Here is a list of the areas i have been exploring since last week.
Fonts/Typography:
At last weeks session we got set the tasks of looking into fonts and typography and selecting 5 fonts to use within our designs. The first thing i did was make a rough mock up of a poster and try and think of all the different uses that could crop up for fonts within my design. i thought organising it this way as opposed to just jumping in and looking at the (literally) thousands of fonts available would help keep me focused and avoid confusion in the long run. from this i found they could be up to 6 different fonts in use within my poster so i have been looking at refining my use of them so it wont look too busy. the main font’s i was interesting in finding where for the company logo(s), the product name, the main body of text (product information, tag-lines etc.) and a Japanese font (preferably hiragana). then for each of these different uses i made a brief checklist of style and feelings that i required from each font like so:
Company logo:
For this font i wanted some thing quite original and eye catching. Other criteria to meet where that it had to fit the company image which it quite cute and childish in a very stylish way. so after taking all this into account i decided on trying to find a rounded font that is striking, modern, easy to read, unique and wont detract from the focal point (which will be product name and the images). From this i looked at several different fonts:
Snow dream – Kawaii Kiken Na
I found this font while looking for Japanese fonts at a Japanese designer font foundry (i didn’t even know there was such a thing as a font foundry!) called Grey Graphics. i think this font fills my criteria well, its modern, stylish and with some serif so should be easy to read in sentences.
Vitamin outlined – Kawaii kiken na
i found this font at 1001 fonts in the comic section (it came as vitamin 2). this was another font i thought could work well as it’s quite fun and stylised but maybe to much for the purpose at hand and may detract attention from elsewhere on the poster and it has no upper/lower case variation so I’ve put it on hold for the time being.
Bubblegums – Kawaii kiken NA
this is another font i found at 1001 fonts. this again could be used for the log/text quite effectively but i feel it isn’t quite right for the task as it could detract from the main focal point of the poster. also this font doesn’t have any upper/lower case variation which could make it restrictive.
Product name:
The text for the product name has to be bold, eye-catching, be unique, standout and have some visual reference to the product/theme. As the theme’s I’m looking at are horror based (the taxiderm’s or yôkai the latter being the one I’m leaning towards now as it has more scope for development) i wanted something quite sinister (so jagged shapes and lines may work well) yet innocent is some way as to not loose the cute factor in the toys.
Chankenstein
taxiderms/yokai
this was another font i found at 1001 fonts. this font would work well i think if i was doing the taxiderms idea but as I’m steering away from that now it is a bit redundant as it doesn’t fit in with the yôkai’s.
DiediEdie – taxiderms/yokai
yet another font from 1001 fonts (good resource). i liked this font as it has a good sinister edge to it like it could be scratched on a wall by an axe man or just as easily be scrawled by an infant. i think it would work well for the yokai idea.
Riot act
yokai taxiderms
This font is great (also from 1001 fonts) its very unique and fun with quite a twisted look unfortunately it won’t work with my brief. but would’ve been good for something else
Main body of text:
for this i need a simple, legible text maybe in a comic style with sans. i haven’t really found a suitable one for this yet.
Japanese font:
Finding interestingJapanese fonts was hard (most western sites have Japanese style but not true Japanese and Japanese sites are difficult at best to navigate with the language barrier.). in the end by luck i stumbled across a blog about Japanese culture and design (found here) that had links to some interesting sites. I selected some useful ones from grey graphics and gau+.
t0e g:y u clipper
t0e g:y u lovely capsules
t0e g:y u mike
Tutorials:
i have watched all the tutorials listed for our homework on the vtc website through matalib. I found a lot of interesting ideas especially on the type and drawing sections (i think the vector drawing tools could come in very handy with my project). I also watched a few other video’s on type in the photoshop advances artistry section that explained about how fonts work (serif is good for lots of text as it helps guide the eye, sans serif is good for headers and contrast etc) which i found very useful.
Japanese culture:
i have also been researching about japan’s wildlife specifically any iconic animals that i could base designs on. while researching this topic through google i came across an interesting folklore tale from japan about the yôkai. The yokai can have both human and animal features (which ties in beautifully with the anthropomorphic theme) and are described as being mischievous (a word which conjures up images of naughty children rather than evil demons). From this i discovered they have animals they are normally associated with which i have picked out four to base my figures on these are: The red fox, the badger, the raccoon dog, and the macaque (a red faced monkey exclusive to japan). The yokai also are intrigued by humans so try and disguise them selves to fit in and find out more. i think this idea could be Incorporated into the design of my figures through the themes (UK, japan etc.). i have started drawing rough sketches of the characters in my sketch book.
