Start to Finish

I had to write a blog entry for another class that Professor Goffredo teaches, which is called Yes, Logo. To sum it up, I basically wrote about the design processes in creating a unique logo that gives a brand its identity and meaning. Since I have to write another blog entry for Types of Art, I decided to explore more about the design processes in designing a typeface and how they differ from designing a logo.

1. Design a brief

When designing a logo, designers usually get the design brief from the clients where the clients specify exactly what they want and expect. However, when designing a typeface, designers have to come up with their own design brief. They need to ask questions like where and how it will be used as these questions will allow the designed typeface to have a purpose. 

2. Make fundamental choices

Before designing a typeface, designers need to make some fundamental choices. They need to decide whether their designs will be a serif or sans serif font, if they will be of writing implements or geometrical shapes, and if they will be designed for academic writing or posters. For beginner type designers, it’s better to work with serif fonts because ‘the features that provide these typefaces [sans serif]  with their identity are much more subtle’.

3. Use your hands

Some people who are more keen on using computer softwares to initiate their designs as typographers might not like this but it is so much better and more time effective to sketch curves and shapes on paper. What’s surprising is that we tend to draw smoother lines and curves on paper than on software!

4. Start with ‘Control Characters’

Lowercase control characters are ‘n’ and ‘o’ and Uppercase control characters are ‘H’ and ‘O’. Designing these letters first will help the designers to set an overview of the typeface’s style, and bring other letters into harmony. In our studio hours, we worked on ‘adenos’ but ‘adhesion’ is also a good word to tackle except ‘c’ will replace the letter ‘s’ due to its complexity in designing. 

5. Move to your computer

There are different ways to go about it and there’s certainly no right or wrong answers but most type designers sketch a letter that they are satisfied with, trace it manually using a fine tip pen and scan it through a scanner to transfer the manual drawing onto the computer.

6. Choose your software and draw some letters

There are many type designing software like Glyphs and Robofont. Digitalize the scanned and traced letter by using Bezier curves. In order to work more accurately and precisely, place the points on the extremities of the curves on the letter form. 

7. Move into text view mode and test out some words

Using glyphs, try typing in some words and edit the shapes of each of the letterform to make them look great in harmony, and not just separate individual letters.

8. Scale it down, explore different styles and widths

The style of the typeface may look different when viewed on a large scale and on a smaller scale. This is when type designers experiment the most as they try out different styles and widths of the letterform to achieve the look they are looking for. Just like how letterforms look different when magnified and when they are looked from far away, try printing on a page to see how it really looks on a hard copy! You may notice some areas of your design that needs more refining that you weren’t able to catch on screen.

9. Add special characters and put it to usage!

This is the last step! Add the special character that will make your typeface complete and put it to usage.

 

The design processes when designing a typeface and logos are distinctively different. I think type designers have more freedom in exploring than logo designers the fact that they can come up with their own brief (but I guess it will be a different story when type designers get commissioned). Since we are in the process of coming up with designs and exploring different styles on paper, I thought it would be a great opportunity to know what is ahead in terms of designing and digitalizing our typefaces in the future. 

 

https://www.creativebloq.com/typography/design-your-own-typeface-8133919