Advanced Typography Task 3: Type Exploration & Application

19.11.2024 - 17.12.2024 (Week 9 - Week 13)

Kiew Ting Yi (Nicole) / 0361143 / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Advanced Typography
Task 3 : Type Exploration And Application

I actually struggled on coming up on the first idea as the other two made sense since the start of the semester, but then I realised I needed to solve a problem that had been lingering for decades: my handwriting.

My handwriting has always been told to be messy, and disorganised, so I came up with the idea of digitising a handwritten font that I could use to show that it comes from me- my own special handwriting that is uniquely me!

SKETCHES

Initially I followed one of my previous quickly made fonts- that had no kerning or leading in mind. This was the sketches I made directly to Adobe Illustrator.

Fig 1.1 Uppercase sketched on Adobe Illustrator, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

I showed Mr Vinod and tried sketching the lowercase, but then the consistency of the stroke was not the same. I had to start from scratch:

Fig 1.2 Letterform sketched on Adobe Illustrator, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

After coming up with the letterform without the symbols, I felt that the letterform was not speaking to me as my own handwriting. As I'm trying to solve my issue on my own handwriting, I gave the sketching another go. I started on Procreate, and tried multiple brushes, I immediately scanned and digitised them to test but it still felt empty.

Fig 1.3 Letters sketched on Procreate iPad Attempt #1, (Week 10, 26/11/24)

Fig 1.4 Letters sketched on Procreate iPad Attempt #2, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

Fig 1.5 Letters sketched on Procreate iPad Attempt #3, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

I felt that it didn't had enough character to be "Nicole's digitised handwriting", so I tried traditional ways instead.

Fig 1.6 Letters sketched on Grid Paper Attempt #1, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

Fig 1.7 Letters sketched on Grid Paper Attempt #2, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

Fig 1.8 Letters sketched on Grid Paper Attempt #3, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

Fig 1.9 Letters sketched on Grid Paper Attempt #4, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

Fig 1.10 Letters sketched on Grid Paper Attempt #5, (Week 9, 19/11/24)

I used different pens like round ones, micropens, the blue pentel pen and artline pen Mr Vinod suggested, but it still felt lacking in some way. I finally went on to my last attempt, which is using a Lamy Fountain Pen (M Nib) with a fountain pen ink I liked. I started sketching all the upper and lowercase and kept going until it felt right. These were the attempts:

Fig 1.11 Letters sketched on Grid Paper with Fountain Pen Attempt #1, (Week 10, 26/11/24)

Fig 1.12 Letters sketched on Grid Paper with Fountain Pen Attempt #2, (Week 10, 26/11/24)

Fig 1.13 Letters sketched on Grid Paper with Fountain Pen Attempt #3, (Week 10, 26/11/24)

Fig 1.14 Numerals and symbols sketched on Grid Paper with Fountain Pen Attempt #4, (Week 10, 26/11/24)

DIGITIZATION

I immediately scanned, and moved them to Adobe Illustrator. I then chose the letters that I wanted/felt fitting for my handwriting. This was the selected from the attempts with the fountain pen:

Fig 1.15 Letters chosen for digitisation and further editing, (Week 10, 26/11/24)

Fig 1.16 Letters chosen for digitisation and further editing with grid, (Week 10, 26/11/24)

I found that some letters the strokes were a little off from the others, especially when comparing the lowercase and uppercase. I imported the file as an SVG to FontLab and started tweaking from there instead.

Fig 1.17 Editing the weight of strokes in FontLab 8, (Week 11, 3/12/24)

Once satisfied, I began to tweak the side bearing with the pictures Mr Vinod provided on FontLab. Here are the rules:

Fig 1.18(a) Side bearings for uppercase, (Week 11, 3/12/24)

Fig 1.18(b) Side bearings for lowercase, (Week 11, 3/12/24)

This is how the final outcome of the side bearing:

Fig 1.19 Screencap of side bearings for lowercase, (Week 11, 3/12/24)

Fig 1.20 Screen cap of side bearings for uppercase, (Week 11, 3/12/24)

I went ahead and immediately worked on the presentation.

