Project 1: Image Making Through Type (Process)

Initial Ideation

To guide the common theme of my jobs, I thought of using the four natural elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, as the main component of each job.

Then, I combined it with jobs that I have worked before which adds a twist/special element to the original jobs.

Initial job ideas/sketches:

1. Burnt Toast Scrapper

I combined the element of Fire and the job of working at a bubble tea shop that also sells toast.

2. Frozen Sushi Chef

I combined the element of Water (Ice) and the job of working at a sushi restaurant.

3. Cloud Curator

I combined the element of Air and a job that I have never worked as.

4. Floriculturist

I combined the element of Earth and the job of working at a florist.

However, I did not manage to follow the theme of using the four elements as it didn’t work out as well as I thought it would be. I will be explaining the ideation and thought process below.

Cloud Curator

I decided to use the elements of a picture frame, glass display, and clouds in my typeface. 

As mentioned in the research post, I wanted to use the style of this typeface for my Cloud Curator font. Initially, I was choosing between Times New Roman, Times New Roman (Bold), and Bodoni URW. Serif fonts look professional and stable which reflects the job of a curator. I decided on Times New Roman in the end and adjusted the width of the stern/stroke of the font according to my preference.

v1 – Added the frames using a clipping mask to mask wood texture to the shape of the borders.
v2 – Changed the border of S.
v3 – Added in the clouds (tutorial below) + blue background, but doesn’t look realistic and still does not look like a glass display containing clouds. The “frame” looks like a stick-on wallpaper.

v4 – Added in the gallery light. Tried to add in the cloud wooden frame as a brush pictured on the top right-hand corner, but it did not work as a border for the letters at all because the illustration cannot be bent to the curvature of letters. 

 

v5 – While doing the typeface for floriculturist, I learned the 3D > Extrude & Bevel function which created a more accurate isometric perspective for the fonts. Thus, I decided to redo the fonts and removed the extra “I” element by the side. 
v6 I also found a YouTube tutorial which taught me how to make a realistic picture frame using the pre-made wood gradient in the swatches.

v7 – Added in the glass texture to show the font as a glass display, redid the clouds using the Symbols function, the blue background to show relation to the clouds, texture to the wall for more depth, and finally the pedestals with a marbled texture to show context.

The glass tutorial which I used for 3 of my typefaces.

Clouds tutorial: http://www.gtpdesigns.com/design-blog/view/tutorial-create-realistic-clouds-in-adobe-illustrator

v8 (final version) – Added shadows behind the glass displays, changed the lighting for the pedestals, and made the wall background darker to show light focusing on the cloud displays.

I decided to cut off a small part of the “A” and “H”, and the pedestal using the principle of gestalt (closure). The viewer will perceive the letter as a whole by filling in the information. 

I decided to use a darker tone of sky blue to show that the environment is darker, to show that the light is only shone on the displays. The colour of the frame is also yellow-toned to complement the blue background.

 

Sweet Sushi Chef

I decided to use the elements of rice, sweets, and jelly in my typeface. 

Sketch for initial ideation: Frozen Sushi Chef
v1 – Sketch in vector form
v2 – Tried the texture of rice using the YouTube tutorial shown below. Created my own scatter brush to do this. Also added a translucent layer of blue on top of the rice to see if it looks like ice.

v3 – Changed the colour of the ice to white with a coloured background
v4 – Placement of the letters
v5 – Placement of the letters
v6 – Placement of the letters
v7/8 – Added the texture of the salmon using the clipping mask and gradient tool.
v9 – I received feedback that the rice was not obvious as it is covered by the ice, and the rice looks like confetti. Thus, I decided to remove the ice and improve on the rice texture.
v10 – Added nori (seaweed) textured strips to the letters and also wood texture to the plate by using the clipping mask function.
v11 – Added in rice paper background, as well as shadows to make it more realistic.
v12 (final version) – I received feedback again that being a sushi chef is very common. Therefore, I thought of what other elements I can change to make “my job” more interesting than just a sushi chef. I decided to use sweets as sushi is usually savoury (when dipped in soya sauce), adding a “twist” to my job.

I decided to place the letters in the centre to emphasise on the fonts, and to balance out the three letters. Referring to version 5, I tried to put the A in front of S, and S in front of H to create distance between the letters. Even though it does guide the viewer’s eye from A to H, I feel that it does not balance out as a whole as A is too big compared to H. Another solution to that is to add more elements on the right side of the image, where H is placed at, to balance out the image.

I used a mixture of bright colours with saturated hues to signify playfulness and evoke a childlike feeling. 

 

Genealogist

I decided to use the elements of a petri dish and DNA (genes) in my typeface. 

I changed my initial idea of being a Burnt Toast Scrapper to a Genealogist as I wanted to see how I can create a typeface about a job that I am completely unfamiliar with. 

v1 – Base font
v2 – I wanted to shape my letter into a microscope, but I only remembered that I cannot bend objects into letters when I was already halfway done…so I redid another idea!
v3 (final version) – I decided to incorporate elements of the petri dish and DNA into my typeface. Using knowledge from previous jobs on how to create a glass texture, I was able to complete this the fastest among the other jobs. Used a metal background as grey is a neutral colour.

I decided to place the letters on the right, leaving negative space on the left. Cutting off my name at “h” gives the viewer a feeling that there could be more to the letters presented here. (Gestalt)

I decided to increase the tonal value of red from the bottom up to show the relation of the ancestry component of the job. The gradient symbolises the decrease of DNA inherited from their ancestors.

Floriculturist

I decided to use the elements of flowers growing, soil, and greenhouse in my typeface. 

v1 – I added in the elements of flowers + soil + greenhouse into this typeface. I followed the YouTube tutorial below to learn how to make an isometric text effect. After going through this tutorial, I also applied and redid my Cloud Curator typeface to make it more accurate than before. The flowers used were masked in photoshop from their original images and exported as PNGs with a transparent background to illustrator. Added the shadows under the flowers as well.

v2 (final version) – Added in the glass texture, soil texture to the sides of the letters, shadow under text, and also a brown gradient background.

Contrast is shown in this image in terms of the bright colour of the flowers and the dull soil base. The shadow is also used to show contrast.

It is also dynamic as perspective is shown by tilting the angle, leading the viewer’s eye from a nearer point to a further point

An anagalous colour scheme is used for this image. Red, orange and pink flowers with red toned soil. It looks more natural as a whole.

Reflection

Although this project is challenging in terms of the ideation and executing it, I feel that I have learned a lot in terms of how I think (deconstructing objects to their basic elements) and also improving my technical skills. My greatest takeaway is to always ask for feedback and accept positive criticism to improve your work. Sometimes we are so drawn into our own work that we don’t see it objectively. For example, I was thrilled to learn about creating rice using the scatter brush. However, I did not realise that the letter that I have created is not as realistic as I thought. Feedback from a friend made me improve on my work, and I am always grateful for that.

My research is shown here:  https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/a180062/project-1-image-making-through-type-research. 

The final outcome is shown here: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/a180062/project-1-image-making-through-type-final

 

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ashley

hi!

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