INSTRUCTIONS
FINAL TASK - Type Expression and Application
For the final task, we have to create a font that can solve a problem or a
font that we are interested in developing.
While thinking of an idea for a font I try to think of anything I
enjoy/like. So I thought of a game I like which is Library of Ruina. In the
game, there are 'Guests' that we have to fight against and each of them has
their unique icons/logo. Out of all the designs my favourite has to be the
Liu Association.
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| Liu Association Logo |
Font Download: Liu
Process
The Liu Association heavily relies on Burn stats in-game and in the story,
so the logo itself has the concept of fire. Look at the fire the shapes
always are different and random, the one thing that every fire pattern has
is the highest point facing upwards.
Because of the random pattern in fire, it would be easier to draw them by
hand then image trace and expand rather than using the tools in Adobe
Illustrator.
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| Uppercase Letters |
At first, I was using an A4 size canvas to make them but it didn't trace
them as accurately. It was when the lecturer suggests to make them in a
square canvas individually and export them. And it in fact did trace more
accurately. . .
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| Moving Fonts to new Canvas |
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| (It was for real an L taken by me.) |
After finishing drawing the fonts I export them into Google Drive then
import and image trace them in Adobe Illustrator.
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| Drive File |
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| Image Trace and Expand |
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| Finalised Characters |
Some characters are reused/combined to make other characters:
- = % ; : '
FontForge
The font is moved into FontForge for Kerning. But first, the characters
have to be exported as SVG files only then can be imported into FontForge.
(many errors have been made while exporting... that's why I got like 90+
assets...)
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| Exporting into SVG Files |
For some reason FontForge doesn't keep the character size consistent therefore some manual adjusting has to be done to the characters.
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| Manual Scaling and Positioning |
Kerning
As for kerning, I follow the guild given by the lecturer.
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| Uppercase Letter Kerning |
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| Lowercase Letter Kerning |
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| Final Font Characters Available |
Font Presentation
Font Application
Font Download: Liu
Font Preview:
FEEDBACK
Week 9
Feedback: Make sure the font is not too basic and not too complicated.
Fonts have to be unique and stand out compared to other existing fonts.
Week 10
Feedback: Keep the height and weight consistent and use
guidelines.
Week 11
Feedback: Use a 1000x1000 canvas for individual letters, it would be
more accurate when it is traced and expanded.
Week 12
Feedback: Make sure to refer to the kerning guide given.
Week 13
Feedback: Finish the E-portfolio, and refer to some of the senior's blogs.
REFLECTION
It is here that I realised making a font is harder than it seems. Every character has to be designed consistently and then has to be kerned, luckily there is a guide for how each character has to be kern. The hard part is to hand-draw each character because of the design I chose, I can't just grab an existing part of a character and use it for another, (Eventually I caved in and decided to reuse some parts for the new characters).
My favourite part was making the Font Presentation and Font Application because I was able to combine my Illustrator and Photoshop skills for them. It was where I could truly feel the font, if that even makes sense, especially the Font Application.
FURTHER READING
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| Typography Referenced by Various Writers |
(Page16 – Page 17)
The contributions and prominence of different figures within the type scene in the late 19th and 20th centuries. (Lord this is a long one for so less pages. . .)
- [1892] ATF was founded as a consortium of 23 individual-type foundries. It was founded as a venture to improve business margins and restore stability to the type industry, as there were too many competing type foundries. From 1900 to 1935, ATF built the foundation of U.S.-type design.
- [1896] Lanston Monotype Machine Company released Modern Condensed.
- [1898] H. Berthold AG released Akzidenz Grotesk, the great-grandparent of Helvetica.
- [1957] Max Miedinger revived Akzidenz Grotesk.
- Stanley Morison [1889-1967], a typographical advisor to the Monotype Corporation, was responsible for the release of many classic designs such as Rockwell, Gill Sans, Perpetua, Albertus, and Times New Roman. He also sponsored a series of typeface revivals: Bembo, Baskerville, Ehrhardt, Fournier, and Walbaum.
- Victor Hammer [1882-1967] created American Uncial.
- Jan van Krimpen [1892-1957] was one of the greatest book typographers of the 20th century. His first and most successful type design was Lutetia, along with other faces including Cancelleresca Bastarda, Romanée, Romulus, Spectrum, and Van Dijck.
- Georg Trump [1895-1985] released his most important design, Trump Mediaeval [1954]. He also drew the typefaces City, Delphin, Schadow Antiqua, and Codex.
- Charles Peignot [1897-1983] was the director of Deberny & Peignot. He commissioned the poster artist A. M. Cassandre to create the typeface Peignot. He also led the cause for typeface copyright protection and helped found the Association Typographique Internationale.
- Robert Hunter Middleton [1898-1985] had created almost 100 typefaces by the time he retired, among which are Radiant, Stellar, Karnak, and Record Gothic.
- Beatrice Warde [1900-1969] is often dubbed the First Lady of Typography. She was Monotype's director of publicity, educator, historian, typographer, and the moving force behind Eric Gill's designs of Gill Sans and Perpetua.
- Jan Tschichold [1902-1974] almost single-handedly popularized asymmetric typographic arrangements for young designers. He created works that showcased quintessential examples of asymmetric design for many years. He also designed the typeface Sabon.