Lecture 3: -

12.09.2018 (Week 3)

  There was no lecture as Mr. Vinod was not available. We continue doing the calligraphy exercise with the hand we chose.

19.09.2018 (Week 4)

  On today's lecture, we learned the development of typography from historical to modern age, based on the western perspective.  

  Initially writing is scratching into wet clay or carving into stones. Early letterform starts from Phoenician writing. At their core, uppercase forms are more simple combination of straight lines and circles. 

After thousand of years, the Greek changed the direction of writing. Phoenicians write from left to right, but the Greeks developed a style of writing called "boustrophedon" which read from right to left and left to right.

Example of boustrophedon

  Etruscan (later Romans) carvers work in marble painted letterforms before inscribing them. Hence, certain qualities of their strokes changes in weight from vertical to horizontal and a broadening of the stroke at start and finish.

Phoenician 1000 B.C.E       Greek 900 B.C.E.                  Roman 100 B.C.E..

  The letterforms commonly found in Roman monuments are square capitals which have serifs added to the finish of the main strokes. Later, a compressed version of square capitals - rustic capitals which allows twice as many words to be fitted in a sheet and lessen the time needed to write.

Square capitals

Rustic capitals

 Both of the above stated were used for documents. Everyday transactions however, is written in cursive hand which later developed into uncial, especially 'A', 'D'. 'E', 'H', 'M', 'U' and 'Q'. 'Uncia' in Latin is for a twelfth of everything.

Uncial hand Credit: Britannica.com

  Charlemagne, the first unifier of Europe since Roman issued an edict to standardize all ecclesiastical texts. The monks rewrote the text in majuscules (uppercase), miniscule, capitalization and punctuation.

  However in  northern Europe, a letterform known as Blackletter gained popularity. In the south, 'rotunda', which is a rounder hand gained popularity. Gutenberg then introduced his type mold which requires different brass matrix, or negative impression, for each letterform.

Blackletter script

Rotunda script

The timeline of text type classification
1450 - Blackletter (eg. Cloister Black)
1475 - Oldstyle (eg.Bembo)
1500 - Italic
1550 - Script (eg. Mistral)
1750 - Transitional (eg. Time Roman)
1775 - Modern (eg. Walbaum)
1825 - Square Serif/ Slab Serif (eg. Serifa)
1900 - Sans Serif (eg. Franklin Gothic)
1990 - Serif/ Sans Serif (eg. Rotis)

Lecture 5: - 

26.09.2018 (Week 5)

  There was no lecture and we proceeded with the lettering and animation of our names. 6 adjectives and verbs are chosen for the next exercise.

Lecture 6: - 

03.10.2018

  There was no lecture and we proceeded with our type expression exercise. A brief of project 1 is shown to us by Mr Vinod.

  This week's exercise is to get use to our calligraphy pens by practicing vertical, horizontal and circular lines. By doing so, we get to practice the stability of our hand as well as to get use to the calligraphy pen to get consistent strokes.

Fig 1.0 Vertical, horizontal and circular lines practice to get use to the pen.

Fig 1.1 First attempt by using 2.0 calligraphy pen.

Fig 1.2 Second attempt and final outcome by using 3.0 calligraphy pen.

  After finishing the exercise, we proceed with with our chosen hand. In my case, it is Blackletter. 

  First, we have to write the letters from 'a' to 'z' in small capitals on graph papers.

Fig 1.4 Alphabet drill from a-j.

Fig 1.5 Alphabet drill from k-v.

Fig 1.6 Alphabet drill from w-z.

  Once the task above is done, we have to find a quote or poem that has 3 to 4 lines to be written in our chosen hand. The quote I chosen is "Lost in my mind; not the woods. Drowning in my thoughts; not the sea."

Fig 1.7 First attempt writing on graph paper.

Fig 1.8 Attempt on graph paper after adjusting the optical space between lines.

Fig 1.9 Final outcome on an A4 paper.

  For this exercise, we are requested to make a lettering out of our names that expresses one of our characteristic. I have a hard time thinking of how to show my personality and which personality to express. In the end I chose 'go with the flow' as the characteristic I want to express. I used the curvy lines to show the flexibility of going with the flow. The last sketch (the most bottom) came out when I was unconsciously scribbling my name in my sketchbook.

Fig 2.0 Sketches done on graph paper.

  After letting Mr Vinod to check on our sketch, he chosen one that reflects the personality the most.

Fig 2.2 Artboards did on Adobe Illustrator to create the frames

Fig 2.3 Final outcome for animated lettering - easygoing

  The animation I did is like writing the lettering and going with the flow. I changed the time frame into timeline and the animation is a lot more smoother.

Type Expression (Week 5 -Week6)

  For this exercise, we were given six adjectives/verbs, namely 'sparkle', 'float', 'rage', 'heavy', and 'tall'. There are 9 fonts provided for us to work on. We have to express the verb/adjectives through design of the words with the fonts given. The design should be done in a 8cm x 8cm box in Adobe Illustrator.

