If the face fits (Part 1: Type specimen book) Mrs Eaves

6th May 2021Leave a comment

The last Serif typeface I chose was Mrs Eaves. I like the story behind this typeface and it also ties in nicely with Baskerville.

Mrs Eaves was designed in 2006 by Zuzana Licko in 1996. It is a variant of Baskerville. Baskerville is known for being absolutely perfect, stark and sometimes hard to read and Licko went out to create a version that was softer and more feminine in approach.

Mrs Eaves was named after Sarah Eaves; Baskervilles live in housekeeper who would later become his mistress and eventual wife. It was the story that drew me in to this typeface.. Sarah Eaves was John Baskervilles live in house keeper whose husband went on to leave her and her 5 children. Sarah in time became Baskervilles creative assistant and mistress and then when Sarah’s estranged husband died, they were married. Sarah Eaves was very much the woman forgotten in typography.

I wanted to bring an element of this story into the design; again, similar to Baskerville I had the idea to create a book design for the layout and tell the story of Mrs Eaves but then I saw that Mrs Eaves has the most beautiful ligatures and I wanted to do something with this. At college when I was 17 we had a project (similarly worded to this exercise actually!) called “create a type-FACE” or something similar where I had to create an actual face out of typefaces. I thought about creating a similar thing on my layout using just ligatures. I had the idea of a very feminine pattern and then possibly repeat printing it across the page. What I ended up with though was slightly different; I am a little bit disappointed because this is one of my least favourites looking back on it and it seemed to have so much more potential at the beginning but time was very much against me in this exercise.

I created a very similar layout to Baskerville as the 2 are related back to each other and then started messing around with the ligatures to make a feminine looking pattern. The pattern I created looks a bit like a Celtic cross, it reminds me of something that would appear in a stained glass window. It has a traditional yet modern feel to it. I tried to turn the opacity down on the design as I still think it looks a bit harsh but tuning it down just made it disappear into the backdrop.

Digital Development

The final layout

The final mockup

If the face fits(Part 1: Type Specimen book) Frutiger

6th May 2021Leave a comment

Following on from Univers, I chose to do another famous typeface by Adrian Frutiger.

Frutiger is a Sans-Serif and was designed to be legible at any size. It was originally commissioned by Roissy Airport in Paris, (Charles De Gaulle) when it was first built to design all the signage in the airport. The airport wanted a new directional sign system. It was going to be named “Roissy” in 1972 after its success but was then Frutiger was approached to make the typeface suitable for print and it was then named after the designer himself.

The way forward for this layout design seemed quite obvious; to base it around signage and CDG airport. The first idea I had was to make the layout look like a baggage tag or boarding pass with the barcodes and airport names etc.. taking a little bit of inspiration from my Casetify Pangram phone case… My idea was to scan some barcodes in and then create another “swiss grit” style design.

CASETiFY iPhone 12 Case - Pangram Custom by Pangram Pangram

I did ask my boyfriend if he had any boarding passes kicking around from his visit to Dubai a few years back (I haven’t travelled abroad in a few years now!) and he did have one boarding pass that I managed to take a QR code from and import into my design;

I also keep a bag full of different cardboard and paper textures and barcodes and anything interesting I could potentially use in my designs; I found a relevant barcode that I could use.

I felt like I needed some images of airport signage next. I did not want to take images from the internet because they would be very low resolution and would ruin my clean, legible design. The only way I could use airport images in my work was to import a web image of a sign and then trace around it in Illustrator to produce a high quality vector image. I did this for a plane and an arrow.

After I had collected these bits I decided to just take it straight into Adobe to try and make into a layout for the typeface. As you can see from the design development, It took me several attempts to get to the final piece! I had a lot of design elements to cram onto one page and I wanted to keep it as clean and as minimal as I could so it was a case of moving elements around the page to see what worked the best. I wanted the design to flow and to not be “too busy”. I think the version I decided on works the best.

Design Development – stages to the final design!

These are all the development stages I had to go through before I reached the final design.

