Brief: Alphabet Soup part 2- Evaluation

Which personality traits did you choose to respond to and apply the typeface?
I chose to respond to the treasured possession question from the interview, Steph's answer being precious jewelry and also her fear of being alone. These two particular responses led me to produce a small list of four words on which to base the font: Playful, Contemporary, Decorative and Sentimental.

What are the reasons behind the design decisions you have made for the typeface?
The precious jewelry led me to go for a decorative approach to the letterforms and the results of the group crit encouraged me to create unique, individual characters rather than a font in which each letterform followed a particular rule or pattern.

In what ways are the results effective?
The typeface i feel explicitly communicates the theme of jewelry but it works much better at close range rather than from a distance. There are aspects of the letterforms i like and don't like and i will take time now to strip back the typeface and look at the key elements of the characters and see what can be altered in order to present it more purely as a typeface rather than an image.

Brief: Alphabet Soup Part 2 Crit

How are the four words selected to represent the typeface being explored?
Decorative- Individual embelishments unique to each letterform.
Sentimental- Illustrations taken initially from jewellery precious to the partner im working with.
Playful- Informal, experimental drawings laid onto the letterforms.
Contemporay- Based on a modern, contemporay typeface.

Why is the exsisting typeface that has been selected to manipulate an inappropriate/ appropriate choice?
The typeface i selected was RNS Camelia. Its delicate and contemporay and lends itself well to the jewellery theme. It should also be easily manipulated and easy to decorate and exaggerate.

What are the reasons behind the design decisions you have made for the typeface so far?
It has been based around the what is your treasured possesion question from the interview where the answer was jewellery. I have also chosen the RNS Camelia font to base mine upon as its qualities lend itself well to the theme of the project.

Other issues raised?
Individual designs should be applied to all letterforms.
Take illustrations from wide variety of jewellery.
Small accents of colour to mirror small jewels for example but keep mostly to black and white.

Brief: Alphabet Soup Part 1 Evaluation by Hazel

What is being communicated and how?
The word extend is being communicated through shadow letterforms.

How well does this answer the brief?
I wouldn't initially think 'extend' when i first saw the piece but i can definately see how it works. Shadows do extend depending on the position of the light source and so i can understand where Jonny is coming from and i do think it answers the brief when with the supporting word.


How well has the idea been visually explored?
The sketchbook shows a great deal of exploration and development, but i think some of the examples represent 'extend' better than some of the letterforms in the final piece.

What are the strengths of the resolution?
A main strength is the simplicity. I think it works well and does represent an extension of the letters from solid objects to projected shadows and makes the resolution interesting.

How could it be improved?
Maybe if the shadows were more extended, like you would find when the sun is low in the sky. There are some in the sketchbook which work really well and seem to be more obviously extended.