of the entire typeface family (Adobe Caslon Pro)

BASIC/ DESCRIBING TYPEFACES

"Roman" is the letterform called the uppercase forms are derived from inscriptions of Roman monuments

"Book" is the version of a slightly lighter stroke of Roman

"Italic" and "Oblique"

"Boldface" is characterized by a thicker stroke than a Roman form. It can also be called 'semibold', 'medium', 'black', 'extra bold' or super.

"Light" is a lighter stroke of the Roman form, and the even lighter strokes are called 'thin'

"Condense" is a version of the Roman form that are extremely condensed style which is often called 'compressed'

"Extended" is an extended variation of the Roman font

Different designs of typefaces can portray a range of attitudes, some whimsical, some stately, some mechanical, others calligraphic, some harmonious and some awkward.

End of story

"You can't be a good typographer if you aren't a good reader. " — Stephen Cole

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INSTRUCTIONS

Mr Vinod gave the class briefing on this whole module the module learning outcomes, and

all the details and cautions when proceeding with this module.

Task 1 (20%) - Individual: Exercises
The first task will be exercises that aid and benefit me in gaining theoretical and practical knowledge in typography to inform and provide me with the necessary experience to take on this module.

Submission in One layout in A4 size

Exercises such as:

Type Expression
Text Formatting

Type Expression - 4 words are given to compose, design and express them using a set of 10 typefaces to work within the digitisation phase.

Text Formatting - text formatting such as type choice, type size, leading, line length, paragraph spacing, forced-lin-break, alignment, kerning, widows and orphans and cross-alignment.

Learning goal: To be able to compose and express using textual information

To be able to format text for effective communication

Increase familiarity and capability with the appropriate software and develop knowledge of information hierarchy and spatial arrangement.

Deadline: Week 6

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Work Process

Type Expression

Ideation

My chosen keywords: Chop, Windy, Dive, Stab, Roar, Illusion, Huge, Shock

The Keywords I chose are: Chop, Windy, Dive & Illusion

Ideation/Exploration process for all keywords

Chop: Similar to how the marks are left after chopping an object.

Illusion: Generating ideas towards giving the visual illusion, certain real-life phenomena such as mirages help in conceptualizing the design.

Windy: Sketching is based on the idea of how the wind can blow and move objects in a direction with force and the idea of representing a gust of wind with a line.

Dive: Simulating a person or object dropping from a high altitude into the water.

Additional last-minute "Illusion" word design based on ambigram.

Final work digitalisation

"CHOP"

Font selection: Univers Lt Std 85 Extra Black

Ctrl + Shift + O "Create outline"

Create thin rectangles/ lines

Position the lines on the left side of "C" and O" and divide the letterform

Drag out and delete the excessive part to create a hollow gap in the letters.

Final work

"Illusion"

Font selection: Futura Std Heavy

Create duplicate

Reflect duplicated words horizontally 180 degrees

Reduce the opacity to 30%

Cut out the bottom part of the illusion using the Divide tool in Pathfinder

Cut out the bottom part of the illusion using the Divide tool in Pathfinder

Place the lower word under the box partially and cut out the excessive

Final work

"Windy"

The font selected: Adobe Caslon Pro Semibold

Place the word exactly on the bottom line, and
Ctrl + Shift + O "Create Outline"

Rotate the individual letter so that it seems like they have been blown and fell to the ground

Adjust the circle of the letter I to the right side to symbolize that it has also been blown away by the wind

Finish!

Final work

"DIVE"

The font selected: Futura Sd Light

Create Outline

Place the "I" at the centre of the box to create a focal point

Final work

Final work compilation

Week 3 Feedback Redesign

I received constructive feedback on the designs from my lecturer Low Hsin Yin, she stated her opinion on some of the flaws in the design and ways to improve and enhance the type expression. The problem is the previous design of "chop" lacks the personality that can tell the reader that it was chopped. Thus, I decided to change the design of the "Chop" word once again.

