study task 1 looking at way finders

While walking round leeds for way finders my first port of call were the shopping centres as they are the most likely to be signposted and also have maps, and also the city centre itself as the centre has many different streets to navigate that can quickly get confusing. Below are a few select examples of the way finder i found in leeds...

The light

The way finders in the light were every inconsistent in style as they considered of 3 different typefaces that were difficult to read, especially from afar. The colour scheme of the signs and type is constant but doesn't match the style of shops that the centre has to offer. The shops in the centre are up market bars, restaurant and also has a cinema, which isn't reflected well in the style of waypfinders as the over all feel is immature and unprofessional, the opposite to who the centre is aimed at. The map was basic and had minimal detail so was efficient enough to navigate but lacked symbols and colour coding, which would make the map even easier to navigate. To improve this signs a simple change of limiting the use of different fonts from 3 to 1/2 and changing the colour scheme from pink and purple to possibly black and a dark blue. 

Leeds city centre

The way finders around leeds city centre consistent of maps, a pictogram key and also each map had a red bar across it tell you what street you were on. the red bar letting you what street you were on was very helpful for when you were following the map it made is easier to direct around the city as it made the street name that you were possibly looking for more visible. The map was easy to read and as it had colour code areas, street names and also listed shops. The most useful part of this way finder was across the top it has directions telling you were near by thing were and in which direction, the direction was shown by an arrow. This way finder was successful as in consisted of all the important information that you would need if you were lost or looking for a certain shop or street. To improve this way finder i would move the red bar with the street name to the top so it was the more dominate thing on the sign and possibly increase the type point a little to make it clear to read for everyone. 

Trinity Leeds

The way finders through out trinity leeds consisted of maps that were colour coded and included pictograms to help you never gate your way efficiently using the map, while walking round the shopping centre over head signs directed you to useful places such as lifts, exits and toilet facilities using pictograms, text and also arrows. To support the maps and the over head signs near every elevator and lift to the next floor were signs telling you briefly what was on each floor. The design of these way finders were consistent as the same typeface was used on all signage, the colour coding was consistent from the maps to the signs which made t easier to navigate, and the pictograms were also consistent in style and were simple enough for everyone to understand. To back up and also compliment the shopping centres signage and maps a personal map was available so that it made finding your way even more efficient as there was no need to stop and look at maps and sins you had your own leaflet map to navigate yourself around.       

Debemhams

The way finders in debemhams consistent of small over head signs through out the store directing you to the different departments and also facilities, and also large over head signs near the escalators telling you what was on each floor. These were accompanied by discrete signs on the underside of the escalators(above head) telling you what department you were going down to. Through out these way finders was the design was very consistent using the same colours, black as the background and white for text, creating a high contrast that gave the signs a very sophisticated look and feel to them, and also using the same style of arrow symbols and mix of a bold typeface for the levels and a regular typeface of the text. The overall feel of the way finders were sophisticated and also simplistic so fit well with the feel of the department store and wear easy to read, to improve the way finders usability i would make more lower signs for people with bad eye sight to also easily be able to navigate. 

Primark

The way finders in primary were very modern as they were mainly digital, in the images below it shows two of the different style of way finders shown on the same screen, there was a store map showing you in words and symbols were each part was on each floor and the other was a list of which department was on each floor along side images of people wear the stores clothes as promotion. To work along side this digital way finder there was a large scaled up floor list on the side of the lift to the left of this screen. These way finders are very modern and contemporary, but were inappropriate for finding your way as there was only one screen and the sides moves very fast which meant that if you haven't got all the information you wanted you need to wait for it come back around again, meaning standing in the way of other customers. There was only one of these screens through out the store, and there was no over head signs. To make make the digital way finders more successful more when need to be added to throughout the store and possibly make them interactive so you could browse at your own leisure, and not the fast pace the sides are set to.  

From looking at these way finders and the different types of ways to present way finders i found that the more successful ones had a variation of styles of signs such as over head signs, maps, and leaflets but still keep the design consistent through out all these methods of directing. Keeping the design basic was also what made a way finder successful, limited typefaces and colour help to simplify the design and allow the maps, directions and pictograms do the directing. 

Out of these example of way finders The lights way finders are the signs that need re design the most as they dont reflect its surroundings and lacks consistency.

