2

Seems arkward and rigid in hindsight

Intial Ideas

3

These experiments were an attempt for me to figure out where my FMP was going. The intial imagery that would become a hallmark of this project was there, strong use of negative space and geometric grids. I feel that by trying to be more organic with the grids would break the structure of my font, something i do not want. However, the grid structure here is very basic.As you can see, there was very little direction at this point and there situation had not really moved forward since the end of the active research. Stagnent is the best way to describe it. My favourite image there was the teal and yellow image, not for its content, but because of the bold colour choices. Leading up to graduation, I would not want to look back and say that this was the work that I concluded my studies with. There could be more and it could be better.

Old font works well with News Gothic Bold.

Colour scheme inspired by Marseille away strip

4

The aim of this FMP is to continue the study of cryptology and hiding secrets within the public domain. Whilst I would obviously be creating work associated with graphic design, this is almost a social experiment, seeing if I could get people to adopt and use my typeface.This typeface would either be the reworking of an existing one I had made previously, or a new one created from scratch. This would be a conclusion I would come to after a review of the existing font and other avenues explored. The target market of this font would be those who reguarly use social networking sites or display their lives reguarly in public. Those are the people I feel would want the chance to be a bit secretive. The font would be of course uploaded onto font foundaries for the public to download and use. I would encourage users of my typeface to send me images of its useage. I would obviously show examples of my font in action as well as promote my font through promotional outlets such as ISSUU. I would also try and gain promotion through blogs. I feel that any promotional images generated need to be fitting within a certain style, almost branding the typeface so it is easily recognisable. That style I think needs to suit the target audience captalising on current trends in commerical media. What should be the result here?For me this project would be considered a success if people adopted and embraced the ideas and concepts behind it. That would be a great feeling to see it used as it was intended. Getting decent promotion and seeing a rise in downloads would be considered a massive success too.

‘Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead’-Benjamin Frankilin

FMP

5

Beginning work with my existing typeface I began to redraw and develop it to a point where it was ready to put into Fontlab.But I stumbled across a problem I had previously not taken into consideration - taking this font beyond decorative meant I had to consider numbers and additional characters within my font. The original font was created as a string of lines before being cut up and each of the twenty-six squares representing a letter. I felt uneasy simply tacking another ten squares onto it. Aesthetically I felt I would always know that those numbers were never part of the original typeface and even if everyone else accepted them. I tried to have a separate string (Pictured) but I always felt it would be alienated by the original. As a result of this I felt I had achieved everything I could with this typeface. Whilst pleasing to the eye, I felt it needed a fresh start to achieve the best results. So I decided to ask people who deal with numbers and letters every day. After sending out numerous emails I was eventually put into contact with Richard Browne, the crossoword editor for The Times. I was also put in contact with Wayne Gould who has made sudoku books for The Times. The results of both interviews helped shape the course of this project.

A C F G H J K L M N O R S U V W Y Z

As can be seen here, despite the Fontlab log being present and some editing required, the original type-face is functional and working. In hindsight the vertical structure of the typeface leaves for little varia-tion. Below is an attempt to create a number setup in a similar vein to the original alphabet. I do not feel there are any real standout characteristics.

Font CreationOriginal Font

Has your relationship with words and letters changed as a result of creating/solving crosswords? I think so. I tend to find my attention caught by words I casually hear or read, and start thinking whether they would make good clues - can be very distracting when I am trying to read a book or follow a play or a film. But I also find my reading etc enriched a lot, because in the nature of things I have come to know so many words, often curious ones, and their relationships and history, that it gives as it were an added depth to language; and I am fascinated to note the subtle changes that go on in the meaning and use of words, although this may just be because I am getting older and no one speaks any more as they did when I was a child. Most of the novelty comes from America, of course.

