Typography - Task 1: Exercises

22/09/2025 - 26/10/2025 (Week 1 - Week 6)

Chan Xin Yean, 0377851

Typography

Task 1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Lectures
2. Instructions
3. Process Work
    3.1 Research
    3.2 Ideation
    3.3 Final Outcome
4. Feedback
5. Reflection
6. Further Reading

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LECTURES

Week 1

Typo 0 : Introduction

Fundamental skill sets developed in typography are applicable to any or every module or career.  It allows us to develop features of ourselves and personal attributes in our design pursuits. Typography is the creation of type families and it can come in animation forms. It takes a big part in app, web, signage designs and many more. Reading is a big part to learn more about typography as it has a evolution of over 500 years from calligraphy to lettering and finally to typography.

Font is the individual font or weight within the typeface (e.g. Georgia Regular, Georgia Italic and Georgia Bold)

Typeface is the entire family of fonts/weights that share similar characteristics/styles (e.g. Georgia,  Arial, Times New Roman, Didot and Futura)

Typo 1 : Development

Early letterform development : Phoenician to Roman

Writing meant scratching into wet clay with sharpened stick or carving into stone with a chisel.

Figure 1.1 Evolution of Phoenician letter, Week 1 (22/09/2025)

Phoenicians wrote from right to left. Greeks developed 'boustrophedon' (how the ox ploughs), lines are read alternately from right to left and left to right with changed orientation of letterforms. 

Etruscan (and then Roman) carvers working in marble painted letterforms before inscribing them. Strokes change in weight from vertical to horizontal.

Figure 1.2 Late 1st century B.C.E., Augustan inscription in the Roman Forum, Rome., Week 1 (22/09/2025)

Hand script from 3rd - 10th century C.E.

Figure 1.3 Development of Typography from left to right, top to bottom, Week 1 (22/09/2025)

Text type classification

Figure 1.4 Development of Typeface from left to right, top to bottom, Week 1 (22/09/2025)

Week 2

Typo 3 : Text (Part 1)

1. Kerning and letterspacing

Kerning is the automatic adjustment of space between letters. Usually not suitable for large amount of text, normally used in headline.

Figure 1.5 Example of kerning, Week 2 (30/09/2025)

Letterspacing means to add space between the letters. There are strong resistance within the type community to letterspace lowercase letters within text.

Tracking is the addition and removal of space in a word or sentence.

Figure 1.6 Types of tracking, Week 2 (30/09/2025)

2. Formatting Text

- Flush left closely mirrors the asymmetrical experience of handwriting. Each line starts at the same point but ends wherever the last word on the line ends. Spaces between words are consistent.

- Centered text imposes symmetry upon the text, assigning equal value and weight to both ends of any line. Transform fields of text into shapes, adding a pictorial quality to material. Use for small amounts of text.

- Flush right emphasises on the end of a line as opposed to its start. Useful in captions to tie the relationship between text and image.

- Justified text imposes a symmetrical shape on the text. Achieved by expanding or reducing spaces between words and letters. Produces 'rivers' of white space running vertically through the text.

3. Texture

Different typefaces suits different messages with consideration of different textures of these typefaces. Type with a relatively generous x-height or heavy stroke width produces darker mass on the page than relatively smaller x-height or lighter stroke. Smaller ascender and descender compared to x-height provides a better readability.

Figure 1.11 Anatomy of a typeface, Week 2 (30/09/2025)

 

Figure 1.12 Comparison of the different textures of fonts, Week 2 (30/09/2025) 

4. Leading and Line Length

Leading is text that is set too tightly encourages vertical eye movement; a reader can easily loose their place.

Line lengths that are shorter require less leading, while longer lines more. Good rule of thumb is to keep line length between 55-65 characters.

Figure 1.13 Comparison of the different leadings in text, Week 2 (30/09/2025)

5. Type Specimen Book

Type specimen book shows samples of typefaces in various different sizes. Without printed pages showing samples of typefaces at different size.

Figure 1.14 Sample of type specimen sheet, Week 2 (30/09/2025)

Week 3

Typo 4 : Text ( Part 2 )

6. Indicating Paragraphs

Pilcrow (¶) is used in text to indicate paragraph space back in the days.