Chop redesign No. 1

Based on how the debris or pieces slightly moved away from the initial chopping position, pieces of the chopped text started to fall off the letters C and O.

Chop redesign No. 2

For the second idea to redesign the "chop" type, Ms Hsin Yin suggested that it can be designed to feel like the entire text is being sliced and chopped, leaving the chopping marks on the C and O.

GIF Animation

After a thoughtful session, I've decided to select "windy" as my main goal to create an animation that further strengthens the reinforcement of the word's meaning through shapes.

First, I started to ideate how to move around the text to represent the strength of the wind affecting the text by blowing it around and away.

Initially, I came up with the idea of sliding the text around the base of the box as affected by the wind blowing on it.

Some references:

Wind effect animation (motion typography) by Hackernoon on Pinterest

And there goes the process of making each frame of the motion where I aim for 24fps.

Creating animation frames using Adobe Illustrator

In the next step, I load the files into stacks in Adobe Photoshop which takes a series of actions to get there.

Open Adobe Photoshop > Click Files > Click Scripts > Click Load files to stacks > Select files and click OK.

Mock-up animation

Mock-up motion typography "Windy" — 14/10/2023

Days have passed, and I have realised that the animation still lacks something, as the animation alone can't really portray the actual meaning of the word "windy".

Thus, I'm motivated to add even more frames to the GIF animation to further enhance and strengthen the definition. From originally 1 second of 24fps GIF animation to 2 seconds of animation.

The addition of 22 more frames

Final GIF motion type animation — 16/10/2023

Do not exceed more than 5mm (Three times Alt + Arrow Key) for text kerning

Ctrl + Alt + I to show hidden characters in paragraphs in InDesign

Ctrl + Alt + ' to show baseline grids

Task 2 TEXT FORMATTING

Before commencing the text layout exercise, Mr Vinod asked us to give the kerning and spacing a try to see the effects on the sentences. I tried out the kerning functions in Adobe InDesign 2023 in order to have direct observations on how they affect readability and liability.

Here I have used my name as a sample text for the 10 fonts:

Before adjusting kerning

After adjusting kerning

Text paragraph layout:

Fig 2.1 (Left) and Fig 2.2 (Right)

For the text paragraph layout, for now, I have tried out two different kinds of arrangement and alignment as shown in Fig 2.1 and Fig 2.2. For the first one, I intended to shift the weight of the text the the lower part of the page to allow room for breathability. The second layout has a staircase shape outline to somehow represent the hierarchy for reading.

Fig 2.3 third layout design

For Fig 2.3, I went with the common alignment of paragraphs around the page with the enlarged pictures and header at the bottom of the page to balance out the positive and negative spaces in an attempt to create an asymmetrical balance between the text.

Fig 2.4 (left) and Fig 2.5 (right)

After receiving the feedback on my layout design, I immediately enhanced the layout based on the opinions and suggestions of Ms Hsin Yin for layout Fig 2.1 and Fig 2.2. Thus, I moved the paragraph on the left side upwards to line up with the caption of the image and create visually balanced positive spaces between the text and I came up with layout design Fig 2.4. For the new adjustment in Fig 2.5 layout design, I have altered the form of the header to accommodate the staircase shape to match the paragraph.

In the end, I have decided to select the layout design of Fig 2.4 as it has the best readability and liability among all.

The final choice of layout

The final layout design with guides and grids

Head

Font
Gill Sans MT Bold, Gill Sans MT Regular

Type size
22 pt, 33 pt, 11 pt

Leading
11 pt, 22 pt, 33 pt

Paragraph spacing

11 pt

Body

Font

Gill Sans MT Regular, Gill Sans MT Italic

Type size

9 pt

Leading

11 pt

Paragraph spacing
11 pt

Characters per line

62 characters

Alignment
Align Left

Margins

36 pt top, 36 pt left + 36 pt right + 70 pt bottom

Columns

4 columns
Gutter

12 pt

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FEEDBACK

Week 1 :

General Feedback:

Do your best!