Whilst there are certain rules regarding crosswords, are the aesthetics/ structure ever taken into consideration? Yes, very much so on the Times crossword certainly. Me predecessor as editor consolidated a set of crossword grids, which we still used, which were designed to look good as well as be susceptible to filling with useful words: with many long crosschecking words, and the black squares in pleasing patterns, never too many of them close together. We also try to avoid ugliness in the choice of words: words that rhyme for example we don't like to put together. I think a lot of the elegance we get into the crossword is unconscious; certainly I

have never asked people specifically to consider it. The single most aesthetic feature of the crossword grid is its symmetry, single symmetry with the top half a mirror image of the bottom half. This is pretty well universal in cryptic crosswords, and I don't know when it started, but it was pretty soon after the crossword was invented (in the 1920s) and seems to have established itself silently as what everyone accepts as the nicest looking format.

Do you believe cryptic crosswords are elitist, using language that is inaccessible to certain demographics?If you believe they are elitist, do you consider that to be a bad thing? Certainly the Times Crossword is deliberately aimed at the Times readership, which is generally the more educated and intelligent group in the population, and the crossword reflects this in the level of vocabulary, range of general knowledge, and cognitive ability to work out the clues. I see nothing wrong in this; there are plenty of crosswords out there of all types and levels, and everyone can choose which they like. We are much less elitist than we were, though, I would say: sixty/seventy years ago the crossword was full of references to obscure byways of English literature, suitable for Oxbridge types, senior civil servants, and people who remembered the staples of the Edwardian nursery - Edward Lear, A A Milne, that sort of thing. But again, that was a reflection of the readership of the time; and we change and adapt as circumstances change: so for example literary and

scriptural references are becoming increasingly rare. I am not aware of anyone complaining of feeling excluded; in fact, an excellent feature of modern life is the crossword blog, on which solvers get together to discuss and criticise each day's clues, and where they extend welcome and help to anyone who wants to learn how to start doing the crossword for themselves. So, along with the "how to" books that have proliferated in recent years, it is probably easier today to get into the crossword than ever before. We are probably rather inaccessible still to people for whom English is not their first language, but tackling the crossword would be an excellent and fun way to improve.

When creating crosswords, has there been examples of personal feelings etc represented in clues? My compilers don't tend to do this; and I discourage it. The expression of personal opinions can be annoying to solvers who don't share them (as a large number won't, whatever they are). The crossword is meant to be purely an entertainment, so I keep it neutral. We avoid referring to living people, and we ban references to controversial subjects - one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, so we don't go there. The Guardian crossword, on the other hand, I think it is fair to say, is mainly compiled by people who share that newspaper's political point of view, and this is sometimes reflected in the clues; but the readership probably share it too, so that's fine.

Richard Browne Interview

7

Wayne Gould Interview:

1. When creating a sudoku puzzles, do you acknowledge the numerical value of the digit (1-9) or do you view just view them as a symbol?

Just as symbols.

2. If a sudoku puzzle was created using an unrecognisable alphabet would that increase the difficulty?

No, not at all.

3. Do you see the numbers 1-9 differently in day to day life as a result of sudoku?

No.

What I learnt as a result of both interviews is that numbers do not have much significance in comparison to letters. So the addition of the numbers in the font will not over-complicate things. I chose to ignore all additional characters except for the full stop and comma because the font is only supposed to be for short, casual communication. Hopefully users will accept and agree with my decision although there is of course room for expansion and editing. Link

Another story that contributed to my research was this article that I saw in the Daily Mail. These convicts used numbers in codes in order to communicate with people outside of prison. I found it interesting that numbers were at the forefront of their code but whilst clever, it was eventually solved. It did remind me of the significance of numbers contary to the conclusions I had already come to. However I want to create something that is not so easily solvable, and I completely new set of unrecognisable characters would be the way to achieve that. This includes an additional set number characters that fit within my concept.

Daily Mail ArticleWayne Gould/Cryptic Criminal

8

Retreating to the drawing board I felt I had the answers I needed in order to edit or redraw my typeface. Richard Browne’s interview has showed me more than ever the importance of words and as with cryptic crosswords, keeping them closely guarded.

Using the structure of a QWERTY keyboard to map out my characters I used 10x10 squares as the basis for the characters. By drawing from my conclusions from my previous typeface (That the letterforms all had the same vertical structure) I felt having four sides to approach from would add varity to the letters and produce a better all-round typeface. As with previous typefaces, they are created with the idea of it becoming a monospace typeface. As with my other typefaces, I took the time to review my

creation once it was finished and make some changes. This was specifically looking at legability (See insert) as well as making things pleasing to look at.

