Typography Task 3B: Type Design and Communication
5.11.2021 - 19.11.2021 (Week 10 - Week 13)
Sasilvia Cheong Pei Hoong / 0345031 / Bachelors of Design in Creative Media
Typography
Task 3B: Type Design and Communication
LECTURES
Lecture 1-5 : Typography / Task 1: Exercise
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 3B: Type Design and Communication
1. Graphical work in illustrator
2. Create your BW sticker - take screen grab
3. Colour palette (use website samples)
Research
Before I started sketching I did multiple research on sticker designs to get inspired and this were the few that caught my attention.
Fig. 1.1 Sticker research
Fig. 1.2 Chinese New Year sticker
Fig. 1.3 Chinese New Year sticker ideas
I did multiple sketches as I was inspired by the many activities
and symbolism that we have during the Chinese New Year.
Fig. 2.1 Sketches 1 (3/11/2021)
1. Fortune cookie
2. Bamboo and clouds in a hexagon shaped box
3. Yee Sang, a dish that contains shredded veggies, raw fish, crackers and various of sauces. Everyone will come together and use their chopsticks to toss the Yee Sang. The significance of the tossing is to wish abundant luck and happiness for all.
4. Smoke coming out of joss sticks.
5. A dragon
2. Bamboo and clouds in a hexagon shaped box
3. Yee Sang, a dish that contains shredded veggies, raw fish, crackers and various of sauces. Everyone will come together and use their chopsticks to toss the Yee Sang. The significance of the tossing is to wish abundant luck and happiness for all.
4. Smoke coming out of joss sticks.
5. A dragon
Fig. 2.2 Sketches 2 (3/11/2021)
6. Firecracker
7. Fan
8. Calligraphy scroll
9. Money pouch
10. Chinese god of prosperity
11. Mandarin orange
Digitalization
Fig. 3.1 Testing out the fonts from the 10 typefaces (10/11/2021)
The design I picked to explore further was the fortune
cookie, firecracker and madarin orange.
Even though fortune cookies aren't something that Chinese
normally eats during the Chinese New Year since it was created
by Chinese Americans but it is still widely known and I
thought it would be fun creating a sticker out of
it.
Fig. 3.2 Digitalizing in Illustrator (10/11/2021)
Fortune cookie:
Warp was used to fit the words for the curve and make it flow
like paper for the paper part.
Font used: Univers LT Std 65 Bold, 57 Condensed
Taylor's logo: Beside the word happy
Firecracker:
Envelope distort was used to mimic the shape of the
firecracker.
Font used: Gill Sans MT Bold
Taylor's logo: Spark for the firecracker
Mandarin orange:
Envelope distort was used to create the roundness that the
mandarin orange has.
Font used: Gill Sans MT Bold Condensed
Taylor's logo: Behind the first orange piece
Fig. 3.3 Tried them out on Telegram (10/11/2021)
This was my first time creating stickers on Telegram so I was
not that confident about it but it was surprisingly easy as
the bot gave clear instructions of what to do.
After my feedback session with Mr. Vinod, I decided to go
with the mandarin orange. Mr. Vinod said that I try to use the
envelope distort like how I did with the firecracker and fill
up the center part of the orange as my sticker was very
graphical. He also suggested on adding some specks and bumps
on the mandarin orange as right now it looks more like a melon
than a mandarin orange.
Fig. 3.4 Redesigned stickers (16/11/2021)
Since my previous mandarin orange design was too graphical
I redid the design and decided to leave out the pieces of
orange and focus on one orange instead. I still struggled
with the placement for the words as the envelope mask does
not work the way I want it too. I also noticed that in the
new design the right leaf blocks parts of the "Y" in the
word "Happy".
Font used: Gill Sans MT Bold Condensed and ITC New Baskerville Std Bold
Fig. 3.5 New version stickers (17/11/2021)
For the new version I decided to keep the leaf standing up so that it does not block the words, added some sparkles on the right side and I also tried envelope masking the words again. This time I felt that the second design in fig3.4 has more potential but still needs a bit more adjustments to it.
Font used: Gill Sans MT Bold Condensed
Fig. 3.6 "Happy Chinese New Year" digitalized version (17/11/2021)
After readjusting the envelope masking I am satisfied with my design, I then move on to applying colour to the vector.
Font used: Gill Sans MT Bold Condensed
Fig. 3.7 Colour palette
I went to search for orange inspired colour palette and I really like this one.
Fig. 3.8 Adding colours (18/11/2021)
Fig. 3.9 Adding textures and details (18/11/2021)
I used the transparency tool and masked the orange part . After that I went to add texture and grain to create the texture of an orange.
