​Project Brief

Brief: Typeface Design
Project Overview

To develop a custom typeface suitable for my own future branding and as a saleable asset for other brands/consumers to use. The purpose of the typeface is to allow me to discover, develop and apply the skills I’ve learnt from previous typographic work into a functional typeface for the typographic market. The Typeface will be a blend between different styles to achieve something unique, imbued with my own personality and style. Eventual use on completion in my own branding, portfolio and website.

Possible stylings:

• Geometric
• Humanist
• Expressive
​
Example of existing typefaces that i like:

• ​Avenir
• Azo Sans
• Figtree
• Lemon Sans
• Owners 
• Poppins

Target Audience

​Me
Foundries
Designers
Typographic Users looking for a blended humanist geometric typeface

Deliverables

Designed typeface in one weight
Typographic posters showcasing the typeface in action
Finished working font files

Specification

Should be scalable across all sizings of type
Typeface to be assembled using Glyphs 3 (Mac OS app)
Workable files in .OTF or .TTF
Posters displaying the typeface to be A2 format.

Milestones 

Week 1: Research existing typefaces and foundries + form styling and begin to visualise the style
Week 2-9: Typeface Development

Jump to final outcomes

Research

Existing Geometric & Humanist Typefaces
Figtree
Full typography
Lemon Sans
Full Typography
Owners (Wide)
Full typography 
Azo Sans
Full typography
Avenir Next
Full typography
Poppins
Full typography
San Francisco (SF Pro)
Full typography
Futura
Full typography
Archivo
Full typography
Raleway
Full typography
Font Foundries
F37 (https://f37foundry.com/)
The Northern Block (https://thenorthernblock.co.uk/)
A2-Type (https://a2-type.co.uk/)
Tutorials
Type Book
Designing type (Karen Cheng)
Other

Typeface Analysis

Chosen Pangram
Foxy diva Jennifer Lopez wasn’t baking my quiche. 

Letter Sketching

Trying to figure out what the typeface could look like
Digitalising initial letterforms
Realised after drawing only certain letters that I needed to draw the full alphabet. The letters were looking a bit stiff and not very unique.
More letterforms
Proposed lettering (if they work)

Letter Development

1st Draft
Typography sheets
Own analysis
v2 Draft
Peer analysis comparison
v3 Draft

Weight tests

Whilst the direction and look of the type is fine, I don't feel like it's thick enough, which limits its usability. Want to try adding a second weight (and hopefully crack variable fonts to fill in the 'in betweens'

Use Testing

Instagram
Made a carousel of posts to test how it would look online
Degree show
Using my typeface for the degree show has opened up the opportunity to give it a real test run, across different types of marketing. Below is some examples of contrast testing, colour testing, weight testing etc. Only manual kerning is applied (haven't yet tackled kerning yet).
Colour guidelines
NDF leaflet mockups
Social Media
Takeaway...
Happy with the overall look of the type, especially in the bolder weights. Kerning is still a big issue, even when manually applied. Some of the letters seem a bit heavier than others - need to sort this.

SPACING & Kerning

Following the guide to spacing and kerning in Karen Cheng's "Designing Type" 
Spacing & Letter Bearings
Uppercase H - set to 50
Uppercase O - Set to 30
Followed the rest of the guide using the spacings to the right.
1. 50
2. 40
3. 25
4. 20
​5. 30
Lowercase the same, using the following spacings as a starting point:
1. 50
2. 40
3. 55
4. 2​0
5. 25
6. 25
Left sidebearings test:
Right side bearings test:
Kerning
Pangram Testing

Type Specimens

Posters
Poster Designs
Analogue
Really wanted to try and make something different from the usual static poster-type specimens, so I thought of making an easel with a letter on, and some small alphabet cubes with the uppercase on show
Illustrator setup:
Crafting:

FINAL OUTCOMES

Characters
Type Specimen Poster Sets
Analogue Specimens