UAs can be seen here, at size 60 the original character looked legable (Top), but when at a standard size 12 that part of the character looked arkward, with too much black in certain areas. Without the joint I think the character has more room to breathe.

As a result of this I think I have created a convincing typeface where every letter looks different. The main issue with creation of this font was the lack of Fontlab or equally good font creation software. Finally I had to settle for a cheap option, a program called Type

3.1. In general I found it more arkward than my eperiences with Fontlab because the options are nowhere near as extensive. In turn it made things needlessly complicated and the whole process dragged on more. I essentially had to get re-educated in font creation because the programs are so different. I did find that the editing the parameters of each character was much simpler however, which proved a plus during the editing and review process.

Font Creation Pt 2.

9

This is how the font was originally concieved, based around a QWERTY keyboard. Collectively I feel it is rather cohesive and works as a whole. This was supposed to be the centrepiece for my promotional booklet, with the colour choices supposed to counter the otherwise formal and upmarket look of the rest of the book. Creatively I really like using blue within my work. I often shun black in favour of it. A transational blue was used here because of its intensity and the way it highlights the white text.The name Cryptic is used as a point of reference to keep my focus on my goal during this project.

Constructed Character SetFont Poster

10

There are things that I did not take into account when I originally made this font that I have since had to edit. The intial concept of having a monospace typeface ended up with it looking disjointed and uncohesive (Version 1). Characters with little linework and lots of negative space were often isolated and alone when they are supposed to be part of words. Decifering this cryptic typeface would become more difficult and it is visually disjointed. More importantly, it is not attractive to look at. The decision was originally taken just to remove the spaces of those with little characters but I still felt it was not cohesive enough (Version 2). As a viewer I would find it confusing that some were joined when others were not.Drawing inspiration from Arabic typefaces, I felt a joined up approach would be visually more appealling. The user obviously has to opportunity to over-ride this. Finally the spacing between words was increased to the full potentional width of a character just to allow the words room to breath. This also would give the viewer the opportunity to have a grasp on what was trying to be communicated.

FUCK THIS GAPVersion one.

FUCK THIS GAPVersion two.

There are Things ThaT i did noT Take inTo accoUnT when i originally made This fonT ThaT i have since have had To ediT. The inTial concepT of having a monospace Type ended Up wiTh iT looking disjoinTed and Uncohesive. characTers wiTh liTTle linework and loTs of negaTive space were ofTen isolaTed and alone when They are sUpposed To be parT of words. decifering This crypTic Typeface woUld become more difficUlT and iT is visUally disjoinTed. The decision was originally Taken jUsT To remove The spaces of Those wiTh liTTle characTers bUT i sTill felT iT was noT cohesive enoUgh. drawing inspiraTion from arabic Typefaces, i felT a joined Up approach woUld be visUally more appealling. The User obvioUsly has To opporTUniTy To over-ride This. finally The spacing beTween words was increased To The fUll poTenTional widTh of a characTer jUsT To allow The words room To breaTh. This also woUld give The viewer The opporTUniTy To have a grasp on whaT was Trying To be commUnicaTed.

This translation of the main body of text is to illustrate the main purpose of this typeface, to hide short message in public space. Whilst I think it is pleasing to the eye, with that much black on the page any attempt at translation would become difficult. Minor additonal characters were later added to give the users more options.

Font Review

Font Editing

11

THE MONOSPACE LOOKS WRONG

LESS MONOSPACE BOI

no more spaces.

OVER-COME HYPHEN

UN-LESS THERE ARE SPACES.

'WTF!?'

'WTF!?' THERE IS LESS SPAC.

DON’T JUDGE. IT’S CHANGED.

NATURALLY: THINGS CHANGE.

Monospaced, small spacing

Less monospacing

No monospacing, full stops added, increased spacing

(1000pts)

Added hyphen (1000pts), increased spacing (1500pts)

Hyphen size decreased,

punctuation marks decreased spacing

Major punctuation marks added

Decreased punctuation widths

Characters refined

Colon and semi-colon added, more refinement,

complete character set

Font Development

12

a b c d e fg h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

! " - + = ; : ' ? , .