If the face fits(Part 1: Type Specimen book) Helvetica

6th May 20216th May 2021Leave a comment

Pages 1-2: Helvetica (Sans-Serif)

When you think of Sans-Serif there is only one typeface that comes to mind immediately and that is Helvetica. Helvetica is possibly a designers all time favourite. It was designed in 1957 in a new world after the war where the need for function over beauty prevailed. There was a need for clarity, function, cleanliness and for text to be readable, legible and straight forward communicating. The mantra was “less is more” and “form follows function”. The focus became on the content rather than the design and any ornate detailing. The designs of the time were very mathematical; Designers of the time designed religiously around the grid. Bauhaus at the time was also a massive influence.

For this design I wanted to represent everything that this typeface stands for; minimalism, cleanliness, Swiss designed and legible. I started off by doing some intensive research into the typeface; I used Pinterest as I always do to look at lots of type specimen books that already exist for Helvetica. I watched the film Helvetica again, I bought a book all about the history of Helvetica.. I really went deep with the research!

I noticed that a lot of type specimen books use “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” to showcase their typefaces with the different styles/weights/widths etc.; I did not want to do that. It just did not fit in with the feel of the typeface at all! I was really making myself nervous about completing this double page layout for the fact that I wanted to do the typeface justice and didn’t want to design something awful. I decided to refresh myself on the typeface by re-watching the film “Helvetica” for some inspiration and ideas, It was from this that I got the idea to use one of the quotes from the film;

You can say, “I love you,” in Helvetica. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it’s really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work.
Massimo Vignelli

I decided it would be a good idea to use this on my main design to replace “The Quick Brown Fox”. I actually used Helvetica Extra Light and Extra Bold when I wrote the quote to show the different styles and weights of Helvetica on my type specimen page.

I used Red as the dominant colour and the red Swiss cross in my design to represent the origins of Helvetica.

I then started to lay everything out onto my pages and reorganise. I wanted a lot of negative space. It needed to be minimal and to not be ornate in any way.

Design Development – The stages of reaching my final design and layout!

I was really happy with how my final design and layout turned out and it was also well received on social media when I uploaded it to my college Instagram page!

Design 10/10: Mumbai

9th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Hello and thank you for joining me on the last of my 10 city guidebook designs! 10 of 10 – Mumbai!

This is it! The end of the infamously difficult Abstract Cities exercise! I won’t lie to you and say I am not happy to see the back of this exercise! BUT! moving on to the write up of my last design!

Again, my lack of geographical skills led me to question whether Mumbai was in Africa or India… India! (*eyeroll!) so I felt it best to do the normal and to search Pinterest for inspiration and ideas!

The most popular image that appeared was The Gateway to India. It reminded me a lot of the design that I had done for Marrakech, in my head I was conscious that I had to try and make this design look different.

Again, I tried to pick out important features from the building which I could include in an abstract way on my design. I didn’t want to draw the building as it is on the cover because that would not be portraying it in an abstract light. If I picked out key features and then simplified the design I could place key elements of the building on my cover.

The colours of Mumbai are very similar to that of Marrakech, India is very rich in colour. Purple is the best colour to represent wealth, richness and luxury. On the photo of The Gateway of India that I found on Pinterest, it showed water in the background inside the gateway. I had a look on an aerial photograph of this and it showed that the gateway is almost on water. I included this on the design going through the gateway as it appears on the photo but then travelling it across the cover to take the eye on a journey across the design. The yellow block represents the warm sun but also acts as the actual door or gateway. The 2 circles in my design appear on the photograph in the doorway, they are decorative on the actual gateway. I have taken them and split them up over the design to keep the eye interested in all areas of the design. There is a lot of negative space in this design which I like. The design is not constrained to the edges and it has plenty of room to breathe. The black squares which bleed out over the right hand side edge are windows that appear in one of the arched windows on the photograph. I have used them to add contrast and to give a level of interest to the design. The blue is the dominant colour in this design with the yellow following closely behind as a subordinate. The accent colour is the rich purple. The layout is the same as the other 9 designs I have done in this series. They are all in keeping with each other, the repetition is there.

This is the final mock up of Mumbai!

Design 9/10: Montreal

9th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Welcome to guidebook design 9 of 10 – Montreal!

