After my interim crit for studio brief 2 i started my text samples, this was as now i know what ideas to develop further and have feedback on which concept worked better.
IDEAS
- imperfect text idea ( relating to how health is unique, everyone has different ideas of health and it personal, the text show reflect this)
- be simple ( keep it more modern yet simple, this is because it need to focus on concept and the message behind it rather than the other all look of the text, it need to be clear to reflect the idea not to distract/over complicate)
- 1 in 3 concept ( to raise awareness about the issues surrounding mental health and to be used to make people realise they aren't alone, the idea is to inform people they have other they can contact and it isn't just them)
ISSUES
- can't portray any negative body images
- can't show health as a set of perfect shapes
- can't reduce the seriousness of mental health, needs to show importance in a casual more comfortable way
- work with the sound rounding context
SAMPLES
here i've digital edited some Helvetica text using photoshop, i've tried to make it less perfect, more unique, more personal and to reflect the ideas everyone is different.
i picked this text as it modern to imitate the text seen on the health sites, it fits with their ideas and styles so would work for that purpose as well as allows the idea behind it to be the main point rather than over complicating it.
SIMPLE, TO THE POINT, IMPERFECT, HEALTHY, POSITIVE, READABLE, LEGIBLE, IMPERFECT/DIFFERENT, PERSONAL
SAMPLE 1
SAMPLE 2
SAMPLE 3
The issue with out these typefaces is a feel as they are all produced digital they still don't seem that natural or organic like my design ideas did and my theme , they still have the base shapes but are slightly edited so seem more digital and harsh. Overall i don't like the outcomes so i'm going to try a manual version scanned in instead, i want to see if this looks better on screen in comparison because i feel these look more controlled and sharp than i feel feel fits my idea of healthy (natural). Manually editing all the shapes will give me complete control of the forms i used and how each letter looks in the set, i feel it gives a more personal feel the typeface to. My imperfect idea can be portrayed the way i want on a computer so i'l going to work manually.
MENTAL HEALTH POSTERS
after my crit last week i realised the best way to display my type/way it would be used would be in mental health awareness/advice posters, i collected a few of these to see what styles of fonts they use, what kinda of mood they have and how they convay their message to their audience using type. This will give me a greater knowledge into how my type must look and how simple it needs to be, this is relevant to my choice now into which style to chose.
From looking at these i can see there is a clear pattern of the letters being uppercase, sans serif gentle skinny forms. This allowed me to see that this works better on a poster because it stand out more, it commands more attention in uppercase so my next experiment will be uppercase. i can see also they all follow a slightly curved idea where the shapes have curved ends, i feel this is to make them seem kinder, more casual and softer when talking about a very negative subject. Again from these i can see my work needs to have a very positive idea, these poster all include subjects that relate to mental health but use bright positive theme to show help and raise awareness.
MANUAL SAMPLES
This is the scanned in versions of the typeface i edited manually, i did this because i felt it made them seem less perfect, more curved and more natural, this fitted with the my theme and concepts more better . After my digital experiments didn't work as well as i wanted i decided to try this style to see the result, i did feel these worked better, them seem more like my ideas and fitted what i wanted more. I decided on the uppercase letterforms because this was the most positive from my crit, people said it was clearer to read and worked better as it related to my research, i experimented with the lower case on both sans serif and serif to see which worked better before decided preferred the serif uppercase letter forms best, i picked the serif and removed the serifs because the over all forms work well as well as it being classically readable and clear, it also seem more important and this is a important subject i'm trying to get across.
This is where i smartend up the look of the typefaces, removed the background type and made them digital but kept the same forms and shapes. Having them digital means i can used them to create words and sentences easier and just allowed me to play around with the letter more.
This is the digital text with the 1 in 3 concept added to the typeface, this works to portray the idea that 1 in 3 people are effected by mental health issues as some point. The typeface is used to draw attention to how this is a lot of people, make the audience feel more connected to the world rather than alone. They can see that over 26 people actually 3rd of them are effected, they can see how they can relate to other and feel less alone. Also when the typeface is used in a context it will move the arrangement of the 3rd letter so they can see that even though its 1 in 3, they will be surrounded by other with the issues at didn't point, they can find people to talk to and get help.
Overall i feel like this idea has too much white space, it wouldn't be readable for far away therefore wouldn't work for my idea of the brief and the manifesto, to work as a poster it need to be obviously readable from a distance.
Here i have used thicker black lines for the 3rd letter text, this was make it more readable and clear but i feel over all it look too immature and childish, it gives off a more playful vibe that i did want but i didn't want to play don't the seriousness of the subject, just make it more talked about. This therefore doesn't work for my ideas.
