04.06.2019 (Week 10 - Week 14)
Rausha Aminath (0337000)
Advanced Typography
Final Project
LECTURES
Lecture 10:
04.06.2019 (Week 10)
No lecture this week.
Lecture 11:
11.06.2019 (Week 11)
We had two lectures this week.
INSTRUCTIONS
WORK
Week 10
Since it is Hari Raya, there was no class and we worked online. We started our final project which as briefed to us on week 9. We are free to choose our topic of interest and the ideas were very open. We were to either Develop a font that is intended to solve a larger problem or meant to be part of a solution in our area of interest or explore the use of typeface in your area of interest, understand its existing relationship, identify areas that could be improved upon, explore possible solutions or combinations that may add value to the existing typeface.
I chose to develop a font that solve a larger problem, after I looked at all the examples we were provided with. I was particularly interested in the below examples.
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| Fig 1.0 Reference 1 |
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| Fig 1.01 Reference 2 |
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| Fig 1.02 Reference 3 |
After looking at the examples I started looking at more visual references in order to come up with a problem and also a possible solution. Here are some of the works I found interesting.
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| Fig 1.03 References 4 |
At the beginning of the semester even, I knew I wanted to do something that is related to my country script "Thaana". I wanted to focus on the translation of alphabet to Maldivian Thaana letters which most young Maldivians have a hard time doing. They usually have problem with typing in Thaana. So I looked at ways I could show the alphabet letter that represents in thaana.
I was not sure it was acceptable to use the script of my own country, so I did some research on how I could create a typeface from solid shapes such as in Fig 1.0. Almost all the typefaces created from paper are created with the main shapes such as circle, rectangles and triangles. I decided I could explore more and create a typeface with unusual shapes so I researched more and this is my second proposal. After looking at the paper cut typefaces, I started thinking of how blind people can enjoy it therefor I started thinking of a way to create a typeface which is playful and nice for blind people as well as for people who has no problem with seeing.
Week 11
After looking at my proposals Mr.Vinod approved my proposal to create a Thaana Font and advised me to do a lot of research.
I started researching more and combined all the research. There are a lot of research I have to present for this proposal as the lecturers are not familiar with the script and they need a lot of information before evaluating my work.
Therefor, I gathered all the fonts that I could find that has been published and combined it all together. Below is the pdf file of most of the legible fonts of Thaana and their publishers and other important details.
The official typeface right now being used in all official documents in Maldives is "A Faruma Regular" which was developed by Musthafa Mohamed.
Collection of Thaana Typefaces
After gathering the documents for the existing fonts, I started looking through the experimental typefaces created by the Maldivian Graphic designers in order to understand what is already done and have been experimented. I also went through Maldivian illustrators works as I have seen illustrators using Maldivian scripts in their illustrations and I wanted to understand the letterforms more and maybe research on a solution for creating a typeface for illustrators.
My main focus was on the hashtag that has been running on instagram,
#36daysofthaana. Below are some of the noticeable work a designer named, Atha Hussain, that I found interesting.
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| Fig 1.05 References from Artist "Mr.Galhi" |
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| Fig 1.06 References from Artist "Mr.Galhi" |
After looking at the experimental typography, I started studying all the existing fonts of Thaana and finding the distinct characteristics all the typographers have used when developing their typefaces. I tried to narrow down the typeface design I wanted to create and started sketching the features.
Study Done on Thaana Typeface
After studying the official typeface and selecting some typefaces I liked, I started sketching.
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| Fig 1.07 Sketching |
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| Fig 1.08 Chosen Sketch to Digitalis |
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| Fig 1.09 Digitizing and Using Box |
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| Fig 1.10 Outline and Filled Version |
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| Fig 1.11 Comparing letter Against Original Typeface (Alphabet Letter Representation for Reference) |
After comparison I started refining more and seeing what works.