Studio Brief 2 Evaluation

In my final analysis of the hesitant typeface i conclude that i have effectively expressed my given adjective of hesitant to a high standard in which other designers and people could easily perceive from my final design. My typeface is constructed of  letter forms that have varied stroke widths, the lower parts of the strokes are thicker and the strokes get thinner the further up the letter. This create a contrast, and also suggests that the lower part of the letter is reluctant to move and is shy, unlike the higher parts of the stroke that are trying to pull away. The original Baskerville typeface also had varied stroke withs but it was very discrete, by emphasising this i transformed the typeface to relate to my given adjective.

If i was t develop the typeface further i would definitely create an italic version as Italics could be consider hesitant as they are usually smaller, and lighter than normal letter styles, this would emphasis the style of shy and hesitant more.

When evaluating the letter forms individually it was obvious that some expressed the style of hesitant more than others such as ‘q’ the slight tilt to the left that was achieved through the stroke width change made the letter look more hesitant than the rest as it appeared to be leaning. The varying stroke width were very obvious in  this letter form compared to those of ‘w’ and ‘y’. I also feel that the ‘g’ looks shy compared to the other letter forms, this may be because half of the letter from is below the base line unlike and other letter form and could be suggested as trying to hide away and be smaller than the rest.    

When developing my type specimen i decide to express the complexity of the hesitant typeface as a poster with a layered background of many of the letters. This creates a textured background that created interest and emphasised the differing stroke widths on a large scale. I thought this was important as the varying stroke widths were the main focus of the typeface to make it represent my adjective.

Studio Brief 2 crit feed back

Above are a few pages from my final crit. The questions i asked were:

1) do you think that my typeface represents the word hesitant?

2) what do you think my typeface would be appropriately use for? - do you agree wit sensitive subjects?

3) do you think my type specimen is over complicated or do you think the layered letters works well as a background?

4) do you agree design 1 was the most successful design to chose as my final typeface? why/why not? 

The feed back i received was constructive, and supportive of my chosen typeface, but some thought that my type specimen was a little overcomplicated and would of been more successful if it was simplistic and the background wasn't as overpowering. People agreed that it would be used for sensitive subjects but also suggested that it would be appropriately used for children's books. 

From this feedback if i was to improve my designs i would change my type specimen by turning the opacity of the background down to see if that makes the typeface stand out more, if not then i would rework it and make it simplistic by taking the background away.  

Studio Brief 2 Type Specimen

After creating my typeface it was important to crate a specimen they show designers how your typeface could be used and in what context. 

From my research i decided that i wanted to create a specimen that had textured background made 

of layered letters, so that it showed the interesting shapes and angles of the letters. 

Below is my final design of specimen that just shows the a-z of the my typeface, layered over the letter background that is faded so the typeface stands out.

As well as showcasing my typeface i thought it was important to include my manifesto, a sample of the typeface in use and and the name of the typeface. These are all important details as they as what give designers the information on how that typeface is intended to be used and the perfect context for it to be used for.

Studio Brief 2 Design development

Applying the same rule as i did to a to f i contented transforming the letters g to z to completely the alphabet. This created a constant typeface were the letters looked delicate and hesitant, but the rule create one letter that didn't look party of the typeface and stood out from the rest. The letter 'o' was the exception to the rule, this letter form looked at if it had just been turned on its side and not transformed.

To overcome this problem i made the lower part of the 'o' thick and the rest gradually got thicker. This worked well as it now looked part of the typeface and didn't standout out now blended in very well.

Above is my final typeface, i chose this because it for filled all the design aspects i identified easy readable, it is lower case, it looks delicate,  and also look part of a set. 

It also works well and is still very legible when as bulk text, it doesn't just work as a to z. This was important to the design as for the typeface to be successful it has to be usable. 

studio brief 2 type specimen research

Before creating a type specimen i decided that looking at already existing specimens would give me good idea of what were the more successful ways of presenting a typeface to best represent and promote the type.

Initially i went to google to find a few different ways such as using the typeface to create different shapes, using the typeface to write out bulk text showing its legibility and also simply laying out the typeface a-z next to the types manifesto.

