OUGD403 - Alphabet Soup Mini Task

As we have now finished our typefaces, and shown them to our partners in a final crit, we have been asked to use the letters to replace an existing logo to see how our font works as a word. As my typeface is quite a friendly, matter of fact typewriter font I found it quite hard to find an existing product where a body text would work as a display text. 

However, I found this eco-friendly packaging for nintendo cases on dieline. All of the materials used are sustainable, targeting consumers who care about the environment. I thought my font would work on it because it has curved serifs to suggest a friendly, caring feel, and it is quite a small, functional font which reflects the product.

I went onto Illustrator and started experimenting with different colours and textures:

I like how the layout of the text looks, and it is very clear to see

the text because it is black on white.

However, I wanted to try a kraft paper texture behind the text as

that is used in the packaging, and creates a more environmental

feel.

I also tried it in the same green as the packaging, to see how my 

font would work with colour. I think it is effective because it

reflects the message more than it does in black.

I also tried using the kraft paper texture behind the green text to

create the whole feel, but it isn't very legible, so I am going to try

and lighten the texture in Photoshop. 

I tried a few different shades, but the one that I think is the most

legible and looks the best is the fourth one, which is what I am 

going to present as the final image. 

Illustrator Workshop 1

We had an introduction to Illustrator, and had to complete a couple of tasks. The first was a dot to dot exercise to use the pen tool in a variety of ways, and the second was to trace over a G.

OUGD403 Alphabet Soup - Typeface

Brief
Design a typeface for a full alphabet and glyps that represent the personality/character of your partner. You will discover their personality/character thhrough a series of set questions.

Through the randomiser, we got paired up with another person from the class, and I got Charlie. We got a questionnaire to complete together:

What is your favourite colour?
Neon green/black

Which living designer do you admire most and why?
Noma bar - because it is simple

What is your most treasured possession?
An archive of gig tickets

What would your superpower be?
To be decisive

Who would play you in a film of your life?
Johnny Depp

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Family, Devon Oliver

What makes you unhappy?
Anxieties

What would be your fancy dress costume of choice?
Doesn't like fancy dress 

We got talking and I asked some more questions to find out about her personality and what kind of person she is. I think this is important as typefaces can convey different tone of voices. I wanted to have a variety of topics to work from, as I could base it on a certain band she likes, her characteristics and passions.

I got a collection of words to work from: warm, lovely, I See Stars, Blood On The Dancefloor, unicorns, reading, quiet, hello kitty, childish, music, family, anxiety, indecisive, piercing, no spare time, bold lines, lots of writing, and her favourite font is American Type Writer.

Now I have these, I'm going to do a mixture of sketches, ideas and visual research.

As her favourite font is American Type Writer, I started to look at how a typewriter style could be used, and I found as I started thinking of the characteristics it fitted really well with my partner's personality!

I then found some variations of type writer style fonts to base my font upon, which can be found on my design context blog. I looked at Courier, which uses a monospaced type where each letter is the same width. This was originally used for typewriters so that each line would be perfectly aligned. I decided to start sketching a monospaced type so that I could imitate the typewriter style.

Once I was happy with each letter, I imported this into Illustrator and started to trace it, using grids to make sure each letter is the same width.

 I don't think this typeface worked at all, even though it was all monospaced, I think it looks unproportioned, and I definitely wouldn't use it. I think there are too many curves, and it should use more straight lines like Courier. After this, I decided to create another alphabet, basing it on Ernestine.

This is the new typeface I designed, and I am much happier with it. I think it is a lot cleaner, and I decided not to create a monospaced type, but still keep other chareteristics which make it look like a typewriter font. I think it is a lot cleaner and convincing.

The mandatory requirements for the brief are that it is traced onto A1 tracing paper, so now I have the type, I need to put it in the right format ready to trace. The measurements for A1 are 841x594mm, so I created an Illustrator this size and scaled my alphabet to an appropriate size as I designed it very small. I used guides to make sure the alphabet is aligned properly, and there is a space of 30.9661mm between each line. Now I have it to the correct scale and format, I can trace it directly onto the paper.

I am going to print it onto A1 cartridge paper, then trace it onto the A1 tracing paper in pencil, then fill the letterforms in black ink.

  

This is a picture of when I started to trace over the printed version on to the tracing paper. I found it quite fun to do, however the pen I was using didn't take onto the tracing paper very well so you could see the pen strokes. I tried sharpie, permanent marker, and several other pens, but they all had the same effect.

OUGD403 Alphabet Soup - Visual Thinking

For our Summer Brief we had to collect a variety of letterforms, and in a group we organised them into different colours to gain a better idea of the anatomy of type for our next project: Alphabet Soup: Visual Thinking.

Brief
Produce a set, series or sequence of then letterforms that explore and communicate your interpretation of a word that you have selected from the randomisers.
Using your newfound appreciation of the anatomy of typographic forms and the wealth of research that you have gathered, focus on the manipulation of existing letterforms in order to solve this problem.

The word I picked out of the randomiser is Dissect.

