Category Archives: Research

2D: Progress, Thank God for the GOLDEN SECTION

Because I need help with my layout, I thought that using the golden section could really help me with practising and thinking where I can place my elements. I thought it really helped me out a lot in this project. Thank God for the golden section!

Here I added sketches, as I had planned in my sketchbook before doing layout 1 digitally.

Feedback given was that some pictures were blur and some needed to be changed because it didn’t convey the right kind of mood. I should also try to play a lot more with typography.

2D: Taking Kaleidoscope Pictures!

I was at first kind of nervous trying out this new lens. I was kind of afraid that the lens would make the picture look too overwhelming.

The lens is actually from this glasses that I bought off carousell. It was really perfect as it gave me all the psychedelic colours I needed. I wish though that I could change the colours but that leaves me to explore another time.

This were first few shots. It was really hard to control lighting, the lens and to shift around so that the frame is not overwhelming, with many multiple elements. It was a struggle not to allow the rim of the glasses into the shot as well.

A comparison between with and without the lens.

Here we can see that when a frame has already a complex element, the lens helps to intensify it. The only problem is that, it is hard to make out what the object is. So that is a problem for the zine. I also realise because the lens is made out of glass, the lens tends to reflect back the elements behind me into a picture. May or may not work against me.

When an element is isolated like the first picture, the multiplication is much more toned down and someone can make out what the object is. This way, I had to be very careful of what pictures I took.

It was also interested when I tried to shift around the lens and changed the exposure of the camera. It helped to differ the colours of the picture – something that I wanted so that it would not be so static.

More exploration of the lens

It was also super interesting when I tried it on a set of flower shaped lights on the roof of an old hdb lift..

Zine Final Idea

I felt that my first visit to Queenstown was slightly unsuccessful in terms that I was too focused on the cats. I think I made the mistake of coming to the destination with pre-thought ideas in my head. In that way, I was fitting the ideas onto the place – making it unoriginal to the place.

I was just very fortunate enough to find lots of cats that day. What more when it rained that day when I visited it.

This time, I made sure to take pictures of the environment around me. To really immerse myself in what the town has to give me.

First off, I took pictures of what used to be one of the highest HDB in Singapore – Forfar House. Which I did not go the the first time I came here.

The place was relatively nicer and grander than a normal HDB.

The Queenstown MRT had a very distinct blue which I found very intriguing.

The stairs and hills I needed to climb to get around. It was very tiring and strenuous because I knew if I had climbed down, I would have to climb up again in a few more metres ahead of me. It was also stressful because I was getting tired and I started to strategise my routes and trying to form a map in my head, to find out what connects to what so I don’t walk in circles and I get my pictures.

I find this place specifically interesting. On the first floor u see ground. But on the second floor, you always see ground. And in this picture we see ground on both levels. This is because the building is set on a hill. It is very confusing to me.

The colours, patterns and geometry on the HDB is really interesting.

The winding roads… Can’t wait to photograph more of this circular roads.

These flower shaped hole kept recurring throughout the HDB. I only saw these in advertisements and on other forms of media but I never would have guessed I would meet upon these special holes here. They are truly original to Queenstown.

Finally the cats! These time I fed them cat food… most of them aren’t friendly and are more scared than ever… except the white one! Also less cats were out in the open because it wasn’t raining. But I know most of them are hiding in the drains.

IDEA

For the idea, I felt a bit stuck. Finding that balance between an original idea but still keeping the strong Queenstown identity and yet, trying to stray far from the tourist-y iconic places and features was hard.

To be honest, I left this assignment untouched. I did not even think about it, trusting myself that the idea and inspiration will come when it wants to.  Then it hit me.

An original idea. It comes from me. Something out of honesty. Something I really felt and experienced. The answer was with me all along. I decided to go with the emotions approach and thought a poem would really suit and help me convey the feelings when I was there.

Straightaway I thought of the word “MAZE”. Being in a maze makes u feel lonely, lost, confused, anxious and but still hopeful.

Words like “fantasy” “reality or not reality” “out of the ordinary” “repetition” can be stemmed out from the theme MAZE.

The pictures above are some of my ideas to this fantasy lost world I described as Queenstown where logic does not exist. It had that royalty quality – shininess/the chrome material – but i also feel that it might not speak  out the right message.

This was my inspiration: a music video by Nikki Minaj where she had 3d chrome material/liquid coming out of objects and features in the video. I thought it really suited my idea of the illogical environment and something that confuses the viewer.

