Typography / Task 1: Exercises

25.9.2023 - 3.11.2023 - (Week 1 - Week 6 )
Gloria Khaw Ping Sim / 0359142 / Bachelor in Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Typography / Taylor's Lakeside University
Task

LECTURES

Lecture List
Lecture 1 : Typo_0_Introduction
Lecture 2 : Typo_1_Development
Lecture 3 : Typo_3_Text_P1

Lecture 1 - Typo_0_Introduction

Font - the individual font or weight within the typeface.

Fig 1.1.1. Examples of fonts

Typeface - the entire family of fonts/weights that share similar characteristics/styles.

Fig 1.1.2. Examples of Typefaces

Lecture 2 - Typo_1_Development

Early letterform development : Phoenician to Roman
Writing used to be scratching into wet clay with a stick or carving into stone with a chisel.

Fig 1.2.1. Phoenicians votive stele Carthage, Tunisia

The uppercase letter forms were the only letterforms for nearly 2000 years, and can be seen to have evolved out of those tools and materials. Their forms are a simple combination of straight lines and pieces of circles.

Fig 1.2.2. Evolution from Phoenician letter

Writing Directions
Phoenicians : right to left
The Greeks : 'boustrophedon' (how the ox ploughs), which means that the line of text read alternatively from right to left and left to right

Fig 1.2.3. How to read 'Boustrophedon'

Early letterform development : Phoenician to Roman
Etruscan and Roman carvers would paint the letterforms onto the marble before inscribing them. However, the qualities of their works might be unstable, thus a change in the weight of strokes from vertical to horizontal happened.

Fig 1.2.4. Development of weight of strokes

Hand script from 3rd - 10th century C.E

Fig 1.2.5. 4th or 5th century : Square Capitals

Square Capitals : the written version that could be found in Roman monuments. These had serifs added at the end of the main strokes.

Fig 1.2.6. Late 3rd - mid 4th century : Rustic Capitals

Rustic Capitals : the compressed version of square capitals. It allowed for twice as many words on a sheet and took far less time to write. Although it is easier to write, it was harder to read due to its compressed nature.

Fig 1.2.7. 4th century : Roman Cursive

Roman Cursive : unlike the two capitals before, roman cursive is used for everyday transactions. Its forms were simplified for speed. This was the beginning of lowercase letterforms.

Fig 1.2.8. 4th - 5th century : Uncials

Uncials : it has incorporated some aspects of the Roman cursive, especially in the shape of the A, D, E, H, M, U & Q. 'Uncia' in Latin refers to a twelfth of anything; because of that, scholars think that uncials refer to letters that are one inch (one twelfth of foot) high. However, it may be more accurate to think of them as small letters. They are more readable than Rustic Capitals.

Fig 1.2.8. C. 500 : Half-Uncials

Half-Uncials : they mark the formal beginning of lowercase letterforms.

Fig 1.2.9. C. 925 : Caloline Miniscule

Caloline Miniscule : Charlemagne (first unifier of Europe since the Romans) entrusted Alcuin of York, Abbot of St Martin of Tours to standardize all ecclesiastical texts. The monks used majuscules (uppercase) and miniscule (lowercase) in rewriting the texts. Capitalization and punctuation set the standard for calligraphy for a century.

Blackletter to Gutenberg's Type

With the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire came regional variations upon Alcuin's script.

Fig 1.2.10. C.1300 : Blackletter (Textura)

Blackletter / Textura : a condense, strongly vertical letterform. (Popular in northern Europe)
Rotunda : a rounder more open hand. (Popular in southern Europe)

Gutenberg marshalled them all to build pages that accurately mimicked the work of the scribe's hand - Blackletter of northern Europe. He invented the movable type, the technology of printing and typography, to produce his Bible widely in a highly productive way.

Fig 1.2.11. C.1455 : 42 line bible, Johann, Gutenberg, Mainz.

Text type classification

Fig 1.2.12. Text type classifications

Lecture 3 - Typo_3_Text_P1

Kerning - the automatic adjustment of space between letters
Letterspacing - adding spaces between letters
Tracking - the addition and removal of space in a word or sentence

Formatting Text

Fig 1.3.1. Flush Left

Flush left: Closely mirrors the asymmetrical experience of handwriting. Each line starts at the same point but ends wherever the last word on the line ends. Spaces between words are consistent throughout the text, allowing the type to create an even gray value.

Fig 1.3.2. Centered

Centered: Imposes symmetry, equal value and weight to both ends of any line. It transforms fields of text into shapes, thereby adding a pictorial quality. Centered type creates such a strong shape on the page, it's important to amend line breaks so that the text does not appear too jagged.