A-Z & 1-9 With Additional CharactersKruptos Character Set

13

With the font now rebranded Kruptos (Greek for cryptic) I targeted some of the most popular free font foundaries on the internet. Kruptos was uploaded onto Dafont on 13.3.12 and had over 200 downloads after the first 24 hours. To be honest, whilst I had no intial expectations on the amount of downloads, I had a mental target of 2000 that I wanted to achieve.This would be promoted through advertising material through ISSUU and also try and target some blogs to try and get exposure. Not only would this get exposure for my font, but it would also help to expose myself to the world as a graphic designer. It was also great to see my font appear on other font foundaries. A quick google search shows it popping up elsewhere and although I cannot get download figures even to have a few via alternative sources would be good.

1258DOWNLOADS

03.05.12

Da Font/ FontspaceFont Upload

14

aA

One problem I only discovered after uploading this project was the addition of seemingly invisible hairlines over some of the characters. These did not become visible on testing because of the size of the font tested. The program I was using (Type 3.1) had added these hairlines to where it felt they were needed or where the font had been edited during the review process. This is suppose is the downfall of only being able to afford an inferior program to Fontlab. It was an easy fix, but I had to check every single character and then reupload to various foundaries. What I have learnt is to always check and throughly review every character before declare the font completed.

Link

Program ErrorsCorrection

15

When I had the idea of a digital distribution booklet in mind, I was thinking of something similar to the catalogue type foundaries send out to clients.I original started with using a san serif font, largely based of personal preference. Experiementing with Myriad Pro and Arial I felt did not look right. It was too simple as a title font, nor did I think it was formal enough.Instead I chose to contrast my futuristic and rigid with a more traditional font. I settled on Georgia because I like the contrast in letterforms. Looking at ways to break up the text and make it seem more formal and professional, I experimented with lines to break up the text. Originally I was thinking along the lines of the line representing a mirror and seeing something different each side, but that eventually changed to become more stylistic. I chose to use the bottom example because I wanted to break up and change my use of rigid geometric lines.

Publication Title

16

After doing a little research into colour if felt that going with a black cover would be overpowering. I certainly wanted a bold block colour cover similar to that of the old Penguin books. I felt that as both a book and digital publication I wanted it to stand out more than anything else. Red would help achieve this. The white band was thinking about the implications of print, as a bold Georgia did not fit with the layout. Plus I like the contrast between the bold foreign characters and the regular serif. Early Penguin books used Gil San Serif Bold on their covers and dispite being influenced by the imagery of the cover, shunned this. I wanted to try and maintain a sense of mystery and elegance.Originally my font had spaces to show off the letterforms.

Cover DesignsDigital Publication

17

Cryptic a secret, mystical; mysterious, enigmatic;

obscure in meaning; (Zool., of coloration etc.) serving

for concealment; hense ~ICALLY adv. [f. LL f. GK

kruptikos (as CRYPT-; see -IC)]

Cryptic a secret, mystical; mysterious, enigmatic; obscure in meaning; (Zool., of coloration etc.) serving for concealment; hense ~ically adv. [f. LL f. GK kruptikos (as crypto-; see -IC)]

Cryptic a secret, mystical; mysterious, enigmatic; obscure in meaning; (Zool., of coloration etc.) serving for concealment; hense ~ICALLY adv. [f. LL f. GK kruptikos (as CRYPT-; see -IC)]

Cryptic a secret, mystical; mysterious, enigmatic; obscure in meaning; (Zool., of coloration etc.) serving for concealment; hense ~ically adv. [f. LL f. GK kruptikos (as crypto-; see -IC)]

Cryptic a secret, mystical; mysterious, enigmatic; obscure in meaning; (Zool., of coloration etc.) serving for concealment; hense ~ically adv. [f. LL f. GK kruptikos (as crypto-; see -IC)]

Cryptic a secret, mystical; mysterious, enigmatic; obscure in meaning; (Zool., of coloration etc.) serving for concealment; hense ~ically adv. [f. LL f. GK kruptikos (as crypto-; see -IC)]

The text above is the first page of my promotional booklet. I think it does a good job of outlining what the font is about and the thought processes behind it. Hopefully people would buy into the concept of the font or at least be intrigued and want to learn and see more.Bodoni was chosen because I thought it would contrast my own font but also it looks mature and sophisicated. I wanted to set the right tone for the rest of the booklet.The experiments to the left was trying to find the font for my book. Originally wanting a san serif I quickly chose my mind after some experimentation. I felt Bodoni was the most instantly legable and would help create an interlectual vibe.

