11/06/25 - 09/07/25 / Week 8-Week 12
Brendan Fedya / 0376283
Advanced Typography / Bachelor of Design
(Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 3: Type
Exploration & Application
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. LECTURES
No more lectures are available.
➼ Task 3(A): Font Creation
‣ Proposal
For the final task for the semester, we are tasked to create a full
set of a truly working font that is going to be presented used in font
applications. So before all of this, we are asked to make a proposal
to pitch our ideas to our lecturer, Mr. Vinod.
Figure 2.1: Font exploration proposal, Week 9 (20/6/25).
Mr. Vinod gave me green lights for my ideas, hence I went with the one
I preferred the most—the second idea with its handwritten font. I then
began sketching as natural as possible to maintain my handwritten
style, carefully observing its characteristics and see what I can
apply to my font creation process.
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Figure 2.2: Initial sketch, Week 9 (20/6/25).
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‣ Digitization
I researched about the initial steps of font creation, and people
usually start with the letter H followed by O. The rest of it could be
based by those letters. With this I started to do my testing digitally
on Adobe Illustrator, enabling guides to help me in maintaining
consistency. The 'roughen' effect is used throughout my letters as in
my opinion it mimics the handwritten stroke very well, while anchor
points are dragged here and there to achieve the desired shape I
want.
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Figure 2.3: Creating starting letters, Week 9
(20/6/25).
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The feature 'pathfinder minus' are often used to extract part of the
finished letters to create the other letters. For example: The stem of
'H' could also be used for 'A','I', and so on.
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Figure 2.4: Creation of other letterforms, Week 9
(22/6/25).
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Then continued to complete the set of letterforms:
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Figure 2.5: Completing letterforms, Week 9
(22/6/25).
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Also did some testing to see whether it could go well when it's really
going to be used.
Figure 2.6: Completing letterforms, Week 9
(22/6/25).
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Here is the complete set of uppercase letterforms before feedback:
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Figure 2.7: 'Toodle' uppercase - before
feedback, Week 9 (22/6/25).
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I tried to do lowercase for my letters because I intend to use them
as caption also, but Mr. Vinod said that it's not even readable to
be used for captions—so I abandoned the idea and proceed to only do
it in unicase. I find other purposes that could be applied through
my font, and something quite suitable is children books. The letters
look wobbly similar to how children usually write letters.
Figure 2.8: Lowercase attempt, Week 9 (22/6/25).
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Figure 2.9: Children storybook examples, Week
10 (26/6/25).
Source:
Medium
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Additionally, Mr. Vinod asked me to revise some letters, hence I did
that. Revising the letter O is quite a challenge and it took me the
longest time compared to making the other letters.
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Figure 2.10: Revision attempt, Week 10 (26/6/25).
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Here is how it look like after some revision:
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Figure 2.11: Letterforms after revision, Week 10
(26/6/25).
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Now I proceed to do the numbers. The way I did it is similar to how
I create those letterforms before.
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Figure 2.12: Letterforms with numbers, Week 10
(26/6/25).
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After that I quickly started to create punctuations—as I would need
feedback in that week to further refine my letterforms and symbols.
Mr. Vinod provide us some materials that we could follow to create
proper and usable punctuations, it helps us a lot because we have
clearer instructions to depend on. Also, comparing them to the
existing fonts that have punctuations further aided us in this part.
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Figure 2.13: Designing punctuations, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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Mr. Vinod gave me feedback on designing my numbers—he said it's
better to remove the gaps on the bowls so I revised according to his
suggestions. After this I put them in separate artboards to align
them for the font export process in FontForge later on.
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Figure 2.14: Placing letterforms in separate artboards,
Week 13 (18/7/25).
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Unfortunately, some of the bowls are not recognized in
FontForge when I tried placing them. Tried various methods that I
could find but to no avail. Well I've learned my lesson that we
should never trust free applications available online because they
are just going to waste your time :D.
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Figure 2.15: Exporting into FontForge, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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During class I inquired Mr. Vinod about this problem, and he asked
me to go to the university's computer lab to use Taylor's FontLab
license. So I got there, adjust the kernings and all, basically
spending the whole day exporting my font.