Animating the sticker
Fig. 4.1 Adding frames to the sparkle (18/11/2021)
Fig. 4.2 Adding frames to the word "Happy Chinese New Year" (18/11/2021)
Fig. 4.3 Sticker animation (18/11/2021)
Creating the sticker animation was hectic since I have not much experienced on Adobe After Effects until recently so my skills and knowledge are still a bit on the blur side. I chose a simple animation for the sticker as I am not that skill in using this software yet. Other than that the exporting process was a pain as it did not exported properly. After a gruesome process I was able to export the file .
Final Outcome
Fig. 4.1 Final black and white sticker PNG (18/11/2021)
Fig. 4.2 Final colour sticker PNG (18/11/2021)
Fig. 4.3 Final black and white sticker PNG (18/11/2021)
Fig. 4.4 Final colour sticker PNG (18/11/2021)
Fig. 4.5 Final animated sticker GIF (18/11/2021)
Fig. 4.6 Screenshot of the sticker used on Telegram (19/11/2021)
Telegram sticker can be downloaded here:
Amount of time spent (The timings are not accurate as I did not record them):
Sketching: 3 hours
Digitalizing the sticker: 18 hours
Animating sticker: 2 hours
Exporting the animation sticker: 2 hours
FEEDBACK
Week 11 (5/11/2021)
General Feedback: Try to not use as much graphical elements in your design.
Specific Feedback: Can proceed to digitalize the fortune cookie, firecracker and
mandarin orange in black and white. Utilize envelope mask for
your design. Great work on the design exploration.
Week 12 (12/11/2021)
General Feedback: The stickers should not be too graphical and distortion should be use as minimum as possible.
Specific Feedback: I picked the mandarin orange design out of the 3 I made. Mr. Vinod said that my mandarin orange looks like a watermelon so try to make it rounder. I should also adjust the words to make it bigger as the word is being underwhelmed by the graphical elements that are in my design. The words should also be placed better as now the words looks out of place. It does not have to fill up the whole orange and the top and bottom part can be left empty try to use the middle part. Also add some spots on the mandarin orange to make it look more realistic.
REFLECTIONS
Experiences
At first I thought that this project would be easy but I was so wrong. The process took me ages as I was not able to get what I wanted right and I was very scared that I was not able to finish it in time. Other than that creating the animation sticker was hectic it took forever to save it since some of the methods was not able to save it properly. I had multiple breakdowns due to that too. Overall I am very happy with my outcome and I hope that I can be able to utilize the software better in the future.
Observation
The adjustments for the font as well as doing the envelope mask is a very precise process and tweaking it a little can change the overall look of the design. Creating multiple versions of the design helped me know about the differences it makes.
Findings
From my personal point of view stickers are always something I thought would be very easy to make. The amount of restrictions where we are not allowed to use too much graphics as well as distortion was quite stressful to come up ideas with.
FURTHER READINGS
Fig. 1.1 Typographic design: Form and
Communication
Fig. 1.2 Varieties of E
These elaborations of the letter E express a variety
of concepts. Where the first one is washed out and
scratch to make it look like paint that had been
scraped. Crease was made by cutting a part of the
letter "E" and a slight vertical shift. A small part
of the letter "E" for peel was cut and then distorted
to create the peel like effect. Smudge tool was used
for melt to create wavy patterns like water melting. A
few part of the "E" for splinter was cut off and
distorted.
Fig. 1.3 H(ear)ing
A visual of an ear is substituted for the
letters E, A, and R.
Fig. 1.4 Ei8ht
The numeral 8 functions as the letter g in this
logotype used for a group exhibition of
paintings by the early twentieth century
American art group the Eight.
Fig. 1.5 Families
Since the word "Families" usually means there
are more than one person, the letter "i" was
taken advantage of as the circle on top of the
letter "i" looks like a human head while the
bottom part looks like a body. So the way the
letter "L" is taken away and replaced with an
"i" instead makes it looks like 3 human
figures where the tallest one is the father,
the left one is the mother and the shortest
one is the child. Three of the "i" placed
together creates one family
Fig. 1.6 Poster by David Colley
Instead of the letter "G" the word
"working" is express with a power button as
the letter "G" instead.
Fig. 1.7 Zipper
The exaggeration of the letter "I" and
"P" made the word zipper express the same
texture and visual of what an actual
zipper has. It is achieved by a repetition
of letters and a horizontal shift within
the word.
REFERENCES
Fig. 1.1 Sticker research
https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/set-of-merry-christmas-and-happy-chinese-new-year-design-in-retro-style-vector-gm1173547670-326002401
Fig. 1.2 Chinese New Year sticker
https://wdrfree.com/stock-vector/chinese-new-year-family
Fig. 1.3 Chinese New Year sticker ideas
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/10555380361433552/
Fig. 3.6 Colour palette
https://colorpalettes.net/color-palette-4088/
Further Readings
Typographic Design: Form and Communication, 6th
Edition, Rob Carter, Philip B. Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, Mark
Sanders
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