Fig 1.3.3. Flush Right

Flush right: Places emphasis on the end of a line as opposed to its start. It can be useful in situations (like captions) where the relationship between text and image might be ambiguous without a strong orientation to the right.

Fig 1.3.4. Justified

Justified: Imposes symmetrical shape on the text, achieved by expanding or reducing spaces between words and, sometimes, between letters. The resulting openness of lines can occasionally produce ‘rivers’ of white space running vertically through the text. Careful attention to line breaks and hyphenation is required to amend this problem.

Texture

Fig 1.3.5. Anatomy of a Typeface

Fig 1.3.6. Different typefaces, different grey values

Leading and Line Length

Type size: Text type should be large enough to be read easily at arm's length.

Leading: Text that is set too tightly encourages vertical eye movement; a reader can easily lose track. Type that is set too loosely creates striped patterns that cause distraction.

Line Length: Shorter lines require less leading; longer lines more. Keep the line length between 55-65 characters. Extremely long or short line lengths impair reading.

Type Specimen Book

A type specimen book shows samples of typefaces in various different sizes. Its to provide an accurate reference for type, type size, type leading, type line length, etc.

Fig 1.3.7. Sample Type Specimen Sheet

Lecture 4 - Typo_4_Text_P2

Indicating Paragraphs

Pilcrow (¶): A holdover from medieval manuscripts seldom use today.

Line space (leading*): Between the paragraphs. If the line space is 12pt, then the paragraph space is 12pt. This ensures cross-alignment across columns of text.

Fig 1.4.1. Line space vs Leading

Fig 1.4.2. Standard Indentation

Typically here the indent is the same size as the line spacing or point size of the text.

Fig 1.4.3. Extended Paragraph

This creates unusually wide columns of text. Despite that, there can be strong compositional or functional reasons for choosing it.

Widows and Orphans

Fig 1.4.4. Widows and Orphans

Widow: Short line of type left alone at the end of a column of text.

Orphan: Short line of type left alone at the start of a new column.

Highlighting Text

Fig 1.4.5. Highlighting Text with Quotation Marks

Quotation marks, like bullets, can create a clear indent, breaking the left reading axis. Compare the indented quote at the top with the extended quote at the bottom.

Fig 1.4.6. Prime and quote

A prime is not a quote. The prime is an abbreviation for inches and feet. Due to the limited number of keys on a typewriter, they were substituted. They were later known as ‘dumb quotes’.

Headline Within Text

Fig 1.4.7 - 1.4.8. A head

A head indicates a clear break between the topics within a section.

Fig 1.4.9 - 1.4.10. B head

The B head here is subordinate to A heads. B heads indicate a new supporting argument or example for the topic at hand. As such they should not interrupt the text as strongly as A heads do. Here the B heads are shown in small caps, italic, bold serif, and bold san serif.

Fig 1.4.11. - 1.4.12. C head

C heads highlight specific facets of material within B head text. They don't interrupt the flow of reading. C heads in this configuration are followed by at least an em space for visual separation.

Fig 1.4.13 - 1.4.15. Hierarchy in a sequence of subheads

Cross Alignment

Fig 1.4.16. - 1.4.17. Cross alignment

Cross aligning headlines and captions with text type reinforces the architectural sense of the page—the structure—while articulating the complimentary vertical rhythms.

INSTRUCTIONS

Task 1: Exercise 1 - Type Expression

SKETCHES

Fig 2.1. Sketches for task 1

The words I chose were : Dizzy, Electric, Freeze, Fire and Slide. These are my rough sketches of them I drew using IbisPaint.

After the first feedback session on Week 2, I decided to narrow it down to Dizzy #3, Electric #2, Fire #3 and Slide #4. Freeze was not included in the digitalizing process.

Dizzy

Fig 2.2.1. Dizzy digitalizing progress, Week 2 (7/10/2023)

I played around with the rotation of each letter and altered their sizes to make it seem like some are at a distance. It is meant to portray the little halo over cartoon characters when they get dizzy.

Fig 2.2.2. Dizzy digitalizing progress, Week 2 (8/10/2023)

I decided to change the colors of each letter depending on their distance. This is to further emphasize the depths of the letters.

Electric

Fig 2.3.1. Electric digitalizing progress, Week 2 (7/10/2023)

Choosing a typeface and font for this was challenging. I originally wanted to choose a serif font; however, I also wanted to create a lightning shape using the L, so I settled with Gill Sans Std, Bold Condensed.