Line space (leading) ideally should be 12pt or 12.5pt if the paragraph spacing is 12pt. Columns of text needs to be cross aligned to maintain reading rhythm.

Figure 1.15 Difference between line space and leading, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

Typically, indent is the same as the point size used for text. It was introduced in newspaper to save space. When using indentation, never use ragging on right alignment should be justified.

Figure 1.15 Standard indentation, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

Extended paragraphs creates unusually wide columns of text. ( used in some academic writing ) 

Figure 1.16 Extended paragraphs, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

7. Windows and Orphans

Widow is a short line of type left alone at the end of a column of text.

Orphan is a short line of type left alone at the start of new column.

Figure 1.17 Window and Orphan, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

Windows and orphans are considered serious gaffes. Solution for widows is by using a force line break so last line of any paragraph is not noticeably short.

8. Highlighting Text

Text could be used in italics or bolded within a column of text to be emphasised. Besides, if type family of highlighted text is changed, point size are generally required to be reduce to match the x-height of the main text. When highlighting text through placing a field of colour at the back of the text or, left reading axis needs to be maintained.

Figure 1.18 Highlighting text using bolded texts, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

10. Cross Alignment

Reinforces the architectural sense of the page while articulating the complimentary vertical rhythms.

Figure 1.23 Example of cross alignment, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

Week 4

Typo 2 : Basic

1. Describing Letterforms

• Baseline is the imaginary line the visual base of the letterforms.
• Median is the imaginary line defining the x-height of letterforms.
• X-height is the height in any typeface of the lowercase 'x'. 
• Stroke is any line that defines the basic letterforms.
• Apex / Vertex is the point created by joining two diagonal stems. ( apex above, vertex below )
• Arm is short strokes off the stem of the letterform. ( horizontal / inclined upward )
• Ascender is the portion of the stem of a lowercase letterform. ( above the median )
• Barb is half-serif finish on some curved stroke.
• Beak is half-serif finish on some horizontal arms.
• Bowl is the rounded form that describes a counter. ( open / closed )
• Bracket is transition between the serif and stem.
• Cross Bar is the horizontal stroke in a letterform that joins two stems.
• Cross Stroke is horizontal stroke in lowercase. ( f & t )
• Em/en is width of letter / gap between words.
• Ligature is the character formed by the combination of two or more letterform.
• Stress is the orientation of the letterform, indicated by thin stroke in round forms.
• Swash is the flourish that extends the stroke of the letterform.
• Terminal is self-contained finish of a stroke without a serif.

Figure 1.24 Describing Letterforms, Week 4 (14/10/2025)

2. The Font 

• Uppercase and Lowercase letters.

• Small Capitals is uppercase letterforms draw to the x-height of the typeface primarily found in serif fonts.

Figure 1.25 Small capitals, Week 4 (14/10/2025)

• Uppercase Numerals are the same height as uppercase letters with the same kerning width. Lowercase Numerals are set to x-height with ascenders and descenders.  

3. Describing Typefaces

• Roman is so called because the uppercase forms are derived from inscriptions of Roman monuments. ( lighter stroke in roman is known as 'Book' )
• Italic are based from  fifteenth century Italian handwriting.
• Oblique are based on roman form of typeface.
• Boldface are characterised by a thicker stroke than a roman form.
• Light is a lighter stroke than the roman form, with lighter named 'thin'
• Condense is a version of the roman form, with extremely condense styles called 'compressed'.
• Extended is an extended variation of a roman font.

Figure 1.28 Typefaces, Week 4 (14/10/2025)

4. Comparing Typeface

Beyond the gross differences in x-height, the forms display a wealth of variety, in line weight, relative stroke widths and in feeling.

