Advanced Typography - Task 2: Key Artwork and Collateral

25/4/2022 - 31/5/2022 (Week 5 - Week 9)

Sasilvia Cheong Pei Hoong / 0345031 / Bachelors of Design in Creative Media
Advanced Typography
Task 2 : Key Artwork and Collateral

---

LECTURES

Lecture 1-4 : Advanced Typography - Task 1: Exercises

WEEK 5

Lecture 5: Perception and Organisation

Perception in typography deals with the visual navigation and interpretation of the reader via contrast, form and organisation of the content. Content can be  textual, visual, graphical or in the form of colour. 

Contrast

Carl Dair posits 7 kinds of contrast 

• Size
• Weight
• Contrast of form
• Contrast of structure 
• Contrast of texture
• Contrast of colour
• Contrast of direction 

Contrast of size

Provides a point to which the reader's attention is drawn. For example if you have a big letter and a small letter you will obviously see the big letter first before the small. The most common use of size is in making a title of heading noticeably bigger than the body text.

Fig. 1.1 Contrast of size

Contrast of weight

Weight describes how bold type can stand out in the middle of lighter type of the same style. Other than using bold, rules, spot, squares also provides a "heavy area" for a powerful point of visual attraction or emphasis, therefore not only type of varying weight. 

Fig. 1.2 Contrast of weight

Contrast of form

Is the distraction between a capital letter and its lowercase equivalent, or a roman letter and its italic variant, condensed and expanded versions of typeface area also included under the contrast of form.

Fig. 1.3 Contrast of form

Contrast of structure

The different letterforms of different kinds of typefaces. For example, a monoline sans serif and a traditional serif, or an italic and a blackletter. 

Fig. 1.4 Contrast of structure

Contrast of texture

By putting the contrast together, the contrasts of size, weight, form, and structure, and applying them to a block of text on a page, you come to the contrast and texture. Texture refers to the way the lines of type look as a whole up close and from a distance. This depends partly on the letterforms themselves and partly on how they area arranged.

Fig. 1.5 Contrast of texture

Contrast of direction

Contrast of direction is the opposition between vertical and horizontal, and the angles in between, Turning one words on its side can have a dramatic effect on a layout. text blocks also have their vertical or horizontal aspects of direction. Mixing wide blocks of long lines with tall columns of short line can also create a contrast.

Fig. 1.5 Contrast of direction

Contrast of colours

The use of colour is suggested that a second colour is often less emphatic in values than plain black on white. Therefore it is important to give thought to which element needs to be emphasized and to pay attention to the tonal values of the colours that are used. 

Fig. 1.5 Contrast of direction

Form

Form refers to the overall look and fell of the elements that make up the typographic composition. It is the part that plays a role in visual impact and first impressions. A good form in typography tends to be visually intriguing to the eye, it leads the eye from point to point, entertains the mind and is most often memorable.

Fig. 1.6 Example of form 1

Originating from the Greek words "typos" (form) and "graphis" (writing), typography means to write in accordance with form. Typography can be seen as having two functions which is to represent a concept and to do so in a visual form. Displaying type as a form provides a sense of letterforms unique characteristics and abstract presentation. 

Fig. 1.7 Example of form 2

Form brings a balanced harmony both in terms of function and expression. When a typeface perceive a form, it no longer reads as a letter because it has been manipulated by distortion, texture, enlargement, and has been extruded into a space. 

Fig. 1.8 Example of form 3

Organisation/ Gestalt

Gestalt is a German word meaning the way a thing has been "placed: or "put together".  

Perceptual Organisation/ Groupings

• Law of similarity
• Law of Proximity
• Law of closure
• Law of continuation
• Law of symmetry 
• Law of simplicity (Praganz)

Fig. 1.9  Gestalt principles of grouping

Law of similarity 

Similarity can refer to any number of features, including colour, orientation, size, or indeed motion. 

Law of proximity

This straightforward law states that items close to each other tend to be grouped together, whereas items further apart are less likely to be grouped together.

Law of closure

Refers  to the mind's tendency to see complete figures or forms even if a picture is incomplete, partially hidden by other objects, or if part of the information needed to make a complete picture in our minds is missing. 

