Labels

ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHY - TASK 3: TYPE EXPLORATION & APPLICATION

19/11/25 - 12/12/25 (Week 9 - Week 12)

Nicole Ng Ying Yan  0382412

GCD61004 Advanced Typography

Task 3: Type Exploration & Application 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

    4.1 Research
    4.2 Ideation
    4.3 FontLab
    5.1 Research
    5.2 Ideation

1.0 LECTURES

View Lecture 1 - 4 HERE

View Lecture 5 HERE

⌅

2.0 INSTRUCTIONS

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W3icNMeDtZl-OvJc_rUkEypHNcbTzntR/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

⌅

3.0 PROPOSAL 

For Task 3, we were instructed to create a font based on the three options given: 
  • Create a font that is intended to solve a larger problem/ part of a solution in the area of your interest.
  • Explore existing letterforms in an area of interest.
  • Experimental design
Fig. 1.0 Task 3 Proposal Slides (Week 9, 19/11/25)

⌅

4.0 PROCESS WORK: FONT CONSTRUCTION

4.1 Research

After showing Mr. Vinod my proposal slides, he said I can proceed with expanding my word mark from Task 2. I went on Pinterest to get inspiration of font styles that look familiar.

Fig. 2.0 Task 2 Word Mark Design (Week 9, 20/11/25)


Fig. 2.1 Task 3 Inspiration for Font Expansion (Week 9, 20/11/25)

4.2 Ideation

1st Attempt of Uppercase

Mr. Vinod initially approved all the letters, but the more I look at it I felt that some letters didn't match well with each other so I revised some letters again in the 2nd attempt.

Fig. 2.2 Uppercase 1st Attempt (Week 10, 26/11/25)

2nd Attempt of Uppercase
The process of constructing for all the letters is the same as how I constructed my NIKO word mark. Letters are created by merging shapes with rounded line strokes using Exclude - Pathfinder. The sharp edges are rounded with corner rounding.

Letters revised: A, E, F, S, Y, Z
Fig. 2.3 Revised Uppercase Letters (Week 10, 26/11/25)

Outline View of Uppercase Letters (In Process)

Below is the outline view of the uppercase letters' construction.

Fig. 2.4 Outline View of Uppercase (Week 10, 26/11/25)

Finalised Uppercase Letters

Below is the final outcome of uppercase letters:

Fig. 2.5 Finalised Uppercase Letters (Week 10, 26/11/25)
1st Attempt of Lowercase

For my lowercase, I decided to design a simpler version, most of the letters are scaled down from the uppercase letters.

Fig. 2.5 Lowercase 1st attempt (Week 11, 3/12/25)

2nd Attempt of Lowercase - After Week 12 feedback session (1st round)

After Mr. Vinod's feedback, the width of the strokes are not the same as the uppercase letters. The circumference of i and j's dot should be larger than the stroke width. Hence, I resized the stroke widths for some the letters, expand the width for letters without straight strokes, and also reduced the height of ascenders as they went over the cap height.

Fig. 2.6 Lowercase 1st revision (Week 12, 10/12/25)

3rd Attempt of Lowercase - After Week 12 feedback session (2nd round)

Mr. Vinod said the letters looked fine, but gave a design suggestion for the ink trap of the letters for a, b, d, p, q if I wanted to change it. The width of the ink trap becomes slightly narrower and for letter a, the stroke is merged together with the circle shape. After adjusting the ink trap, keep the stroke width the same as the uppercase letters for letters with ascenders and descenders.
I did the same revision for the other letters, including letter n, r & u to ensure consistency.

Fig. 2.7 Before & after revision (Week 12, 12/12/25)

He also suggested to reduce the arc of letter j by half.

Fig. 2.7.1 Letter j revision (Week 12, 12/12/25)

Outline View of Lowercase Letters (Complete)

Below is the outline view of the lowercase letters' construction.