When I think of Montreal I think of Canada and Canadian moose’s, Mounty’s and all things stereotypical!

Brushing my naive knowledge of Canada to one side I decided to do the usual search on Pinterest to get ideas and inspiration for this one!

What appeared and grabbed my attention more than most was the Habitat 67 development. This housing complex is abstract in itself! It met the brief and it seemed like the perfect choice to feature on my cover!

In March 2012, Habitat 67 won an online Lego Architecture poll and is a candidate to be added to the list of famous buildings that inspire a special replica Lego set. Lego bricks were actually used in the initial planning. Initial models of the project were built using Lego bricks and subsequent iterations were also built with Lego bricks.

I didn’t actually do a lot of sketching for this one because I knew I just wanted it to be comprised of blocks of colour to represent Habitat 67. I knew that I could develop it as I went along in Illustrator.

I started from the bottom of the design and added a pop of green for the accent colour which represents the tree at the bottom of the complex. I then wanted to work my way from the bottom left to the top right so that the eye flows naturally ad comfortably up and across the design. I wanted negative space so kept the bottom right free for this. I created several blocks of squares and rectangles with overlapping colours to best represent Habitat 67. I think this is the most abstract design in the 10 that I have done, it works put quite nicely because this is the city in my eyes with the most abstract landscape. I used different weights in the blocks and line to create a contrast. There is repetition in my design, I tried to replicate the appearance of each apartment of Habitat 67 as they appear in reality.

This is the final mock up!

Design 8/10: Melbourne

9th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Hello and thanks for meeting me here at city guidebook number 8 of 10- Melbourne!

When you imagine Melbourne you see sun, sea and surf! I found myself getting confused between Sydney and Melbourne though! :s Again, I did a search on Pinterest for ideas and inspiration.

What I noticed was a lot of photos with Pink hue skies. Pink is a colour I know I haven’t used much in my designs so far, so I decided to use Pink and make it a dominant colour in this design. Pink is modern, confident and warm so it would make it an ideal colour for this popular city. An iconic structure in Melbourne is the Princes bridge, it appeared in a lot of the photos on my search. Melbourne is a coastal city with a lot of landscape and structures but there is also a lot of green around the city. This is something else I would include!

Similar to my design that I did for Manchester, I didn’t want to draw the bridge looking exactly like a bridge.. I wanted to leave it open to interpretation and make sure that the abstract was present with it. I took a photo of the bridge and sketched it out above using only its simplest form. The bridge uses triangles as part of the design so I used this as the main frame for it.

This is the final mock up. I feel like this design is very balanced. The design has a centre point where everything comes together and then there is a lot of negative space and room for the design to breathe. This design allows the eye to travel from the bottom left to the top right. It flows naturally ad comfortably. As I said, I wanted to use Pink as the dominant colour. It is bright and modern and confidently portrays the atmosphere of Melbourne. To break the pink up I used a cool blue, this brings contrast between the 2 colours. A pop of green was used to represent the natural environment which does appear within the city itself. This I feel fights with the blue for attention but it is definitely the attention seeking accent colour of the design. The bridge itself is built from the triangles which appear on the real thing. It is seen to appear in the distance and then come closer to finish at the forefront of the design. It is the bridge in this design which perfectly balances this design. The eye flows comfortably across the design.

Design 7/10: Marseilles

9th Jan 20219th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Welcome along to city guidebook number 7! – Marseilles or Marseille ?……..

Marseilles or Marseille was the first question that I asked myself! I pondered at the fact that there might b a typo in the Core Concepts design book because everywhere I looked online it was saying “Marseille” however there is a French and an English version! Marseilles it is!

In my head Marseilles is one of them luxuriously warm places that celebs and people likewise might go and sunbathe their perfectly tanned and toned bodies on the front of a yacht! CORRECT! 😀 but in all seriousness I pictured a lot of blue skies and blue sea, yellow sunshine and boats and yachts everywhere. As usual I started looking for ideas and inspiration on Pinterest.

A lot of blue! The other thing I noticed was the port with the church on the hill in the background. I felt I could incorporate this into my design somewhere along the way.