Law of (good) continuation

It holds that humans tend to perceive each of two or more objects as different, singular, and uninterrupted object even when they intersect, The alignment of the objects or forms plays a major role for this principle to take effect. 

Law of symmetry 

Elements that are symmetrical to each other tend to be perceived as a unified group.

Law of simplicity (Praganz)

When your presented with a set of ambiguous or complex objects, your brain will make them appear as simple as possible.

---

INSTRUCTIONS

---

Task 2(A) : Key Artwork

For this task we were required to use our initial letters of our name or our full name. Explore and compose as many permutations and combinations of these initials. The final key artwork must be an elegant solution, not complicated or confusing that leads to a functional and communicable key artwork. 

First we were tasked to choose the career we want aside from being a designer. After that find references and sketch out our ideas. Then digitalize it in Illustrator in black and white first before finalizing it with colour. 

I always wanted to go towards the culinary arts field and become a café owner in the future. 

Inspiration

First, I started looking at design inspirations on Pinterest and these few interest me.

Fig. 1.1 Inspiration 1 (25/4/22)

Fig. 1.2 Inspiration 2  (25/4/22)

Fig. 1.3 Inspiration 3 (27/4/22)

Fig. 1.4 Inspiration 4 (27/4/22)

Fig. 1.5 Inspiration 5 (27/4/22)

Fig. 1.6 Inspiration 6 (27/4/22)

Sketches

Then, I sketched out some ideas I had for my logo before digitalizing them in Illustrator. My idea was having them to be shaped like a something that are sold in a café such as, a cookie, cake, bread and even a glass of water. Throughout the designs I sketched the 5th one lay a huge interest on me.

Fig. 2.1 Sketches 1 (27/4/22-29/4/22)

I tried sketching more variations of the 5th design to see how well it will go and try to make the text as consistent as possible.

Fig. 2.2 Sketches 2 (29/4/22)

Digitalization

Digitalizing this was a huge struggle, since it was suppose to be shaped like a triangle, it was hard to get the font to stay consistent while having them to stay in one certain shape. In the end I decided to try another idea instead since this one is not going anywhere.  

Fig. 3.1 First tryout for sketch 5 (30/4/22)

Fig. 3.2 Second tryout for sketch 5 (30/4/22)

I decided to pick the 7th sketch to digitalize next, after digitalizing it, I found that it does not really suit my theme that well and the visuals looks rather odd, it was also because I had to force the text to stay in a triangle shape. 

Fig. 3.3 Tryouts for sketch 7 (30/4/22)

So going onto my third try on another sketch which is sketch 3, I really fell in love with this one. The structure and balance was great.

Fig. 3.4 Tryouts for sketch 3 (1/5/22)

Looking back at the digitalization I did in week 5, the structure of the logo was rather stiff and looked like it lacked something. So I went back to Illustrator to refine it even more. I tried giving the inner corners of the logo a more curve touch to it and it looked way much better. I also readjust the middle point of the "P" and "H" to be align to the center since it was off. Then I move the letter "S" in the logo down a little more since the space in between was too much.

Fig. 3.5 Draft 1 (7/5/22)

After looking at the logo multiple times something still felt out. Then I realized that the bottom part of the letter "S" in the logo was not align to be in the middle. I also changed the corner curve of all the lines to 33px to make it more rounder like the inner corners. Then I did final readjustments with the lines and circle to make them more even and balance with each other. Looking at my logo I find it to be very on theme with the café that I am going for as it looks like a cake with a cherry on top! It kind off looks like a cookie and the letter "S" looks like a mug.

Fig. 3.6 Draft 2 (7/5/22)

Tried taking out the circle too, not sure how I feel about it. 

Fig. 3.7 Draft 3 (7/5/22)

After receiving feedback from Mr. Vinod, I needed to utilize the mug idea even more. So from there, I went onto illustrator to make a few idea attempts utilizing the cup idea. Though after doing it I still feel that it lacked something.  

Fig. 3.8 Draft 4 (9/5/22)

My brain was starting to lag at this point, to prevent getting art block I sketched out all my ideas in Procreate before going back to Illustrator again.

