Advanced Typography: Task 1 Exercises

-

21/4/2025 - 14/5/2025 (Week 1 - Week 4)

Lim Yeng San (0366316)
Advanced Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylors University
Task 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Lecture 1: Typographic Systems
  • Lecture 2: Typographic Composition
  • Lecture 3: Context and Creativity
  • Lecture 4: Designing Type

1. LECTURES

Lecture 1: Typographic Systems
8 Major Variations of Structural System

Axial System
- Elements are arranged to the left or right of a singular axis
Radial System
- Elements are extended from a point of focus

Dilatational System
- Elements expand from a central point in a circular fashion

Random System
- Elements have no specific pattern or relationship
Grid System
- A system of vertical and horizontal divisions

Transitional System
- Informal system of layered banding

Modular System
- A series of non-objective elements are constructed as standardized units

Bilateral System
- All text is arranged symmetrically on a single axis


Figure 1.1: Examples of structural systems, Week 1 (23/4/2025)


Lecture 2: Typographic Composition
Rule of Thirds
- The image is divided into 3 columns and 3 rows
- The intersecting lines create points to place points of interest
- Not used very often 

Figure 1.2: Rule of Thirds, Week 2 (30/4/2025)


Post-Modernist Era of Typographic Systems
- Chaotic, random and asymmetrical

Environmental Grid
- An extraction of both straight and curved lines
- Information is then organized around the structure, including non-objective elements
- Creates a mixture of texture and visual stimuli

Figure 1.3: Environmental grid example from Typographic Form and Communication, Week 5 (20/5/2025)


Form and Movement
- The placement of a form on a page over many pages creates movement. Applies to both paper and screens
Figure 1.4: Example of Form and Movement, Week 5 (20/5/2025)


Lecture 3: Context and Creativity
Handwriting
- The first mechanically produced letterforms were designed to directly imitate handwriting
- Handwriting became the basis for form and spacing 

Figure 1.5: Evolution of the Latin alphabet, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 1.6: Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphics chart, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 1.7: Evolution of Middle Eastern Alphabets, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 1.8: Evolution of Chinese Script, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 1.9: Indus Valley Civilization Script (3500 - 2000 BCE), Week 5 (20/5/2025)

-The oldest writing found in the "Indian" subcontinent


Figure 1.10: Brahmi Script (450 - 350 BCE), Week 5 (20/5/2025)

- The earliest writing system developed in India after the Indus Valley Civilization script
- All modern Indian scripts and hundreds of scripts found in Southeast and East Asia are derived from Brahmi script


Programmers and Type Script
- More typefaces are being developed to cater to certain situations for communication in the vernacular script or vernacular and Latin script

Figure 1.11: Baloo typeface, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

- Example: Baloo is a multi-script typeface available in 9 Indian scripts and a Latin counterpart


Lecture 4: Designing Type
General Process of Type Design

1. Research
- Understand type history, type anatomy, type conventions, terminologies, side-bearings, metrics and hinting
- Determine the purpose of the type
- Examine existing fonts

2. Sketching
Method 1
- Sketch using traditional tools and then scan to be digitized
Method 2
- Sketch digitally 

3. Digitization
- Fonts software: FontLab and Glyphs App
- Software for designing type: Adobe Illustrator

4. Testing
- Consider the readability and legibility of the typeface

5. Deploy
- Be aware of teething problems


Construction and Considerations
Important Visual Correction
- The extrusion of curved and protruding forms past the baseline and cap lines
- Applies to vertical alignment between curved and straight forms
- For letter spacing, a uniform visual white space must be present (the white space between letters should appear the same)


Figure 1.12: Latin letter classification, Week 5 (20/5/2025)



2. INSTRUCTION

Figure 2.1: The module information booklet for Advanced Typography, Week 1 (24/4/2025)



3. PROCESS WORK
Exercise 1: Typographic Systems
Create 8 designs based on the 8 typographic systems with the given text. Base the design on one of the 3 given headlines.