‘Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.’

- Benjamin Franklin

This project stemmed from a personal desire - to keep secrets in a world where private information is available at a touch of a button. We would be hypocrites for not being one of those people who take interest in the personal lives of both our friends and celebrities of our time. Curiosity is what sets the human race apart from any other species. This font allows the user the opportunity to hide secrets in plain sight. It is designed as a decorative screen font, to hide your messages in the online domain, right where people are looking for them. Some things are right under your nose....

Font used:DaunPenh

GaramondGeorgia

Minion ProAparajita

Bodoni

Book ContentBook/Fonts

18

Book Content

19

Since uploaded this publication has not had the reaction I was hoping for. I was hoping to have a greater number of views and in addition a greater number of downloads linked to the Fontspace download link.

In hindsight this work seems like a contridiction of my original goal by going against my target

market. The formality of this booklet and its Penguin book inspiration means its not targeting the technology savvy social media users I would be looking at to adopt my font. Despite this I really like the way this booklet is laid out and presented. I think it is quite well considered and laid out, using a simple minimal approach to the design. Most of my work over the past three years had a minimalist ethos so I am glad that I am able to continue this trend. I need to change the style of design in response to this conclusion to draw more views/downloads.

59VIEWS03.05.12

LinkPromotion ExperimentISSUU Upload

20

When thinking about the legability of my typeface, my first thought was of the Snellen test, the reading test completed during an eye test. Whilst that is obviously to test eyesight over a distance, I want to use that idea to test my typeface at various sizes. As with the proper Snellen test, the first character is 88mm tall in the proper version.I certainly did not want to do something generic or boring and this could be an interesting way of showing legability whilst hiding a fun message in the piece. As you can see, the larger the font gets the more dominant the font becomes with the sheer amount of black on the screen. As a result any font chosen to contrast Kruptos would probably have to be equally dominant. The thing that I realised was that the conventional font I had created was actually rather big. I felt it lost legability the smaller it got. The letters tend to blur and blend into each other. As a result I created I more streamlined version called Mobile Kruptos. It essentially shrunk the font in half. Is it successful?Probably not. It was needless and did not really expand or improve the font in any way.But as with much of this project, spontinuity was the catalyst here.

D D

Mobile KruptosFont Legability

21

A promotional poster for my font. Was created after being inspired by newspapers as I felt the font is big and bold enough. The message is of course hidden but I like the general structure. In general it shows a variety of characters and shows the structure of the letterforms. The coloured boxes and lines represent the structure of the newspaper, the shades of grey chosen to make black the prominent colour. I like this image, but I do not feel like it would promote my font very well.

Whilst still not having a voice for my font, I experiemented with this, with elements that would then be encorporated in the fonts branding exercise. Having looked at classic type posters I decided that was something I did not want to be a part of. As an unusual font I wanted the posters and advertisement to be about the movement and the audience I am targeting.As a design however, I quite like the colour and basic layout.

Colours chosen to draw eyes to text. In hindsight - overpowering.Message hidden within square.

Link

Idea DevelopmentFont Posters Pt. 2

22

After giving it much consideration, I decided to brand my font in hopes that I could target the audiences I was after. I chose to target this kind of style, almost preppy with use of typeography and simple graphics. It lends quite well to my style of work anyway but the audience I am target where these kinds of brands. All of these images above feature fonts that I feel would compliment my own font in a postive way. They all use quite bold and dominating fonts.

