1. Final Type Specimen Posters

    The final type specimen posters are a solid proof that great typography skills is all about patience and refining your letterforms. Looking back at how these typefaces began and where they ended up today, it’s rewarding to see everyone’s progress. Great job all around.

    What did you learn about creating a typeface?

    What would you do differently?

  2. Type Specimen Sheets

    The Type Specimen Sheets were due on Thursday. The type specimen sheet layout should be printed on a single piece of paper and contain your typeface Title, all letters, numbers and punctuation. The design needs to be simple and minimal. The PESTO sheet was beautiful! Gashinamu came out great as well, and could be simplified by removing extraneous design elements.

    The Type Specimen Posters are due tomorrow 7/20 (print it out on 11x17 paper). Remember to use color to make the posters beautiful and use contrast of size/direction/etc., to create a focal point.

    Is your type specimen sheet and poster set up on a grid?

    Check the blog for ideas for inspiration of existing type specimen posters. See everyone tomorrow!

    What makes a successful type specimen poster?

    Do you have any favorite type specimen sheets or posters we can share here?

  3. With the final type specimen sheets being due on Tuesday, here are a few notes to consider from Thursday’s crit:

    - Ask a friend to look over your typeface to help you identify inconsistencies. Every letter, number and punctuation needs to be cohesive and feel like a seamless continuation of the typeface family.

    - You may want to consider offering several versions of specific letters. For example, maybe your typeface offers 3 versions of the capital “A”: one standard, one slightly flourished, and one highly decorative (like a drop cap).

    - How will you name your typeface? A name can leave a strong impression, so choose wisely.

    - Be ready to tell your story that talks about the meaning, inspiration, process, etc., of your typeface. A personal narrative will always make your presentation engaging and compelling.

    - Document your progress!

    Good luck! See you tue!

  4. The personal display typefaces are due next week. Many of you are making real progress, and successfully resolving details of proportion and contrast in your work. Chaska’s hand-embroidered script is impressive! I’m excited to see everyone’s final typefaces.

    Few things to keep in mind:

    - Sketch by hand! (not on the computer)

    - Work on a grid. Look at the previous post “Anatomy of Type” to see how to set up a grid.

    - Once the final typeface is finished, how will you photograph the final piece? Will you digitize your typeface?

    - Remember to document your progress and efforts!

    Thanks to Jamie for the in-class documentation photos!

  5. The in-progress drop caps look great. Remember to emphasize a focal point through use of contrast, and paying attention to details to create a cohesive and balanced composition.

  6. Non-digital Forms of Typography

    It’s fun to experiment with letter-making and typography away from the computer. There are many other options to vector typography. Here are a few that we discussed in the class lecture:

    - Letterpress

    - Hand-lettering

    - Calligraphy

    - Rubbings

    - Stamp

    - Stencil

    What are your thoughts? What other forms of non-digital typography can you recommend?

  7. Today’s exercise was to use transform letterforms using tracing paper, pencil and your imagination. To understand the complexity and small details of typefaces, this seemingly simple exercise gets your hand used to drawing the shapes and curves, thicks and thins of letterforms that will help you create your own typeface.

    The results are magical! Look at these beautiful examples that were done in only 1 hour. Always keep in mind that the principles of basic design applies equally to typography, so focus on proportion, scale, contrast, balance and unity.

    There is no better self-teaching method in typeface design than to spend time tracing letterforms from existing typefaces. It’s important to learn the rules before you break them!

  8. Archer, Verdana, Bookman, Garamond, Futura oh my!

    Thank you for the wonderful presentations in today’s Type Stories. From newspapers, to movies, to structural infographics, your presentations were wonderful, creative, engaging, and very informative!

    Here are some highlights I gathered from our stellar presenters:

    - Futura was Stanley Kubrick’s favorite typeface

    - Tahoma is the condensed version of Verdana

    - Bookman, which was originally designed in the 1800’s, was revived as Bookman ITC in 1975 by SVA faculty Ed Benguiat, who also created the popular Bookman Swash

    - In 2009, IKEA dropped Futura, their signature typeface of over 50 years, and replaced it by Verdana typeface in an effort to be able to use the same font in all countries, including Asian countries

    Ikea

  9. Today was the perfect day to walk around the vibrant streets of the East Village for the Words in Urban Typography assignment. We designed a simple, b/w 8.5 x 11 flyer of an interesting word and walked around the East Village to create new compositions and combinations by combining our flyers with existing type and environments.

    It’s interesting how the type in context and in relationship to its environment changes the word’s meaning.