We have some constraints against us, such as:
The only colours we can use are monochrome
They have to be hand drawn letters
We can't use the letter 'O'

I looked up the dictionary definition which was:

dis·sect/diˈsekt/

Verb:

Methodically cut up (a body, part, or plant) in order to study its internal parts. Analyze (something) in minute detail.

 I then started to sketch some type ideas while looking at research...

 

I started saving type I liked on my pinterest, and examples of my visual research can also be found on my design context blog.
Once I started sketching some ideas that I liked, I scanned them onto Illustrator to produce them accurately.

 

I used lots of different sized curves to create this C, and I think it depicts dissect because each curve is cut out, and at different lengths. I like this one because it looks quite mechanical and clean.








This B is made out of four different fonts, and I think it depicts dissect because I have pulled apart different sections, and by putting them together it makes a letterform. I don't like this one because I don't think it is clear what it means, and it doesn't look good because it is chaotic.

I think this literally depicts dissect because it is cut up

and laid out to make the letterform. I think the 3D aspect looks good, but it is quite simple.

I took away parts of the stems for this letter, only leaving certain parts which still make the letter easy to understand. This represents dissect because things have literally been dissected from the full letterform.








This is reflected because it is going to be a papercut letter, so needs to be printed the opposite way round first. This depicts dissect clearly because the letter is cut out, and the gaps in the paper are what make the shape of the letter. I liked this letter because it is handcrafted.








I really like this P, as I like the shapes that I used to create it. I thought that this represented dissect because parts of it are taken apart, and not completely put back together again to show the letterform. 










For this S, I made it on Illustrator, and sectioned a normal letterform into equal sections, then moved them around to create a letter that although isn't the correct shape, it is still legible. It depicts dissect clearly because parts of it have been taken apart.

When printed, they will be on tracing paper and on top of each other, so when you lift up one letter, the one underneath reveals a dissected version. It will do this until there is only single strokes, with no thicker weight or serif. I did this to show that when you dissect a letter you can still tell what it represents.


I then printed them out onto tracing paper, and traced them onto card. I then coloured them in, in black pen. The other two remaining letters were done completely by hand (H and I). I think if I managed my time better, and did these earlier, I would have some better letterforms because I am not completely happy with all of these. 

How to conduct a presentation in front of your new class

Brief:
'As a group of students you are to identify a problem from your individual research and provide an answer to it. 
You must resolve this How To... in an interesting and engaging way.'

We were put into a group of 5, and had to come up with 100 problems we've faced since moving away to uni. These are some of my ideas I came up with.

We then had to identify the 10 most important problems as a group, and pass it along to another group. We eventually recieved another groups most important point, and we had to turn it into a question. 

Our question was 'How do I conduct a presentation in front of my new class?'

Mindmaps
 We started conducting a mindmap together to establish what we are trying to do 

Background/Considerations

Who needs to know? Students

What/why do they need to know? How to feel confident about public speaking as they will be doing a lot of presentations now they are a student

How will you tell them? A leaflet to include all the information, a poster to advertise the leaflets, and a facebook page to gain feedback

How are we going to communicate? Inform and educate

What is the tone of voice? Informal, friendly, chatty


Developing Ideas and Research

Research
I knew I would be able to think of more ideas how to present the work if I researched all the information first, because then I could visualise what I needed to include. These are the sources I used to help with my research. We also conferred as a group to discuss what helps us to overcome public speaking.

http://www.speech-topics-help.com/fear-of-public-speaking-statistics.html
http://www.udel.edu/communication/ocf/tipsheets/public-speaking-stats.html
http://publicspeakingsuccess.net/archives/340


Mock up leaflets
While me and Sarah began to research statistics and advice, Jane, Joe and Jordan thought of ways to present the layout of the information, creating mock ups of leaflets. 

They came up with several mock ups, but these two are the ones we considered further. The first one folds out as an A4 piece of paper, but we decided that was too difficult to keep unfolding. The second is a concertina style fold out leaflet, which we thought would work better because it folds out easily into sections and it can be carried in a wallet.
We decided to make it the same width as a credit card, and as long as an A3 sheet of paper to get the maximum space we could, while still folding up slim and not having to fit on an overload of information. This meant the measurements were 53mmx420mm.

Infographic
While researching all the information, I decided that an infographic style would work best to display information in a fun and informal way. It would allow me to add statistics and tips, but also include illustrations to make it easy to read and less daunting to the audience.
When we decided on the concertina layout, I knew it would be the perfect layout to create an infographic on, as it is long and narrow. I researched a few infographics to show the rest of the group what they was, and to look at layout. Here is an example of one of the infographics I looked at.

Creating the leaflet design
We decided as a group to work on the infographic style at home and bring some designs the next day to use together. I started work on the layout, and putting in the statistics and information. I wanted the design to have a clean feel so it was professional and easy to read. Here is what I achieved the first night. I wanted to have it in sections - first an introduction to the fear, then how to prepare, and then the tips on when you are actually presenting. While I was creating it I was on Skype to Sarah and using 'screen share' so she could see what I was doing on my own screen and give me feedback which helped.