Fig. 3.9 Sketches 3 (10/5/22)

After doing the sketch I was quite fond of sketches 3 and 4 so I did the vectors in Illustrator.

Fig. 3.10 Draft 5 (16/5/22)

I tried to refine the second idea from draft 5 but it felt way too simple and plain for me.

Fig. 3.11 Draft 6 (18/5/22)

I decided to add back the letters P and H and make the lines thinner. I readjust the bottom part of the letter S to make the mug less fat. Finally did a few adjustments to the measurements and scaling. In the end, I felt that this design looks the best as the letter P looks like a person and the letter H is like the table while the C is like a room and the S is a mug.   

Fig. 3.12 Draft 7 (18/5/22)

Fig. 3.13 Key artwork coloured (18/5/22)

Task 2(B) : Collateral

We were tasked to create:

• Poster A3
• Animated invite (800x800/1024x1024px)
• 3 relevant collateral of choice

Poster

Inspiration

Before starting the layout I went to look for some inspirations on Pinterest I have always liked cyberpunk looking things. The neon colours really draw me in.

Fig. 4.1 Poster inspiration 1 (15/5/22)

Fig. 4.2 Poster inspiration 2 (15/5/22)

Fig. 4.3 Poster inspiration 3 (15/5/22)

Poster Details:

Title: Dystopian (Manga Café Event by Sasilvia Cheong Pei Hoong)

Venue: Phosphors Exhibition Hall

Date: July 7th 2022

Time: 9am-10pm

Contact Number: 011-3740 6677

Email Address: sasilviacph@gmail.com

Description: Chill under the neon lights 

Digitalization:

Since the theme of my manga café is cyberpunk I wanted to incorporate neon colours into the posters, I tried doing multiple layouts while some of them look like glitches and some looked like a retro video game. 

The font that I used was: JSL Data GothicR Regular

https://www.fontspace.com/jls-data-gothic-font-f14039

Fig. 5.1-5.6 Posters layout draft (19/5/22)

 

I was still confused and rather unsure about the layout so I decided to play around with the logo and create repetition patterns. I actually really liked the 3rd and 4th one but after looking at it longer it felt like it did not suit the theme of a manga café at all rather it looks more like some mechanical, hacker kind of style.

Fig. 5.7-5.12 Posters layout draft (19/5/22)

Looking back at fig. 4.1-4.6 I found that fig. 4.6 might be able to work with the idea but it definitely needed a few adjustments. I also tried out the Gaussian blur in fig. 4.8 to give it a neon sign effect but it was way too overpowering and extremely harsh on the eyes that I almost threw up. That said, I went on trying out other colours but I did not like them at all as they felt bland and boring. I really liked the pop that the black background gives to the colours. 

Fig. 5.13-5.15 Posters layout draft (20/5/22)

After multiple tries and headaches later, I adjust the brightness of the green to make it less harsh and darken the purple while increasing the contrast of it. Then I adjusted everything to the grids and changed some of the text sizes. 

Fig. 5.16 Colour palette (20/5/22)

Fig. 5.17 Poster with grids (20/5/22)

Fig. 5.18 Poster (20/5/22)

Did a poster mockup with the template from https://mockups-design.com/poster-frame-mockup/

Fig. 5.19 Poster Mockup (22/5/22)

After the feedback session, I enlarged my key artwork and utilize the shapes to insert my information into them and added another small key artwork to show it fully. I trashed the green outlines and rectangles. 

Fig. 5.20 Poster grids updated (26/5/22)

Fig. 5.21 Poster updated (26/5/22)

I also redid my poster mock-up with the new poster design.

Fig. 5.21 Poster Mockup updated (26/5/22)

Animated Invite

Before moving to After Effects for the animation I had to separate the layers according to the objects I wanted to animate and creating the layout of the animation, takes time but it is kind of fun.

Fig. 6.1 Separating layers in Illustrator (21/5/22)

For the water filling up motion, I created a rectangle shape underneath my vector and then applied the wave warp effect then tweak the settings a little to match the movements I wanted. After that to mask the waves onto the vectors I used TrkMat which is found in the tools option and changed it to alpha matte. 

