Punctuation,
Ligatures & Emojis
The main
focus for our first project was Typography, looking at the key elements of
Typefaces, fonts and ligatures. To showcase our newfound knowledge, we were
given our first Studio Brief, called Punctuation, Ligatures & Emojis.
For this
project we were told to design and develop a new character for a typeface of
our choice in groups or pairs. The new character was to be designed as a
response to a pre-identified problem. This allowed us to Explore the use of
negative space, silhouettes, angles and shape, along with the use of abstract
and representational forms. The aim of the project was to create characters
within a typeface that would work effectively on a range of scales from large too
small.
The first
stage of the design process was to come up with an existing problem that we
face through communication, especially in our more technologically developed
world. In my group, we wanted to approach a rather interesting and new concept
to this project, rather than playing safe with just exploring existing
abbreviations, we wanted to create our own abbreviation and then further expand
on the word, to form a ligature. One thing my partner and I both agreed on is
that sarcasm is so often used, and so often misinterpreted as the truth forming
conflict. So we decided that we would create a ligature that symbolised
sarcasm, which can be used to allow people to identify what is being said in
text is sarcastic, and not derogatory.
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| Figure 1
Inspired by the formal and slick look of the Ampersand, we decided to
play around with the wording of the word Sarcasm, cutting it down to Sarcy and
then Sarc. Following the design concept of the ampersand, we the roughly
sketched ideas of the combination of the letters s, a, r, and c (see
Figure 1). We also began to break down the word even further,
taking into account body language and facial expression when sarcasm is used,
we noted down how the action of eye rolling conveys the use of sarcasm (see
figure 2)
|
 |
| Figure 2 |
Through rough sketch development, and experimenting on Illustrator with
many typefaces (to gain a better idea of layout and overall look) we finally
created a ligature representing Sarcasm using the Baskerville typeface (see
figure 3).
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| Figure 3 |
Through
experimentation of typefaces, we found that Baskerville gave the ligature
design a slick and sophisticated look, something that was to combine all
letters in a interesting creative way, yet still allowing the finishing touch
to look professional and flow well. When thinking about how this ligature would
be used in text, we decided that it could be a replacement of the full stop
when sarcasm was used in the sentence. However, the idea of using the ligature
at the beginning would allow readers to identify the following text being
sarcastic, on the other hand, having it placed at the end would allow the
reader to process it as an insult, and then finally realise it was all sarcasm;
which through verbal communication is how it is naturally conveyed, a bitter
sweet joke.
We wanted to further develop other ligature
ideas to broaden our approach to this project, our second design (see
figure 4) also followed the concept of the Ampersand, combining the
letter s, a, r, and c. The final outcome, also comes across refined and sleek,
however the composition of the merged letters forms an identifiable J and S,
which would make in hard for readers to convey as a ligature of sarcasm. Also,
my partner and I agreed to how the outcome almost looks like a logo design rather
than a ligature, making the Baskerville ligature design more effective and
successful.  |
| Figure 4 |
I really liked the idea of looking at the body language and facial expression revolving around the word sarcasm, that being the eye rolling action. I wanted to approach this initial idea on Illustrator, which when combining the use of brackets and circles to form eyes, proved quite successful (see Figure 5). Experimenting with the size of the irises proved quite interesting, and allowed me to identify how the slight change in the circle size and position could easily change the emotion of the design. The final outcome proved rather playful, and would be easy to use as simple brackets around the sarcastic text.
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| Figure 5 |
We decided that our final
outcome would be the Baskerville ligature; it formed well and conveyed our
initial ideas with further development. The overall design had more substance
and meaning compared to the other two designs. On the final day of development,
we were to then follow the process of a Final Crit, allowing us to explain our
design concept, and hear people’s opinions on where we succeeded in our
creative process, and where we could improve. The overall response to our work
was positive and they liked how the letters of the ligature were combined and
refined, we then discussed the idea of how the r could be more identifiable by
lowering the upper bowl of the s, to form an easy to distinguish a lower case
r. When showing our thought and development process, members of the Crit took a
liking towards the eye brackets (see figure 5), and went on to explain
how that design was more successful than our chosen final outcome. They went on
to explain how they liked “the simplistic style of the brackets”, and that it
was “something that can be easily used in a text format”.
In
conclusion, this project was a great way to broaden my understanding of
Punctuation, Ligatures & Emojis. It allowed me to realise that
to an extent typefaces are international, and that there are no language
barriers. This further goes on the teach me that I should always broaden my
ideas and not confine myself to the idea of having to stick to the rules (e.g.
using all the letters of sarc to form a ligature).
Other
notes that I picked up on:
- Further
research in the meaning of the word – e.g. because – is a connective word,
maybe the word could illustrate a form of connection like chains.
- Take into
account emotion – in line drawing, harsh thick lines could represent anger and
curved could convey a friendly happy emotion.
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