When I showed it to the rest of the group the next day they were really positive, and had some things I could add to the design. Sarah had created some character designs and Jordan made some illustrations to use for the tips. As they were happy with the direction I was going, they gave me their designs to put onto the infographic.

We really liked how Jordan's illustrations were blue, so I changed the colour scheme of the infographic from green to blue. As Sarah had put a lot of effort into creating characters that people could relate to, I wanted to make sure that when I put them onto the leaflet they stood out. 

I went back to working on the infographic that night with the feedback and illustrations the rest of the group had given me, and this is the final design for the inside of the leaflet. That day we had also worked out that each section would have to be 53mm, so that when the concertina was folded out text or illustration didn't get folded over. This was the hardest part of the design for me, because I had to make sure every section worked within a confined space, so there was a lot of moving around I had to do. To make this easier I put guides on every 53mm on the document so I could keep track.
I was really happy how this came out, and I then needed to do the otherside of the leaflet which would have the front cover and back on it. This bit would be a lot easier now because I already knew the colour scheme, type and illustration I was using.

As I said, I wanted to make sure Sarah's illustrations stood out, so I thought by having one on every section would be good so that people could easily look at them and see which one they were. I also think having more illustration makes the audience more inclined to look at it, because it makes it interesting to look at. The top section is the front cover, and Jordan designed it.
As we have also made a facebook group I generated a QR code for it, which can be seen at the bottom, with a link to the facebook page. 

Poster
We then needed a poster to advertise the leaflet, and we all came up with the idea that there should be blank rectangles where the leaflets could be stuck on with a little gel pad and pulled off to read. Jane and Sarah measured the poster to be 225mmx594mm. This meant it could be ideally stuck on the pillars we have in the classroom, as we thought that would be an ideal place to promote to our audience, as that is where students have to go. We thought that it would be easy to see as it's quite big, and we could have them placed all over the college for new students to read. Sarah was in charge of designing the poster, and used the same eye illustration Jordan created, and the same font that I used.

We were all really happy with what Sarah produced, and thought that it worked well with the leaflet.


Feedback
We presented our pitch to another group, and they filled out a feedback form for us to look at.

Comment on how clearly the problem has been identified and understood.
'Understood the problem and identified with it, so thet problem was dealt with well. They knew what they were talking about as it was well researched.'

Comment on how well the problem has been analysed and researched.
'Very well researched, and went through a lot of ideas before getting to the final solution. Could have asked peers questions rahter than just using the internet so the research was more suited to students and us in particular.'

Comment on the proposed solution to the problem.
'Not terribly new and exciting to have just a leaflet and a poster. I'm not sure how you would change this but maybe having a little extra something like a video of motion graphic using the characters would make it stand out more. Also there is only room for four leaflets on the poster so what happens when they are gone? Perhaps having a pocket on the poster with more than one leaflet in.'

Comment on the clarity with which the information was presented.
'Well presented and I understand everything. The project is well put together and I think they have covered all aspects.'

After the feedback we agreed to put a QR code on the poster so when leaflets were gone they could be redirected to the facebook page, and there would also be a supply of leaflets at reception.
I think it was unfair to say it was 'not terribly new and exciting' as it was the most informative way to put across the information, and the design itself was not boring or tedious. I also think to create a motion graphic within a week when none of us know how to create one would also be slightly ambitious...


Facebook Page
Sarah set up a facebook page called 'All Eyes On You' for people to write feedback and their tips on public speaking. I made sure that my friends liked the page and commented on it with their tips so that it appeared successful and looked good on the presentation. We thought that a facebook page would be more ideal than a blog of forum because it's more accessible and a majority of students have facebook. 


Presentation
Now we had finished the product, we had to do the presentation. Joe and Jane worked on the presentation together, putting all the information that we had in it. As I had used a downloaded font and had all the illustrations, I then took the presentation after all the information had been put on it and edited the aesthetics so that it fit in with the leaflet and poster. 

 Evaluation
What role(s) did you take on in the group?
I created a leaflet and researched what I was including in it. I chose the fonts, layout and a did a couple of illustrations. I put Jordan and Sarah's illustrations onto it. I also helped with the presentation and advertised the facebook page.
How well do you think you performed your role(s)?
I think I performed the roles well because the group gave good feedback on the design and I included their input. I made sure the facebook page got lots of comments and I made sure I worked within deadlines and did the work quickly.
How well do you think you worked as a group?
It was good that we all did a bit of work and then brought it together and considered each other's ideas. We were also punctual and more than happy to produce the work.
What were the positives of working in a group?
Getting to talk about work together and sharing the ideas. I liked screensharing at home with Sarah because we could encourage each other and give each other advice. It's nice to get feedback on ideas and designs from others.
What were the negatives of working in a group?
It's hard to give everyone a design job as it has to have one look and feel, and everyone has different styles and ideas of what it would look like. It's hard not knowing each others styles/strengths etc, and a week isn't long enough to find out.
What will you do differently next time?
Try to be less nervous during the presentation.
Where could you have improved your resolution?
More prep on the presentation itself.
What were the strengths of the presentation?
Clean, informative, illustrative and straight to the point.