Advanced Typography: Task 3 Type Exploration & Application

 

Advanced Typography 

17.06.2025 Week 8-13

Shiqing Li / 0366582 / Bachelor of Design (Honors) in Creative Media

Task 3 Type Exploration and Application / Taylor's University

Instruction:

1) Typographic Systems (1 Week

With the knowledge and experience gained in the exercises and tasks, with the accumulated knowledge from the lectures and your own reading (library books and online sources), with the experience gained in the different software covered in the programme thus far, synthesise and apply the learning in the tasks to be mentioned. Allow the knowledge gained to guide and inform your decisions for the effective execution of your final

task.

Explore the use of an existing letterform in an area of interest, understand its existing relationship, identify areas that could be improved upon, explore possible solutions or combinations that may add value to the existing letterform / lettering. 

End result: a complete generated font (.ttf) with applications.

The end outcome could be a designed font and its application in the form or format that it is intending to provide a solution to, or a designed font that adds value to an existing use, or an experimentative output that results in something novel and unique. The work can manifest into any kind of format related to the issue being solved or explored or experimented: animation, 3d, print, ambient, projection, movie title or game title, music

video, use of different material etc.

Idea Presentation Slide:

Click Here

In Week 8, we were asked to come up with three ideas for Task 3 and present them in a slide. At the time, I was only able to develop two ideas. Here's the ideas I came up with:

Idea 1

Fig 1.1, Task 3 Idea 1 Slide, Week 8

This idea focuses on redesigning Thatgamecompany's logo to better match the emotional, artistic, and peaceful qualities found in their games like Journey, Flow, and Sky. The goal is to create a logo that visually reflects the studio's unique, dreamlike style.

Idea 2

Fig 1.2 Task 3 Idea 2 Slide, Week 8

This idea focuses on font design for a fireworks company based on the font design on perious subject, Typography's Task 3. The goal is to make the typeface feel more unique and expressive, associated with fireworks.

The design direction was first to make a wide extended font, but later it failed cause it requires two fonts. This style conveys energy, celebration that reflect the company's brand. 

Perious work of Typography Task 3:

Fig 2 Perious task 3, Week 8

The font designed for perious Task 3 Typography is inspired by the explosive energy of fireworks. Each letter features sharp spikes that can be seen as bursts or explosions, giving the typeface a intresting effect. But thin structure of the letters make the words slightly difficult to read. 

Process:

The first step I took was to review my font and look for areas of improvement. I noticed that many small details hadn't been refined, so I started by removing the spikes above the numbers. Then, I realized that the spikes could appear on just one side of the letters instead of both. This change made the font look cleaner and less visually overwhelming. Since the font is intended for branding, a more simplified look should be a better option.

Fig 3.1 Perious task 3 Example. Week 9

Fig 3.1.1Task 3 Font Example, Week 9

I also thickened the parts of the font that include the zig-zap lines, and also make the horizontal strokes thinner to create comparism. The vertical lines on the right side were left unchanged. These contrasts makes the font more distinctive and unique, calling back at the original idea.

Fig 3.1.2 Introduce to curves example,  Week 9

Next, I realized that using only straight lines made it difficult to distinguish between certain letters that look alike. After consulting with lecturer, I decided to add in curved lines to improve readability.

Fig 3.1.3 Introduce to Diogonal lines example,  Week 9

After that, I found it difficult to design certain letters like R, X, and V without using diagonal lines. Since I couldn't find suitable alternatives, I decided to introduce diagonal strokes into the design.

Fig 3.2.1 Adobe Illstrator design,  Week 10

After finishing the capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and basic symbols, I decided to upload the font into FontForge to test how it looks and functions.

Fig 3.2.1 FontForge upload Trial,  Week 10

To my surprise, FontForge turned out  to be very difficult to use, it also caused issues on my device. After uploading all the characters, the program crashed and wouldn't open again, making it impossible to export the font. After several hours of struggling, I decided to give up on using FontForge.

Fig 3.2.2 BirdFont upload Trial,  Week 11

After a long time research, I found another software that is much easier to use than FontForge,  BirdFont. It's simple and beginner-friendly. One of the few nagative points is that it has too many same characters, some of it looks exactly the same. Also, when copying fonts from Illustrator, they will become extremely large. But still, as a free tool, it works much better overall.

Fig 3.2.3 BirdFont upload,  Week 11

After uploading, I realized there are no enough characters, so I went back to illustrator and added more.