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| Fig 1.12 Experimenting with thinner horizontal Strokes |
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| Fig 1.13 Experimenting Curved Edges |
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| Fig 1.14 Experimenting Straight cut Edges - Thaana |
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| Fig 1.15 Experimenting Straight cut Edges - Roman |
Week 12
After I showed my Progress Mr.Vinod said he likes the curved edges and to use that and to add ascender and descender lines and proceed to roman alphabetic letters.
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| Fig 1.16 Adjusted to X height and refined Version 1 |
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| Fig 1.17 The Roman Alphabet Version 1 |
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| Fig 1.18 Refinement Process O |
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| Fig 1.19 Refinement Process M |
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| Fig 1.20 Refinement Process P |
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| Fig 1.21 Refinement Process Y |
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| Fig 1.22 "Daviyani" Vertical Stroke Width Adjust |
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| Fig 1.23 "Seenu" Vertical Stroke Width Adjust |
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| Fig 1.24 "Fili" Development Shapes |
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| Fig 1.25 Fili / Punctuations - Thaana |
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| Fig 1.26 Extra letters of Thaana Developed with Pantuationss |
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| Fig 1.27 Roman Letters Pantuations |
After completing all the letters and punctuations, I took the font into Fontlab.
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| Fig 1.28 Fontlab Process |
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| Fig 1.29 Font Lab Process |
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| Fig 1.30 My font being used on Illustrator |
FINAL OUTCOME OF FONT
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| Fig 2.0 Final Outcome for Roman Letters |
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| Fig 2.01 Final Outcome for Thaana Letters |
Week 13 | Application
After completing the font, I moved on to creating the application. Since my solution was creating a font for headlines, I wanted to recreate existing articles and advertisements. I attempted it in two approaches.
The first work was on recreating the advertisements of a company named "Adafi", an application that has all Maldivian news outlets. I noticed their advertisements did not have any consistency in the use of the font, so I decided to use my font for their dhivehi advertisements as well as enlgish advertisements as well.
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| Fig 3.0 3 Advertisements Comparison. Original Version (left) My Recreation (Right) |
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| Fig 3.01 Adafi Logo and Slogan - Original |
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| Fig 3.02 Adafi Logo and Slogan - My font Applied |
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| Fig 3.03 Advertisement 1 - Original |
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| Fig 3.04 Advertisement 1 - My Font Applied |
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| Fig 3.05 Advertisement 2 - Original |
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| Fig 3.06 Advertisement 2 - My Font Applied |
The second word is to recreate a magazine title. The article has the official font and so I was able to keep my font along with the official font on the navigation.
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| Fig 3.07 Original Article |
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| Fig 3.08 My Thaana Font Added |
After consulting with Mr.Vinod and Mr.Shamsul, they suggested to create a headline poster using a Maldivian government or official public companies.
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| Fig 3.09 Sample Translation |
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| Fig 3.10 Sample Translation |
I chose Maldives police service to do first draft.
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| Fig 3.11 My font Used on Maldives Police Service Slogan |
Final Roman Letters Outcome - Pdf Embedded
Final Application Outcome - Pdf Embedded
FEEDBACKS
Week 10:
No feedbacks.
Week 11:
For my final project proposal Mr.Vinod approved my idea for creating a typeface for my country script "Thaana". He did look at my other ideas as well and said that he likes the Script idea more and it could be an interesting approach. He suggested creating the script and then also creating a the alphabet lower or uppercase, either one for now.
Week 12:
After looking at my progress, Mr.Vinod and Mr.Shamsul said that I was right on track and that the typeface looks good to go and Mr.Vinod suggested using ascender and descender and to move on to creating the roman alphabetic letters and he suggested creating the capital letters. After seeing the final outcome of the Thaana letters Mr.Vinod said it looks pretty good and done, and the alphabetic letters look very good and both typefaces together already looks like a type family. Mr.Vinod said to make sure I write my problem statement and the solution clearly near the outcome in order to make sure people who look at it understand what I have done.
