Advanced Typography | Task 2

Melvin Yung Khun Yew | 0357241 | Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
GCD61004 Advanced Typography
Week 5 to Week 8


The second task of my advanced typography journey

After the introductory class to the world of typography in the first semester of my first-year degree, I was greeted by another chance for a deeper comprehension of the typography knowledge compiled from centuries ago till now. The second assignment reminded me of the letter-forming task from my first semester, however, this time I'm designing it for myself for whatever style I'm fond of.


Image credit: Naldz Graphics


These are the jump links to each part of this portfolio



Instructions

Mr Vinod Nair, my module coordinator and lecturer for this semester, provided us with the necessary files including the module information, and reading elements to give us a headstart on this module.


Fig 2.1  MIB - Module Information Booklet


Task 2  |  Exercise: Typographic Systems & Type & Play
In the first task that start off this Advanced Typography class, there are several exercises for us to warm up and aid in gaining theoretical and practical knowledge in the typography ground.

Learning goals:
  • To demonstrate an enhanced use of grids, layouts and page flow for effective typographic communication.

  • To develop the ability to recognise and create a symbiotic relationship between image and type and to devise methods to enhance the interplay between the two.

  • To conceptually communicate.

The task is divided into two parts including:
  1. Key Artwork
  2. Collateral 

Assignment method of completion:
  • Adobe Illustrator

Submission requirements:

Task 2(A) Key Artwork
  1. Black wordmark on white background
  2. White wordmark on black background
  3. Colour palette
  4. Wordmark in actual colours on the lightest shade of the colour palette
  5. Wordmark in the lightest shade of the colour palette on the darkest shade of the colour palette
  6. Workmark animation

Task 2(B) Key Artwork & Collateral
  1. Collateral 1, 2, 3
  2. Instagram link
  3. IG screen grab with good resolution

All in 1024px, 300ppi


Work Process

Task A
Week 4 Explore my colour preference

Before starting on my assignment, I selected my preferred colour based on my personality here, and since I'm quite a chill person, I decided to go with blue as my main key colour.

Colour Palette: 
#3C204C #434172 #9799CC #A6D0E9

Week 5 Generating ideas based on my personality/desire

I came up with multiple ideas and sketched them down for easier visualization.

Sketch v.1


Sketch v.2


My first design was selected and approved by Mr Vinod.
Final sketch selection

Week 6 Digitalization

I began to make the font with proper measurements in Adobe Illustrator. 

Many adjustments are going on in this process to refine my letterforms further.

The first version of the design

Week 6 Improving the font style

To further increase and improve the legibility of the font whilst keeping the flexible and playful nature of the design. I've made adjustments to the dimensions and shapes of the font to make the design more resembling the letterforms.

I observed that the stroke weight of the whole font from my first design is not consistent enough, with "m" being thicker and the tail of "y" thinner. I began to reconstruct the letter using rectangles and circles to help keep consistency in the weight and eradicate this issue.

The second version of my design


Despite the changes, I still notice inconsistency throughout the letter design. Thus, I only use fixed shapes to develop the form of the letter with the help of the merge and divide tool. 

The third version of my design

This time I'm satisfied with my design with consistency whilst keeping the legibility of the letter.

Final selection
Key artwork design in two sizes



Task B

In order to expand my identity of the form, I attempt to make several variations of how I can apply my design on real-life items with the mockups. 

Week 6 Instagram collateral

Version 1
The things I include in my collateral are the lightest and darkest shades of my key artwork, my colour palette, and my visual identity of the artwork.

Experimental collateral
This is some of the explorations I've done

Here comes my first version of the Instagram collateral:


After the rapid feedback session on week 7, I decided to change the collateral as Mr Vinod suggested that:
  1. Keep colour consistency throughout different posts
  2. Add more variations to the sticker
  3. Rework the pattern
  4. Remove the distracting background on the tote bag with no colour relation.
Version 2
I keep on experimenting and enhancing the design after the feedback sessions. Here I've explored more on the design:

Shirt design:
Expansion of the shirt design

Sticker design:
More variations of the sticker

Tote bag redesign:
Removal of the "UK" logo in the design

The point of adding different colours to the UK from the rest of the letter is to emphasize that these letters will be one of my simplified logos when I'm not able to use the full key artwork design. 

Pattern redesign:
I made changes to the pattern to make it look more complete and interconnected compared to the first pattern design. 

The ideas inside the pattern:
  • Layering 
    Building my way up
  • Converging
    Focusing

Pattern design

Final artwork collateral
After a significant revamp of my design, I can now accept my work and mark it as completed.

Final Collateral — 5 June 2024


Animation of my key artwork

I began to craft an animation for my key artwork to introduce my identity better. To achieve a faster result, I proceeded to use Procreate to have better handling and control of how I wanted my wordmark animation to go.


Submission

Task A
  1. Black wordmark on white background

    Black wordmark


  2. White wordmark on black background

    White wordmark


  3. Colour palette

    Blueish color palette


  4. Wordmark in actual colours on the lightest shade of the colour palette

    Light wordmark


  5. Wordmark in the lightest shade of the colour palette on the darkest shade of the colour palette

    Dark wordmark


  6. Task A PDF combine
    Combined on 20/6/2024

  7. Workmark animation
    Animation created on 20/6/2024 


Task B
  1. Collateral 1, 2, 3 in PDF
     Combined on 20/6/2024

  2. Instagram link

    My Instagram

    Click here if the button is not accessible:
    https://www.instagram.com/meyukhye_alt/

  3. IG screen grab with good resolution
    Created on 20/6/2024


Lecturer's Feedback

WEEK 5
General feedback:
Integration of design with opacity. It's important to create a separation, but too much of it creates isolation instead.

Specific feedback:
I'm interested in the form, but you need to improve on the legibility of the design option 1. (Because the words are hard to read?)

WEEK 6
General feedback: Do mind the readability by checking the different sizes of your letter, does any part of your letter lose its characteristics?
Specific feedback: Between options 1 and 4, I tend to go for option 1 for its unique characteristics than option 4 with the repetitive design style

WEEK 7 Specific feedback: For the key artwork and collateral, you need to keep the post in the same colour scheme to ensure continuity. You need to make more design variations to the stickers, as normally you won't show one design only to the others. Please redesign the pattern artwork here, it will not work.


My reflections

My learnings:
In this assignment, I was able to learn what important things we should consider when we are designing a typographic logo for a brand, which needs subtle and clear graphics that people can distinguish in seconds. This task also granted me chances to work and simulate the branding experience. 

My observations:
After researching and watching the reference video provided by Mr Vinod on how to create a successful brand identity, I'm glad that I've observed how simple yet complicated the design is for the brand. Moreover, I'm keen to find that there are numerous interesting ideas from my peers too! 



My further reading

WEEK 5

The book I'm reading for the first week is called Typographic Systems by Kimberly Elam.



What I read:



WEEK 6
In week 6, Mr Vinod provided us study material that can aid us in expanding our brand identity with the case study on Reddit.

Pentagram: Reddit

Reddit brand identity expansion by Pentagram

From this website, I'm provided with professional works on applying, researching and expanding a brand's identity. They provided numerous examples of how they expand Reddit's identity, focusing on it as a social communication tool and how they use the mascot Snoo, and turn it into the face of Reddit.

Learning more about their project, I'm able to observe the step-by-step on how the team collaborated with Reddit to create a more unified visual identity system and brand strategy. By targeting and making plans, the Pentagram team are able to successfully completed the task commissioned by Reddit.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Typography | Task 1: Exercise

Illustration and Visual Narrative | Task 1

Digital Photography and Imaging | Task 1