Typography - Task 3B: Type Design and Communication

June 06, 2022

Typography - Task 3B: Type Design and Communication

07.06.2022 - 21.06.2022 / Week 11 - Week 13
Tow Wan Tian / 0343765
Typography / Bachelor of Education / School of Education
Task 3B / Type Design and Communication

LECTURES

All lectures were completed in Task 1 and Task 2.

Week 10

After the conclusion of Task 3A, Mr Vinod briefed us about Task 3B.

Notes:

Do research on lettering.
Read the articles provided in Module Information.
Select a greeting from the provided list.
Sketch 5 options.
Size of the final artwork - 512 * 512 px, RGB.
Design your lettering in B&W first - only introduce colours to the design upon approval
Use only flat tones - DO NOT use gradients, glow and drop shadow.
Introduce the colours of red, white and black (the colour of Taylor's) - including shades of red, black and white
Use the Taylor's Mark on your sticker.
Ensure readability and legibility of the lettering when viewed at a certain distance.

INSTRUCTIONS

Figure 1. Updated instructions for Task 3B. Week 10 (31/5/2022).

Task 3B: Type Design and Communication

Research on Lettering
Lettering vs. Calligraphy

Lettering - The artist draws the letters free hand.

Calligraphy - The artist writes the letter in uniform. It appears more formal and consistent.

Visual Research

Figure 1.1 'Back to school design elements vector set' on Rawpixel.

Figure 1.2 'Viber | Sticker pack' by Otadoya (2016) on Behance.

Sketches
I choose to design a sticker with the greeting 'Happy Teachers Day'. Since I am training to become a teacher, I think the greeting is very fitting for my situation.

Figure 1.3 Sketches #1 to #4. Week 11 (6/6/2022).

Considering Mr Vinod's feedback, I chose #3 to further develop it into a sticker. Sketch #3 did not quite fit in the required 512 px * 512 px dimension, thus, I made a few amendments to the design and drew a new sketch for reference.

Figure 1.4 Improves version of Sketch #3. Week 11 (7/6/2022).

Digitalisation

Using the new sketch as a reference, I began the digitalisation of the lettering in Adobe Illustrator. I found an existing font called Bahnschrift SemiBold Condensed that resembles the lettering design in my sketch. I used the font to type out the word 'TEACHERS' in full caps. I made minor modifications to the font by rounding the corners using the Live Corner Widget (Figure 1.5). Next, I drew the words 'Happy' and 'Day' using the Pen tool (Figure 1.6). Once I had all the words ready, I rearranged them according to the composition in the new sketch (Figure 1.7).

Figure 1.5 Modifying the font Bahnschrift SemiBold Condensed by rounding the corners of the letterforms. Week 11 (7/6/2022).

Figure 1.6 Drawing the words 'Happy' and 'Day' using the Pen tool. Week 11 (7/6/2022).

Figure 1.7 Rearranging the words and letters according to the sketch. Week 11 (8/6/2022).

Figure 1.7 defined the final composition of the lettering sticker. Now, I would need to introduce the colours and some graphical elements to complete the whole design. In Figure 1.8, I added some lines to make a graphical element that resembles a flower bouquet at the bottom right corner of the design. Additionally, I added some stars/sparkle shapes to fill in the negative space.

Figure 1.8 Attempt #1 (Left) and Attempt #2 (Right). Week 11 (9/6/2022).

Further Amendments

Based on the feedback in Week 12, I continued to make more adjustments to the design and tested out the sticker by uploading it to Telegram (Figure 1.9). The process of adding a new sticker to Telegram was fairly smooth and simple. My first attempt was a successful one.

Figure 1.9 Uploading the sticker design (PNG) to Telegram. Week 12 (14/6/2022).

Then, I thought I had completed the task and began updating the progression on the blog. However, after a few days, I had the sudden urge to make an alternative version for the sticker. Hence, I made a second version that has a colour gradient (Figure 2.) and added it to the original sticker pack. Then, I sent out the two stickers to a friend on Telegram (Figure 2.1).

