Category: Uncategorized

One thing I will remember from this is the next time Chris says “We’re presenting” it means I need to make an actual presentation. This I will definitely remember for week 12 during our actual assessed presentation. Regardless of this, I did show off my work just off Adobe Illustrator as I felt it crucial to come away from the session with some feedback. The initial reaction to what I had so far seemed very positive; particularly when I showed the text in it’s white on black form. I would have to agree that the font looks it’s best in white however I feel other colours could work. People seemed to think it had quite a modern look to it which I’m pleased with considering how modern I thought De Stijl was upon my discovery of it.

More valuably though, I did find inspiration in other peoples designs. My lettering at this point is very straight forward and doesn’t really have much in terms of visuals at this point. I thought that more modern looking fonts were more sans seriff so I avoided adding unnecessary extras. One of the fonts disproved this for me. Frankie’s space viking style font really caught my attention and I loved the blend of sci-fi and norse history. One of the key features I picked up on was the use of dots which I really enjoyed and the use of floating symbols really made the font eye catching but still legible. This has encouraged me to experiment a little more with my work as I feel that this could really help my text reach a new peak.

Checklist:

Make a presentation for the next time on Indesign

Revisit old letters before progressing further and try more/less lines

Maybe try dots? Some De Stijl does use circles. Then again that might stem away from the main point

This week I have continued my line design further and have formed more letters for my font. At this point I can see that my work has been influenced by De Stijl and it seems that others can identify it as De Stijl. Chris noticed that particularly in my lower case that it reminds him of De Stijl furniture which, now he mentions it, I can also visualise. After he made this comment I figured that I best take a look at more types of furniture to hopefully inspire different approaches towards different letters. A much as it is important to maintain a level of consistency in this font, their is still no reason why slight variation can’t be tried. After researching these, I can safely say that I will still choose Ikea furniture over De Stijl furnishings however I can appreciate their progressive nature.

I am curious for next week however to see how my font stacks up against other designs. Going around the room at this point it seems that most people have opted for very different styles and inspirations so this should be very interesting.

Checklist:

Continue letters

Consider experimenting a little more

Get inspired by more De Stijl

This week I have began to shape the first letters of my font. At this point I haven’t named my font but i’ve decided to use characteristics of De Stijl art and design which will hopefully inspire a name soon. I notice how in pieces such as Composition Desentralisee by Theo Van Doesburg and Composition two by Piet Mondrian that they use almost a grid system to organise their pieces while somehow preserving a degree of spontaneousness. In response to my observation I began to experiment with the line tool on Adobe Illustrator using the grid view feature as a guide. From here I began to formulate the letter A using overlapping lines and grids. I felt an attraction to this due to the fact I could both visualise the letter and the De Stijl movement. From here I toyed with colouring in the squares and rectangles I had created by chance with yellows, reds and blues; a colour scheme favoured by many De Stijl artists. Although it did bring me closer to the art aspect of De Stijl, I unfortunately lost clarity. The A no longer stood out like it did when it was uncoloured. I instead experimented by colouring the lines themselves rather than internal shapes. I felt this worked much better as it served its purpose as a legible font quite well whilst also holding the shapes and order that I was looking for. Although much work is to be done this is, without a doubt, a start.

Checklist:

Check line spacings

Produce more of the alphabet

This week I have continued my research into De Stijl and have come away with a lot more insight into its use in the present day. in 2000, The White Stripes released their second album, De Stijl, which was named after the band visited the Rietvald Schroder house while touring. Clearly I’m not the only one fascinated by it. The album was named in tribute to Rietvald and other famous figures in the De Stijl movement. I’m a big fan of The White Stripes so I am familiar with Jack White’s very select preferences when it comes to the look of the band and it’s album art. Jack’s rule of 3 rule I find particularly interesting as it comes up everywhere. The White Stripes wear red white and black, his record company is called third man records. I could go on. De Stijl is the one album I have not given much attention to however now I feel inclined to explore it further.

Design wise I have unfortunately been sick this week but this has not prevented me from conducting some experimentation although not necessarily in my actual font. My band at uni require a logo so, using my new skills on illustrator, I came up with the design as shown. The band’s name is Brayford Lights which at first I found it quite difficult to think of an initial design that was relevant. I saw someone wearing a t shirt which had an anchor on it whilst on my way to buy soup and the inspirational link was made. The T shirt I saw had an anchor resembling a sailor tattoo which, although I liked it, felt very conventional. I instead opted for a more sleek approach using thinner lines to form my anchor shape which I feel looks more modern. The font choice is a font called “Circles and sticks” which I found online. My initial plan was to create my own font however this font I thought was spot on. Although it’s not completed I feel it’s a good start. I will resume my font creation next week.

Although this week has been devoted to research, I have decided to be very cautious in what content I base my designs on. I have refrained from viewing any current typography based around De Stijl to remove the risk of  subconsciously replicating the design. Instead I have based my visual research more on the actual products of the design movement such as the art and architecture. This I feel will help me achieve my goal by influencing me in the right way.

Checklist:

Get well

Get to know Illustrator software

Finish research and begin full alphabet