Superdry & Jack WillsBranding Themes

23

This was my first attempt to try and find an identity around the parameters I had set. The concept was to have ‘New!’ in Kruptos as a bold exclaimation with it being as eye-catching as possible. If I am honest these first mock-ups seem like to go against the influences and seem to have more a club/nightlife feel, particuarly the black one. Maybe that could in future be a more fitting environment for my font. The turquoise version is much more in tune with the look I am going for. The general style is closer to my influences although I am unsure of the colour. Hindsight has made me realise the colour scheme is a tad gaudy.

Now! PosterBranding Pt. 2

24

After going back to the drawing board regarding the colour schemes, I concluded the red image was probably the strongest and therefore the image I would go with. I think it is very eye-catching with the darker colour complimented by the white shadow. I think the viewer would be intrigued by the seemingly foreign language in front of them.It would hopefully lead to potential downloads and learning more about the font.The additional posters are largely to show the versatility of this poster. It could be catered to

whatever the situation required.As can also been seen in the images are important personal information that anyone interested can get in contact.

This information as much promotes the font as it promotes me and any further work I produce.

Now! Poster FinalBranding New

25

I decided to try and find a font that would contrast Kruptos well. I had previously come to the conclusion that only bold fonts would really compliment it well and that is where I started. I found Blackoak Std worked very well and I decided to play around with the concept of a fictional skiing season. The structure of the poster was inspired by a promotional booklet I found during a trip to Sheffield (Above). Although coinsidence, the font I chose was also the same on the menu.It played off the grid style structure I had previously employed with additional illustrative elements. The lines used to break up pieces of text are other pieces of font, with the + sign from the Kruptos font becoming a prominent feature. I think this works in the pieces favour, as it further extends the versitality of this typeface.

First DraftsAlpine Season

26

In further development I decided to add some snowflakes into the next version of my image. I did not want these to be any normal snowflakes however so I created them out of Kruptos. I like them having being created this way because it adds another layer for the viewer to discover.

SnowflakeAlpine Season Pt. 2

27

This is the final version of my Alpine Season Poster with added snowflakes. I really feel like the snowflakes add an extra dimension to this work. It feels a bit empty otherwise. This is helped by the snowflakes placement in various layers, espcially in the foreground and background. It helps to create depth.The font has seen a slight retouching of colour, with a bluey hue replacing the previous grey one. It has also seen a line underneath the ‘2012’ text, just to make it seem more cohesive and proper. I have brought the contact information forward as well, as though it should be considered part of the main text. I think this is probably my most professional piece to date.

Alpine Season FinalAlpine Season Pt. 3

28

This was an idea of another graphics piece that snowballed into a logo concept with the plan of creating an identity for this font. Originally toying off the Superdry style designs I began to think about this as a logo to go on future promotional pieces. It would have to be relevant and context appropriate. This says ‘Established ‘12,’ marking the year of the fonts creation. The images with the centered type I did not feel worked particuarly well. To my eyes it looked off kilter and I found myself dissatisfied. It looks like the rip off style logos you find in cheap clothing stores. It is only on the final round of images did I found myself pleased. With the text aligned to the right I think it looks better and I feel like I created an identity where the colour schemes can be easily changed where it is needed. I also felt the colours is originally chose were a little dull.

At the time online promotion was not going as I planned so I had these stickers printed to see what my font would look in print form. Whilst I have stated that was originally a digital only typeface, I am certainly not against the idea of it moving to print. So it was even more of a relief when the print came out alright. Despite the small size of the stickers, the text is perfect legible and looks eye-catching even from a distance. If I do decided to pursue this typeface further than FMP I will certainly be looking to secure some form of print advertisement.

Logo Development

29

This was an attempt at displaying my font with simple illustrations, pushing my techincal abilites and improving myself as a graphic designer. During this process I have had to continually had to redevelop and improve my text editing skills and here I had to learn how to create convincing curved type. This image is largely against materialism and luxury, using the diamond image as the centre-piece. The entire thing was almost supposed to be like a logo, as though people already know this image exists.With Kruptos at the forefront as well I think it is quite striking, espcially with teal colour used in the background. For some reason the intensity of the colour is lost when published online (See publicity) but the effect remains simiarly powerful.

