Alphabet Soup Part 2 - Design Ideas

After exploring some of the words I chose, a prominent idea was the use of geometric shapes. This not only reflects academics/mathematics, but it also connotes precision and accuracy. These are some design sheets where I explored various ideas.

Using triangles to form the basis of the letters. 

Here I used triangles in a pattern to form the basis of each indidivual letter. Although the concept is evident in large format, the shapes may merge and become un-recogniseable when scaled to a smaller shape.

3D Shapes

Using an existing block typeface, I created a 3D style letterform. Each letter would be constructed from various 3D shapes which were set apart slightly. Again, similar to the previous design idea, it may be difficult to distinguish in a smaller format.

Geometric shapes

This design is constructed from lines, triangles, circles, etc. I have kept the shapes within the Calibri font - a sans-serif font which is minimalist yet has certain characteristics which are friendly and bold (this was from my initial research of existing typefaces).

...more design ideas

Here I have looked at several possible ways of forming letters with geometric shapes and lines. The ideas towards the bottom right of the sheet (which may be hard to see) are formed using straight lines which construct a curved line - something I learned in maths years ago! I tried manipulating these into different letterforms - X, V and M, for example.

The idea shown towards the bottom right of the design was inspired by this image found on this post. It reminded me of a technique I learnt previously - straight lines drawn in such a way that it formed curved lines.

4 ideas taken from research

These 4 design ideas were taken from one piece of research which I found - here. It inspired me to create something similar in my own work as not only is it modern, minimal and contemporary, but it also reflects the words I chose (precise, neat).

Curves/droplets

In this design, I have used a thin, sans-serif typeface which is based on the font entitled Aaargh (found here). I added raindrop style shapes to the ascenders, descenders, counters of all the letters to add a unique twist to an existing font. In the crit, however, it was brought up that it may not reflect the words I chose as much as my other ideas therefore I will not continue with this design idea.

This design (and others below) was based on something I found when researching abstract fonts, as found on my context blog found here. The link to the image itself is here.

Abstract shapes

Also taken from the reseach, I added curved lines, one after another along with some circles which I spontaneously placed around each letterform.

Alphabet Soup Part 2 - Initial Stages

Once our partner was chosen, we were then required to fill in a small questionnaire to give more of an insight into our likes, dislikes, background, personality etc. I then asked Beth, my partner, more questions regarding her likes in terms of design. We were asked to select 5 adjectives to depict the personality of our partner that we could take further and then develop into design ideas; these were:

1) Positive
2) Neat
3) Academic
4) Friendly
5) Precise

As our interests in terms of design were fairly similar, this would ultimately aid my work. I found several fonts which I thought suited the aforementioned words effectively and could use as a basis for my design ideas.

Alphabet Soup Part 2 - Brief

Part 2 of the Alphabet Soup brief required us to design a tpeface for a full alphabet and 6 glyps (£, $, ! etc) which represents and personifies the personality/interests of our chosen partner (selected from the randomiser).It will then be presented on a A1 sized tracing paper and a name badge for my partner (45mm x 90mm). Although the A1 deliverable will be hand-drawn, the badge can be digital.
 

Alphabet Soup - Final designs

As we had to create 10 letterforms, I chose 10 which I could demonstrate the flatpack idea effectively. However, there are several letters which have no lines of symmetry therefore if I were to do a series forming the entire alphabet, I would have to find solution to overcome this problem. These are the final 10:

And a few in their 'flatpack' form:

Alphabet Soup - 3D letterforms

My other idea was to construct a 3D letterform and over a process of 10 photographs, show it slowly transforming into its original net. I decided not to take this idea forward as creating a net for a 3D letterform, especially if it was a serif font, was too complicated and the outcome was not as aesthetically pleasing as I'd hoped. Also, due to the complex nature of creating a 3D serif letterform, I resorted to use the most basic design.

 Illustrator mock up for the net.

 

Basic net including tabs - I also added several tabs as I noticed there were some missing.

 3D letterform complete.