I learned hot to properly create the layout of a book, with various typefaces and different settings.

• What was easy?

I had an idea of the design I wanted to use originally. I wanted to make the book a “vaporwave” theme, but the more I looked into it and tested various things, the more I realized a better theme was “nostalgia”. This became the basis of almost everything I did.

• What was challenging?

I wouldn’t say the project was challenging. I had a clear view of what I wanted from beginning to end. The hardest parts were probably the layouts themselves, trying to fit everything properly. Once I had it, I was able to focus on the design aspect of my project.

• How could your submission be improved?

Normally my ambitions get the better of me, and I end up turning in a product that I’m not completely happy with. This time it’s the opposite. I did everything I personally wanted to do. I don’t feel as if I need to improve much, however others may feel differently.

• How can the professor improve the assignment in the future?

I don’t see much room for improvement. I would personally get rid of the printing aspect, as I don’t feel it adds much.

• How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

Being able to use Indesign properly will definitely help the organization of my future assignments. Indesign is not a program I have worked with very much in the past, but I now see it’s usefulness.

I learned about the history of Dada, De Stijl, and general artistic avant-garde movements. I also learned about typefaces relating to the period, and the creation of posters based in this strange area.

2. What was easy?

Picking the topic. I’ve always been a fan of the Dada movement because of it’s absurdity. When I saw it was one of the options available, I was very excited to get to research and work on a poster based on the movement.

3. What was challenging?

I had a lot of trouble figuring out what I wanted to do with the poster. While avant-garde was my main focus, truthfully I was more interested in the Dada movement then I was the De Stijl. I wanted to design a wacky poster that looked so strange it would surely catch the attention of those who walked by. I also had to incorporate De Stijl styled elements, which became the basis of the poster somehow. I guess it just worked out that way better, but I would’ve preferred to base it in Dada elements with touches of De Stijl.

4. How could your submission be improved?

I don’t think I was successful in a 50/50 blend of Dada and De Stijl that I had hoped. I resorted to strange pictures in an effort to make the poster feel strange, but also have that Dada feel to it. I couldn’t overlap words as I wanted to, because it made the poster unreadable.

5. How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class?

I don’t think there’s much to be improved upon. Personally, I’d get rid of the “era” of type requirement and only focus on a singular movement or font. I felt slightly forced to include De Stijl when I didn’t care for it too much.

6. How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

I can make wacky designs that stand out amongst the rest. While it may not look the best, if it captures attention, that’s all I need. That comes true for things such as advertisements.

I learned a bit more about words and how fonts can impact words. I also learned how to stylize words in a unique way.

• What was easy?

I had a vision of what I wanted out of the final poster from the start. I created the poster very close to what I had originally envisioned, even without knowing the final design of the lettering.

• What was challenging?

Coming up with a specific design that represented the show. I had a cool idea based on one of the main character’s abilities in the show, but it didn’t fit the idea of the project well enough. I then created one I felt represented the show while also fitting the project.

• How could your submission be improved?

This is one of the few projects where everything came out as I had wanted. There is likely room for improvement, but I’m very happy with the end result.

• How can the professor improve the assignment in the future?

This project went by fairly quickly. I would’ve liked an extra day to refine some work.

• How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

Understanding how a font doesn’t have to say everything in text. The design can say just as much as the font, if not more. Understanding that and using that for future scenarios will help me in the future.

Serif/Roman

Serif is a font known for finishing it’s letters with short dashes to give it some flair. The Roman font also does this, takes inspiration from the early renaissance and old Roman typography.

Historical/Celtic

Historical/celtic fonts are best known for their large capital letters. They are also known for their very decorative lettering, even more than the quick dashes of a serif font.

Script

Script fonts are known for looking similar to handwriting. They are modern and elegant.

Sans-serif/Block

Sans serif fonts are known for their lack of fanciness. They don’t have anything extra. They are bold and straight to the point. Block letters tend to be even bolder, with all of their letters resembling capitals.

Blackletter/Old-English

Blackletter/Old-English fonts have a very old look to them, dating back to 1150 a.d. This style became popular because it was the font used by the Gutenberg Bible.

I learned how to create a font, what goes into a font, and how to make a modular typeface.

2. What was easy?

While I’ve never thought much about fonts, as I was viewing various fonts and watching the Helvetica movie, I noticed that every specific font had an edge in some location. I decided then my typeface would attempt to go with as little edges as possible.

3. What was challenging?

Executing my idea. I wanted to use fontstruct originally, but it lacked some of the things I wanted to create a font with. So instead I moved to figma, which had a good enough mixture of the tools I needed. While I had envisioned this being a sans serif font, it was clear to me as I was working in figma that it was more of a script font. Using pixels to create a font with minimal lines wasn’t possible, so I embraced the style of the font more than the concept. This got me very far, and eventually my entire project was done in this tedious, yet rewarding style.

The tedious, yet rewarding process of using the pencil and pen tool to create layouts for my type. I would then choose pixels to fill in based on how much of the pixels were filled in by the pen.

4. How could your submission be improved?

I’m not sure figma was the best platform to create my font on. I had experimented with each platform and found that figma seemed the most natural for my idea. When I eventually changed my idea, I realized Adobe Illustrator likely would’ve been a lot faster, and could also be done neater.

5. How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class?

Despite the fact that I used figma, I’m not sure if figma is the best website to construct a font on. Fontstruct is made for fonts, and Illustrator has everything figma does, but you need to pay for it if you wish to work on it at home. It was ultimately the paywall that led me to Illustrator. If there was more time given to the assignment, I could’ve made better work, and I could probably spend the extra time getting things done in Illustrator.

6. How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

Because of my specific font, I was heavily focusing on style. I feel like this has allowed me to understand the style of fonts better. Hopefully this knowledge of style will help me pair proper fonts to designs in the future.

Poster. I would’ve removed the boxes if I knew how, but I don’t mind it too much. It gives a unique perspective into how I made this modular font.