Text Samples Studio Brief 2

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.

How Do We Read? Figure & Ground/ White Space

FIGURE AND GROUND

figure - what we look at/part of the composition we pay attention too
ground - everything that isn't the figure

The eye differentiates an object from its background, this is done to balance the subject and its background to change the focus of the design. Everything in a design will be seen as one or the other, figure/subject or ground/background and the relationship between them is mutually exclusive as it can constantly change depending on where the viewer looks and what causes the most interest. Neither can be perceived except in relation to the other because you can look at one without seeing the other, they are both needed to supports the way the eye works and what the designs wants the audience to look at. aThe figure-ground relationship is also complementary. Figure and ground can enhance or detract from each other, and organizing the two in relation to each other is one of the more important aspects of design. It sets a context for how your design communicates and how it will be interpreted as it communicates what is needed, it shows the audience what the need to look at first and why.

simple figure - one figure only and a ground
complex figure - several things to notice at once, different attractions on the design work.

WHITE SPACE

White space is the 'ultimate luxuary' in graphic design , its used to show the designer has lots of room to spare and to frame the important object in the piece. The less crowed a design piece is the more often the more elitist its attitude. Usually used in more expensive newspapers of magazines it shows wealth as its not use by the more working class tabloids that work of showing as much information as they can in their designs. this had lead to white space being used in design to create elegance and simpleness, focus on the objects rather than packing in as much data as possible.


 

Interim crit 2 feedback

FEEDBACK-



the over all feedback i got from this crit is very positive, the group liked my ideas and felt that i'd researched into my theme in depth, they said that i'd explore many different meaning and this worked as it gave me new more unique ideas. I need to make sure i keep doing this throughout my work as i feel that it helps when i get stuck with my work, it gives me a new way to think when i've exhausted all my ideas. New perspectives are always really useful as people think in different ways, this is why i feel the feedback is amazingly useful as people see things i wouldn't even think off like looking into health companies and what tyepfaces they already use. This was something i didn't think of so its good i can look into it and make sure my type works for them and how they use it.

Another thing that the crit helped with was that i was stuck with which ideas i felt worked best and how to pick, it allowed me to see what other creative people thought of my concepts. I thought people might struggle to understand the 1 in 3 concept but it turns out they really like it and they do get it, this has changed my mind and i now think i'll take this idea further and work on it as my main ideas for my project. Feedback said i now need to narrow down my ideas, this is the next step in my work to pick this idea and explore it in detail.

Imperfection was also another popular idea, it seem to reflect my research well while appealing to the audience, it gives off a less clinical feel which is what i wanted to achieve. Knowing which ideas people felt worked best has allowed me to pick the idea of an imperfect, simple, sans serif, 1 in 3 typeface as my idea to experiment with. The type needs to be simple so its not to over powering, imperfect to reflect everyones different healths and body types but also natural forms, 1 in 3 to show how mental illness effects so many people, raise awareness that they're not alone, sans serif to reflect the concept and keep it simple yet modern, also seen mostly in my existing research.

One of the ideas I got from the crit was to look at health organisations and how they use type, this will show me a more medical way of reflecting the idea I want to and will show me what works best for my theme. Again I really shocked that the crit gave me feedback that the mental healthy idea was the best path to take as I felt it was a bit complicated for a typeface but they agreed that it’s a better way to create a type that doesn’t offended or push negative body images on to people. Looking into the text on the websites or health organisations and mental health posters showed me the way they use text is offending modern simple, welcoming positive type so it shows mental health in positive light, I will keep these ideas for my typeface, also gave me idea of how readable and clear my text needs to be as the text they use is very simple but with ideas behind it. The mental health poster use a mixtures of different types to reflect the way health is different and I like the idea, I want to create a typeface where every letter form is unique and imperfect so it reflects people and the sufferers.

HEALTH ORGANISATIONS

research into the types they use and their styles :

world wide site

british hospital site 

mental health site 

family health website

i collected a wide range of different types of health websites to research, this will help me to get a boarder knowledge of how all health sites use typefaces and which they use to reflect their ideas, it gives a overall view rather than just a selected part.