TASK 3: APPLICATION

FONT PRESENTATION

I've decided to name the font "Cheesay" because of how the font feels- cheesy, humorous, but still wonderful! (My favourite food is cheese) My strategy in creating presentations as of follows:
1. Name of the Font

2. Letterform Showcase

3. Different sizes of letters, an introduction to the font
4. Some numerals and symbols showcase
5. A quirky quote using the font

As the name suggests, I decided to use a very specific color scheme to bring flavor to the name of the font.

Fig 1.21 Cheesay Font Color Scheme, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

Here are my font presentations:

(Blogspot blocks this post if I spam the pictures, so I screenshot instead, full pictures down below)

Fig 1.22 Font Presentation Draft, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

I didn't really liked the last one on the right, so I changed it into something that could still bring out the quirkiness that I first planned. This was the update:

Fig 1.23 Font Presentation #5 updated, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

After creating the presentation, I was laughing by myself at my awful sense of humor and moved onwards to the application.

FONT APPLICATION

For application, there was a lot of initial work involved. The thought of the applications were:

1. Using the font in Instagram stories/ Tiktok videos or any internet media to personalise the experience

2. Text in Comics

3. Party Flyers

4. Zines
5. On a funny Mug as a gift

All of the drafts / mockups were used from Freepik, and they had a lot of good collaterals for me to choose!

Fig 1.24 Font Application Draft, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

For the first one, I found a mockup of Instagram stories/ Reels and I inserted my own pictures to showcase the real life application. Mr Vinod was surprised to know that we could use our fonts on there as well!

Fig 1.25 Font Application Mockup Design #1, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

For the #2 Application, I made a graphic comic because it was the easiest to show the application. I made a shape joke.

For the 3rd application, it's quite clear cut, here are the flyers!

Fig 1.26 Font Application Party Flyer Design #1, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

Fig 1.27 Font Application Party Flyer Design #2, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

For the 4th one, I wanted to take a previous photography assignment that I did in my Foundation days that won me champion in a competition and fully personalise it using my font! I found this application process the most meaningful because it was what motivated me the most to make - digitising my handwriting!

Fig 1.28 Font Application Zine Design #1, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

I decided to go with the left one, and here was the attempt!

Fig 1.29 Font Application #3, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

Mr Vinod suggested to redo this as it did not look like a zine enough- there should be foldable ones, so I searched the seas of Freepik and found one! I flipped through my other parts of the zine that I made and curated them into a foldable zine. Here's the draft:

Fig 1.30 Font Application Zine Design #2, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

Last but not least, a funny mug! I smile whenever I think of someone buying my mug as a hilarious gift to colleagues or family or friends!

Fig 1.31 Font Application Mug Design, (Week 12, 10/12/24)

FINAL OUTCOME

You can download the Font HERE!

Fig 1.32 Finalised letterforms, PDF (Week 12, 12/12/2024)

Fig 1.33 Finalised letterforms on FontLab, (Week 12, 12/12/2024)

Font Presentation

Figure 1.34 Font Presentation #1, (Week 12, 12/12/2024)

Figure 1.35 Font Presentation #2, (Week 12, 12/12/2024)

Figure 1.36 Font Presentation #3, (Week 12, 12/12/2024)

Figure 1.37 Font Presentation #4, (Week 12, 13/12/2024)

Figure 1.38 Font Presentation #5, (Week 12, 13/12/2024)

Font Application

Fig 1.39 Font Application for Insta Stories/Reels, (Week 12, 14/12/2024)

Fig 1.40 Font Application for Comic Speech Texts, (Week 12, 14/12/2024)

Fig 1.41 Font Application for Party Flyers, (Week 12, 14/12/2024)

Fig 1.42 Font Application for a zine, (Week 12, 14/12/2024)

Fig 1.43 Font Application on a mug, (Week 12, 14/12/2024)

Fig 1.44 Font Presentation in PDF, (Week 12, 13/12/24)

Fig 1.45 Font Application in PDF, (Week 12, 14/12/24)

FEEDBACKS

Week 9
General Feedback: If it's too challenging, can opt for unicase instead of upper + lower + numerals.
Specific Feedback: Need to do more research if chosen to do script typeface, for my case, using artline pens will show depth more.