Figure 1.29 Different typefaces of letter 'a' and 'R', Week 4 (14/10/2025)

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INSTRUCTIONS

Figure 2.0 Document for Module Assignment Briefs - pdf

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PPelhqQAvhqnrNlmdDPgn4PejeyhIiwb/view

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PROCESS WORK

Task 1_Exercise 1 : Type Expression

3.1 Research

For task 1, we are assigned to make type expression for 4 words chosen. In the first week, my class chose 6 words through a poll created by Mr. Vinod. The words chosen were burn, glitch, shake, squish, noisy and bleed. We were asked to draw sketches for only 4 words from the list. In the end, we had to choose 3/4 sketches of each word to show Mr. Vinod on week 2. 

The words i decided on was burn,  squish, noisy and bleed. After that, I did some research on the meanings of the phrases and went on Pinterest and Google to find pictures related to the chosen phrases to get some inspiration for my sketches. Then, i made a simple collage for the pictures or typography design of others.  

Figure 2.1 Collage of references found in Pinterest that relates to burn, Week 1 (23/09/2025)

Figure 2.2 Collage of references found in Pinterest that relates to squish, Week 1 (23/09/2025)

Figure 2.3 Collage of references found in Pinterest and Google that relates to noisy, Week 1 (23/09/2025)

Figure 2.1 Collage of references found in Pinterest that relates to bleed, Week 1 (23/09/2025)

3.2 Ideation

After some research, I then begin to sketch some ideas based on my understanding of the words. Truthfully, I struggled with coming out with different ideas as I was not proficient in changing up the designs of letters or words. 

Figure 2.5 Sketches of the four words chosen (burn, bleed, squish and noisy) and descriptions, Week 1 (28/09/2025)

After the feedback session from Mr. Vinod, he suggested that i chose the 4th idea of burn, 1st or 2nd ideas of bleed, 3rd idea of squish and the 2nd or 3rd ideas of noisy. 

Digitisation Process

The first word I started off with was noisy, I played around with the fonts given to make all the letters different fonts from each other as I think that enhances the noisy effect. I did both the 2nd and 3rd design and finally decided on the 3rd one as I felt like it looked noisier. 

Figure 2.6 Digitisation of 2nd and 3rd idea of noisy (left to right), Week 2 (03/10/2025)

For the word squish, based on what Mr. Vinod said on week 2, i decided to just bold the both letters S and H and 'quish' as condensed thin words instead of the 'u' flying out in my sketch. 

Figure 2.7 Digitisation of squish, Week 2 (03/10/2025)

For the word burn, I aimed to depict a campfire without distorting the letters too much. The initial font didn’t suit the concept, so I switched to Gill Sans Std. Initially, I cut the word in half, but I found it hard to assemble, so I later shaped the lower half into a triangle to resemble wood more accurately. I also added a gradient to the upper half to represent flames and distorted one side of "U" to a flame shape.

Figure 2.8 Digitisation process of burn, Week 2 (05/10/2025)

For the word bleed, I struggled with ways to create the bleeding effect. In the end, I used the pen tool to create zigzag shapes around the word and used the Gaussian blur effect. Initially, I wanted to the effect for the whole word but in the end I only made the letter D to show the bleeding effect mainly and a little for E to show a slight transition of bleeding.

Figure 2.9 Digitisation process of bleed, Week 2 (05/10/2025)

I also did the 2nd idea of bleed but I liked the first idea more and it was quite different from other classmates.

Figure 2.10 Digitisation of bleed (2nd idea), Week 2 (05/10/2025)

Changes After Feedback

For the word noisy, I added a few shades of grey of each of the letters and placed them behind the bold letters to make them feel like the noise is coming from the back.

Figure 2.11 Before and after changes to noisy, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

For the word burn, I changed the letter 'R' to be less distorted. 

Figure 2.12 Before and after changes to burn, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

Animation Process

I decided to animate the word squish because I already had a clear idea of how I wanted it to look and move. Its bouncy and flexible nature made it suitable for animation, allowing me to visually express the word’s texture and movement. I used 13 frames as I wanted the animation to be slower to emphasise the meaning of the word.

Figure 2.13 Animation frames in Adobe Illustrator, Week 3 (07/10/2025)

It was quite a successful attempt but I thought it could be more smoother and the letter S was too shaky for my liking. 