Fig. 2.8 Outline View of Lowercase (Week 12, 12/12/25)

Finalised Lowercase Letters

Below is the final outcome of lowercase letters:

Fig. 2.9 Finalised Lowercase Letters (Week 12, 12/12/25)

Numerals and Punctuations

Most of them were approved, except for @ and ?. He also said to adjust the period and comma accordingly after making changes to letter i.

@ - Change the square shape to a circle. 

? - Invert the upper part of letter S and add a stroke, enlarge the dot as well.
Fig. 3.0 @ Before & After (Week 12, 12/12/25)

Fig. 3.1 ? Before & After (Week 12, 12/12/25)

Finalised Numerals & Punctuations

Fig. 3.1.2 Finalised Numerals & Punctuations (Week 12, 12/12/25)

4.3 FontLab

FontLab Process

I imported all my letters into FontLab. I adjusted the side bearings according to the guide Mr. Vinod provided and did individual kernings as well. After the feedback sessions, Mr. Vinod said to not do individual kerning for all the letters, just for the problematic ones such as B, C, K, L, O, P, Q, T, V, X.

Fig. 3.2 Importing letters into FontLab (Week 12, 13/12/25)

Fig. 3.2.1 Side bearings and kerning metrics (Week 12, 13/12/25)

Fig. 3.2.2 FontLab Screen Grab (Week 12, 13/12/25) 

4.4 Final Outcome of Font — NOMAD

Font Name: NOMAD
Download Font - CLICK HERE

 
  Fig. 3.3 Final Outcome of Letterforms (PDF) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

⌅

5.0 PROCESS WORK: FONT PRESENTATION & FONT APPLICATION

5.1 Research

Inspiration taken from Pinterest.


Fig. 4.0 Colour Palette Exploration (Week 13, 14/12/25) 

5.2 Ideation

Colour Palette Exploration

Fig. 4.1 Colour Palette Exploration (Week 13, 14/12/25) 

Chosen Colour Palette
Fig. 4.1.2 Chosen Colour Palette (Week 13, 14/12/25) 

Process Work for Font Presentation

I tried different styles and layout to see which worked best and changed my colour palette along the way.

Fig. 4.2 Font Presentation Design Process (Week 13, 14/12/25) 

Process Work for Font Application

Here are the assets I made for my font application. For font application #1, I made a 3D version to show more variety on how the font can be modified instead of just a flat image. The effect was made using the Extrude and Bevel effect, I also added a slight inflation effect and lighting adjustment, then rendered it with Ray Tracing.
Fig. 4.2.1 Assets for Font Application (Week 13, 14/12/25)

I listed a few ideas and went to find suitable mockups to apply my font in Photoshop. The best way to utilise NOMAD is to use it as display font with short words. It is most suitable for branding, advertising, logo marks, social media posts; anything that requires a bold fat face style. 

Fig. 4.2.2 List of Possible Mockup Ideas (Week 13, 14/12/25)

With the thought on the font's intention, my final chosen mockups are:
  • Website Landing Page
  • Poster
  • Smart Watch
  • Deodorant Packaging
  • Street Billboard Sign
My initial font application #2 was a box packaging, but Mr. Vinod said it could be better and preferred my typeface to be layered on top of an image like how I did in font application #5, so I changed it to a poster which aligns more directly with the purpose of this font.

Fig. 4.2.2 Initial Font Application #2 (Week 15, 16/12/25) 

The image used was taken from Pinterest. I first removed the background from the original image, and use the select and mask tool to do more detailed masking. Then I added a blue coloured layer using the Colour Dodge blending option and decreased its opacity for the masked layer only. 