The more interesting type specimens consisted of more interesting shape, texture and colours that really showed off the versatility of the typeface. Here are a few examples i found the most interesting: 

I found that the most interesting type specimens were the one that used colour to make the typeface stand out when on a poster. This worked well for posters as the information was limited so the eye could concentrate a lot easier even with the mass of colours. The specimen that were booklets worked better when they had lots of blank space and created interesting compositions with the type. This made it more successful because the blank space make the eye concentre on the type rather than the image, this allowed for the type to be spread over numerous pages and still flow.

From looking at these two different approaches at presenting my typeface i have decided that i am going to create a poster for my type specimen as i think that it would allow me to included lots of detail in a small space to create a high impact, for what is a delicate typeface design.   

studio brief 2 manifesto

After creating the manifestos of all the existing typefaces that we have to base our designs on we had to write out own manifesto about out typeface, and also name it.

Vacilante

Vacilante is a bespoke typeface that is an adaptation of the classical Baskerville typeface that was originally created in 1754. It is a delicate adaptation with thinner strokes that contrast with the thick strokes that are at the bottom of the letter form. This create a hesitant feel to the typeface as the lower parts of the letter forms look reluctant to rise. This bespoke typeface could be used for sensitive subjects such as bereavements, and health care leaflets and booklets. Also similarly to the original purpose of the Baskerville typeface it could be used for books and publications.

studio brief 2 typefaces manifestos

As a group task we were each group was given one of the nine typefaces to research and write a
short manifesto for. my Group was given helvetica.
The definition of a manifesto is a public declaration of policy and aims usually given as a speech 
or small paragraph of text.
Below is my groups interpretation of a manifesto for helvetica
The feed back we got from it was that we needed to describe the typeface style in a lot more detail, but the adjectives we used for the bit we did were good.

Here are the other eight manifestos for the other typefaces:

studio brief 2 design ideas

As a starting point i decided to draw out baskerville typeface a-f and draw a grid over it to to get the idea of the stroke widths. I then went on to change a few of widths of the strokes, to ensure it looked hesitant i had to vary the widths, some had to drastically thinner than the other. The higher the contrast in thickness the more hesitant the letter looked. I came up with a few different rules when transforming the letter such as: - lower parts of the stroke would be thicker as they want to stay grounded and are hesitant to more, and the higher parts of the stroke get thinner as they want to get away. - strokes that are  horizontal are thicker and the strokes that are curved or vertical are thinner.
Applying these rules gave me a starting point and helped my letters be consistent.
Here are three designs that i drew and change the width, and i also drew arrows to its clear to see the changes.

After drawing a few ideas i decided to recreate them on illustrator to see if they work digitally.

DESIGN ONE

This is my first design, i made all the strokes that were curved at the top of bottom of the rounded stroke a lot thinner, i also made the vertical strokes gradually thinner the further up the stroke i went. These few change subtly changed the typeface in to a completely differ style. The typeface doesn't look as sophisticated as the original as the strokes are inconsistent, because of the inconsistent strokes the thinner strokes could be seen as hesitant to be seen and the graduation of the vertical stroke could be seen as reluctant to rise. The overall look of the typeface development was successful as the letters look a lot more reluctant and hesitant then the originals, what i intended to do. 

DESIGN TWO 

                                     

For this design i decided that i would emphasis the thinker strokes of my first design at more, but 

this was unsuccessful as it made the typeface look bold and powerful, the complete opposite to 

my word 'hesitant'.

DESIGN THREE

This design is an adaption of my first design, i decided to experiment with the stroke thinkness a lot more using the rule at strokes that are horizontal are thicker and the strokes that are curved or vertical are thinner. This was easy to apply at it gave me a guid line of what parts to change instead of moving points and hoping for the best. The over all outcome of this typeface looked delicate and hesitant, but the 'a' and 'e' looked like they were from different typefaces, this made it unsuccessful as it is important that all the letters work well with each other and look part of a set.

DESIGN FOUR 

I decided to experiment with the italic Baskerville as the title of the right of the letters gave me the impression the letters were hesitant, as they were hesitant to be vertical. When transforming i decided to follow the rule were lower parts of the stroke were thicker as they want to stay grounded and are hesitant to more, and the higher parts of the stroke get thinner as they want to get away. This rule worked of this design unlike the design above as it looked a complete set. The overall look of the finial development looked, delicate, shy and hesitant, everything that i was wanting for the design. 

