Type Workshop

Last week on this day, we had our first type workshop with Graham, where we were doing some exercises to exploit the personality/mood that can be attained by manipulation of type by some basic tampering with it.

Using the word dog as a model for moulding into the various attributes given to us: angry dog, sad dog, scary dog, scared dog, etc. We were also told at the start of the workshops that we were only limited to using serif and sans serif fonts, rather than use something decorative, which can be misleading most of the time if not used in the right context. I didn't save what I did as I thought that I had learnt enough, as well as knowledge prior to the session.


4 main factors to consider when approaching any typographical matter:

1. Size - Determines the impact/effect of the type on substrate
2. Sans serif/serif - This effects the tone/manner of the type
3. Weight - This also is an aide for the effect on the page and personality of the type
4. Case - IT DEPENDS ON what you are trying to say.

This week's exercise was focusing on the space between the letters, and how the space can be manipulated to attune to a certain piece of type's function. 

Kerning was the technique applied, by identifying the largest space in between the letters and effectively kerning the letters/words, and not over-kerning which can effect legibility.

We then upped the ante by having to kern a proverb, using limited techniques to make the proverb appear as if it was spoken rather than just manipulated by the computer. The following are examples of what I did in the session. The proverb is one of Thai origin "Grabbing excrement is better than grabbing flatulence" - this basically means be happy for what you have.

The next 2 are outcomes/development from fourthreetwoone into reading onetwothreefour. This task was set to see if we could manage the task of changing readability so the class as a whole could identify with the type.