Studio Brief 1 - Wayfinding - Grid Format and Adjusting Designs

Adapting designs to fit in a circular format

A grid system was developed for the circular part of the arrows so that the designs would have a consistent format. The circle was split into ratios, halves, thirds and also combinations of overlapping grid lines. This provides a framework that is flexible but structured allowing cohesiveness across the pictograms.

Vectorising some of the designs made it easier to see which designs were working in the grid system, it allowed me to compare similarities in style and refine symbols further. In some of them there were too many elements or lines which made the designs stand out more than others. From these a few designs for each location were shortlisted.

These symbols were then compared further using a similar technique. For some choosing the most appropriate symbol for the location was difficult.

Specific decisions

The initial symbol for Leeds city council I felt contrasted too much in shape with the rest of the pictograms. Although the church also used a triangle, the columns on either side were too close to the edges making it look cramped within the space. Swapping this symbol for one of the Millennium square symbols meant there were more similarities in form. The symbol made reference to the ‘building’ as well as the owls in front of it making it appropriate as a representation for either location. Further refinements of this symbol meant moving the smaller square up so they were less near the edge and later they were moved to either side of the larger square which I felt was more balanced.

The school board sign was adapted from the initial ‘open book’ icon to reflect the stairs of the building. The triangles in the initial design were not enough like ones in other designs, whilst also looking clumsy in the grid system. The stairs elevate the place above everything else and for me represent the eliteness of the school making it an appropriate choice.

Studio Brief 2 - Typeface Design - Development

Typeface Development 

Grid development

Using the square grid adapted from the original Univers grid I have begun to develop my typeface.

Bold typeface proportions

Light typeface proportions 

I adapted the grid further to experiment with the ascender and descender heights to see how 'compressed' and square I could make the type without it looking deformed and out of proportion. I found that making the ascender and descender height so it was only one block wide squashed the tails and didn't leave much room for curvature within the tail. Increasing the ascender height and descender height back up to two squares high allowed more room for a proportioned tail with a smoother looking form. The bolder typeface looked a little too blocky and I felt the internal counterforms were being distorted a little too much making it look different to the outside form. The best proportioned letter was from the lighter typeface (top, middle). This I think has good balance between the x height and ascender and descender height whilst also having a distinctive form. The lighter typeface also has more pronounced counters which will aid legibility. 

Designing the letterforms 

Creating the 'a'

Initially I tried to adapt the double storey 'a' from Univers to fit within the square grid, however in order to do this, this meant either reducing the counter within the 'a' or reducing the height of the top half of the 'a'. This meant it was impossible to create balance within the two halves which would make it stand out when alongside other letters. By converting the double storey 'a' to a single storey 'a' this enabled me to mimic the characteristics of other letters within the typeface and increase the internal space making it more legible. 


  

Extending the tails

Within my research I found that by extending tails this created clearer letterforms and helped with character recognition. I applied this to letters such as 'f','t','l','j' by creating a sharper curve and straighter and longer terminal. Tails in descenders such as 'g' and 'y' were rounded fully to curve back upwards which creates distinctive letterforms.

Making letters such as the the j,l, t, f half size

The j,l,t and f were created in a grid that was half the size of the other letters, which followed similar proportions in Univers. 

Adapting the 'k' to be like the 'x'

Creating the k within the square formation led to the same difficulties as the double storey 'a'. To rectify this I was influenced by the Univers 'k' form and inspired by the look of my 'x'. I combined both of these ideas to create a distinctive 'k'. However I am not sure how legible this may turn out to be so it may need some work later on.

Creating the 'x'

To create the 'x' I continued the curved formation from the rest of the letters. This I think gives the 'x' a distinctive quality whilst still being recognisable.

Creating the 'm' and 'w'

When creating the 'm' and 'w' I wanted to reflect the same form in both. The general structure of the typeface was to remove the connections and straighten the shoulder to the stem. I applied this to the 'm' and 'w' however it looked very odd with the mixture of straight and curved shoulders. To rectify this I decided upon creating 'rounded' shoulders with no straight edges as I thought this fitted best with the overall type. 

Adding spurs to aid legibility

In my research on legibility and accessibility I found that letters such as 'b' and 'd' were easily confused. To prevent this I added a spur to the 'd' to create a distinction between the two letters. This was also done on the 'a' and 'u'. The 'a' was quite a rounded shape to begin with which I thought may be mistaken for an 'o' at a distance. By adding the spur this highlights the stem of the letter rather than being a continuous stroke. The 'u' could have originally been mistaken for a 'V' because of the straight edge, however with the addition of a spur it creates a rounded connection to the stem, making it more curved than angular.

