Typography Evaluation

When I was first briefed on the task and was given the adjective 'Shy', which my type would be based on I had many ideas of how I could do this, my intention was to create a small subtle type which holds the characteristics which represents 'shy'. I wanted to create a type which could be used on movie posters and also book design, with this in mind I needed the typeface to remain legible and clear in a number of sizes. I used the skills which I had acquired in my studio tasks on kerning, grid systems, and more I was confident when beginning this task. Having the task of using just one of 9 typefaces as a starting point for my own typeface, these 9 are Muller-Brockmanns chosen 9 typefaces which are the most important in his opinion to graphic designers. 

I looked at just a few of these typefaces, narrowing down the 9 to 2, Caslon and Bodoni, I looked deeply into both of these so that I could make an informed decision on which of these to decide to use. I decided on Caslon due to its softer form and the way I felt it could be edited to the form I want to create that keeps to my typeface manifesto which I made at the beginning of the brief. Through my research I found a style of overlapping characters which I attempted in my hand rendered design and then developed digitally, which gave the feel of a hidden element behind a character, this also gave the sense of overshadowing, just like the characteristics of the being shy.

For the form of each type character of my developed typeface I edited each individual aspect of them. I created a thinner softer form from Caslon, I made sure that each letterform I edited it would be keep the same style as each other letter form, for example the editing I did on the 'b' I would do the same styles to 'd', 'p' and 'q' as they hold similar forms as one and other. The feedback sessions I had gave a positive response to this style of idea, I am glad for this reaction to my work as it showed that my work was going in the correct direction and that my current designs and the research I had found were very informed and the research backed up my design decisions, this was recognisable in my work which my peers said within my feedback.

I asked myself 4 questions which to evaluate my work, these were;

- How effectively does my typeface reflect the adjective shy and why?

- What context can my typeface be used in?

- Do you think my typeface is consistent? Does it work as a set?

- Can you see the sense of shying away within the individual characteristics?

I feel the thin strokes or curves, letter dependant, of each letter form is representative of the adjective shy, this is through muting the boldness of what the type was once, not only thinning sections of the letterforms I have kept some parts as thick as to create a juxtaposition and a feel of overshadowing from the thick strokes over the thin small ones.  I feel my typeface would be used as a type for a film or even a band like I saw being used in my research, it could also be used in book or magazine design and even as I have seen used in advertisements. I feel personally that my typeface is consistent as I kept to the same design style for each letter form so that they all worked as a set, I feel that even when used as a singular word they sit nicely with each other, being visually pleasing and also very legible. I feel that the individual characters can stand alone and still be representative of shy.

These are also the questions which I asked my peers in my final feedback and got a successful response which agreed with my own views on my work. The feedback prompted people to say things which I thought of the work without me saying anything. 

Overall I feel that the typeface I formed was an overall success, all my research and my design ideas were well informed and thought out, I feel I have met the brief strongly and followed the criteria to create a flowing project where I have generated ideas which reflect influences which I have found within my research and the study tasks I have completed which directly link to this main project. If I was to change anything within the design I would have created a few more well developed designs to contribute more of an idea of depth than I currently have.