CDF Project 3: Type & Hierarchy
Assignment
Our goal in this assignment was to learn about typography by creating a specimen poster about an assigned typeface. We experimented with the effects of varying sizing, spacing, and indentation, and were required to include 3 levels of hierarchy and at least two weights of our respective typefaces in our final poster. We began our project by researching our typefaces, specifically finding out when, by whom, and in what context they were designed. We then continued by sketching out multiple poster ideas on paper, which we had critiqued, before we started our digital iterations using Adobe Illustrator. After creating a few digital iterations, we went through two rounds of digital drafts, the second of which we printed and evaluated, before moving on to our final draft. We printed our final posters on 11x17" card stock with bleeds and trim markings, then used X-Acto knives to trim them down to the desired 10x16" size.
I was assigned the Didot typeface.
Research
Typeface designer: Firmin Didot
Year designed: 1783 (France)
History: The Didot family served as the designated type-founders to the crown of France, providing many significant contributions to the development of types and printing. The specific typeface known as Didot was designed by a member of this family, and marked a point in the progressive shift from traditional calligraphic styles, as it is known as the first Modern typeface.
Identifiable features/characters:
- Serif
- High and abrupt contrast between thick and thin strokes
- Abrupt (unbracketed) hairline (thin) flat serifs
- Vertical axis (https://typedecon.com/blogs/type-glossary/axis/)
- Horizontal stress
- Small aperture (https://typedecon.com/blogs/type-glossary/aperture/)
Text that expresses the character of the typeface:
- French, Modern, Classic, Elegant, Delicate
- “effortlessly beautiful but honed and crafted”
- “Didot was developed by Firmin Didot in Paris in 1783. It defines the characteristics of the modern type style. This new typeface featured stems flowing into extremely thin hairlines, and very straight across serifs with no bracketing. They look really eye-catching and very elegant at large sizes and are frequently used to denote values of exclusivity and sophistication.The Didot typefaces are a major part of most fashion brands, including Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Louis Vuitton. It has thus become a face of Fashion and lifestyle.” (https://www.behance.net/gallery/7657505/Through-Thick-Thin-Didot)
- “a modern yet classic typeface with vintage elegance and a French aesthetic” (https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/gallery/2013/sep/14/the-10-best-fonts)
Inspiration
While researching Didot, I also looked into some posters on the internet to get some inspiration for my poster. I found some that aligned with ideas I had for my own poster, and some that were very different from anything I had thought of. From these posters, I decided that I wanted to include a set of characters in Didot, and perhaps list out some characteristics of the typeface, to show off its uniqueness. I also decided that I would try to stay away from body copy, as the typeface is inherently geared towards headlines and is not very attractive or easy to read in paragraph form. I also determined that I was more interested in the posters with more whitespace, and a straight orientation for the copy.
Initial Sketches
My initial sketches contained a wide range of poster ideas, with different content in each sketch, such as quotes, body paragraphs, symbols, character sets, and enlarged single characters. I also tried to play with different variations and uses of scale, whitespace, transparence, and placements. But, in all of my sketches, my main aim was to portray the classy, elegant nature of Didot. For example, one of my ideas was to create a poster that resembled a magazine cover, as Didot is often used in the fashion industry. Another idea was to use a few characters, or just one character, to point out the unique characteristics of the typeface, including the stark contrast between the thick and thin strokes, and the elegant curves and playful teardrop terminals. My sketches were all done with a portrait orientation, although once I began my digital iterations, I started liking a horizontal orientation more and more.
Digital Iterations
When I first started my digital iterations, I simply tried to recreate all of my sketches on Illustrator, to get an idea of how each one looked. After doing so, I was able to rule out certain ideas that didn’t appeal to me digitally or didn’t look the way I thought they would on a screen. For example, I was immediately turned off by the magazine cover idea, and the use of the typeset as a background to the entire poster. I decided these and certain other ideas looked too messy, and that I wanted to try and create an elegantly simple design, more like the iteration in the bottom left.
In addition, after getting feedback on these initial digital iterations, I was recommended to continue iterating on a certain few of my initial posters, by playing with how one’s eye travels over the poster, and the scale of the text.
First Drafts
After selecting a few posters to continue developing, I came up with some first drafts, 3 of which I printed and got feedback on. I tried to implement the recommendation to be more drastic with scale, and to experiment with non-centered text. The playing with scale definitely transformed my posters and made them much more interesting and outstanding. Using scale also helped demonstrate the characteristics of the typeface, without simply listing them out in text. But, I was still unsure about which specific characters I wanted to use, and if I wanted to use “Didot” as the scaled text.
In critiques, I was told to play even more with scale, and to also think about how my poster looks from varying distances (ex — a few inches, a few feet, and a few meters away). I was also told to be more intentional about placement of text, and to think about how I am placing emphasis on different parts of my poster. Lastly, we determined that it might be better to change the row format of the character sets into rectangular arrangements.
Second Drafts
I continued refining my first drafts using the feedback I got on my printed posters, to come up with a final set of posters. For these posters, I tried to use the enlarged characters to show off Didot’s unique characteristics. I also tried to place my text in a way that would emphasize the lines extending from the enlarged characters. Lastly, I tried to use hierarchy to force the audience to first notice the curves and strokes of the typeface, which can be seen from far away, then to move on to the quote about the typeface, then to the designer, year, and character sets, which you have to be relatively close to see. From this set, I was given feedback to continue thinking about and fixing alignments. I also made the decision to cut out the body copy, to stay true to the nature of my typeface. From there, I chose my favorite poster (far left), and made small adjustments to the bleeding and alignments to get my final poster. I felt that this poster, which used “Didot” as the header, removed any possible confusion about the significance of the characters such as in the rightmost poster, and also had the most clear use of hierarchy.
Final Draft
My final poster uses the name of the typeface as its drawing element, which I moved lower to include part of the dot of the “i” to avoid confusion. I also tried to fix the alignment of the character sets and quote, to align with natural break lines in the title text. I imagine a viewer seeing the poster from away, and immediately seeing the name of the typeface and some of its characteristics. From there, the viewer’s next focal point would be the quote, which continues to evoke the elegant nature of Didot, especially as the quote is printed in italics. After the quote, the natural movement downwards quickly passes over the designer and year, to settle on the character sets in the three different weights of Didot.
After printing my poster, I put it on a stand, and looked at it from varying distances. I liked how the thick and thin of the typeface were so visible in the scaled up text, but in retrospect, I think I should have experimented more with the bleed for the display text, so that it wouldn’t look like my poster simply got cutoff at the top. I really liked how the quote looked in italics, and was glad that I didn’t include any body copy. Although I like the simple path of eye movement through the poster, I also think I could have made it a bit more interesting so that a viewer might spend a little more time dwelling on the poster.
Bibliography
http://typedia.com/explore/typeface/didot/
http://ilovetypography.com/2008/05/30/a-brief-history-of-type-part-4/
https://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/history/
https://fontsinuse.com/uses/6002/cbs-identity-1960s
https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/gallery/2013/sep/14/the-10-best-fonts
http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/through-thick-and-think-fashion-and-type