Increasing the tittle size 

In my research I found that an increased tittle size emphasises recognition and helps recognition between and 'i' and 'l'. The original tittles on Univers were squares however I changed these to circles and made them larger than the width of the stem.

Adapting the 'r'

Originally I created the 'r' to follow the square grid system however when drawn this looked far to wide and disproportionate when compared with the original Univers typeface. I experimented with reducing the width of the grid used. When I halved the width so it was the same size as letters like j, l and t it looked too compressed and the arm of the 'r' was too short making it seem very narrow. When I made the grid to three quarters of its usual size this created enough extension within the arm of the 'r' whilst being proportionate to the stem. 

Studio Brief 1 – Logotype - Development and Crit

Logotype Development 

Since the first crit I have experimented with creating ligatures from the 'INI' and the 'IC'.

Initially I took a reductive approach and minimized the 'N' to a diagonal stroke however this created too much white space within the ligature. When I added parts of the uprights back into the 'N' to fill the space a little it ended up looking too similar to the starting forms. For the final 'INI' I want it to be more subtle within the logotype so I think the best way of doing this would be through connecting serifs or using close kerning as this would tie in with the rest of the logotype better.

I also experimented with creating a 'IC' ligature by placing one within the other. However when put in context with the rest of the logotype it reminded me of an abstract dollar sign and looked a little blingy which doesn't fit in with the intended personality of the logotype.

From my initial sketches I began to refine my ideas to ones I thought worked well. To refine my ideas further I compared similar ones to choose the five which I wanted to digitalise.

Refinement of ideas

Some ideas had similar properties such as they were all in sans serif but one was italics and one was not or they had the same ligatures but the brackets were curved in one and not the other. By comparing similar designs in this way I was able to identify which created the personality I wanted for my brand.

Refinement of ideas

Refinement of ideas

Personality traits I wanted to have in my final five designs.

- Performance

- Masculinity

- Power 

- Movement

Final five Logotypes

Features I wanted to have in my final five designs 

- Uppercase letters create the impression of authority and dominance. With increased weight they also evoke a sense of power and boldness.

- Italics create a sense of movement and speed which is important within sport.

- All five designs use the 'CL' ligature which I think creates good flow within the logotype as well as directing the eye along the brand name.

- Serifs are used in varied frequency. Designs with less serifs create a more modern and bold feeling whereas designs with more serifs and curved brackets give the impression of history and reliability. 

Final five Logotypes (drawn)

Final five digitalised logotypes

Once digitalised I increased the stroke weight to make the logotypes bolder and also compressed them so they were shorter which I think makes them read as one better.

Final digital designs

Crit Feedback

The following crit consisted of leaving our current five designs out for people to view and write comments about. We had to write down the name of the brand , our type of company and the personality traits we were trying to portray within the brand.

We also had to ask three questions which people would answer when they viewed the work.

Mine were:

- Which is more effective italics or normal?

- Which is your favourite? Why?

- Which 'INI' is the most effective?

Feedback and Responses

Overall Crit Feedback

Which is more effective italics or normal?

In general most people preferred italics as this created an 'on the move' feel to the logotype however some suggested that the normal type created a strong and masculine feel whilst also appearing more professional.

Which is your favourite? Why?

The top design was by far the logotype that people thought was the most effective as a sports/ basketball logotype. It was said in particular that the design flowed well with the use of natural ligatures. There was said to be good balance between serifs and non serifs within the logotype and that the italics created the impression of movement which fits with my company direction. 

Which 'INI' is the most effective?

Generally people had mixed views about which 'INI' was the most effective however a small group of people thought that the top logotype was again the better design.with the serif of the 'N' becoming the tittle of the 'I'.  

Other interesting comments

Some people preferred having only one ligature so as not to overwork the logotype. The 'CL' ligature in the third design was said to add aspects of traditional and modern with the use of serifs and ligatures.

Other things to try 

It was suggested whether I could find a way of creating a smooth link between the L and the rest of the word. However I had tried doing this in my initial sketches but it was hard to do this without making the 'L' and 'I' look like a 'U'.

As a general consensus, a majority of feedback said that the top design was the most fitting to the company direction, so I will use this as the logotype in my context images.