The heading is placed behind the masked layer with the phone slightly covering the text so that they are not just 2 separate elements floating around. I added another blue coloured layer with the Soft Light blending option on top of everything so that there is a blue tint "locking" all the elements together. Lastly, I added a texture layer to finish it off.
Fig. 4.2.3 Poster Editing Process in Photoshop (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

5.3 Final Outcome of Font Presentation

Fig. 4.3 Font Presentation #1 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 4.3.1 Font Presentation #2 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 
Fig. 4.3.2 Font Presentation #3 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 4.3.3 Font Presentation #4 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 4.3.4 Font Presentation #5 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 4.3.5 Font Presentation (PDF) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

5.4 Final Outcome of Font Application

Fig. 4.4 Font Application #1 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 4.4.1 Font Application #2 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 4.4.2 Font Application #3 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 
Fig. 4.4.3 Font Application #4 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 4.4.4 Font Application #5 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 
Fig. 4.4.5 Font Application (PDF) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

⌅

6.0 TASK 3 FINAL OUTCOME COMPILATION

NOMAD Font Download Link:

Fig. 5.0 Final Outcome of Letterforms (Week 13, 16/12/25) 
Fig. 5.1 FontLab Screen Grab (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 
Fig. 5.1.1 Font Presentation #1 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.1.2 Font Presentation #2 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 
Fig. 5.1.3 Font Presentation #3 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.1.4 Font Presentation #4 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.1.5 Font Presentation #5 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.1.6 Font Presentation (PDF) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.2 Font Application #1 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.2.1 Font Application #2 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.2.2 Font Application #3 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 
Fig. 5.2.3 Font Application #4 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.2.4 Font Application #5 (JPEG) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

Fig. 5.2.5 Font Application (PDF) (Week 13, 16/12/25) 

⌅

7.0 FONT TESTER

⌅

8.0 FEEDBACK

Week 9
General Feedback: Complete all uppercase letters.
Specific Feedback: The expansion of my word mark from Task 2 is approved.

Week 10
General Feedback: Complete lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuations. Rewatch the videos provided on how to design punctuations.

Specific Feedback: Choose the rounded corners for letter "S".

Week 11
General feedback: Watch the videos provided to input the letterforms into FontLab.

Specific Feedback: Make number 7 slanted to decrease the counter space.

Week 12
General Feedback: Font presentation should focus on the font instead of graphics, graphic elements should not overshadow the font.

Specific Feedback: Strokes of lowercase letters should be the same as uppercase, redo ?, &, @ punctuations to make them more consistent. (1st round)

The ink trap for lowercase a, b, d, p, q should be wider. The arc of lowercase j should be reduced by half. Reduce the side bearings of uppercase O, side bearings for uppercase F, P, T can be adjusted accordingly. Comma can be extended a bit more. It is suggested to focus on uppercase letters for font presentation, don't need to showcase all letters. (2nd round)

⌅

7.0 REFLECTION

Experience

My brain was frying these past few weeks because this task was CHALLENGING. The hard part is to be able to stay in progress and not fall behind and it was sooo hectic. To be honest I was quite short on time for my font presentation and application as I had to make many changes to my font. Revising over and over again was not fun, no comment on readjusting the side bearings and kernings as well... But I did my best to deliver whatever I can, so it is what it is :D Nevertheless, it was still a fun and fulfilling experience. This is the unofficial final task for this subject and it's actually kinda bittersweet because I really enjoyed this module. I hope I can bring all the knowledge I've learnt in this module and apply it to other design subjects.

Observations
I feel like I've written the same observation for every task, but every single time I can't stop stressing about attention to details. I had to make many revisions to my font as there were tiny details to be changed that I missed. So all in all, the devil is in the details man :}}

Findings

As I'm designing a more simple font in general, the easier it is to notice any flaws in it. As Mr. Vinod said, simple is not easy. To perfect it takes a lot of effort and (again) attention to details to make it so simple that although the users don't see anything too striking, they can't find any flaws as well.

⌅

8.0 FURTHER READING

Kura: Crafting Comfort in Structured Letterforms by Feilycia Joy

Fig. 6.0 Kura: Crafting Comfort in Structured Letterforms

During the feedback session, Mr. Vinod recommended me to read up articles written by seniors on how they execute this task on KreatifBeats. After reading this article, I got some inspiration and ideas on how I should design my font presentation and application.

This article mainly shows the process of why and how she created her letterforms, and how this project taught her how personality translates into type, creating a font that is substantial and approachable.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts