OUGD403 Visual Thinking- Alphabet Soup: Typeface

Power Crit

In todays crit we were in groups of six, plus two tutors. We each had four minuets to explain what we had been up to followed by any questions and feedback we wanted to know.

The feedback I received was really useful and gave me a better understanding of what I need to do next. Feedback as follows:

• Work as a sequence 

I asked the group if they thought I should chose one of my letterforms and develop the rest in the same style. I have three designs of each letterform so I was advised to pick the strongest of each one. I agree with this because I think it will make my alphabet more varied, better representing Danielle's personality.

• Scale

It was suggested to me to think about the scale of my letterforms. They consist of a lot of detail which could cause a problem when scaled down. To resolve this, once I have finished my experiments, I am going to test them digitally to check the legibility.

• Silhouette  

My experiments are line drawings so It was suggested to fill in areas with black. I completely agree with this as I think it will bring them to life. I am going to do this digitally to save time.


Self Evaluation

The feedback I  received from the group crit was really positive. My partner said she felt I had communicated her personality effectively. I found it interesting how different our alphabets were even though we had the same brief. 

I set out to design an alphabet that visually communicated my partners personality and character. 

I decided to solve this problem by focusing on the things that stood out to me when we had our first discussion about our interests. Her heritage is Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian and Hungarian. I found this interesting and a good starting point, so when she told me she was interested in pattern design and fashion, I decided to look at textiles and pattern designs from the countries of her heritage.

The font I chose to manipulate was nouvelle vague. I chose this font because I was interested in the contrast between the thick and thins of the letterforms. I felt this best fitted Danielle's personality as she's a small person with a large personality.

Overall I am pleased with the out come of my final design. It was a tedious job drawing but I enjoyed the whole process because I wouldn't usually design something in this style, so it was nice to be put out of my comfort zone. If I was to do it again I would consider the scale more because it looks good at a large scale but once descaled the detail gets a little lost. Finally, I would experiment with different techniques and media. I spent too much time tracing and possibly could of enhanced my work by being more experimental.