The Design School,
Taylor’s University

All Ripped Up: Punk Influences on Design
or
The ABCs of Bauhaus Design Theory
or
Russian Constructivism and Graphic Design

Open Public Lectures:
June 24, 2021
Lew Pik Svonn, 9AM-10AM
Ezrena Mohd., 10AM-11AM
Suzy Sulaiman, 11AM-12PM

June 25, 2021
Lim Whay Yin, 9AM-10AM
Fahmi Reza, 10AM-11AM
Manish Acharia, 11AM-12PM

Lecture Theatre 12

Research
From the 3 headlines, I chose Russian Constructivism. To get an idea of what it looks like, I looked at image references on Pinterest.

Figure 3.1: Mood board, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

Photo references:

I also referred to Type365 for more examples and guides on the typographic systems.

Website referenced:

After that, I came up with some skectches for the typographic systems.

Figure 3.2: Skectches, Week 2 (30/4/2025)


Axial
For axial, I went with a vertical line on the right half of the image with the headline on the left and the info on the right side of the line.

Figure 3.3: Axial system progress, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

Figure 3.4: Axial system draft 1, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

For the 2nd draft, I added some background colours and changed the colour of the text on the left side.
Figure 3.5: Axial system draft 2, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

In the feedback session, Mr. Vinod told me to change the colour scheme. I also wanted to change the arrangement of the text so I came up with 2 more versions.

Figure 3.6: Axial system draft 3, Week 4 (12/5/2025)

Figure 3.7: Axial system draft 4, Week 4 (12/5/2025)


Radial
For radial, I arranged the text to originate from one point offscreen to make it look like a shout.

Figure 3.8: Radial system progress, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

This design had to be redone as the text weren't accurately arranged according to the angles.

Fig 3.9: Radial system draft, Week 2 (30/4/2025)


Dilatational
I made my dilatational system with 2 circles with the one on the left moving onto the circle on the right. I followed a YouTube tutorial for this.


Fig 3.10: Dilatational progress, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

Once I was done with the arrangement, I changed all of the text into capitals.

Fig 3.11: Dilatational system draft 1, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

After feedback, I rearranged the text the edited the headline to make the design more balanced.

Figure 3.12: Dilatational system draft 2, Week 4 (12/5/2025)


Random
I displayed the text in different angles and fonts. 
Figure 3.13: Random system progress, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

After that, I changed all the text into capital letters and added some graphics.

Figure 3.14: Random system draft 1, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

For the 2nd draft, I changed the background colour and most of the text colour. I also added some lines.

Figure 3.15: Random system draft 2, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

After feedback, I made another design using a messier arrangement.

Figure 3.16: Random system draft 3, Week (12/5/2025)


Grid
I used an 4x4 grid and arranged the text with the lines.

Figure 3.17: Grid system progress, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

Figure 3.18: Grid system draft 1, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

After feedback, I redid the design using a 3x3 grid.

Figure 3.19: Grid system draft 2, Week 4 (12/5/2025)


Transitional
For this one, I wanted to keep the stiffness of the Russian Constructivism style so I didn't curve the lines much.

Figure 3.20: Transitional system progress, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

I noticed large gaps between some of the letters, so I fixed the kerning.

Figure 3.21: Transitional system draft, Week 4 (12/5/2025) 


Modular
I used 2 elements for this design, the text with red square and the vertical text. I used the red square to put emphasis on the headline and dates while the vertical text was used for the other lines.

Figure 3.22: Modular system draft 1, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

After feedback, I redid the design using a 3x3 grid again and put the text into 2 different box shapes.

Figure 3.23: Modular system draft 2, Week 4 (12/5/2025)


Bilateral
Finally, I angled the text diagonally twice. I kept the headline in the middle of the spread.

Figure 3.24: Bilateral system draft 1, Week 2 (30/4/2025)

After feedback, I redid the design by using 2 columns as a guide.

