Studio Brief 02 - Crit

Before the crit we were tasked to recreate our words in a quick drawing, we then passed our word to another person so that they could do the same. They were then challenged to represent my word 'satisfying' through the letter A, the results are displayed below. I think this task helped a lot because it forces you to become more abstract with the drawings and representations that you create, they didn't have to be typography related therefore more illustrative designs were created yet these could easily be translated into typography when working with initial ideas.



The two ideas I had before the crit:

My first idea was to create a typeface that was based on universe that focused on the smoothness of the letters to give it a more satisfying appearance. The key things I wanted to represent were:
- Sans Serif
- Clean & simple
- Visually pleasing
- Easy to read
- Curvy letters
- Flows nicely
- Used for body

My second idea was to focus on Clarendon and create a typeface that had interesting serifs that were satisfying to look at. The key things I wanted to represent with this idea were:
- Serifs to make it flow
- Intersting serifs
- Nice to look at
- A combination od thick and thin strokes
- Used for display

I wasn't too sure on which design to expand on therefore I asked 3 questions in my crit which were

1. What features would you expect from a satisfying typeface?

2. Where would you use a typeface that is satisfying?

3. Serif or sans serif?

ANSWERS

PERSON 1 

1. even flow, easy to read, even kerning

2. relaxing places such as cafes and spas

3. sans serif because it has a more informal feel therefore is more approachable

PERSON 2

1. equal kerning, all letters on same baseline, using universe may work best as it has the immediate clean and simple look to it. However to make it less typical of what satisfying may look like a serif font may look pleasing. Serifs unbracketed so no curve to make it informed or curve may be in the middle of individual letter forms such as the bar in the H as it may be considered satisfying.

2 Typeface could be used for a magazine or if it was serif then newspaper or film poster.

3. Sans serif is more appropriate

PERSON 3

1. natural, clean cut, fluent, flowing, curved ages, hand written/ script, variation of stroke width, letterforms connected

2. on natural green/ healthy products, food products that are luxurious, magazines

3. Sans serif, serif will look too ordered and traditional, ruin natural flow

PERSON 4

1. aesthetically pleasing, done through spacing or rounded letter forms, clean and minimal, thin equal weights, long letters

2. magazine, posters

3. sans serif more satisfying