From these design only two i found that were successful and did when i intended to do with my typeface design, Design one and Design four. Both typefaces look hesitant, delicate and shy in style exactly what i wanted fro my design. The design i have chosen to develop as my final is Design one as the changes were subtle but still very noticeable, also i wanted the typeface to be used as headings or small amounts of bulk text but creating an italic typeface would limit its uses.

study task 3 drawing the detectives - book cover

As a study task i was asked to create a book cover for one of many Agatha Christie novel as part of the Guardians celebration of what would have been the authors 125th birthday. At random i chose the novel "Sad cypress." As i had not read the book before i had to research to plot of make sure my design was accurate. The story is about a series of murders taken place through jealously and over money, and in the end a murder is taken place by poison being put in someones tea.

I took some inspiration from already existing book covers 

this is my finical design. i decided that the design had took much detail and was too obvious and gave a lot of the plot away.

Here is my final design, i thought it was a lot more successful than my other as it was simplistic and had a limited colour palette so wast over complicated.

Study task 4 - menu redesign

When looking at lucky takeaway menu it is clear that the overall design is very inconsistent with typeface use and there are far too many colours so which is uneasy on the eye. On the front cover alone there are five different typefaces, and four different colours of type and two background colour changes, as well as an inconsistent text layout. This makes it hard on the read to concentrate and pick out the information thy need. The design on the inside continues to get worse. The pizza part of the menu alone uses six different typefaces, and it laid over faded background that makes the text difficult to read. 
To make this menu more successful and easier to read with one simple change would be to limited the typefaces down to a maximum of 3 that are a similar style.

I was then set the task to improve a selected part of the menu that i though needed that most work to improve the overall look and readability. I choose to redesign the pizza part of the menu, only using 3 typefaces from the same family.

For the heading and large text indicating important information i used Helvetica neue condensed black as it is bold and eye catching, exactly what a heading should be. For the types of pizza i uses Helvetica regular as it was still bold with its thick strokes, but not as bold as the headings, and for the information about what was on the pizza and the prices i used Helvetica thin as it was lighter than the bold typefaces for the less informant information. Using 3 typefaces from the same family created a consistency, while still creating interest and highlighting important information in the text. 

Studio Brief 2 type comparison

Clarendon
- Slab serif
- thick strokes
- natural bold letter style because of thick strokes
- letters looks powerful and have a heavy impact, not very delicate

Berthold
- similar to clarendon but in a san serif style
- thick storkes put emphasis on letter,
- creates a big impact

Univers
- Thinner strokes then clarendon and berthold
- san serif, modern
- very legible

Bodoni
- Stroke sizes vary, some thick some thin
- serif font
- serif create a delicate feel

Caslon
- similar to Bodoni
- serif font
- stroke are very inconsistent some thin, some very thin and some thicker bolder strokes

Garamond
- Similar to caslon but strokes are lighter
- serif font, but serifs are small
- mixture of thin and thick strokes

Helvetica
- All the strokes are the same size,
bold/thick style
- san serif

Times
- serif font
- small serifs
- thick and thin strokes
- small serifs make the font look delicate

Baskerville
- similar to times also a serif font
- strokes a thinner than times, but still
have two different thicknesses
- very delicate with the thinner strokes and serifs
- typeface looks lighter than the rest

From looking at the 9 fonts and comparing them i have chosen to consider times and baskerville to base my typeface on as they are delicate and lighter in appearance than the others.

  Green typeface - Times   Black typeface - Baskerville

Above is my comparison of baskerville and time typefaces, by putting them like this i can clearly see the differences in the two typefaces and decided which is the most appropriate for my typeface stye "hesitant".
Times has sharper edges and strokes than baskerville, its serifs are more pointed, and stroke on the lower case g joins unlike the g of baskerville.
Baskerville has slightly thicker serifs, and g is completely different to times, where as all he other letters have similarities.
Looking at the two fonts in this comparison baskerville looks the more delicate font with its thinner strokes that make it lighter and more rounded edges similar to the aspects i identified that id want my type to be, therefore this is going to be the typeface is base my design on.