Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery back together by sealing the cracks with gold - built on the idea that embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art, this is idea is also a metaphor for self growth 'rebirth'. The typeface is designed to replicate the cracks in kintsugi ceramics. I wanted to create a bold font to suggest strength and how imperfections and flaws can make people stronger and even the strongest of people go through hardship.
Working under the theme of 'Rebirth', I have focused my first font on the idea of post-war architecture, or otherwise commonly known as modernist/brutalist architecture. Buildings constructed following the Second World War were built using new technologies of construction. These types of designs were known for their use of modern materials such as concrete and steel as well as their interesting geometrical forms. I was heavily influenced by the architecture featured in Owen Hopkins' book 'Lost Futures' which looks at the disappearing architecture of post-war Britain and how changing external contexts played a role in the subsequent destruction of these buildings.
My font is based on the Ministry of Transportation building in Georgia. The building itself is inspired by Japanese Metabolism architecture. Which is a moventment inspired by growth and adapabilty. I wanted my font to feel as though you could stack and change it just like Metabolism architecture.
My first fontstruction was inspired by Eastern Art at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. I loved the dragon decoration on the old ceramic pots in this section and have tried to portray a similar theme in my letters. (work in progress)
This font was based upon the theme of starvation, deriving from the topic of malnourishment. I looked at waste and used/ empty rubbish, in particular food packaging, that I felt represented the fragility of starved beings. Looking at stretched and warped plastic, such as that of empty crisp packets, gave eerie imagery that looked unnatural and like bare skin stretched across bone. I looked creased and stretched materials to extract each letter and manipulate it through fontstruct.
Inspired by fountain-based architecture, I've created my first fontstruction for the start of my UWE Graphic Design course. For this, I poured water onto different surfaces/objects with varying shapes to capture the cascading effect as reference images. Originally, I was first inspired by watercolour strokes to make a gradient effect, which developed into the idea of water fountains used in contemporary architecture.
'PASTE'
A font which can be used to add a handrawn effect. The font evolved from me intially using toothpaste to create an alphabet and finding it effective , My aim was to try and recreate similair characteristics within my font. The tootpaste flicked off at the ends and collected in certain areas which created a really intersting typographical style. The lines are wobbly and unique on each letter as I wanted the font to have movement, energy and a bounce.
Albatros is the result of a research on the correlation between genius and mental instability in great artists, philosophers and poets. As in Baudelaire's poetry, it symbolises those who are misunderstood and thus isolated and derided. The albatross is a clumsy bird, but once in the sky and raised over the mass it shows everyone its great wingspan. We are all albatrosses until we are given the opportunity to discover the wings power.
A display typeface based upon some physical type I made from dark food colouring etched into sugar syrup - this is the second part in which the food dye has bled into the sugar syrup much more. This was to represent the brief theme I picked of 'unstable', hence why all the characters are completely induvidual in size and shape. I have also published a first version of this type before the dye bled into the syrup.
Constriction is a type inspired by the idea of tension. I initially was looking at the idea of danger, how two objects may not be dangerous until they are put together. I questioned what the suspense is between those two objects. In my current design I have focused on the physical look of tension, looking at twisted metal as inspiration. I decided not to create the whole of each letter in a twisted form as I wanted to only empathies it in certain areas.
After watching a documentary on how the elderly are often lonely and forgotten about, it inspired me to create this font detailing the feeling of isolation and becoming disconnected from a community.
The circles that make up the font represent individuals in a community. I chose to have a number of the circles grouped, then others separated, illustrating how one can be surrounded by people but still feel isolated and alone. As this is a common issue in the world today, I found it appropriate to portray this struggle, especially with current world-wide events.
TREETOPS FONT
When I decided to go with the theme ‘Elegant’ for this project I knew that my font must be simplistic, I considered what elegance meant to me personally and came up with the following words, modesty, simplicity and nature. I wanted this font to reflect all of these aspects so I created the tall letters to mimic trees in a forest and simplified each letter to keep it clean, modern and modest.
Naples WIP
UPPER CASE ONLY
My typeface has been created in line with the theme ‘dangerous’. From my chosen theme I explored the idea of sharp edges (blades/swords/razor) and decided to create a serifed typeface in which the serifs are extended or curved into a point to mimic the shape of a blade/sword/knife. I chose ‘Naples’ (“Italy’s capital of crime”) as the name due to its historical reputation as a dangerous city and it's links to the Camorra.