Diamond

30

This originally became an attempt to try and recreate my previous Alpine Season poster within a different style and season etc, but instead if felt it became something more profound.Again this was an attempt to find fonts that worked well with my typeface. Again this feature Blackoak Std but the heading uses a font called Adventure. Together it creates something quite exciting I think. It seems more fun and approapriate to the young audience targeted. The lines easily breaks up the text into concise chunks and my font becomes a focal point. I left it like this originally because I did not know what to do with it. In terms of imagery the text works well together.I toyed with the idea of a Miami vice style theme but I did not know how to show it.

Further exploration of the theme. Again I do not think I nailed the colour scheme or feel I was going for. I tried to go a little abstract with the sun whilst trying to create a kind of pastel Miami vibe. The ‘-’ was also changed to fit with the smaller version of the Kruptos font, in the first it was far too overpowering. As you can see below, that is the look I am after.

First DraftsSummer Party

31

To capture that Miami vibe a little close I purchased a graphics tablet to complete the palm trees. I felt that scanning an image into the computer would not have the same effect. These are the results having never used a tablet before. I slowly refined and improved useage until I came up with something I was happy with. This unexpected turn to complete my project has left me with future skills transferable to different projects.

Graphics Tablet Palm Trees

32

The final version of the Summer Party poster took a bit of revision to get to this point. I tried to mimic the Miami skyline yet keep it abstract. I particuarly like the colour scheme. It really helps the white writing pop. The other version above was the original version but the colours did not really resonate with me. I felt like it could be improved and made significantly better.However, I think it does go against the ethos I laid out for myself. The blocks of flat colour have been removed and now seems like the odd one out.

Final DesignSummer Party Pt. 2

33

I saw a woman wearing this hoodie in a supermarket a few weeks ago and I thought how ridiculous it was. It takes sporting iconography, strips it of anything meaningful and then sell it to the masses. In hindsight I should have asked the woman what compelled her to buy it. I want to know what the appeal is. Most people own a piece of Superdry clothing. I do. But there is something about packagaing sporting goods into something luxury that is appeallling. This inspired this next piece.

After doing a bit of research into what people had already done, I decided to make my take on it using the geometric style of my previous work.I like the result, its bold and strong. I added a 3D type effect to not make it so flat. Whilst not the strongest image in the series I think it is still relevant.

InspirationSporting

34

I decided to revise the previous version. Slanting the text creates an interesting look for the advertisement. I chose bright colours to make it stand out. In some respects this contrasts the work previously done following this theme but is fitting with colour schemes adopted by Superdry and similar companies. However the more I look at this image, the less happy I am with the amount of positive/negative space.

Final Sporting Pt. 2

35

After getting in contact with various blogs both big and small, I finally found a blog willing to post my work.Culture & Tracks agreed to post my work after I submitted a small profile about myself and my work. I also provided the five promotional images I had been working on to give them a choice to submit. Some of these had a mixture of fonts accompanying my own. Wisely they chose the two images not using other fonts which I felt also show an illustrative side to my work as well as bringing my font to the forefront.On a negative front, despite the information I provided, they failed to mention my name or provide any other contact details which is a tad disappointing. I have to rely on viewers clicking on my download link.Whilst they have a small circulation, I am of the opinion that for an unknown designer an promotion is good promotion. As for whether it generates any more downloads remains to be seen. Even a slight increase in downloads could be considered a successful posting.

Link

The second blog I got posted onto was Cornersociety.com. Again a moderately low key blog but seems to have a better following. The write up seems better than the previous, Boasting more significant information as well, I hope that it would generate more downloads as a result. I still think I need one more blog posting, one with a bigger and more regular following. As can be seen (Left), they decided to go with a slightly different variant of my ‘Summer Party’ poster, prefering a version with a glow around the sun. This is not the version I would have chosen!It still remains difficult for an unknown to get recognised however, although I have made some ground in increasing my profile.

