An alphabet for Tom Bates.

This alphabet was made to communicate Tom Bates as a laid back yet sentimental chap.I chose bodoni because of its easy to manipulate serifs.The two words I wanted to concentrate on visually were Contrast and subtlety.But as a person I wanted to communicate tom as Laid back yet sentimental.To me, sentimental means an emotionally delicate thing so I made the serifs more delicate by making them thinner.Laid back is a word that is contrasted by sentimental.Sentimental things you have a place for it and its all tidy and put away safe.Where as laid back means someone who is care free and goes with the flow.With this contrast in mind I made some of the serifs more rounded and emphasised the tails by making them more round.I also gave the "g" more flow by exaggerating the loop.I felt like this didnt communicate Tom himself but more somebody who is laid back yet sentimental.I wanted to hint "Tom" in my alphabet.I remember in the interview I asked him who did he like typogrpahically.He mentioned Si Scott and instantly i painted an image in my head of these care free,flowy swirls which Si is most recognised for.

With these all combined I think I have made a successful alphabet,communicating Tom.

OUGD104 a visual vocabulary 20/10/09

We was told in last weeks session to collect boxes.They could be different sizes but they should be no bigger than a shoe box.

I came home and looked for boxes.And came to conclusion that:I have no boxes.

So I asked mates and flatmates for any spare boxes and collected about 3-4.This ranged from a small popcorn box and a pizza box.In this weeks session we all brought in our boxes and was told we had to use these boxes and black card to form a letter.We were working with perspective and we were given a view finder to get the right perspective.As a group we all decided that the letter "a" in helvetica would be challenging and fun to do.

As soon as I heard what we had to do I thought of Daniel Tobin Smith; a photographer who works with perspective (Below)

This seemed very similar to what we were doing.

This is what the result looked like from an angle.As you can see.Because of the way the contours of the boxes are being photographed the letter looks distorted.
But look at it from the viewfinder and you can make out the letter.This was a interesting activity because we was working with 3dtype instead of type printed on a 2d surface like we are used to.So it was very different.

Alphabet Soup.

TYPEFACE

information up soon

Alphabet Soup.

We were asked to manipulate an existing typeface based on a selected word.My word was "EXTEND".So my job was to communicate the word extend.As soon as I heard the word I wanted to stretch out the word and literally extend it. But I thought that was an obvious approach.I wanted to dive deeper into the word and find out the true meaning.I never wanted to take it too literal and stretch out serifs.I wanted subtlety.I researched the word and came up with many definitions;

1. To open or straighten (something) out; unbend

2. To stretch or spread (something) out to greater or fullest length:

3. To enlarge the area, scope, or range of.

I found these meanings,again,too obvious and literal.

I was rattling my brain trying to come up with a subtle meaning which will still communicate extend.

And then I remembered my former college tutor's wise words.He used to always ask me if I could extend on my work,meaning,could I push it further and see it evolve into something more.So I switched personas with Robert Beasly.The creator of the typface Iwasworkingwith-Clarendon.I asked myself.If I was Robert Beasly how would I push thistypefacefurther.So I went about manipulating the typeface subtly to communicateextend.Whilst in the proecss of manipulating the typeface I got caught up in it and ended up making it look like a completly new typeface.Which is something we weren't allowed to do.So I went back to the "literal" sense of extend.But I never wanted to stretch out the letters so I thought of many other ways things can be extended. Machinary was drawn to me. Things being extended mechanically.So I decided to go with that approach. Pieces of machinery have to be accurate other wise they fail the job they are made to do.So to contrast against this accuracy/ techincal side.I hand rendered it and make the lines imperfect rather than draw up an accurate,crisp blueprint like technical drawing.

A-The anatomy of type.

The anatomy of type has just recently crept up on me.

I never used to appreciate the process and the craft of making a typeface.I never saw the big deal about it and took it for granted,possibly due to being brought up in a world with computers and perfectly rendered type was only a button away.It was only when assigned a type designing brief that I started to appreciate it fully. The long,sleepless hours and shear craft of each letterform.

C-Creative Impulse.

My favorite thing about design is freedom and possibilities.I love having big ideas and watching them grow from a doodle on a piece of paper to something like a 3d large scale wood cut out of a designed typeface.

T-Tea.

If tea were an alchoholic beverage I would be drunk constantly.I need tea to function,and I think most of my blood and bodily fluids is tea.