Advanced Typography - Task 3: Type Exploration & Application

13/05/2025 - 14/07/2025 (Week 8 – Week 13)

 Yong Sun Lu / 0376945 

Typography / Creative Media / School of design 

Task 2 / Keywork and Collateral

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. Instructions 

2. Task 3- Type Exploration & Application 

• Part 1 - Ideation & Creation
• Part 2 - Font Presentation 
• Part 3 - Font Application 

3. All Final Compilation 

4. Feedback 

5. Reflection 

6. Further Reading

INSTRUCTIONS

Font Proposal

For this task the lecturer asked us to create a font by choosing one of the theme shown below:

• Create a font that addresses a broader problem or acts as part of a solution within your area of interest.
• Explore existing letterforms related to your chosen area.
• Develop an experimental type design.

After choosing one, we were also tasked to make a proposal via slides.

Final Project Ideas Yong Sun Lu 0376945.pptx by YONG SUN LU

Part 1: Ideation & Creation

My idea for this task is to create something game-based, future-like, and techy so i surfed the internet (specifically Pinterest).

References

After searching on Pinterest and other sources eventually i found some interesting ones that i can use on my font creation.

Fig 1.1 Research/ References, Week 9 (17/06/2025).Jpeg

Sketch and Digitization

Fig 1.2 Sketch and Digitization Week 9 (17/06/2025).Jpeg

This was my first initial sketch for the font that i was going to make but when i asked my friends about it, they told me its just okay and there is really nothing special about it.

Fig 1.3 Sketch and Digitization Week 9 (17/06/2025).Jpeg

This was my 2nd idea and the lecturer and my friends just straight up said "No".

Fig 1.4 Sketch and Digitization Week 9 (17/06/2025).Jpeg

This is my 3rd one and this is also the one that they said its unique and more game-like.

Fig 1.5 Sketch and Digitization Week 9 (17/06/2025).Jpeg

Since my font only works in uppercase letters, i don't have any major issues in doing this because i got the general idea in my head.

Fig 1.4 Sketch and Digitization Week 9 (17/06/2025).Jpeg

Same goes for the numerals and punctuations.

Fontlab

After refining and finishing the rest of the letter marks i went to fontlab and import each and every letters, numerals and punctuations to the software.

Fig 2.1 Fontlab Week 11 (05/07/2025).Jpeg

Importing everything into the software was an easy task, all i got to do is fix some of the kerning(following Mr. Vinod's guides) refine more of the letters and i am all set.

Fig 2.2 Kerning guide Week 11 (05/07/2025).Jpeg

Process Kerning

For kerning, I followed the data list provided by Sir Vinod, kerning each letter form. While kerning, I encountered some difficulty determining the spacing. For example, below, I kerned the letter "B."

Fig 2.3 Kerning guide Week 11 (05/07/2025).Jpeg

Part 2: Font Presentation

Completing the Fontlab and import it to my computer, i started working on my font presentation without having any fixed color palette so i just use multiple.

Process

I created a font presentation in AI. First, I created a font layout. I tried the layout several times and finally settled on the font layout.

Fig 3.1. Poster Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig 3.2. Process Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig 3.3. 5 Posters Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

Part 3: Font Application

For this task the lecturer asks us to head over to Honor website and make choose a theme (he suggested Standby as the theme) and make the designs based on what is in the theme.

4 Themes in the Standby selection:

• Clock Design
• Personalized Signature Design
• Overall Visual Design
• Animation Design

So for the background design i use After Effects pen tool to shape a crystal like background and added some effects (Deep glow, Starglow and Find edges) to enhance the visual.

Fig 3.4. Background making Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

After that i went over to the Honor website to download the template they have provide and assemble them together.

Fig 3.5. Assemble Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

With the clock standby done i continue my way to create the personalized signature design. I make a simple background and add the same effects i used for the clock standby.

Fig 3.6. Personalized Signature Background Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

And this is my overall background design.

Fig 3.7. Overall Background Design Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

Lastly for the animation design i just want to make a simple one where the personalized signature design pops up on top of the clock design. Masking it and animate it wasn't a big deal.

Fig 3.7. Animation Design Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

Mock up Designs

Since the main topic of my font is about games and merchandises, i decided to go with a poster and a phone case.

Fig 3.7. Mock up Finding Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

I went over to Pinterest and look up some mock up posters and phone cases that i can use and head over to Adobe Illustrator to create the mock ups. I also downloaded a picture of a shooting game character, deleted the background and slap it in the poster.