Link

Culture & Tracks + Corner SocietyPublicity

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This project feels like it has been quite a development for me, in terms of working attitude, commitment and the end product. Whilst previously I felt like I was developing my voice as a designer, now I feel I know what that is. I feel I have a style that is distinct and recognisable as my own and this is the best possible out come of this project. I would say my work is distinctly minimalist and cryptic with strong pastel shades. This project took a while to get going, being unsure which road to take left it all rather stagnent. The commitment to make it a functioning font was no doubt the right thing to do. Whilst previously the font was a code only I could break, it was only fair to give others the chance to use or break it themselves. This was an obstacle in itself, with what I now feel were personal conflictions.Securing an interview with Richard Browne I think really helped define this project, with his answers helping me come to conclusions that I do not think would have come by leafing through books on type and cryptology. The font making process was not easy itself, and some of the core concepts were lost further down the line. The font was made by using the QWERTY keyboard as the map to draw from with the idea that the font could be solved by joining it all up. This was later lost during the pursuit of advertisement and something that could have been an interesting way to try and interact and connect with potentional audiences. As for uploading the font, I am proud of the amount of downloads it received, espcially as it was such an obscure font. Clocking in at around 1200 downloads at the time of writing can be considered an achievement. The only real disappointment is the lack of feedback regarding my font. It would have been great to have seen what other people have done with it.I then tried to target potentional audiences including a promotional booklet on ISSUU. I did miss the point here, with the booklet being far

too formal to the audience I was targeting. I can acknowledge here that I made a mistake, a mistake that was later corrected when I persued branding my font. This I felt was much more successful, using styles and imagery I thought would appeal whilst secretly mocking the target audience. By doing this I found the strengths and weaknesses of my font. On a positive note, I think it works very well as a decorative screen font, but it also does not gel particuarly well with fonts with a thin stroke. A further development if time had allowed would have been to create a proper thin stroked version just to diversify and expand the useage of my font. It is certainly something I do not want to give up on, I would like to see how far I can take this in my own time. I still believe it could be so much more than it is right now. The branding an exploration of popular imagery was to get promotion on blogs, and I got onto two. Whilst these are rather new blogs with a small circulation, at least they were published. Downloads did not increase as a result but at least people are aware of the font and myself as a designer.Given an increased time period, I certainly would have explored the idea of taking this font into print. I think it would be as successful there, although selling the concept of it could prove more difficult with a broader audience to target. It would also rely on people actively looking for the font online at a later date or using QR-codes to gain further information.I would conclude that is project for the most part has been a success. Whilst there has been failures, the end result has been positive, with a solid and cohesive body of work created that highlights my strengths as a designer, as well as marketing my unusual cryptic typeface. Hopefully this can be a catalyst for future projects either within a tradittional desgin studio or working with a type foundary. Either career would be of great interest.

Evaluation

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References

Victoria Squire, Getting it right with type, London, Laurence King Publishing, 2006

Computer Arts, Computer Arts Collection: Typography, Future Publishing, 2012

Adrian Shaughnessy, How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul, Laurence King Publishing, 2012

Liz Hull, The hitman trapped by a codebreaker, The Daily Mail, 27th February 2012

Liz Hull, The hitman trapped by a codebreaker (2012), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106384/Rapper-Kieron-Bryan-jailed-25-years-codebreaker-exposes-gangland-hitman.html [Accessed 1st April 2012]

Dafont, www.dafont.com, 2012 [Accessed 13th March 2012]

Fontspace, Fontspace.com, 2012 [Accessed 13th March 2012]

Kruptos Regular, FFonts.net (2012), http://www.ffonts.net/Kruptos-Regular.font [Accessed 20th March]

Richard Davies, Meet Penguin’s First 10 Books (2012), http://www.abebooks.co.uk/books/bodley-head-hemingway-christie-sayers/penguin.shtml [Accessed 21st March]

Typographic Posters, Typographicposters.com, http://www.typographicposters.com/ [Accessed 21st March]

Superdry, Superdry.com (2012), www.superdry.com [Accessed 21st March]

Jack Wills, Jack Wills (2012), Jackwills.com [Accessed 21st March]

Cultureandtracks, Cultureandtracks, www.cultureandtracks.com [Accessed 9th April]

Corner Society, Corner Society, www.cornersociety.com [Accessed 13th April]

iainbudgen.gdnm.orgiainbudgen@googlemail.com @iainbudgen