Type experiments

From my critique of my typeface design it was realised that I should further experiment with the typeface. Because of the nature of the typeface having two elements, I thought it would be interesting to tear apart the two elements in a way that they could be manipulated and put back together. An ideal way of doing this is through the use of acetate, by printing the two separate layers onto acetate was able to manoeuvre them around and also show a better example of how my typeface can be broken down into its simplest form. Through doing this it also clearly depicts the structure of the letter form, and how the way in which is constructed creates three different types of densities.

This then made me think of how I could further experiment with the use of acetate, when overlaying the two letters against different densities, therefore when overlaying the two newly created letterforms, the same effect is taken on. This overlaying creates multiple densities and therefore gives an interesting, somewhat confusing, outcome for this to work successfully as the display type; that cannot be used to represent large amounts of text. Due to the densities being so different every time that you overlay to letterforms it gives you a somewhat brand-new typeface, depending on the kerning chosen and colour. This makes my typeface ideal for branding as it gives each brand that uses the typeface, a completely new identity. Thinking about the way in which overlaying creates new letterforms by densities being changed, I considered what would happen when dots overlaid each other. To test this idea I printed two letters on acetate, when overlaying the dots in different direction i.e. having one letter form vertical and one horizontal it creates a new pattern within the almost hexagon pattern, this reaffirms the idea of each time having the overlay different creates a new typeface (Please see below). 

My Typeface Design

My typeface is an uppercase display font. After coming up with the original speckled background to create the top layer, I used opacity and layers to make the bottom layer visible. Due to their dots, the new letter form looks as if it almost has three letters: the outer dotted letter form, the top letter, and the part in which the two letters overlay. This draws the eyes to the centre of the letter, while making it more visible from afar - thus creating a display font fit for purpose. I gained feedback from a tutor who told me the display font had been successful, as it was clearly visible, and was interesting and unique - something that had not been done before. I believe the font has worked well, but due to the nature of how small the dots are should only be used in large context, such as billboards or in a smaller context should fill majority of the page per letter. The design could also be used in web as on-screen dots will be more visible than they would within print. If I had less time constraints, I could further develop my typeface by creating punctuation numbers and lowercase letters. This would allow me to have a full typeface; although due to the fact I wanted to create a display typeface I believe that only uppercase was needed in  this context. I could also improve the design further, by experimenting with different size of dots therefore changing the density of the letter. I believe this brief has helped me gather a broader understanding of the way in which letterforms work, as well as understanding design rulings and design decisions behind a typeface; thus allowing me to understand which typeface would work best for which context.