Figure 2.14 First attempt at animating squish, Week 3 (10/10/2025)

So, i did some minor fixes ( aligning the letter S ) and it made the animation smoother.

Figure 2.15 Second attempt at animating squish ( Final attempt ), Week 3 (10/10/2025)

Task 1_Exercise 2 : Text Formatting

For Exercise 2, we are required to use Adobe InDesign to create a final layout that includes leading, kerning, cross alignment and more on text formatting. Before the actual text formatting for the textual content given by teacher,  we needed to do a minor exercise regarding kerning using our names and the 10 fonts given by teacher previously.

Minor Exercise

Figure 2.16 Minor exercise of kerning my name ( before ), Week 4 (17/10/2025)

Figure 2.17 Minor exercise of kerning my name ( after ), Week 4 (17/10/2025)

Then I made an overlay to see the difference before and after kerning my name more clearly. 

Figure 2.18 Overlay of the minor kerning exercise, Week 4 (17/10/2025)

The Main Exercise

For the first attempts, I used a black lines image as the main photo for my layout. I also tried using 3 columns to experiment with different arrangements. For this line up I mainly used the Futura Std font and left alignment for my body text. 

Figure 2.19 First line up using left aligned body text, Week 4 (18/10/2025)

After that, I changed the font used to Univers LT Std and tried doing left justified body text. Besides, I changed up the picture used to a picture of Paul Rand, an American graphic designer as I thought that it relates to the contents of the text.

Figure 2.20 Second line up using left justified body text and different image, Week 4 (19/10/2025)

After the feedback session, Mr. Vinod commented that the black lines image was hogging all the attention from the body text and the 1st arrangement was not dynamic enough. He suggested I change up the layout to have a more interesting text format. Following the comment, I decided to choose the second picture as it was more relatable to the text and tried other arrangement of the texts. 

Figure 2.21 Other layouts after feedback session, Week 5 (25/10/2025)

After creating the few layouts I finally decided on the 3rd layout as I felt it was the most cohesive and appealing to me. But I edited the heading of "The Unsung Architects of Modern Life" to black oblique as it was too different from "Transform the World". In addition, I also edited the legging of some body text to avoid rivers.

Figure 2.22 Before and after some changes made to the layout, Week 5 (25/10/2025)

3.3 Final Outcome 

Type Expression Exercise

Figure 2.23 Final Type Expression - jpeg, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

Figure 2.24 Final Type Expression - pdf, Week 3 (06/10/2025)

Figure 2.25 Final Animation of SQUISH - GIF, Week 4 (13/10/2025)

Final Outcome - Text Formatting

HEAD

- Font/s : Univers LT Std (Extra Black Oblique, Black Oblique)
- Type Size/s: 35pt & 20pt
- Leading: 33pt & 22pt
- Paragraph spacing: 33pt & 22pt

BODY

- Font/s : Univers LT Std (Roman)
- Type Size/s: 9pt
- Leading: 11pt
- Paragraph spacing: 11pt
- Characters per-line: 55-60 characters
- Alignment: Left Justified

CAPTION

- Font/s : Univers LT Std (Light Condensed Oblique)
- Type Size/s: 8pt
- Leading: 11pt
- Paragraph spacing: 11pt

PAGE MARGINS

- 3p0 (top), 3p0 (bottom), 3p0 (left), 3p0 (right)
- Columns: 4
- Gutter: 1p2.173

Figure 2.26 Final Text Formatting Layout without grid - jpeg, Week 5 (26/10/2025)

Figure 2.26 Final Text Formatting Layout with grid - jpeg, Week 5 (26/10/2025)

Figure 2.27 Final Text Formatting Layout with and without grid - pdf, Week 5 (26/10/2025)

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FEEDBACK

Week 2
General feedback : Try not to distort the whole word to convey a meaning, less is more. Changing one letter of the word itself is sufficient to show the meaning. Keep in mind of the 10 fonts given when generating an idea.

Specific feedback : For the burn, 4th idea ( the closet to the right ) can separate the flames and the wood a little and invert the lower half of the word to show that it's woods more clearly. 