Fig 3.0 My attempt after comments and feedback by Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul

  After my designs are approved, I proceed to make the animation of the type expression. I chose the type expression on 'heavy' to animate as I like how the part 'eavy' will compress after the heavy 'H' falls down.

Fig 3.1 Chosen design to be animated

Fig 3.2 First attempt of animating the type expression 'heavy'.

  The feedback I got from Mr Shamsul is that the shaking part isn't needed as the when the 'H' is very heavy it wouldn't shake like that. Other than that, he suggested that I should change the settings to loop forever so that the animation of gif will continue after the animation is finished. 

Week 2
Mr. Shamsul commented that I need to work more on my circular lines as they have to touch each sides of the square. He also said that it is better to use the 3.0 calligraphy pen as it is better in showing the bold lines. Other than that, Mr. Vinod commented that my horizontal and vertical lines are quite consistent but I should not change the angle of the pen while writing.

Week 3
Mr. Shamsul commented that my letters are quite good but I need to look out of the height of the letter 't' and the spacing between lines of a letter, for example the letter 'y', 'm' and 'n'. Overall was good, but I need to work more on the spacing.

Week 4
On my calligraphy, Mr. Vinod commented that it was pretty good but I have to work on the optical space between lines. On my sketching for lettering, I was told to work more on the letters to show my characteristics, and that my original rough sketch will make it complicated for the animation process as I wanted to use another element to make the letters. I also have to move my rough sketch onto a graph paper to have a proper sketch.

Week 5
For my first attempt, Mr Vinod commented that my animation is quite choppy. After several attempts, instead of using time frame, I changed to timeline, which makes the animation smoother like how I wanted. Afterwards, Mr Shamsul commented that the animation is smoother and it shows the characteristic I wanted to express well.

Week 6
For my type expression, Mr Shamsul commented that my 'sparkle' needed to be more dynamic, and I need to work more on 'float' and 'heavy'. He said my choice of typeface for 'float' is excellent. For my animated gif, I chose the expression for 'Heavy' as I like how the 'H' will squash rest of the letters. For my first attempt, Mr Shamsul told me to remove the 'shaking' of the 'H' as it looks weird and seems to be defying gravity. After the changes, Mr Shamsul commented that the animation is smooth and it was pretty good.

Week 1
The lecture is interesting, and actually let me realize that typography isn't just words but something more in depth. This lecture certainly open up myself towards the world of typography. The exercise given is tiring but I find it fun somehow.

Week 2
I practiced a lot with my calligraphy pen to get consistent strokes, however I am not satisfied with my result. Eventually I almost use up one third of the pack of graph papers just for the strokes. After numerous attempts, I finally get to have my strokes neat and the spacing consistent.

Week 3
I chose my hand which is blackletter. It is sort of complicated at first glance but once you understand the sequence and order of the strokes it gets easier.

Week 4 
I had a hard time thinking of which characteristic to express through my lettering. The rough sketch I did is a little complicated for animation and to only express one characteristic.

Week 5
It was my first time doing an animation from creating the frame. It was challenging but it was a great experience. I had trouble tracing the lettering of my name but with the lecturer's help I was able to overcome it.

Week 6
Type expression might be something that seems easy, but it is a hard work experimenting the right typeface and design to express that verb/adjectives. I had difficulties with the word 'sparkle' even though I think it is much more easier to animate it.
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Week 1
I noticed that this module requires a lot of blogging as well as time and effort for the exercises. I have to make sure not to do things last minute or else I'll be hit by the snowball effect.

Week 2
I noticed that I have write the strokes slow and steady to lessen the possibilities of getting a mistake while writing, otherwise the strokes might get chippy.

Week 3
I noticed that the ratio of the letters in blackletter will be weird if I did not follow the size of the x-space and adjacent according to the width of the calligraphy pen I'm using.

Week 4
I noticed that most course mates have a hard time with how to show their characteristics.

Week 5
I noticed that some course mates did a great job with their lettering animation. Everyone has different personalities that can be seen from their animation gif.

Week 6
I noticed that most course mates are animating the word 'heavy' as it is the easiest adjective to express out of the six. Other than that, I noticed that everyone's way to express the word 'blur' is different which is quite interesting.
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Week 1
I found out that when using calligraphy pen the angle holding the pen and pen pressure matters a lot. The strokes can change a lot with the change of pen pressure or the angle of the pen. The world of typography is an interesting field to venture and it is important to all fields in design.

Week 2
Before we start to write a calligraphy, I found out that writing a few strokes on  piece of draft paper will allow me to get use to the calligraphy pen so that I can write fluently on my final piece.

Week 3
I found out that while blackletter might look complicated, it is not as hard as it seems after practice. It is mostly made up of straight lines which is to my favor. Pen pressure is important to keep the strokes consistent and steady.

Week 4
I realized that letters are not only to be read, but can also express an emotion through lettering. It was not a simple task but I think I can pull it off after I figure a specific characteristic to express.

Week 5
I found out that when creating frames for the animated gif, I don't have to create the frames for every single little bits of moment.

Week 6
I found out that the animation needed to create the type expression doesn't have to be too complicated. There are ways that are faster and easier to create the animated gif.