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Figure 2.16: Exporting font in FontLab, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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I tried to type to see whether it would work well, and to spot
problematic stuff before finally submitting.
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Figure 2.17: Typing test for font, Week 13 (18/7/25).
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➼ Final Font
Toodle, derived from the word 'doodle' and 'toddler' combined is
a playful display font inspired by the way kids write with
crayons—messy while also full of personality. It mimics the
unorganized expression of children's scribbles, where letters
seemingly wobble & break, hence it feels intentionally
imperfect.
The final font is available for download below:
➼ Task 3(B): Font Presentation &
Application
After we are done creating our fonts, we proceed to the next step of
doing font presentation and application, in a 1:1 ratio. This is to
showcase our font in various ways to make it more engaging.
‣ Font Presentation
I want to evoke the playful feel of the font, so I started off by
using a lot of colors to support the design. It seems like it is
written from crayons on paper.
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Figure 2.18: Font presentation #1 process, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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For the second one I tried to showcase all my letters and
numbers that I have created, so I compiled all text into a square
box, making it look like a stamp. To make it look more exciting, I
put the numbers in a flowy motion, infinitely from the top until
near the bottom of the page. Also adding the m-dash and n-dash to
add variation. The canvas for this look like those in the school
notebooks, making it look like it was doodled by a childish student
in class. This complements the font personality a lot.
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Figure 2.19: Font presentation #2 process, Week
13 (18/7/25).
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The third one is seemingly a resume, but childish-like—maintaining
the same theme as before.
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Figure 2.20: Font presentation #3
process, Week 13 (18/7/25).
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I've been showcasing my letters a lot so I thought it would be
better if the fourth one could use a lot of numbers. I then thought
about math—which also relates to students in class. I made it look
like those are the teacher's notes on the black board. The
pythagorean theorem is a nice addition to make it look exciting, it
showcases how the letters (for example: sin,cos,tan) interact with
the numbers.
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Figure 2.21: Font presentation #4 process, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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Now down towards the last page—I made it look like the end
cover of the first page. I put the letter 'O' and 'Q' together to
showcase the consistency of both of the letters, because I used the
'O' as a base to create the letter 'Q'. Inside the bowls, I added
emojis that people usually type out with symbols, I just find it
quite silly that way.
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Figure 2.22: Font presentation #5 process, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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➼ Final Font Presentation
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Figure 2.23: Font presentation #1, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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Figure 2.24: Font presentation #2, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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Figure 2.25: Font presentation #3, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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Figure 2.26: Font presentation #4, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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Figure 2.27: Font presentation #5, Week 13
(18/7/25).
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‣ Font Application
Font application is similar to how we do collaterals in the last
task, but now the main focus should be in the font we made which
made this part challenging. The first application I used is going to
be books, as this is my main intended purpose when designing my
font. It's actually quite difficult to design a children book
without incorporating much picture elements, so I found some
references on the internet that may help.
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Figure 2.28: Font application #1 reference, Week 13
(20/7/25).
Source:
Indie Kids Books
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I added on some visual graphic elements to at least make it
more interesting to look at.
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Figure 2.29: Font application #1 process, Week 13
(20/7/25).
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The second font application is a CD booklet cover—well it could
actually work for other covers as well. I tried the pink-green color
palette which is ok but not the best. I changed it into orange-teal,
which I gained inspiration from when I did color grading for the
Video & Sound Production module.
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Figure 2.30: Font application #2 process, Week 13
(20/7/25).
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The third one is I would apply my font to totebags. I find
totebags flexible and I could apply designs however I like. If you
notice I used a lot of orange colors for my applications, this is
because I feel orange could evoke feelings of warmth, happiness, and
youth which is usually found on children.
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Figure 2.31: Font application #3 process, Week 13
(20/7/25).
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‣ HONOR Competition Submission
(EXTRA)
Mr. Vinod informed us about a competition submission for HONOR, a
brand that develops smartphones, tablet computers, wearable
devices and mobile device software. In the website there are few
categories of submissions that we could choose, but Mr. Vinod
suggests us to go with the 'Standby' category.