Fig. 6.2 Wave warp effect (21/5/22)

As for the neon sign effect at the end of the word "Dystopian", I added another background layer on top of my word and then I downloaded a plugin which is this one  https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/saber_plug-in/ and placed it in the new background layer that I just created. Then I go to the effects option for the plugin and go to customize core and change the core type to text layer and locate it to my "Dystopian" text layer. After that, I go to the preset and changed it to neon, then change to the colour of my choice and did adjustments on glow intensity, glow spread, glow bias, core size and halo intensity. To make the neon sign move I go layer, new and press on the camera option and then create a null object and parent the camera to the null object allowing me to adjust the movements of my animation. The other animation like the light flickering is made by adjusting the opacity.

Fig. 6.3 Saber plugin (21/5/22)

Fig. 6.4 Animated invite (21/5/22)

During the feedback session, Mr. Vinod said that the animation for the title "DYSTOPIAN" is nice but it is taking most of the attention from the key artwork. So to fix that I decided to use the Vegas and glow effect to enhance the key artwork more as it also creates a neon effect to the artwork as well as giving it more flow. Other than that I changed the sequence of the key artwork with the title as I wanted the key artwork to leave a more lasting impression. Last but not least, some font size and scaling has been changed to improve the composition of the animated invite.

Fig. 6.5 Vegas and glow effect (27/5/22)

Fig. 6.6 Animated invite updated (27/5/22)

Collateral

For the collateral I picked these 3 items as I think they suit the theme:

• Mug
• Event pass + member card with a lanyard
• Roasted Coffee Grounds

Having a café means a mug will definitely be the first thing people will think of. I found the image of the mug at https://www.freepik.com/photos/coffee-tea 

Fig. 7.1 Mug draft (21/5/22)

I tried doing on another mug image that I took from  

https://www.freepik.com/photos/mug and it looks way better. For the shadows, I painted them on myself. 

Fig. 7.2 Mug draft (21/5/22)

It took me forever to find pictures to place my design on and I just found out through a friend that there are mockup files :'D. So with that new knowledge in hand, I tried making a new mug again. It was so much better, can not believe I spend 4hrs finding a decent picture of a mug when I can just do this. The mockup file I used was this https://mockups-design.com/ceramic-mug-on-a-slice-of-wood-mockup/

Fig. 7.3 Mug draft 2 (22/5/22)

Tried another mock-up since I wanted to have the colour purple inside the mug as well. Mockup file used: https://mockups-design.com/free-tapered-mug-mockup/

Fig. 7.4 Mug draft 3 (26/5/22)

I made an extra collateral since I have planned on making an event pass + member card with a customized lanyard along with it. The purpose of making the event pass and member card into one card is so that after the event people are still able to use the card and visit the manga cafe to purchase their order.

Mockup file used: https://mockups-design.com/free-lanyard-id-badge-mockup/

Fig. 7.5 Event pass + member card with a lanyard front view (26/5/22)

Fig. 7.6 Event pass + member card with a lanyard back view (26/5/22)

For my third collateral, I decided to make a package filled with roasted coffee grounds so that the people who joined the event can go back home and brew their own coffee, the packaging is made from paper which is able to be recycled when done.

Mockup file used: https://mockups-design.com/kraft-paper-doypack-mockup/

Fig. 7.7 Roasted Coffee Grounds (27/5/22)

Final Key Artwork and Collateral

Occupation: Manga Cafe Owner

Approximate time taken

Key Artwork: 18 hours

Poster: 15 hours

Animated Invite: 10 hours

Collateral: 5 hours

Total: 48 hours

Fig. 8.1 Final key artwork JPEG (22/5/22)

Fig. 8.2 Final key artwork coloured JPEG(22/5/22)

Fig. 8.3 Final poster JPEG (26/5/22)

Fig. 8.4 Final poster mockup JPEG (26/5/22)

Fig. 8.5 Final Animated invite GIF (27/5/22)

Fig. 8.6 Final mug JPEG (26/5/22)

Fig. 8.7 Event pass + member card with a lanyard front view (26/5/22)

Fig. 8.7 Event pass + member card with a lanyard back view (26/5/22)

Fig. 8.8 Roasted Coffee Grounds (27/5/22)

Fig. 8.9 Flat lay of Task 2 (27/5/22)

Fig. 8.10 Final compilation of Key artwork and Collateral PDF (27/5/22)

---

FEEDBACK

Week 7- 

General Feedback: Avoid using colours during the process of creating the logo. Try to make the form more balance.  

