Project Three
Type Specimen Poster — Project Documentation
Final Design
Project Brief
The goal of the project was to design a poster that showcase the typeface “Times New Roman.” We were to first research the history of the typeface and its unique character. The deliverable was a poster that only uses Times New Roman, grayscale, and one spot color, including the designer, the year of its creation, and some text that expresses the characteristics to show the features of the typeface.
Initial Sketches
I was fascinated by the fact that Times New Roman was commissioned by The Times, a daily newspaper of London and since its release, it has been loved by the printing industry and is still one of the most commonly used body copy typefaces today. My initial brainstorming was based on these characteristics and through my sketches I explored ways to show its historical role. So most of the compositions stay in a fairly similar newspaper context. Later sketches emphasize the wide range of the typeface’s application, just like how the different families were utilized not only as the body text but also the title, headline, quotes, etc. in print.
Digital Iterations
Going into digital iterations, I tried to show the distinct geometric features that differ from family to family. While maintaining the calm and formal nature of the typeface, I aimed to create a dynamic overall composition. However, the overarching comment that I received in interim critique was that the hierarchy of the information that I am trying to convey is clearer in my sketches than in my digital iterations. The main reason for this was that I was tweaking the font too many times in one group of information, such as using multiple families in one word in addition to changing the colors of a few letters. The third iteration on the right received the best review because of its clarity in hierarchy and concept due to its simplicity and composition. The final poster stemmed from this iteration.
Final Iterations
My main concerns were: 1. keeping one change to a single group of words/information while showcasing the characteristics of the different families and sizes 2. giving a clear hierarchy to the information provided 3. paying attention to kerning and leading. 1. I wrote each word(group of words) in the family that best shows its characteristics. For example, “TIMES” is written in regular capitals because of the straight horizontals and verticals. “New” shows well the contrast in the strokes and the curved serif that is so characteristic of the bold italic. “The Times” is in bold italics, the small fonts and the character set in regular, to show they typeface in its contextual role. 2. I used the spot color to highlight important information that are in relatively smaller sizes.
Final Review Comments and Revision
Overall, I received comments that the depth created by the words on the poster effectively draws the eyes to the small fonts in the lower half, having the viewer pay attention to the different elements on the page. Some other comments were that the composition felt grounded by the bottom line, and balanced because of the fairly even distribution of the different families. However, the word “new,” being the highest contrast and the largest, was drawing the eyes way too much that the straight lines of “TIMES” was being pushed back. I tried revising it by switching the two.