Figure 3.25: Bilateral system draft 2, Week 4 (12/5/2025)


Final Outcome
Figure 3.26: Axial system (JPEG), Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.27: Radial system (JPEG), Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.28: Dilatational system (JPEG), Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.29: Random system (JPEG), Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.30: Grid system (JPEG), Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.31: Transitional system (JPEG), Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.32: Modular system (JPEG), Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.33: Bilateral system (JPEG), Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.34: Typographic Systems compilation (JPEG), Week 5 (21/5/2025)



Figure 3.35: Typographic systems (PDF), Week 4 (12/5/2025)

Figure 3.36: Typographic systems with baseline (PDF), Week 4 (12/5/2025)


Exercise 2: Type and Play
Letterform Extraction and Dissection
We were tasked to choose a photo (natural/manmade) and extract letterforms from it. I initially tried a photo of a zebra but the extracted letterforms had complicated shapes.

Figure 3.37: Initial photo, Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.38: Initial dissection, Week 4 (14/5/2025)

I then switched to a photo of a handbag. I extracted the letters, N, Y, X, V and T from the photo.

Figure 3.39: Chosen reference photo, Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.40: Dissection from reference photo, Week 4 (14/5/2025)


Letterform Refinement
I used Univers Lt Std as reference font for the refinement process.

Figure 3.41: Reference font, Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.42: Early progress, Week 4 (14/5/2025)

After the feedback session, I changed the letterforms to look more curved and added details to mimic the threaded texture on the bag in the reference photo.

Figure 3.43: Letterform progress, Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.44: Final letterforms, Week 4 (14/5/2025)


Movie Poster
Once I was done, I imported the letters into another file to make the movie poster. I used a photo from Freepik as the base of the poster.

Figure 3.45: The photo for the poster, Week 4 (14/5/2025)

Figure 3.46: Movie poster draft 1, Week 4 (15/4/2025)
 
After receiving feedback, I rearranged the the text and changed them to capital letters. I also added the Netflix logo.

Figure 3.47: Movie poster draft 2, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

After that, I changed the Netflix logo to Disney Plus as it stood out more

Figure 3.48: Movie poster draft 3, Week 5 (20/5/2025)


Final Outcome

Figure 3.49: Original image and letterform extraction, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 3.50: Refinement process, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 3.51: Extracted letterforms, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 3.52: Reference font, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 3.53: Final letterforms, Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 3.54: Original extraction (top) vs final letterforms (bottom), Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 3.55: Letterform refinement process compilation (PDF), Week 5 (20/5/2025)

Figure 3.56: Movie poster (JPG), Week 5 (20/5/2025)


Figure 3.57: Movie poster (PDF), Week 5 (20/5/2025)



4. FEEDBACK

Week 1
General feedback: We received a briefing of the module
Specific feedback: (none given)
Week 2
General feedback: We received feedback on our designs
Specific feedback: Redo the colour scheme for axial, radial is acceptable, dilatational is unbalanced but acceptable, random is not random, grid, modular and bilateral are wrong and transitional is acceptable.

Week 3
General feedback: We received feedback on our typefaces designs
Specific feedback: Y, X and T need adjustments. Make sure all the letterforms look consistent.

Week 4
General feedback: We received feedback on our movie posters.
Specific feedback: Add more logos and rework the spacing



5. REFLECTION

Experience
In the first part pf Task 1, it was challenging to create designs according to the typographic systems, but once I received for my first drafts, I learned from them and improved on my designs. In the second part, I learned how we can gain inspiration from nature and inanimate everyday objects.

Observations
I've observed a better understanding of composition from doing the tasks. It helped me plan my arrangements better when designing.

Findings
I've found a better understanding of arranging and designing blocky and straight typefaces and letterforms.



6. FURTHER READING

Figure 6.1: The Elements of Typographic Style, Week 5 (21/5/2025)

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst covers the principles of designing typography. Chapter 1 talks about the intricacies and the strategies behind designing typefaces.

Principle of Typography
- Legibility

Function of Typography

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