Fig 3.2.4 Add on Illustrator,  Week 12

Fig 3.2.5 BirdFont Upload Final,  Week 12

After completing all the characters, the next important step was adjusting the kerning（the spacing between individual letters). Although the font design itself was finished, I noticed that when the letters were typed together, the spacing didn't feel natural. Some letters appeared too far apart, while others were awkwardly close, which affected the overall readability and aesthetic of the typeface.

Fig 3.3.1 Kerning (without),  Week 12

Next, I made adjusting the content. Making improvements based on feedback and further polishing the details to enhance the overall quality and functionality.

Fig 3.3.2 Kerning (within),  Week 12

Fig 3.3.3 Kerning (within),  Week 12

Fig 3.3.4 Kerning (within),  Week 12

Fig 3.3.5 Kerning (within),  Week 12

After that, the font was finally complete.

Download link:

Click Here

Click the link above to download the final font file (.ttf). It includes both Mac and Windows.

BirdFont screen grab：

Fig 4.1 BirdFont Screen grab,  Week 12

Five font presentations:

First of all I decide on the color palette. The selected color palette consists of #FEF9E1, #E5D0AC, #A31D1D, and #6D2323. It balances soft, warm tones with deep reds, highlighting  a festive and energetic atmosphere. It's suitable fireworks-themed typeface.

Fig 5.1 Color palette,  Week 13

Fig 5.2 Presentation Image Background,  Week 13

This is the background image edited in Photoshop, without the font applied yet. It serves as the base visual for the presentation.

Fig 5.3 Font Presentation,  Week 13

This is the final composition with my custom-designed font added onto the background, showing the complete visual outcome.

Five font applications:

Fig 6 Font Applications,  Week 13

Final Outcome:

Fig 7.1 Font Presentation,  Week 13

Fig 7.2 Font Presentation,  Week 13

Fig 7.3 Font Presentation,  Week 13

Fig 7.4 Font Presentation,  Week 13

Fig 7.5 Font Presentation,  Week 13

Fig 8.1 Font Application,  Week 13

Fig 8.2 Font Application,  Week 13

Fig 8.3 Font Application,  Week 13

Fig 8.4 Font Application,  Week 13

Fig 8.5 Font Application,  Week 13

Font presentation & application PDF:

Fig 7.1 Font Presentation PDF,  Week 13

Fig 7.2 Font Applications PDF,  Week 13

Weekly Progress:

In Week 10, Sir introduced Task 3 and instructed us to present our ideas in slide format. He said the ideas should be specific. He also shows his preference for Wide-Extended font.  Week 11, we received feedback on Task 3, Sir asked us to focuse on font choices. For specific feedback, sir suggested that my fonts can introduce curves to make it clear, he also pointed out that the Wide-Extended font actually includes two styles: one is "Wide-Extended" and another as a normal version. In Week 12, final feedback on Task 3 was provided to help us refine our work. By Week 13, sir said we have to completing Task 3 quickly and beginning Task 4.

Reflection:

Experience  

Working on this project really brought everything I've learned together, from lectures, tasks, and software practice. I chose an existing font that I found interesting and started exploring how it could be improved. At first, I was just focused on cleaning and adjusting shapes, but as I went deeper, I began to understand how each decision I made could change the feeling of the entire font. Using FontForge was challenging at times, especially when it crashed or got stuck, but it also gave me full control over the design. Creating a complete .ttf file and seeing it applied in context felt incredibly satisfying, like all the effort had finally come together into something real. 

Observations  

I noticed how even subtle adjustments, like softening a curve or tweaking the spacing — had a big impact on the personality and readability of the letters. I also saw that not all glyphs need the same kind of attention; some were already strong, while others needed a lot of work to match the overall tone. The technical side of font-making can be frustrating, especially when the software behaves unpredictably, but it taught me to be more precise and patient. I also started noticing fonts more in everyday life, in ads, games, websites,  and how each one shapes the mood of what it's attached to.

Findings  

In the end, I learned that designing a font isn't just about how it looks, it's about how it works and feels in context. It needs to have consistency, clarity, and character. I discovered that I enjoy finding that balance between functionality and style, and that good typography is often invisible when it's done right. This task helped me connect everything I've learned so far and gave me a clearer understanding of what makes type design both technical and creative. Most importantly, it gave me confidence to experiment, explore, and trust my instincts.