Introduction to Typography project - Thursday 19th January

In this workshop we started drawing rough ideas to make our own type font. This is something that I enjoyed as I feel as if the possibilities for the project are very diverse. To inform our work we looked at the work of Eric Spiekermann, Cyrus Highsmith and Kyle Cooper. I picked out a few things from what each of the designers said in each of the videos. For Spiekermann he gave a strong message that everything that exists has its own language and jargon that is unique to it. Another idea I found very interesting was the idea that every idea ever come up with has been influenced by someone or something else that the person has seen, meaning that nothing is truly new just simply a combination of experiences. This resonates with something I personally believe is very important with design that the more informed you are as a designer and about the world in general, the better the work you produce. Then Cyrus Hill suggested that his own design was the product of constant work. He reiterated the importance of always being on the look out for new design and taking notes, which is why he carries a sketchbook everywhere. Furthermore he stressed the importance of experimentation implying that you should care too much about the outcome as you are simply testing ideas, some of which inevitably will not work as well as others. Lastly the work of Kyle Cooper was interesting, like the previous two designers he stated the importance of having lots of ideas before refining your selection. He does work for films such was title sequences and credits, consequently he talked about the importance of getting into the mind of the character and reflecting the mood. The use of thin hand written type in the example featured, presenting in a distorted manner that glitches gave a creepy feel leaving the viewer on edge. This sows the importance of type and the way it is presented to provide a whole new meaning to a piece. These are things that I hope that I will take on board and illustrate within my own work that I shall develop throughout the following workshops.