SIMILAR
san serif
bold
clear
readable
modern
low x height
short asenders and desenders
the text is the message
type is basic and simple to make this the focus
aimed a a wide audience, understandable by everyone

These factors will help me when i design my type because i already know what they use and what to incorporate in my type.

Crit Slide Show

slide show used for interim crit two.

How Do You Read? - Grids

GRIDS

Grids are used in graphic design to bring structure, consistence and order to work, mostly used in editorial design they can be applied to any form of design . Magazine used them to make every page and issue similar creating a constant house style, this is then more easily recognizable and easier to read for the reader as they are used to the format.

The grid system can be used to bring order and clarity to design but the more we looked into them it became clearer that they can also be discarded once in a while to cause organized chaos that draws attention to parts the designs aims too. Grids can be modified or abandoned depending on how the artists feels is necessary. The grid invisibly holds all the elements together in a precise way.

For this study task we got a newspaper and had to see if we could find the basic grid that it used, this seem easy at first but over time and over the other pages its clear that there is not always the simple system you first think and boxes maybe half or double what it first seems. The gird system is used in the guardian newspaper because its a formal piece of writing that want to portray a sophisticated style thats reliable and easy to read.

Typesetting Study Task 4

TYPESETTING RULES 

SETTING TYPE/GRIDS

'Legibility is not communication, but in order to communicate type has to be legible' Speikermann 1995
This means that legibility isn't about how it communicate but that it can communicate, it means it can be understand its not the meaning.

LEGIBILITY - the quality of being clear enough to read.
READABILITY - the ease with which a reader can understand a written text.

LINE LENGTH - between 45-65 characters including everything, exceeding these limits makes legality challenging.
Short lines read quicker, so paragraphs of these become tiring, long lines have the same problem this lead to this theory being created as the 'perfect' line length.

ALIGNMENT - keep it the same, left flush works best but make sure the shape of the rugged side by shifting sometimes text from line to line.

ORPHANS/WIDOWS - a widow is a very short line at the end of the paragraph. leaves too much white space, interrupts the read eye, just don't do it basically. a orphan is a very short line at the beginning of the text, same issue.

'Widow A paragraph-ending line that falls at the beginning of the following page or column, thus separated from the rest of the text. 
Orphan A paragraph-opening line that appears by itself at the bottom of a page or column, thus separated from the rest of the text.'



ARTICLES-

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/typerules/

STUDY TASK 4

For this task we have to reorganise a menu for a takeway, we have to use the kerning, type, lines, typesetting and theory to make it more legible and readable for the audience.  i've looked at some simple menus for inspiration and ideas first to see what i feel works.

EXSITING MENU

I'ved picked this menu because i feel the colours, text and over all look is very tacky as its cheap, the colour doesn't work together as they are opposites the contrast them makes the menu look over powering and unclear. The colours stand out too much making the text almost unreadable as its too bright, too contrasting. Adding to this the text is a strange bespoke font that has edited steam that add to the idea of being unclear, it looks almost cartoony.

Manifestos Studio Brief 2

MANIFESTO DEFINITION

a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate

For this study task we had to create a manifesto for each of the different 9 typefaces for Josef muller-brockmanns types in groups, this was to show use the importance of the type manifestos along with a way to learn out how important these typefaces are. It gave use a knowlegde into how type is created for a purpose not just to look nice, each of the different typeface have a large history that influenced their designs and forms. This relates to our project because we will have to create a type manifesto for our work, if we create one for the existing typeface we can see which reflects to our themes as well as gaining an in depth history into  the typefaces themselves. Seeing and analyzing 9 different typeface manifestos will show us how to create our for the project, this showed me what i need to include in mine because i've never created a typeface before so this is new too me. i felt this task open my eyes to how to create a type that means something while also working for a purpose, it explained how the type work and how it was created.