Week 3
General feedback : Mr. Vinod said that we need to be aware of the positive and negative space when placing the type expressions in a frame

Specific feedback : The letter R in "BURN" needs to be distorted less. While for noisy it is acceptable but it could be noisier.

Week 4
General feedback : When creating the animations, make sure the art boards are aligned to avoid jumpy words. Additionally, the blog has to be continuously updated throughout the whole task and screen grab the working process to place in the blog.

Specific feedback : The animation looks good and there were no revisions needed.

Week 5
General feedback : Make sure the kerning and tracking is 5/1000 em. For a good line length we need to ensure letter count. Do not typeset body text as bold or italic.

Specific feedback : The image is hogging all the attention off the body text. Try to think of a layout of headline and body text, then only add the image.

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REFLECTION

Experience

For the first exercise, it was quite challenging for me to come up with different ideas as I did not think about designing letters that deeply before. Besides, we had limits on the typefaces we had to use and I spent quite some time looking through them while generating ideas. I had worries about my ideas being the same as my classmates as I felt not creative enough. In addition, while digitising, it was my first time using Adobe Illustrator so it took me a few video tutorials, some google searches and self exploration for me to get a hang of it. Furthermore, the text formatting exercise was personally the hardest exercise for me as it took me multiple tries to come up with a composition. It was hard balancing between interesting formats and the readability of the text and it made me confused about how much I could experiment in the designs. 

Observation

From these exercises, I started to see how much typography really depends on the little details. Even small tweaks, like adjusting the kerning, leading, or how a type expression is designed can completely change the overall feel of the outcome. During our weekly feedback sessions, I also learned a lot from seeing my classmates’ ideas, especially for their creative and well-made animated type expression GIFs, which gave me new insight of the possibilities in animating type expressions. 

Findings

From these experiences, I learned that typography was not just about fonts, but about understanding how every small decision, from letter spacing to layout affects meaning and readability. I also discovered how different typefaces carry their own tone and personality, which can completely change how a design feels. Although the first exercise challenged my creativity, it helped me think more deeply about how letters and words can be designed and expressed. Learning Adobe Illustrator was also a valuable part of the process, as I had to rely on tutorials and self-exploration to bring my ideas to life. The text formatting exercise, while the most difficult, taught me the importance of balance between visual appeal and readability. Overall, these exercises helped me develop attention to detail and a better appreciation for the complexity and creativity behind a good typography and the theories and history of typography through weekly recoded lectures.

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FURTHER READING

Figure 4.0 Typographic Design : Form and Communication 6th Edition, Week 4 (18/10/2025)

This book shows the evolution and theories of typography. It includes various examples of typographic designs along with descriptions the designs. I read a few parts of the book which includes the evolution of typography and the structure of formatting texts.

Figure 4.1 Evolution of typography in 1990, page 25, Week 4 (18/10/2025)

On this page, it highlights a period when typography was influenced by technological advancements and the rise of modernism. This era marked a shift toward cleaner, more functional designs that reflected the modern world’s fascination with innovation, efficiency, and progress. Typography became not just a tool for communication, but also a visual expression of a rapidly changing technological age.

Figure 4.2 Working with multicolumn grids, page 75, Week 4 (18/10/2025)

It shows the example of ways to balance type size, line length and leading. This page also explores how rhythm is created through the repetition and contrast of columns and other visual elements. The use of white space introduces a sense of flow and energy, allowing the layout to breathe while maintaining visual harmony. The column spacing is carefully designed to guide the reader’s eye smoothly from one section to another, ensuring a natural reading flow. Meanwhile, experimenting with unconventional gutter intervals adds a unique visual rhythm, resulting in dynamic and engaging typographic patterns.

Figure 4.3 Improvisational Structures, page 84, Week 4 (18/10/2025)

This page highlights how improvisational structures develop in response to the content itself, rather than being confined by fixed modular grids. This approach allows designers to explore the relationships between elements and establish a clear sense of visual hierarchy. The process involves placing typographic forms within space to create meaningful interactions between form and content. It also requires a strong understanding of asymmetrical composition, the balance of positive and negative space, and the importance of visual contrast in shaping the overall layout.

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