When I look at my design I feel a warm and happy feeling which is perfect for the weather and general feel of Marseilles. The blue represents the blue sky and sea. I have used a block of blue on the bottom left again as with all the other design guidebooks. It makes sure it is in keeping with the rest of the series but it also represents the sea. The rectangular blocks which work their way up to the top of the left hand side represent the hill and the buildings leading up to the 2 grey rectangular blocks at the top which is the church on the hill. On the right side of the design is the yacht or sailing boat with the sail mast. I have used yellow as a warm colour to contrast against the blues and greys. Blue is the dominant colour closely followed by thee subordinates which I believe to be the greys and turquoise. The accent colours in this piece which contrast against the rest of the design is the yellow and the brown of the sail mast.

You might notice the typos between the 2! My confusion with Marseille vs Marseilles! This is the final mock up for Marseilles! I am pleased with how it has turned out – It has kept the abstract brief, is open to interpretation but I think portrays what Marseilles is all about! The colours are accurate and there are contrasting accent colours thrown in there to make the design interesting. The layout is the same as the rest of the guidebooks to keep it as part of a series.

Design 6/10: Marrakech

9th Jan 20219th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Hello and thank you for joining me here at guidebook design 6 of 10: Marrakech!

When I think of Marrakech I think of warm sunshine, a lot of warm colours – oranges, reds, yellows, terracotta… I think of souk markets and rich spices and rich, bright colours; purples, pinks..

I started off the same as usual by searching Pinterest for some inspiration. What I found matched the idea I had in my head. The colours were very warm. A lot of terracotta orange appears on the stonework of the buildings. The buildings all look like temples with the arched shapes doors and windows and the intricate patterned tiles and designs that feature on the buildings. I knew I wanted to include the arch designs and some of the intricate tile patterns. The buildings all look luxurious and rich. The ideal colour to represent this is purple.

The building that appeared the most was the above: Medersa Ben Youssef. This was a college but now acts as a historical site. I liked the symmetrical design, the arches and the intricately detailed tiles that appear on the walls. I knew that I would try and replicate this in an abstract style for my cover. I had the idea to include the arch into the design, a diamond pattern to represent the tiles and maybe some blocks to represent the water at the front of the building.

I overlapped 2 arch shapes with a different tint of terracotta. I chose a terracotta colour for the building to match what I found in my research findings. The arch designs also overlap the type on the left side which matches the rest of the designs for the other guidebooks I have done so far. Following the rule of 3 or thirds, I tried to split my cover into 3 again to get different design elements in each third. The 2 lines at the bottom represent the water at the front of the building and they also add some contrast against the warm colours. The diamond tile pattern I drew and split up across the negative space on the right side. I did not want to overwhelm the design and wanted to maintain as much negative space as I could. I have used purple to highlight wealth and luxury and a bright accent of yellow to again bring contrast but to also represent the bright colours that might appear on the buildings, the tiles, in the souk markets or in the spices. I think the eye flows naturally throughout this design with the diamond shapes adding a level of interest and also bringing the design to a close.

This is the final mock up for Marrakech. I am happy with it! It has kept the same layout as all the other guidebook designs I have done so far, it is keeping with the others and looks a part of the series. I have kept the abstract approach but again, it is open to interpretation but is obvious what it is portraying. The colours match what you would find in Marrakech but also contrast and work well together for the purpose of this brief. The terracotta is the dominant, the blue is the subordinate and the yellow adds a contrasting accent colour trying to fight with the blue for attention.

Design 5/10: Manhattan

9th Jan 20219th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Welcome to the concrete jungle! – Design 5 of 10 – Manhattan!

Manhattan was one of the easiest cities to think of and find ideas for. It is a place full of buildings and architecture so tying this one in with the rest of the designs was easy. I began thinking of famous and iconic buildings in Manhattan; the Empire State Building being one of them. I then went to Pinterest to see what other images came up. There was a lot of images of the hustle and bustle of the city… skyscrapers, shops, people, yellow taxis, cars and pedestrian crossings.

I knew I wanted to play with the idea of the Empire state building and the fact that Manhattan and New York is like a concrete jungle. Central park played a part in my thoughts and ideas; I wanted to include a bit of nature in my design – this also allows the opportunity to bring some green into my design which would be a great contrast against the skyline of Manhattan.