Specific Feedback: The triangle draft is a little bit hard to decipher because the letterforms are not created properly. The tryouts for the 7th sketch is quite interesting. There is more rework needed to be done so that the mug looks clearer, because now all the letterforms are outside the mug. The mug does not look like a mug that way. Explore the mug with the "S" letter and try to put the "CPH" in some way that supports the communication message of the mug.

Week 9- 

General Feedback: Use the key artwork as the main piece for the poster and reintroduce the key artwork in its full form.

Specific Feedback: The idea is fine but the key artwork should be utilized in a bigger manner so that it just gets cropped completely and utilize the clarity and spaces to paste the information that is there. Introduce the key artwork in a full self and paste the initials into it as well.

---

REFLECTIONS

Experiences

This assignment was tougher than I thought it was incredibly time-consuming but the end results make it worthwhile. The limitations of using our initials to create a logo that will be based on an occupation of our choice were definitely squeezing all my brain juice out, looking back at how I was able to visualize a cake, cookie and even a mug surprises me on how a slight change of structure can make you visualize a new thing. I struggled the most with the posters, ideas were incredibly blocked not a fun process but I was happy with the results. I personally hate to use after effects but this time doing the animated invite felt different, it was actually so much fun. The one thing that I struggled with the collateral was finding a perfect image base for it. 

Observation

Through my observation, I found that using different thicknesses of lines can change the whole harmony and balance of a logo, thick lines make it very chunky while thinner lines make it look more refined. The colours I picked was a bold choice to make, the neon colours kept hurting my eyes while making the posters, so looking at the pov of a public audience I will feel irritated by the colours being way too bright, so through that thought, I made the decision to darken the neon green a little to make it easier for the eyes. 

Findings

I found that being able to create a visual that is able to communicate with others is important, for example, if you want to own a furniture shop it is best to have furniture aspects in your logo, or a music shop with music aspects so for a cafe it makes sense to have a mug filled with coffee and a manga cafe needs books so adding those two aspects together will create the best visual communication.  In addition to the poster layout, making the layout related to the theme was incredibly hard, especially with the limit of using elements in the logo, sometimes I find making things simpler the better, and complicated things will not be able to make the viewers or audiences to get the meaning of it. 

---

FURTHER READINGS

Fig. 1.1 Typographic design: Form and communication (23/5/2022)

Honestly, when coming out with a layout idea for the poster it was hard. I did not know how to make my key artwork pop out and the other elements kept overtaking it. So I decided to look through this book to learn more about how to structure the layout and create space between each one of the elements. 

Fig. 1.2 Structure and space (Page 67)

Looking at proportion was also important as it helps with the balance and scaling of the elements. 

Fig. 1.3 Proportion (Page 68)

Lines are selectively removed from the grids to discover new spatial divisions is a process that trains the eye for proportional possibilities. This technique helps with learning how to section out places for the content that is there. 

Fig. 1.4 Grid layout (Page 70)

---

REFERENCES

Fig. 1.1-1.9 Perception and organization 

From week 5 lecture slides

Fig. 1.1 Inspiration 1 (25/4/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705554511/

Fig. 1.2 Inspiration 2  (25/4/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705554038/

Fig. 1.3 Inspiration 3 (27/4/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705555820/

Fig. 1.4 Inspiration 4 (27/4/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705561325/

Fig. 1.5 Inspiration 5 (27/4/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705582407

Fig. 1.6 Inspiration 6 (27/4/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705627859/

Fig. 4.1 Poster inspiration 1 (15/5/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705482398/

Fig. 4.2 Poster inspiration 2 (15/5/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705482322/

Fig. 4.3 Poster inspiration 3 (15/5/22)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222705482400/

Further Readings

Fig. 1.1 Typographic design: Form and communication (23/5/2022)