Any feedback and criticism would be appreciated as the font is a work in progress (WIP).
This is a theme developed from "Rebirth", a kind of new extraterrestrial typeface style living on Mars.
I was influenced by graphic and typeface designer Wim Crouwel, with a simple structure and a mixture with another typeface from the game Wolfenstein, avoiding additional strokes.
It also resembles a kind of domino.
3dtype version: https://pin.it/7xjQZhH
My intention with this font was to link it to "Rebirth", so I thought about computer viruses. I looked into glitches and how they distort and warp the computer to such an extent that you'd have to reboot your computer. In other words, the Rebirth of your computer.
My first typeface was inspired by the theme “gang community”. A large element of my research was the analysis of the most commonly forged bank notes. This typeface is the development of the contrasting typography that feature on notes. One type of typography is clear and concise, and the opposite typography is increasingly complex and hard to read to the naked eye. This is to make it extremely hard for criminals to counterfeit.
"Crypt" Is a gothic, serif font, inspired by the decorative and intricate details within many cathedrals and church architecture, influenced by such features such as stained glass, gargoyles, petroglyphs and spires.
Font inspired by industrial structures under the theme ‘Strong’. I looked specifically at pipework and the shapes they create, occasionally mimicking the letterforms unintentionally. Additionally, I was inspired by the shading the metal created and how it exaggerated the bends in the structures. My aim was to ensure the user could read the letters yet still relate it to the theme.
HIGH SOCIETY
This font was created based originally on the word 'Gregarious'. From that I researched Social Housing in the UK. These are spaces designed to house many people for as cheap as possible. I used compound blocks to create complex detailed flats that stack up as high as a tower block usually would.
This display font was created with the rising sea levels in mind; as David Wallace-Wells says: "Miami and Bangladesh will not survive". It is too late for them. The font is a bold display sans serif with the intention to be used in combination with messages about global warming and rising sea levels. The letters contain structures intended for people which have been submerged underwater, the reality of Atlantis that we will face in the next few years.
Based on the theme of rebirth, ‘Fill in the blanks’ draws inspiration from the Renaissance era. Looking at the original printing press, traditional blackletter and Renaissance calligraphy, ‘Fill in the blanks’ offers a modern twist on some of the oldest typefaces to date. By looking at the brush strokes of blackletter and the serifs used in the printing press typefaces, this font is a combination of these characteristics. By using just these features the human eye can still recognise the letter form, essentially allowing your mind to ‘Fill in the blanks.’
I designed my font around the theme ‘Elegant’ studying the Crown Jewels that are owned by the British Royal Family. I focused on the structure within each jewel and particularly was interested in how the light catches on certain shards within the stones. My initial idea was to shade each of the sections using a different colour, however this proved difficult with the ‘Fontstruct’ software. Eventually instead of shading with different colours I shaded uses the small dots to create a stipple effect which I believe to still be just as effective.
This is a font that I designed in relation to the word ‘unstable’. My font is inspired by the classic block game Jenga where players take in terns to pull a block hopefully not knocking over the tower. With this font, I am trying to communicate that although something might look stable, one subtle movement could cause it to come tumbling down.
Currently studying graphic design at UWE Bristol this is my first FonstStruct attempt, creating a typeface based on the theme ‘Rebirth’. After mind mapping all the ideas that sprang to mind when hearing this theme, the idea of our spiritual centre and specifically the seed of life, sacred geometry and recurring patterns in our universe stood out to me as subjects I wanted to explore.
After overlaying various sacred geometry over each other, to find similarities and differenced, specifically focusing on trying to unite the masculine and feminine attributes of the shapes, I started to draw and create my own recurring patterns.
Through research into existing religious script and spiritual fonts I found inspiration from the harsh angles uniting with soft curves. I started to create my own font building blocks and by creating my own bricks on FontStruct to create both my letters and recurring pattern which I placed within my letters to symbolise the sacred geometry and roots at the centre of all our lives.
This typeface was inspired by cave paintings and graffiti as well as doodles found throughout my sketchbooks and notebooks. I felt as though cave paintings perfectly showed the presence of communities as well as their legacies. Graffiti and street art also informed this design - I amparticularly fond of graffiti words where there are both curves as well as points and sharp edges. I believe that there is a strong sense of community that comes with street art - especially in Bristol and so strongly links to the theme of community.