Week 2:

Specific Feedback:

Mr Vinod

The "Chop" word for the 4th design has too many distortions, try reducing the chop marks and also closing the gap between them.

Ms Hsin Yin

The "Chop" word design for the 4th one works fine, there is just a bit too much distortion.
Compared to the other designs of the "Illusion" word, the 2nd design works the best among all the others. Especially on the 5th design, the design suggests it is a shadow with no related meaning to the word and can be difficult to read. But it's a good design of how the letters are combined.
"I like how the "y" of the "windy" word just lies on the floor.
For the "Dive word, it's smart to cut out the letter to represent the dive action. However, the "E" is cut a bit too much, resulting in the reader having a hard time reading the word. Next time try not to cut out too much the resembling shape of a letter such as "E", or "G", otherwise it will cause a reduction in the readability of the word. The 3rd design is viable, just a bit of manipulation is required. Place the "I" letter in the centre of the box to direct the focal point, and adjust all the letters to the same weight and size.

Week 3:

General feedback:

E-portfolio: The overall portfolio looks great!

Specific feedback:

E-portfolio: You should also add labels under the image for the digitisation process work to allow easier reading and referencing
Digitisation: Increase the effect of diving by placing the letters V and E lower and closer to the bottom.
Chop redesign

Week 4:

General Feedback:

Good progress and final work on the GIF animation

Week 5:

General Feedback:

The first and second sample of layout formatting seems doable, with the second one with the staircase design is quite interesting.

Specific Feedback:

For the first sample, I see you have moved the weight of the paragraph to the bottom of the page. But try to move the left side paragraph upwards to match the same weight of positive space and negative space between the image and body paragraph on the right side of the page. Move to the same line as the caption of the image. Or if you want to give the second layout design a try, enlarge the header and add a staircase feeling to maintain equal positive and negative spaces.

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REFLECTIONS

Experiences
Since the beginning of the class, I have had the feeling that the typography is not what I used to believe: boring and simple. With the exceptional introductions and explanations by the head of the typography subject, Mr Vinod, I came to the realization that typography doesn't only play with the look and design of the fonts, but also with several aspects such as the type expression and the text layout as I got the hands-on experience from this first assessment in which is an exercise before the real deal and journey of typography begin. In the type expression task, I had a lot of fun trying different styles, shapes and forms on the specific font hand-picked by my lecturers (Mr Vinod and Ms Low Hsin Yin). I also get to see others' creative works and perspectives during class sessions every Tuesday morning when Ms Hsin Yin kindly asked us to upload our work for weekly progress reports and feedback. Not only that, I also learned a lot on how to use Adobe InDesign which I don't have significant experience and knowledge on it.

Observations
Throughout this whole assessment, I spent some of the time to take a look at some of the skilled and professional work examples on the Internet whether on Pinterest or their respective website blog. Their work not only amazed me but also expanded my perspective on the limitless possibilities of typography design at the same time. During every lecture, tutorial and practical class, I observed and remembered the main feedback from the lecturers which will prove their importance along my journey of designing with ups and downs, such as the use of positive and negative spaces to create balance in paragraph layout.

Findings
I believe I have quite a lot of findings just in mere 5 weeks into my degree, not to mention in my first task in typography class. To put it short, I found out that there are many particular details in every letter in a font (type family) from serifs to sans serif and how each font portrays different moods and feelings to the reader (reminiscent, visually engaging, premium feel). Additionally, there are many findings on how many attributes and characteristics of text can have a huge impact on not only aesthetics but most importantly, readability which is the main purpose of typography. Talking about myself, I found out that I still lack the skills to pilot this wonderful application (Adobe InDesign) thus I believe I can humbly strive for more knowledge. As the saying goes: "Knowledge is power".