Art 254 - Type 1 Promotional Booklet Final

It's hard to believe that I've spent almost a month on this project so far. All in all, it was a rather fun project. I have created a typeface and a promotional item that I can say I'm rather proud of. Something I wouldn't mind showing people what I've done.

I decided to add a poster to my booklet... It isn't a huge one, the size I choose to go with 15x8, so it folds up nicely to fit in my book. Here's a shot of the typeface laid out on the poster next to my 7.5x4.5 booklet.



Here is the main part I've changed since the rough draft. The little image pasted on the transparent paper wasn't cutting it. I decided to take an image of how I created the typeface (tweaked a bit in PS).

On the opposite is an exact copy of the same image that is flipped horizontally. I did a die cut treatment to the center pages and taped up the top and bottom edges together to form a pouch that I could slip my folded poster into.

I was happy how this turned out for me. It really gives viewers a good visual of how the typeface was created.



Here's a side view of how the poster sits in the fold and a closeup of the center fold.



Profile view of the poster sitting in the center fold pocket.



Front of my book. I decided to change the covers to bristle paper instead of the mat board. The mat board was too thick for me and I was having issues cutting the edges to keep it clean. The bristle still has a nice thickness but isn't too flimsy.

It makes a huge difference making sure to use a new and fresh blade on the exacto knifes.



Here's my Dorlite book laid out from spread to spread.



The simple poster I added. I placed my typeface over a door texture using a grid.

Art 254 - Type 1 Experimental Typeface Promotional Booklet

So over the weekend I spent some time taking pictures of doors and lighting fixtures for images that I would use on my book. I have 34 photos to select from. I plan on mixing these images together for different pages and spreads that I'll have in the book.

You can view the rest of them on my here at my: Art 254 Flickr photostream

Here are some of them:

Art 254 - Type 1 Experimental Typeface Promotional Concepts

For my promotional item for my type face, I fist was thinking of creating a DIY (do it yourself) door repair kit. I would have goofy illustrations of kids denting in a door and then illustrations of how to use the kit to repair the door, and I would try to use the theme of the "as seen on tv" products. However this concept probably isn't the best for my specific typeface due to it's organic feel and energy... So I had to go back to the drawing board and dig out some additional concepts...

Some sketches of my initial ideas for promotional ideas for my dorlite typeface. I wasn't very drawn to any of these concepts for my final idea... Some of the ideas were designing a firefighter helmet, a fireworks box, cigarette lighter packaging, flame thrower, using a lightbox, using the 3rd brake light on cars (on the rear windsheild) and placing die cut forms of the typeface over car headlights...



More sketch ideas for promotional piece for my dorlite typeface. I was really excited to try out a popup book design however after further research and trying to create the pop ups effectively I decided I needed to ditch that concept for this project - maybe some other time.

I wanted to stay with the book concept however stay away from the pop ups. I thought of using tracing paper to layer my objects that I was going to have in the pop ups (lamp and light box). Then I would photograph the front and back sides of the lamp and light box and place it on top of the tracing paper. The paper would give it a see through fell so it would still in a way simulate the environment I had while I created the typeface. I would also take photographs of the inside and outsides of the door.



A quick mock up of the front and back sides of my typeface promotional booklet.



Here is a quick mock up of my booklet. For my final design, the two white pages would be tracing paper with actual photographs of the objects (front/back per side) placed on top. The first page would open up to the back view of the lamp.



First inside spread of the door and the lamp/stool backside page.



Middle spread of the front side of the lamp and backside of the light box. (final will be with photos and tracing paper)



Final spread of booklet showing front of light box and also the door with the typeface projected on it showing the font name and the complete alphabet.

Art 254 - Type 1 Experimental Typeface Designs (updates again)

I am pretty excited about how my lightbox type face turned out... I ended up using my wooden door instead of the boring white wall for some more texture and color. I was happy with the results as the letters came out with a nice fire like look.

I tried going back to a lamp instead of using the small LED flashlight and this time instead of having the lamp inside the box. I cut a second hole on the opposite side and it worked alright.



Here's a shot of the A being reflected onto my door. I turned on another lamp to get enough light to take this process shot but normally it was much more dark.


A closeup of the A after adjustments were made in PS to clean it up a bit.
'

The completed alphabet A-Z


I decided to name my font dorlite, it doesn't give the font concept off right away. Have any other name ideas?