Week 13:
After looking at my first attempt for the application of my font, Mr.Vinod suggested keeping the work as small applications and create another main application which contains both the Roman as well as Thaana font I had created. My first draft was each layout with one font which did not show both fonts in one layout. As I could not find any good layouts from my country that had used both Thaana and Roman letters, Mr.Vinod suggested creating headline posters for a company, 3 posters including their statements.
Friday Consultation Feedback: Mr.Vinod said It looks good, color scheme is very nice. Go with the first color combination and keep that color consistent, adjust the blue a bit and it is good to go.
REFLECTIONS
EXPERIENCE
Week 10:
Finding a typographical experiment was exciting and fun to do research on. There are so many things out there that people have experimented with, very unusual things and it was very cool to watch as well.
Week 11:
It was good that Mr.Vinod approved my proposal at the beginning of the class. I was able to relax and not worry about my final project idea much while most of my classmates were having a tough time finding a problem to solve.
Week 12:
Creating the typeface for my script is very fun and exciting and I loved that I am allowed to do something related to my country. It was fun studying all existing typefaces, which was eye opening as us the new generation tend to usually move away from our script and depend on roman alphabet.
Week 13:
While the font was fun to make, the application has been confusing, as I want it to look interesting, It is hard to find an existing Maldivian advertisement or article that
OBSERVATIONS
Week 10:
It was not easy to come up with a research idea. I wanted to something exciting and fun. However I also did want to create a typeface using my own script. I was stuck between these two options.
Week 11:
I found that most of the experimental typography did not have a problem, that at least I could not see, and it was tough to come up with a problem even though you have pretty good idea as to what you want. Most of the people in the class had this problem and some had really good ideas but no problems.
Week 12:
Most of my classmates were doing a font related to scripts and I felt like my idea did not feel like it is original, I want to make my application different than others, however I do not know which way to go.
Week 13:
Applying the font is something everyone has been overlooking while trying to complete the work and as the deadline is getting closer I noticed that most of my classmates were behind schedule, which made me realize the importance of keeping up with the schedule the lecturers advised us to follow by.
FINDINGS
Week 10:
I realized that while the idea might be good the reason behind it as important and if you don't have a purpose it is very pointless. When making something that can be experimental, it should not just be experimental, it should be sensible.
Week 11:
Since our final project idea was so open, most of us were having problems as it was so wide and there are less restrictions as to what we can do and it was difficult for us to draw the line where we want to focus on.
Week 12:
When creating an application, the best way is to make something that is very realistic and that the actual typeface will be used if it ever gets published and this was vital to making sure that the application and the developed typeface works to solve the problem at hand.
Week 13:
While finishing the applications, I had to keep revisiting my fonts and I found many ways my font could be improved. The findings here is that even after completing the typeface we have to use it at refer back to the development and make changes in order to create a typeface that would work well.
FURTHER READINGS
Week 10
A World of Typography: Creating Typefaces for Multiple Writing Systems
This article talks about the importance of developing bilingual fonts as the world develops and font is changed on phones and applications and how other designers have done research into developing fonts such as those.
Week 11
This article discusses how two professional type designers, Vaibhav Singh and David Brezina developed a bilingual font family named "Skolar Devanagari".
There is an absence of serious typeface in Indian Scripts and when it comes to typefaces that work well in multi-script environments, the scarcity is even more. These two designers tried to fill this gap for a major script of India, Devanagari.
The objective was to create a versatile type family that would work smoothly for complex typographic purposes and yet remain distinctive and energetic in larger size.
The typeface provides an extensive range of conjuncts and adopts a rational approach to letter-combinations. Skolar Devanagari also attempts to provide alternative solutions to the legacy of metal-type and its shortcomings. Limitations arising from the physical nature of metal-type made many compromised typographic practices prevalent.
Week 13
Expressive Type by Alex Fowkes
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| Book Cover |
This book is a book that has different examples of expressive Typography 60 designers, typographers, and artists from around the world, whom has different styles and approaches.
Chapter 1:
This Chapter describes how branding comes in many shapes and sizes and logo application. Different designers approach to designing the logo and their main ideas and thinking process.
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