Fig 3.7. Mock up creating Week 12 (08/07/2025).Jpeg

Final Outcome Task 3

Click here to download font (For some unknown reason some of the numbers and punctuations are missing)

Fig. 4.1. Font Preview Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.2. Alphabets Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.3. Numerals Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.4. Punctuations Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.5. Font Presentation 1 Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.6. Font Presentation 2 Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.6. Font Presentation 3 Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.7. Font Presentation 4 Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.8. Font Presentation 5 Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.9. Font Presentation compiled Week 13 (14/07/2025).PDF

Fig. 4.10. Mock up 1 Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.11. Mock up 2 Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.12. Mock up compiled Week 13 (14/07/2025).PDF

Fig. 4.13. Clock design Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.14. Personalized signature design Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.14. Overall Background design Week 13 (14/07/2025).Jpeg

Fig. 4.15. Standby Animation Week 13 (14/07/2025).Mp4

Fig. 4.16. Standby compiled Week 13 (14/07/2025).PDF

FEEDBACK

Week 13: 

General Feedback: Mr. Vinod explained about the submission and address the issue with the Honor website.

Specific Feedback: He extended the deadline for the submission

Week 12:

General Feedback: He briefly explain more about the font application and font presentation.

Specific Feedback: He told me to finish up my font presentation

Week 11: 

General Feedback: the lecturer gave me some suggestion regarding one of the alphabets on my letter

Specific Feedback: You should fix the spacing on the "U"

Week 10: 

General Feedback: the lecturer  came up to me and ask me where i get the reference

Week 9: 

General Feedback: the lecturer viewed my slide and asked me which of the three i would pick

Specific Feedback: the lecturer asked me to think about my decision again because i was still confuse

Further Reading

Fig. 6.1. The Fundamentals of Typography, Gavin Ambrose

Em:

• A relative unit of measurement tied to the type size.

• Used for basic spacing and indents.

• Its size scales with the type size.

• Some characters (like %) can extend beyond their em, potentially causing spacing issues.

En:

• Half the width of an em.

• Used in certain punctuation and to denote ranges.

Ems, Ens & Hyphens:

• Em and en serve as measurement units for dashes.

• En = half an em, Hyphen = one-third of an em.

Word Space:

• Defined as a percentage of the em.

• Varies between fonts, with some being "tighter."

• Adjustable via hyphenation and justification settings.

Points & Picas: Measuring Type

• Points:

  • The basic unit for type size, measured from the height of the type block, not the letter itself.

  • 1 point = 1/72 inch or 0.35mm.

  • Even if typefaces have the same point size, their actual character heights can vary significantly due to design differences (like the "Brj" example at 72pt).

  • A piece of movable type's vertical size (the block) is the overall measurement of the typeface, not just the character height.

• Picas:

  • A unit for line measurement.

  • 1 pica = 12 points.

  • 6 picas (or 72 points) = 1 inch (25.4mm).

  • Both traditional and PostScript picas exist.

Typeface vs. Font: Essential Difference

While often used interchangeably in common parlance, "typeface" and "font" are distinct.

• A Typeface is the visual design of characters (letters, numbers, symbols). It's the style or design family you see—for example, Times New Roman or Arial. The typeface is the abstract concept of how the letters look.

• A Font is the physical or digital implementation of a typeface. It's the "tool" used to create the typeface. Examples include physical printing blocks, stencils, or digital files (e.g., Times New Roman Bold 12pt is a font).

Simply put: The Typeface is 'what' you see (the design), while the Font is 'how' it's made or represented. The font is the cookie cutter, and the typeface is the cookie produced.

REFLECTION

Experience: 

According to Task 3, I struggled a lot with a font that was inspired by Adventure Time. I did some research, but I was still uncertain on how to translate the visuals into letterforms. I leaned on my friends for their opinions frequently and got so much great feedback from them. I learned how to use different exploration methods and gain useful feedback through that process. This task was quite difficult, but it taught me more about communicating character and space through visual details like letters and shapes.

Observations: 

While I was developing my project, I often looked at how my friends developed their projects and also looked at a range of references to help develop my own design process, as I saw the different ways others approached their concepts, it ultimately provided me with new ideas and prompted me to think more about what I could do to improve my own designs. I found it interesting to have this view of so many different styles, techniques, and attitudes towards the task we were given. Looking at references also helped give me a fuller picture of how design principles operate and gave me confidence to experiment more. Generally speaking, it similarly helped to challenge my conceptually and creatively.

Findings:

In developing the font for Task 3, I understood that I was not simply developing a font for my final project, but developing a font that could create a broader understanding of universal ideas. I struggled initially, namely, in pulling references together into consistent letters. Through experimenting and sharing ideas and engaging discussion with friends, I began to create a font that made sense A) as looking good and B) to be functional and understood. Overall, I really enjoy the process of developing the font for both its process, and it has helped my development with dealing with problem solving particularly with revisions and technical concerns of letter design.