After checking out, the 'Standby' category has been revoked for the
2025 contest submission. Hence, I went with the 'Watch' category
where I will design a watch along with its animated version. The
first thing I did was to design the overall design layout first.
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Figure 2.32: HONOR competition - overall design layout
process, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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I reused some of the font presentation elements because I
thought it would be suitable for the layout. The overall design
is inspired by children scribbles, where they just write impulsively
in an unordered manner. A wide array of color is used to display
that chaotic feel that is often expressed by children To support the
design, strange mathematic notes that is seemingly used at schools
are also placed randomly in the layout to emphasize a child’s
nature—imaginative and wild.
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Figure 2.33: HONOR competition - overall design layout,
Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Now off to the watch part—I designed the strap firs where it
is mainly designed through texts. Written sound expressions of
people are used to naturally showcase the font, such as ‘Oops..’,
‘Aww...’ etc. The decision of applying a blue-orange color
combination is because it has a complementary color relationship,
creating good visual interest while also supporting the text design.
Additionally, I included my wordmark from my task 2 to make it feel
exclusively from me.
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Figure 2.34: HONOR competition - watch strap process,
Week 14 (22/7/25).
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To make the watch face act cohesively with the overall layout
design, I made it look like it’s written on a black board at school
with a white chalk, similar to my font presentation #4 in
(Figure 2.26). It appears unique in a way and may pique
interest from people who like niche designs.
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Figure 2.35: HONOR competition - watch face
process, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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I gave it a gaussian blur and desaturated the background a
little to direct the focus to the watch design, here's the result:
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Figure 2.36: HONOR competition - watch design, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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Lastly we were asked to do animation for the watch. To symbolize the
passage of time, it is marked through the counter for hours ticking
(or could look like knocking) to the minute counter every second.
Well, this is just for animation showcase purposes, so if on a
normal usage the watch could appear static at its best .
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Figure 2.37: HONOR competition - animating watch,
Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Here's the final result:
Figure 2.38: HONOR competition - watch animation finished, Week 14
(22/7/25).
Now that I'm finished with everything, it's time to submit to the
competition form. Mr. Vinod asked for proof of submission hence could
refer to the compiled images below:
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Figure 2.39: HONOR competition - proof of submission, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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Figure 2.40: Font application #1 - Books,
Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.41: Font application #2 - CD booklet, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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Figure 2.42: Font application #3 - totebag, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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Figure 2.43: Font application #4 - HONOR Talents overall design
layout, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.44: Font application #5 - HONOR Talents round watch
design, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.45: Font application #5 - HONOR Talents round watch design
animation, Week 14 (22/7/25).
➼ Task 3 Final Outcome
The final font is available for download below:
Figure 2.46: Finalized letterforms - PDF, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.47: FontLab screengrab, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.48: Font presentation #1 - JPEG, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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Figure 2.49: Font presentation #2 - JPEG,
Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.50: Font presentation #3 - JPEG,
Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.51: Font presentation #4 - JPEG,
Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.52: Font presentation #5 - JPEG, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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Figure 2.53: Compiled font presentation - PDF, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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Figure 2.54: Font application #1
- JPEG, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.55: Font application #2 - JPEG, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.56: Font application #3 - JPEG, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.57: Font application #4 - JPEG, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.58: Font application #5 - JPEG, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.59: Font application #5 - Watch design animation, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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Figure 2.60: HONOR font application - design elaboration, Week 14 (22/7/25).
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Figure 2.61: Compiled font application - PDF, Week 14
(22/7/25).
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III. FEEDBACKS
‣ Week 9
General Feedback :
•
If visuals (ex. advertising) is edgy, then
the logo or the brand should be muted. It has to be contrasting.
•
Blog research could've been more detail for the
wordmark project.
•
Art deco adds
flair to the font, for example everything is condensed, then the O is extremely
wide.
•
Intended font should have a
specific problem, not just saying that it was made for posters, it should be for
what kind of posters, from what movie.
•
Automatic glyphs are viable, but time span is too short to do a lot of this
technical stuff.