Week 10
General Feedback: Purpose/ Font Application should be the main thing that is driving the task forward.
Specific Feedback: Consistency needs to be well noted, as the current one is not consistent enough. As it's a handwritten font, definitely will have to write more to get the shape slightly more consistent.

Week 11 (Absent)
General Feedback: Can start to work on the lowercase, and symbols, use time wisely
Specific Feedback:

Week 12 (Absent)
General Feedback: Letterforms should be displayed in different sizes.
Specific Feedback:

Week 13
General Feedback: Make sure to get it done following Teams instructions
Specific Feedback: Be more clear and better, overwhelming the font won't do it justice

REFLECTIONS

EXPERIENCES

This assignment has taught me so much. I laughed, cried, hated and loved the process of this assignment. Ultimately, this assignment taught me to always have fun, even if the world is against your idea. I started this project to fix my handwriting, and it's as simple as that. By creating 88 letters, I now have a font that I could use forever and think that it's uniquely mine. There's still a lot of work to be done, but that's for me to overcome and grow. Finishing this task has given me such a catharsis. I'm grateful!

OBSERVATION

It was so difficult to not stand by harsh rules of typography as a person doing a handwritten font. It's very easy to compare between displays, scripts, serifs and sans serifs and feel that handwritten fonts can go anywhere. But I think that's the beauty of a handwritten font. In the last task, I questioned a lot about my attitude as a designer, but in this task, I found it again- the painful cycle of comparing and not starting- until you make something you like and sticking with it without a care in the world of what anybody thinks! Art and Design doesn't have to always be right, it should be fun and engaging.

FINDINGS

This assignment allowed me to find myself in the oddest of places. I found that I was more stubborn in this task, despite Mr Vinod's feedbacks there were a lot of things I wanted to keep- but I did learn afterwards on how to improve, and I hope this is what he meant by learning to learn- you fall down 7 times, you get back up 8 times. Being stubborn is slightly important as a designer- you learn what are your tastes are and aren't- and sometimes when people create out of fun and joy, you can really find it in the work.

FURTHER READING

Fig 2.0 Just My Type, by Simon Garfield (Week 11, 3/12/24)

In Simon Garfield’s book Just My Type, I learned a lot about the power of fonts and how they influence our perception of written content. Garfield delves into the personalities of various typefaces, from Helvetica to Comic Sans, highlighting how each font conveys a specific mood or message. This insight helped me realize that typography is not just about legibility—it's about expression. This was particularly useful as I worked on my own typography assignment, where I was designing a handwritten font.

One of the key takeaways from the book is the importance of character in font design. Handwritten fonts, like mine, are deeply personal and offer a human touch that Garfield emphasizes throughout his book. I learned that, while formal fonts like Times New Roman might convey professionalism, handwritten fonts offer warmth, playfulness, and authenticity. This realization gave me confidence in sticking with the organic feel of my handwriting for my font, even when it didn’t seem as polished as some of my peers' work.

Garfield also stresses the need for consistency in typography. This lesson helped me see that even handwritten fonts benefit from maintaining balance and proportion, like the relationship between the ascender and descender heights, or how letterforms like "b" and "d" should reflect one another. Applying these concepts gave my font more cohesion while still preserving its handmade feel.

Finally, Just My Type reinforced how typography is a form of communication beyond the words themselves. I now see my handwritten font as more than just letters—it's a tool to express emotion and personality, especially for my intended use in zines, social media, and comic strips. The book gave me the confidence to embrace the informal, lively nature of my handwriting, knowing it adds a layer of intimacy to my work.

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Kiew Ting Yi (Nicole) [0361143]