I used a block of yellow on the bottom left, once again this ties in with the rest of my designs so far. This yellow block represents a yellow New York taxi. The grey blocks that feature on it are the wheels and the top of the taxi. I placed a tiny block of colour at the top left also to add some interest and to draw the eye up to the top to work its way around the design. Yellow and black contrast each other brilliantly and they also represent the yellow cabs and the pedestrian crossings. The Empire state building I portrayed on the right side of the cover. I used blocks of black rectangles to represent this. It is abstract and can be portrayed in any way you want to; it could be the black lines on a pedestrian crossing or it could be the towers of the Empire State building.

In this design I feel the black and yellow equally fight with each other for attention, they are both very dominant in the design. The grey adds a little accent of colour to break it up.

This is the final mock up for Manhattan. I am pleased with this design, the colours work and contrast each other fantastic! It is modern and stands out and it maintains an abstract approach but it is still obvious as to what is being portrayed. The layout stays in keeping with the rest of the designs.

Design 4/10: Manchester

9th Jan 20219th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Hello again for design 4/10 of my abstract city guidebooks!- Manchester!

I love visiting Manchester whenever I can so I wanted to do this one a little justice! Manchester was the heart of the Industrial Revolution in England and is still known for its community spirit and hard work ethic.

For all of the designs so far I have been quite modern in approach by designing for iconic buildings that are quite modern and new.. I knew that this would not be the case for Manchester. Manchester is renowned for its red brick buildings, the stonework, factories, chimneys, railways, railways viaducts, canals and the cotton industry. The colour scheme for Manchester would be reds, greys, stone and browns. With all this mind I went to Pinterest again for some inspiration, my initial thoughts were to go with the chimney idea but then when I found an image of a canal and a viaduct bridge I knew that this was the route I wanted to go down. When I drive to Manchester I drive under loads of them viaduct bridges; that is how you know you are getting closer to Manchester! In my head this seemed the right choice to choose.

This is the photograph I found:

Victorian railway viaducts , bridges and canal barges in the Stock Photo - Alamy — https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-victorian-railway-viaducts-bridges-and-canal-barges-in-the-castlefield-35252274.html

I started doing the same as I had done for all the others; printed a copy of this out and then started to sketch the from it, simplifying it each time I drew it.

This photograph reminded me of the image the OCA used in our Core Concepts unit book to explain to us this brief:

The canal boat on the Manchester viaduct photograph is very similar to this image. I realised I could replicate the canal boat in a similar way.

I did do a lot more sketches for this guidebook, however I did them when I was in my full time job at a time when I had a 5 minute window in-between jobs.. for whatever reason they got mislaid!

However, I developed a few ideas in Illustrator and eventually arrived at this one!

I have kept the same layout again as all of the others to keep them as part of a series. Again, breaking Manchester up into its syllables and using Helvetica. The idea of this was to use a main block of red on the bottom left, again in keeping with the other designs so far. This red block represents the infamous red brick in Manchester. Instead of drawing the viaduct bridge to look like a bridge I have in an abstract form used only the arches of the bridge to create the illusion of it. I have used different hues of brown from dark to light to represent the dark brick and industrial stonework. The blue squares add contrast and also help draw your eye across the whole piece. These blue squares represent the water; they represent when the sun sparkles on water and creates sparkling ripples. I have used different sized blocks again for contrast, to represent abstract and to add interest to the design. I wanted the eye to travel from left to right to the bottom with this design; that is why I have placed the abstract block canal boat along the bottom right. The red is the paintwork and the top of the boat with the black blocks being the windows. I was conscious again of placing objects along the edges of the design; the design needed to be able to breathe and to not be constrained to a box. In this design the red is definitely the dominant colour with the browns following as subordinate colours. They are warm so needed a cool colour to contrast against them. The blue is the accent colour, it is fighting for attention with the dominant.

This is the final mock up for Manchester. I am pleased with how it has turned out, I think it is abstract and open to interpretation as to what is being showed but still obvious what is trying to be portrayed.