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Artboard size
should be 1000px in height, decide all the x-heights, descenders, ascenders,
etc. After that grids could be applied.
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A grid could be anything, it doesn't have to be squares—then it will be a
unique outcomes that have never been explored before.
Specific Feedback :
•
Don't worry about color palettes first,
the mark is the most important in this week right now. Imagine your wordmark in
black and white.
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Don't use non-original resemblance to a
wordmark, for example maple leaves are already associated with Canada, hence it
will cause misinterpretation.
•
Post-rationalization could work sometimes, producing artworks first than
rationalize it.
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Stick more to
originality, don't find any other culture that you are not associated with.
Every person have their own history, stick more into that.
‣ Week 10
General Feedback : -
Specific Feedback :
•
Letter O,Q,S,J,L is horrible, fix
it..
• The purpose of the font does
not match the design at all.
‣ Week 11
General Feedback :
• Download the TDS file given
in Teams for font presentation reference.
Specific Feedback :
•
Continue working on the
punctuations.
• Numbers could look better
without the gaps.
‣ Week 12
General Feedback :
•
-
Specific Feedback :
•
Export font by using the
computer lab's FontLab.
‣ Week 13
General Feedback :
•
-
Specific Feedback :
•
Presentation &
application have no issues.
‣ Experience
The final task was extremely challenging to be honest—well it made sense
because its truly the final task of typography to make a font of our own.
All the letters, added with numbers and punctuations, and on top of that you
need to pay attention to each of the letters to make sure they act
cohesively with each other—I definitely feel a lot of pressure for this,
especially the other modules are approaching the final projects too. I would
say I’m not 100% satisfied with my current work right now, but due to time
limitations this is the best I could do right now. That’s a shame because I
wanted to try harder as its my final task for the Typography module itself
and I won’t be having modules similar to these anymore because I’m going to
specialize in UI/UX. But it’s all in the past now, so what else could I do?
I’ll just going to try harder for my upcoming semesters and I hope I could
produce something good out of it.
‣ Observations
As an analogy for the tasks given throughout the semester, task 1 and 2 is
like us swimming in the pool, we are contained within the pool where we are
still testing the waves and learning to swim with guidance, but task 3? It’s
like us being released in the sea—we explored gradually, did things based on
our intuition and knowledge gained before, and eventually, produced something
original for ourselves. It’s quite intriguing as it felt like I’m a real
designer working on real projects right now because at the end of the day, we
can only rely on ourselves to make the things we create feel right.
‣ Findings
I found that making a professional editorial font like Futura, Univers,
Times New Roman, etc requires a HORRENDOUS amount of effort to do. Even the
smallest things, for example the thin / thick strokes in a letterform are
seriously considered for the purpose of legibility, and I believe it will
need a lot of time to eventually complete doing this while repeating it for
every other letterforms. A display font on the other hand, which I did for
this task, is far more easier compared to those as it does not stick to the
‘font rules’ that much. It is particularly designed for headings or bigger
texts hence considering this aspect of usage is a huge must.
V. FURTHER READINGS
➼ Week 9
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Figure 5.1: The Art of Display Fonts: A Designer's Guide by Sarah
Lee, Week 9 (19/6/25).
Source:
Number Analytics
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I've been searching for articles that give me tips on how to create a display
font, and what are the criteria of those display fonts. In this article, it
said that display font is used to set the tone and mood of the design, meaning
it is very influential to evoke emotion to the viewers. Hence, to create a
display font suitable for children, I'm using a quirky, wiggly font that is
similar to their writing.
➼ Week 10
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Figure 5.2: Synergize: Designing Harmony with Type by Johanna
Kim, Week 10 (26/6/25).
Source:
Kreatif Beats
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I'm in awe of how this previous student of Mr. Vinod, supposedly my senior
did her work. She made each of her letterforms in a very detailed manner to
maintain consistency throughout the font. It turns out as a very clean font
and also highly applicable to a lot of real-life situations. From this I
know that consistency plays a major part in designing type, so I can't focus
too much on the aesthetics.
Your attention is valued, thank you for reading until the end!
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