Fig 2.3.2. second Electric digitalizing progress, Week 2 (7/10/2023)

For the electric line, I used 2 slashes and connected it to the L.

Slide

Fig 2.4.1. Slide digitalizing progress, Week 2 (7/10/2023)

For slide, I just rotated the word to make it seem like its sliding off. The 'e' also has more rotation to it to make it seem like its falling off. I was not sure if I wanted to use lowercasing or capital letters, but then settled on all capital letters after.

Fig 2.4.2. Slide digitalizing progress, Week 3 (9/10/2023)

After the feedback session, I was recommended to make the letters rigid rather than rotating each one. I then also changed the font to what I think fits better (Futura Std, Light Condensed Oblique)

Fire

Fig 2.5.1. Fire digitalizing progress, Week 2 (7/10/2023)

For fire, I altered the lengths of each letter and their positions to imitate a bonfire. I then used two letter 'I's for the wood at the bottom.

Final Type Expressions

Fig 2.6.1. Final Type Expression - JPEG, Week 3 (9/10/2023)

Fig 2.6.2. Final Type Expression - PDF, Week 3 (9/10/2023)

Animation

Fig 2.7.1. Fire animation frames, Week 3 (9/10/2023)

I chose the word 'fire' to animate. The other words were either too complicated to animate, or looked too simple.

Final Animation

Fig 2.7.2. 'fire' animation, Week 3 (9/10/2023)

I reused some frames to make it look as if the fire is moving, instead of it just being still.

Task 1 : Exercise 2 - Text Formatting

Lecture 1/4 of Text Formatting: Kerning and Tracking

Fig 2.8.1. Without Kerning, Week 4 (16/10/2023)

Fig 2.8.2. With Kerning, Week 4 (16/10/2023)

Lecture 2 to 4 of Text Formatting

Fig 2.8.3. Layout #1, Week 4 (21/10/2023)

Fig 2.8.4. Layout #2, Week 5 (23/10/2023)

Fig 2.8.5. Layout #3, Week 5 (23/10/2023)

Fig 2.8.6. Layout #4, Week 5 (23/10/2023)

Final Text Formatting

Fonts: ITC New Baskerville Std

Headings - Bold, Italic

Body text - Roman

Caption - Italic

Point Size:

Headings - 32 pt, 18 pt

Body text - 11 pt

Caption - 12 pt

Leading:

Headings - 24 pt

Body text - 11 pt

Caption - 14 pt

Paragraph spacing: 11 pt

Average characters per line: 49 characters

Alignment: Justified with the last line aligned left

Margins (inch): 0.5 top, 1.8 bottom, 0.5 left, 0.5 right

Columns: 4

Gutter: 4.23 mm

Fig 2.9.1. Final Text Formatting Without Grids, Week 6 (30/10/2023)

Fig 2.9.2. Final Text Formatting Without Grids - PDF, Week 6 (30/10/2023)

Fig 2.9.3. Final Text Formatting With Grids - PDF, Week 6 (30/10/2023)

FEEDBACK

Week 1
General Feedback :

Pick fonts carefully according to each word

Specific Feedback :

3rd dizzy - work on the perspective
2nd electric - shorten the line on the L
Freeze is acceptable, but will be hard to find a font
2nd fire - can use the letter I as the wood for the campfire
4th slide - choose a loud font

Week 2
E-portfolio Feedback :

Add work in progress screenshots
Add the date under the progress work
Add at least one sentence to reflection every week

Specific Feedback :

For slide, make it all rigid instead of rotating each letter.

Week 5
General Feedback :

allow hyphenation for sentences that are too tight

REFLECTIONS

Experience

Doing this exercise has helped me get used to Adobe, which is also used for my other modules. In my opinion, I could have gotten better ideas during my sketching stage. I had a huge creative burn-out during that period of time.

Observations

Through this module, I have found a deeper appreciation of the different types of typefaces and fonts used everywhere. I also learned that letterspacing plays a huge role in any text.

Findings

I found that typography has many rules which I did not expect. I also find myself looking at random pieces of text in my everyday life and judging the kerning.

FURTHER READING

Fig 5.1. A Basic Introduction to Typography, by NH Athletics

This book covered everything that was taught in the introduction lecture. It features multiple examples for each topic being taught

Fig 5.2. Anatomy of Type, by colum, page 1

This book covers 'type personalities' and how to identify them. It also shares rules to consider before choosing a font or a typeface for different kinds of text.

Gloria Khaw Ping Sim (0359142)

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