Interim Crit (OUGD403)

This was my interim crit for the lettering we are designing based on random words we chose. For my first crit I thought id be really nervous but it was just a small group of us sat round a table explaining our work and asking questions so it was really helpful.

The first bit of advice I got was about the letter A above. The A was  created my adding connections and curves to make it seem really elegant and stylish with lots of flourishes. The people in my group said they liked the idea but I should try a variation where its less extreme difference so It would work more in a full word rather than just a drop cap kind of thing.

The next ones that were commented one were the tribal/other culture themed letters. Most of the people said this idea was their favourite. One reason for this was they liked that I had explored other cultures idea of style rather than just the immediate ideas of it. Someone suggested I should try the typeface a little thinner and I could use a thinner version of Helvetica as my basis for this. They also suggested that I take a look at similar typefaces and design that looks similar.

This is an example of a really similar font style used in context. The font used for the opening credits and branding of the series American Horror Story uses a really creepy and tribal looking font. I love this series so it fits into my personality and idea of style really well. I could take some inspiration from this font as I think it links in really well with the theme. This also shows you how this style of typeface can actually be used in real life design.

The lettering is actually a full font. I have saved this image so I can use it as possible inspiration for my own typeface. I noticed the letters were quite tall and this gave an extra element and is also something I can play around with.

This one is the second that was most voted for as the best idea in the crit. People said they really liked the idea I had looked at my idea of style rather than just other peoples definitions and looked at the ways I could apply it to my typeface. One think I really love and would consider as stylish is OP art and I think it creates a really interesting typeface style that could look great as a full set. Once again I wanted to explore similar fonts and this is what I found.

This is an OP art based typeface I found. I love this typeface as it really messes with your eyes and is hard to see which can be a negative but I think if you were to see this you would take the time and be interested in working out what it said. It really engages and challenges the person looking at it and trying to decipher it.

Although it wasn't a favourite during the crit everybody still said they liked this one. One person said to take a look at other examples of typefaces in high fashion logos and possibly take inspiration from them. They also said it would be interesting to see how id approach the other letters in this style. 

This time I decided to look at a high fashion logo without serifs. I noticed that there was still a lot of emphasis on a high contrast between weight in each letter. Also the typeface is pretty tall just like models are, this suggests elegance and style. This makes me think my less extreme adaptation of Helvetica and Bodoni mixed may be more suitable and I could play around with how tall I made the font.

Previously I had looked as IPhone IOS design to inspire my work as when I think of the word stylish I generally think of Apple products. A big change in new IPhone IOS' is the font. They have started using Helvetica Neue Light for most of the branding. This is really sleek and effective and says a lot about how minimalism is something a lot of products are adapting their styles to. Thinner and more crisp are becoming the new desirable looks for technology. I should consider these things for my typeface.

It was suggested in the crit that I could base a typeface on my favourite period in history and have a look at their styles. My favourite is Ancient Egyptian. They used hieroglyphics to write with so it would be really hard to take inspiration from that. But I searched Egyptian style font and it came up with some pretty awful examples such as Papyrus, but then I found the one above. I think the typeface above actually has a lot of similarities to the African styles I have been looking at. It makes me think I could make a font that collectively represents the styles of more than one culture.

People liked my architecture based letter and I was advised to take a look at low poly designs. Low poly is usually seen in 3d mapping on programmes like Cinema 4D. But these images have inspired a new style of graphic design based on geometrical shapes and rough edges and textures. 

This is an existing typeface I found based on this style. In my initial sketch I used the outlines of Helvetica and filled it with triangles. Instead the edge of this font is not smooth which I personally think is much more effective and is something I can experiment with.

Overall I found this crit really helpful and its given me some good ideas for development.