Another idea was to do kaleidoscope photography – an idea that will really show the reputation factor. Using a colourful kaleidoscope lens would also help the fantasy Alice in Wonderland vibe.

 

2d: Queenstown Recce

I had some initial ideas for the zine. I knew I wanted it to be more of a picture thing, but after much thinking I was thinking of including some sketches in it too!

I did research on queenstown and found that it had a lot of iconic places to go. The place even has a heritage trail. However, I really don’t want to make it into a tourist-y thing but rather my OWN take on the place. I did however, enjoyed learning about the history of queenstown online.

After researching, these were some of the ideas I had:

  1. objects treated as artefacts
  2. the royals of queenstown – cats / the monarchy
  3. the prayer space of queenstown
  4. the outfits of queenstown
  5. the hidden treasures of queenstown/  wealth and the royal treasures
  6. the royal views of queenstown

I really wanted to do the royal cats one and I was lucky enough to find that queenstown is infested with cats, I couldn’t believe it. I also think that it’s suitable because cats have this “I’m superior” than you vibe. But yet you still adore it to death.

If this idea doesn’t work, I think I’d like to try the royal views of queenstown. This idea involves me to go up to the highest floors of queenstown and snap a picture. However, during my recce, the queenstown area seemed very unsafe with very little people walking past. (because it’s a weekday?) and I didn’t dare to go up the highest level without a friend..

so here are my pictures of the cats:

so sad that this is a blur pic 

2D: My jobs and their typeface “voice”

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POLICE

The typeface feels very official, authoritative. It feels professional, serious and real, strong and with pride. All designs use serif and sans serif.

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ZOOKEEPER

This typeface sounds playful and full of adventure. I think they fall under the script or display category of typefaces. I think that the reason they used these kind of fonts is to give it a handmade touch. A handmade touch feels as raw and rugged as mother nature and its inhabitants.

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food-tube-books1

CHEF

For this case, I find myself a bit torn on what kind of voice the word chef could have. I think that it is very heavily depended on what kind of food you want to promote.

For example in the last picture, the first book is about sweet treats. The font is swirly and has a sweet voice to it. It falls under the script category and hence also feels very handmade. The book is after all a recipe book where the user would have to make the cupcake himself.

However, the second book, “the family cook book’, although falls under the script category, is not as swirly and curly. The typeface is in all caps and are somewhat straight but not perfect. The “M” however has quite a distinct loop. This tells me that the font has some sort of an prideful voice. Like somehow the person has pride in the recipes that are being passed down from generation to generation but still has a rawness to it that the recipes are handmade and the meals are made from scratch and made with care and love.

The last book is about bbq-ing. BBQ, aka barbecue originates from the Taico Indian natives where it involves slow cooking meat on top of a wooden platform. The typeface has a very texas/native indian feel to it.

As for the two pictures above, the left has a lighthearted, cute and playful feel but  still modern and rational. However the right is very raw and handmade. Still very playful and adventurous and looks very handwritten.

I think it all boils down to what I want to portray a chef is which is being playful and adventurous with the flavours of food. A chef constructs a meal with lots of care and love that in the end fills the happy warm tummies of many.

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FASHION DESIGNER

These typefaces have a modern feel to it with an edge. They feel elegant and very expensive. Super simple and minimalistic.

2D: Typography And Their Traits & Personality

My four childhood ambitions are: Police, Fashion Designer, Chef and Zookeeper

Here are some keywords I could come up with when I think about these jobs.

Police: gun, blue, handcuffs, police cap, order, authority, law, strong, protection, always on guard, sirens, police car

Zookeeper: animals, nature, earth, boots, poop, warmth, rugged, a humble job, loving, care,

Fashion Designer: fabric, body, mannequin, model, runway, extravagant outfits, sewing, needles, thread, stylish, different, daring, beauty, elegance, bold statement

Chef: food, warmth, comfort food, knives, meat, vegetables, steam, oven, pans, spoons, dessert, ice cream, delicious

I then proceeded to attempt to start my sketches but felt handicapped. Then I realised I should do some research on typography.

 

RESEARCH

One of the easiest ways to affect the design of a web page is with the fonts that you use. But many beginning web designersoften go crazy changing fonts every couple words and experimenting with fonts that are virtually unreadable, just because they are “cool.” This article will help you find the font family that works best for your situation.