I also tried just placing the letter stencils I cutout against a clipboard and snapping a quick picture... It gives a completely different feel. I don't like this type face as much as the dorlite.

Finished type face A-Z


Couldn't think of a very interesting name, clipopgraphy...

Art 254 - Type 1 Reading Repsonse

Reading repsonse to http://www.redsun.com/type/abriefhistoryoftype/

It is amazing how the design of movable type has gotten us. We truley take advantage and under appreciate what this invention has done for us. After completing the type face tracing exercise, I can know only partially imagine how painful it was prior to movable type to write a book by hand. Now with technology, it is so (too) easy for anyone people to write anything and be able to publish at blazing speeds, especially considering in computer format. Even with movable type, the initial process to create the metal type forms still required patience, craft and design concept. Now a simple font program allows any computer user to throw pixels or vector points around creating any font to their desire in fractions of the time being able to work much more efficiently.

So with that short thought in mind, thanks Mr. Johannes Gutenberg.

Art 254 - Type 1 Experimental Typeface Designs

continued...

So I started playing around with the light box idea... First I cut out 3 inch letter forms of A and B. I tried using the B on the light box. I knew that having a sheet of thick mat board cutout in front of the light source may not be very legible since there could be a lot of light coming out from the sides.

So I grabbed a big chip box and cut out a hole on one end to tape up the letter to. I flipped it the box upsidedown and popped a lamp into a small opening at the bottom.


It was really hard getting the light to come out and give clean lines and a legible letter... This is supposed to be a B... Even with the box only 1 foot in front of the wall, the B was extremely hard to make out.


While I was moving things I around I placed my letters against my laptop monitor and noticed that I could try seeing what it'd look like with light coming from my laptop... I used a plain white background as well as an image.




Then I decided that the 3 inch letters were too big and tried cutting out a smaller piece of cardboard to possibly get a better sample.



Also figured it may be better to try using a flashlight, so I got out a LED flashlight and finally got better results...


The handy dandy LED flashlight.


I am pretty happy with how that turned out and am sure I can get the rest of the letter forums. I just need to stay away from cutting with thick mat board since it'd be too difficult at that smaller size.

Art 254 - Type 1 Experimental Typeface Designs

Here is a quick sketch of some of the type face designs I had in mind.

1. I was thinking of cutting out some letter forms and take a picture playing with the shadow shining light thru the cutout having the letter form shine on to an object. I could try using the type on people.

2. I was thinking of creating some letter forms and taking a picture of the letters as I light the font on fire (yes quite pyromaniac). Some ideas I had to use to make the type was wood cutouts, marsh-mellows or toothpicks.

3. I had an idea to design a typeface and place the letters on a combination lock in place of where the numbers normally would be...

Art 254 Type 1 - Typeface tracing assignment

Here is what I did for my typeface tracing assignment. I'm not sure if I'm slow at this or what but it took me forever... I got to trace Clarendon 72pt and Univers 65 Bold 72pt.

I found this assignment very frustrating... Hopefully that's the last time I need to trace an entire type face...

Art 254 Type I - Blog Assignment #1

>What are some of my favorite type faces?

Some of the fonts that I like are: Helvetica, Garamond, Baskerville, Bodoni, Franklin Gothic and Univers.

>What are you excited about?

I feel like there is so much for me to learn about type and it is such a valuable and important aspect for designers. I want to try to soak up as much information from the class, weather it be from the instructor or classmates. Pretty much I'll be a type nerd.

>Favorite books and magazines:

I've never been a big fan or reading books, but the majority of books I've been forced to read for English classes have been enjoyable, such as Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, The Great Gatsby and many more... I've been subscribed to several different magazines (none currently) including: Rolling Stone, Blender, ESPN, SLAM, Motor Trend and Car & Driver.

>Favorite websites:

I'm online so much, I don't know if there's a favorite website. There are a bunch or sites I visit daily almost like a routine. Here are some:

Oregonlive I go here for Trail Blazers news and blogs
Google research, looking for images, random stuff.
Gmail checking my email from several forwarded accounts
Slickdeals deal/coupon website where I save/waste my money. There are a number of other deal/coupon sites I visit.
NBA or ESPN to check out sports news
Forums, I have a few forums I actively post in, including automotive and photography interests.
Then of course, the usual Myspace, Facebook, Flickr sites.