Figure 2. An alternative version of the sticker. Week 12 (19/6/2022).

Figure 2.1 Sending out the stickers in Telegram. Week 13 (20/6/2022).

In Week 13, I continued to make more adjustments to the sticker by adding shadows and highlights to enhance the dimensionality.

Figure 2.2 Recolouring the words and adding shadows to enhance dimensionality. Week 13 (21/6/2022).

Figure 2.3 Adding highlights and shadows to the graphical elements. Week 13 (21/6/2022).

Final Submission for Task 3B: Type Design and Communication

Figure 1. Final outcome for Task 3B - Type Design and Communication Black & White version (PNG). Week 13 (21/6/2022).

Figure 1.1 Final outcome for Task 3B - Type Design and Communication Coloured version (PNG). Week 13 (21/6/2022).

Figure 1.2 Final outcome for Task 3B - Type Design and Communication (PDF). Week 13 (21/6/2022).

Figure 1.3 A screen capture of the sticker sent in Telegram. Week 13 (21/6/2022).

Link to sticker pack: https://t.me/addstickers/twt_HappyTeachersDay

Sticker made with Telegram Stickers Bot.

FEEDBACK

Week 11

General Feedback: Please be reminded that it is a lettering task, so you should minimise the illustration.
Specific Feedback: You are in the right direction (in terms of lettering). #2, the design is nice but it seems more of a rectangle, try to make it fit in the square artboard. #3 is interesting, maybe you can add some lines at the bottom right corner to make it a flower bouquet. Try not to make Taylor's mark too big, make it smaller.

Week 12

General Feedback: If you want to use existing typefaces, make sure it is heavily modified to fit the design. Since you are using red, black and white, you can use different shades of white (e.g. off-white). You can test out your sticker by uploading it on Telegram. Take note of the deadline for Task 3B.

Specific Feedback: Both designs are good. After you create the shape of the sticker, make sure to give it a white outline. You might not need the lines at the bottom right corner. If you want to keep them, ensure they are constructed properly. You can refer to the examples. The Taylors' logo is too small, you may want to enlarge it and place it in a different place. Commenting on the sticker, the outlines of the stars can be thicker or you can make it as a fill. The lines at the bottom right corners can be in a lighter shade so that it does not take away too much attention from the lettering.

Week 13

General Feedback: -

Specific Feedback: The design is good. Do something to the white background of the sticker to bring out the dimensionality of the sticker. Maybe add some highlights and shadow to the sticker.

REFLECTION

Experience
For Task 3B, I got to utilise the knowledge and skills gained from the previous tasks to help me create stickers for social platforms such as Telegram. I was excited about the task as this was my first time creating stickers (or visuals for a smaller screen view). The task was rather fun and easy but there were some aspects of it that truly challenged my problem-solving skills. For instance, it was challenging for me to manipulate the text 'TEACHERS' to fit the curvy/wavy shape in my original design. Initially, I attempted using Envelope Distort (Make with Top Object) and Distort & Transform to achieve the effect but the results were not satisfying. I had to go through and test out each relevant tool in Adobe Illustrator and then found the Puppet Warp tool to do the job. However, my PC kept crashing for using the tool. It was quite frustrating because I kept losing my work progress as the PC crashed before I could save my work. In the end, I managed to achieve the intended results after a few more attempts.

Observation

I observed that I have been rushing through this task. My goal was to quickly complete this task so that I could have more time to work on other assignments and projects. I could tell that I did not put too much effort into completing the task. Through Task 3B, I observe that the tonal adjustments can make a big impact on the final outcome of the stickers, especially when the sticker is viewed on a smaller screen.

Findings
The completion of Task 3B further enhances my understanding of the importance of details. Although the overall composition and arrangement of the design are important, it is the attention to detail that helps elevate the design from good to great.

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TOW WAN TIAN (0342765)