Tag: organic

Assignment 3: process and final

October 16, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Task 1: Type as Image

Font: I decided to use experiment with Rockwell and Lucida Grande as they were serif and sans serif fonts respectively and I wanted to test the contrast between both fonts.

Final image 1:

I started off by burning the edges of the paper, before the lower right leg of the A came right off. It looked good contrasting the organic forms with the rigid serifs of the letterform. I also played with inverse and it had an old school charm about it, almost similar to American Horror Story.

 

 

 

 

Next, I threaded strips of  X through each other, creating a crochet effect. It didn’t look as good in inverse as A.

 

 

Final image 2:

On top of the above 2 manipulations, I also cut Q into close strips, creating a feathery effect. Although a lot of people liked this design during consultation, I felt that the A was still better because it could invoke a feel from a different era. The T was cut vertically before cutting off segments of the stem and reorganising them together.

There was also the simple manipulation where I folded a piece of paper in half, and inversed the image. That looks possibly like a logo.

I also played with close-ups of type, namely Rockwell. These experimentations produced some beautiful abstract forms.

Task 2: Type as patterns

Font: I chose Giddyup as I liked its playful spirit, with its twirling tails and thin squiggly strokes.

Final pattern 1:

I made this pattern out of the letter Q, rotating it and creating a clover shaped pattern.

Final pattern 2:

I made this pattern out of the letter S, layering over a black background and working with greys. I created an alternate pattern of grey and darker grey to give the pattern a sense of depth.

I also experimented with Didot, making this HDB-like pattern made up of Hs.

 

 

 

 

 

This series of mask-like patterns were made out of Museo 700 Fs.

I also played with Futura Cs, tiling them up and playing with scale.

Task 3: Type as emotions

Font: I chose Futura as it was quite a versatile font yet not as ubiquitous as Helvetica. I used Regular and Bold in my compositions.

Final image 1: Confused

I stacked the different letters atop each other in a haphazard way, similar to the way a confused person thinks; with logic jumbled up and lacking any coherence. The negative space between the letterforms also adds interest.

Final image 2: Arrogant

I wanted to represent the way a character is larger than life, having excessive confidence, even referring to himself in third person. Its an overbearing presence that could easily be seen as arrogance.

Final image 3: Depressed

I wanted to portray the image of someone jumping off a building, or doing that mentally. Depression often entails “falling into the depths of despair”. In this image, shrouded in the darkness, the last vestiges of hope are extinguished, with the o barely visible, almost like a life extinguished.

Final image 4: Friendly

This was a fairly simple concept. I used italics for this emotion as it mirrors speaking breezily and in a lighthearted tone. The arc of words resemble a wave, as though the ‘hello’ is beckoning to a friend.

I also explored other variations which were hit and misses.

Organic type: Exploration and Final

September 25, 2017 / / 0 Comments

As the definition goes, organic type would have to do with something derived from living matter, away from the neon signs and corporate influence. I wanted to totally deviate from that line of thought, so I went the opposite way. Zen.

I went back to nature to look for inspiration. Focusing on nature and plants (as animal carcasses would be taking organic type to an extreme) I looked at how I would be able to bend an organic form into a manmade form aka type.

I started off by gathering leaves and twigs. What would add visual interest would be these tiny fig leaves that would fall along with the twigs. Having dried up, they had a tanned, crisp look that i thought would go well with the dried twigs.

Before consultation, this was what I came up with. I split the thickness of twigs between the 2 words; with NATURE having the thinner twigs and BECKONS consisting of the thicker twigs. I thought it would emphasise the word BECKONS. What I didn’t realise was that it looked strange as the 2 words didn’t appear unified. Furthermore, the awkward space between the 2 words made the phrase look disjointed. Fortunately, the plus point was that the leaves did add interest.

The application of the first round of exploration also yielded much to be desired. The type was not the focus on the picture in the office desk on the left, and the structure of the words on the bottom ad were also haphazardly placed.

This was the result post-consultation. I mixed up the different densities of twigs and came up with a hybrid typeform. This looked a lot more unified. However, there was still work to be done regarding the space between the 2 lines of words. Angeline also suggested that I play with the texture of the twigs, shaving some off to reveal the orange bark beneath.

Above is the result of shaving off a piece of twig. It looks absolutely beautiful, with a touch of wabi sabi, with imperfections enhancing its beauty.

Having explored with the twig densities, I spruced in a few more leaves intermittently which resulted in a pattern of foliage. The shaved twigs gave the twigs a lot more life. I also corrected the spacing between the 2 words, bringing them closer. The result was a more unified typeform.

My choice for the single letterform would be N, as it has 3 interesting features.

  1. The leaves and twigs bend inwards slightly, giving the form a lot of holding strength and visual unity.
  2. The overlapping forms do not interrupt one another, allowing the viewer’s eyes to travel from left to right, inviting participation.
  3. I love the right terminal, almost similar to a serif font. Gives credibility to an organic type.

To establish credibility, the first potential partner I would pitch to would be World Wildlife Fund. This could be a jacket for conservationists and scientists.

These 2 ads are based on the notion of relaxation and adventure in the outdoors.

This project has really surprised me in terms of the ability to morph something from nature into a legible, engaging typeface. I will definitely seek inspiration from organic type in future.