EXPLAINTION
I've used the text the write this sentence as its very important for the concept of the typeface, its to explain to the audience why i have done this, i feel the meaning behind the typeface gives it a powerful yet simple message .When the text is mixed it up and used for words it shows that although its one in three you may be next to or surround by people suffering the same as you, to bring it home to the sufferers they can get help and they aren't alone. The disjointed unperfected text also makes it seem more welcoming, more like they can ask of help because it give a positive casual vibe showing they are welcome to ask for help. The idea was to make mental health awareness and i feel this typeface does that because it makes the type less harsh and scary so people will read it clearly but also see the actual percentage of those effected and feel more normal. Many mental illness suffers feel alone so are scared to asked for help i wanted to create a typeface that could be used in posters to seem positive and make them aware off the facts in a less terrifying causing a change.
POSTER EXAMPLES
i felt the best way to display the typeface would be on poster that display mental health facts this would give the client/audience i chance to se how they work not only for one sentence but as the actual fully designed posters. Also i felt this would show any design flaws in my type before my final crit, i felt it allowed me to get a better feel of my typeface because i felt it work better than i expected for all the different posters. The text is bold, clear, readable, positive personal typeface yet shows warmth because of its more manual nature, the idea its different shows the audiences differences and makes mental health seem less like a serious scary issues people cant talk about.
NAME
I really struggled with a name for this font but then i thought the best idea would be a leading professional in the world of mental health, someone who needed to be recognised that deserved some credit for the work. The text would mostly be used on poster for mental health advice and help organizations os the main idea i had was to name it after the founder of Mind the mental health charity, i struggled to find this information as its changed names so many different times but the name that i could find was Dame Evelyn Fox, i felt along with all her other work in this sector she deserved some credit so name it after her. 'Evelyn Fox'
EVALUATION
I have displayed all my
typefaces as poster for the final presentation because one of the aims of the
brief was to make sure the letters work in endless combination although I can’t
show all these I have used them for their primary purpose. The type was design
as poster/display text so I felt the best way to shows the text would be in
this style, I kept the posters simple to make the typeface the main focus, the
eye must me drove to this point first which I feel it does. The text here works
amazing for my idea, it gives off an imperfect welcoming feel which doesn’t scary
or imitate the audience, it makes them feel less alone while inspiring them to
get help.
The one in three idea
works when text is rearranged too and I wanted to show this as that even though
the audience might see one in three as they only have 2 friends so its just
them that’s odd it proves its not because when moved around it reflects the
idea it could be anyone around them. It shows that it could be anyone effected
in any group, in some words the letters are next to each other and others its
messed around so the audience can see how it works. The way vowels are also
selected means that most words will have at least one letter that is odd, it
shows that something we might relay on that’s strong and we need to complete
the alphabet is also effected.
The major issues I had
with this text is that because the outlined text uses light lines to reflect
the delicate nature of mental health and chemical unbalances it might make it
harder to read for far away which wouldn’t work for the purpose of display
text. The see if the issues was relevant I put it in the posters and made them
smaller to see if the readability was effected by the line weight, I found that
although it is slightly this is only when the posters are very small so would
be hard to read anyways but that it adds more interest to the poster, it adds a
unique twist that makes people want to read/look closer to understand the text.
Adding attention to the poster make it fit the idea of display text even more,
the gaps mean people have to look for longer to understand but this will give a
larger target based as it demands more interest. I did pay around with the
weight of the outlined text before deciding on the picked weight because I felt
it needed to add a delicate nature to the text, this relate the contrast in the
weight of the neutrons imagery too, the lines on the other letter are very
thick compared to suddenly thinner outlines ones which is seen in my research imagery.
The disjointed nature
of the different height of the letters is seen here too, I’ve drawn attention
to this because its on the of the main factors that makes the text imperfect to
reflect people of different heights. The letterforms are created to reflect the
general public, they need to shows how imperfect everyone is and how everyone
has difference version of a healthy body but that doesn’t mean its wrong. This
was a factor I discover early on after asking peoples opinions on healthy and
felt it needed reflecting in the typeface. Overall I feel the imperfect nature
of the miss matched text makes it seem more positive and welcoming, it shows
health as it is, naturally and different. The way its displayed here shows it
gives off a positive vibe as it not harsh or scary which mental health can be
but I felt it wouldn’t make people want to get help, just terrify the audience but
looking clinical. Mental health hospital scary many people so this was something
I didn’t want to reflect, I wanted a casual text that would inform but not
scary, the issue is very serious and scary so the poster needed to be as positive
as possible to show people they can’t be scared to do something about it and
the organisations are there for help not to just be harsh to them.