Some Rules-of-Thumb

  1. Don’t use more than 3–four fonts on any one page.
  2. Don’t change the font in mid sentence unless you have a very good reason.
  3. Use sans serif fonts for online body text and serif fonts for headlines and print.
  4. Use monospace fonts for typewriter text and code blocks.
  5. Use script and fantasy fonts for accents.

Remember that these are all suggestions, not hard and fast rules. But if you’re going to do something different then you should do it with intention, not by accident. For example, it’s fine to use a serif font as your body text (as many sites do) as long as you’re aware of the possible legibility problems.

http://webdesign.about.com/od/fonts/a/aa080204.htm

Types of Typefaces

SERIF

Serif typefaces are defined by their “feet,” which are yes, technically called feet. They’re the little lines that poke out at the edges of letters.

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Serifs are super easy to read because those little feet create a subtle visual connection between the letters. This readability makes them great for paragraphs of text – you’ll see them on everything from blogs to newspapers to ebooks.

Slab serif typefaces, which have thick blocky serifs, are super popular right now.

SANS SERIF

Sans Serif typefaces are like Serif typefaces minus the feet (sans means without).

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Sans Serifs are usually clean and geometric, which makes them easiest to read when they are either really LARGE or really small. You will see sans serifs often used for headlines, captions, and short descriptive texts.

DISPLAY

Display typefaces have A LOT of personality.

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We are talking about the kind of typeface that is always dressed up in western gear or techy robot suits. Display typefaces are best used when you need a little bit of flair in your design.

You wouldn’t want to read a paragraph set in a Wild West typeface, but they’re great as attention-getter headlines.

SCRIPT

When you are looking for a fancy font with a lot of style a Script typeface is your lady.

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These typefaces have lots of swoops and curls and sometimes even look handwritten. Script typefaces look awesome for logos, large headlines, and for little details to give something a nice handmade touch.

SYMBOLS & DINGBATS

Sometimes a picture can say a thousand words. That’s when you cue up a Symbol or Dingbat typeface.

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Who wants to write out love when a ♥ says it all?

https://skillcrush.com/2012/04/13/types-of-typefaces/

A more detailed classification: https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-1/type-anatomy/type-classifications

In the above link, they further classify the typefaces into:

Serif 

  • Old Style
  • Transitional
  • Neoclassical & Didone
  • Slab
  • Clarendon
  • Glyphic

Sans Serif 

  • Grotesque
  • Square
  • Humanistic
  • Geometric

Script 

  • Formal
  • Casual
  • Calligraphic
  • Blackletter & Lombardic

Display/Dingbats

  • Grunge
  • Psychedelic
  • Graffiti

The “voice” in Typefaces

I found the bottom link to be quite cool as the voice of a typeface is subconsciously influencing us to link them to a certain meaning or personality of a word. 

https://speakerdeck.com/player/04ca22e090f60131a0563ef48a8c875d#

Tip #1: Think in adjectives rather than in typographic terms

In Gary Huswit’s film Helvetica Jonathan Hoefler talks about this issue. He says “There is no way to describe the qualitative aspect of a typeface without resorting to things that are fully outside it.” When thinking about a typeface’s voice, its categorization/classification is not important. Instead, we need to know if the type is cheerful or dour. Is it relaxed or in a hurry? Is the type serious or frivolous? Luxurious or downmarket? Young or old? Fragile or robust?

If a type seems cotton-y, serpentine or fruity to you, that’s all okay. In a recent design crit of the US FDA’s nutrition label redesign, Tobias Frere-Jones described Helvetica as “[tasting] like authority, like confirmed fact.” All kinds of characteristics may suggest themselves to you. Go with it.

Tip #2: Use familiarity strategically

Familiar forms are usually easier to read. However familiarity isn’t merely functional. It’s a spectrum that can also impart a feeling.

A type design that is slightly unfamiliar looking can feel more fresh, interesting, or playful. A face that’s less familiar may surprise or challenge or create tension in a reader. Even less familiar and it may eventually become unpleasant.

On the other end of the spectrum, a familiar looking typeface can feel comfortable or reliable. But further up the scale, a typeface that is extremely familiar can seem boring in some contexts. It’s worth asking yourself what degree of familiarity will give the feeling you want. Do you want to surprise or reassure? Stand out or blend in? What is most appropriate and beneficial to your use of the type?

http://typecast.com/blog/the-voices-of-type

Recognising fonts and their personality:

https://speakerdeck.com/player/c2944350927b01312a453e6f65fbe210#

This makes me want to go research on certain brands linking to my jobs to see and study what kind of font they use to communicate their ideas.