PPD

Typeface Evaluation




Which personality traits did you choose to respond to and apply to the typeface?

• Shy
• But loud and confident when she's around people she knows well.
• Strong character

Even before this interview was arranged I had noticed that Kirsty was quiet around new people yet confident and louder when around the people she got to know well. But as 

What are the reasons behind the design decisions you have made from the typeface?


I looked at all of Kirsty's adjectives I written down. Which were:

• Playful
• Shy
• Loud and confident when she's around people she knows well
• musical
• strong character.

And started to think what I could do visually to communicate all of these elements.

The first thing that came into my head when playful was mentioned were "fonts with swirls etcetc" and giving the typeface props such as silly hats etc. I wanted to get rid of those because I know the first idea that comes to mind is sometimes the most obvious. So I tried to think more subtle. The typeface I chose was HELVETICA, as its a strong font and can be easily manipulated. It also took care of the "Strong character" adjective especially when I made it bold. I actually started looking at the anatomy of the typeface and started curving some of the descenders/ascenders to make it less "mechanical" I also started taking away elements of the typeface such as counters, bowls or sometimes even snapping bits off. This was to communicate "shy". Because it's like the font is "hiding" something. It started out okay but as I went through the letters of the alphabet it stopped working and the idea fell apart. So instead of hiding bits of the typeface I chose to have a "Half and half" approach. Eg. The bits I wanted to keep visible were filled in black and kept bold. Where as the shy and reserved side of her was faintly hinted at by using "whisper lines"


In what ways are the results effective? 


I think the logic behind the typeface was the strength. More so than the visuals of it.
My typeface works on a small scale but has hard readability when its viewed from far away.