OUGD403 (Studio Brief 1) Developing the typeface

Manipulating Times New Roman
To manipulate this typeface I started by using the concept of covalent bonds which has been developed from my research of coordinate bonds - coordinate system.
Throughout my research I found that most type and body copy relating to the concept of covalent bonds/coordinate bonds are all sans serif fonts. I could manipulate the original typeface by maybe removing the serifs. I also thought about making the crossbars in certain letterforms out of bonds, however this will need to be done subtly enough for the font to still be legible. To start the initial manipulations, I chose the word coordinate to work with and identified all the possible serifs that could be removed.

Typeface Development

From this i started to create some initial sketches of what the letterforms for the word coordinate could look like. 

From these initial sketches, I will try and finalise each of these then see which one would be the most readable and legible as a complete typeface. By using the theme of molecular bonds within the manipulation of my typeface, I can create letterforms that symbolise this theme. To experiment, on certain letters I have cut away ovals to represent the single molecular shapes, and on others I have added them. As these are only hand rendered sketches, they do not provide the accuracy needed for the letterforms to be very legible. 

To finalise these 10 letterforms for the final crit, I used my initial typeface Times New Roman. I removed all serifs to make the font more simplistic, and it also modernises the font. Removing the serifs gives the typeface a clean cut image. I presented each letterform with slight modifications, but still keeping the ongoing theme.

This below shows my hand rendered final 10 letterforms. 

This below demonstrates what the digital version could look like. 

The hand rendered letterforms are the ones I will present in the group crit, the letterforms could definitely be improved so it will be useful to get feedback on how they can be developed.

Final Crit
I presented the hand rendered letterforms the a small group of class mates, overall the feedback was positive, with very useful ideas on how to develop this typeface even further. The group found the basis of my ideas and concept of communication interesting, they agreed with the way I had interpreted the use of the word system with the typeface design. Some of the feedback given to improve these letterforms consisted of:

• try and stick to one of the letterform designs for whole alphabet
• some letterforms are too decorative - need to be simplified
• use of molecular symbolism within letterforms is a good way of communicating the theme of the typeface