Brief 2 - Morse Code Design

Following the Crit, I was really intrigued by the idea of incorporating morse code into the Berthold typeface. To gain a better understanding of Morse Code I did some research learning the structure of Morse Code and the Morse Code Alphabet. Being a form of communication through staccato and legato notes, this approach relates to my rationale and adds great context behind the typeface.

Firstly I looked at incorporating each morse code letter to form the texture of the Berthold typeface, I experimented with letters A to H to look at the outcome:

The design is simplistic and offers a more interesting approach to the meaning behind the design compared to my initial sketch with just comprised of random line strokes. Hitting two birds with one stone, this design infuses the contextual presence of morse code and static at the same time through the use of pattern. This final design is simplistic and easy to read on a large scale but not in a body of text, as the detail of the strokes and dots would be lost, losing it's whole purpose of design. 

Here the the idea of incorporating morse code into a typeface is further developed, by following the mnemonic chart from 1918 which was created by Scout movement founder Baden-Powells. This was created to make learning morse code easier for Scout members. The design above was recreated in Illustrator to help envision the layout and composition of each letter. Letters B, C, D, F, H. I, J, K, L, M, P, Q, T, U, V, W, Y and Z are have identifiable links to stems and stroke found in the Alphabet, however the other letters prove rather difficult to identify or relate to the Alphabet, especially E and S, which only consist of dots, which don't refer to their aperture or spine. Creating a typeface with this design would prove rather difficult especially if some of the letters are unidentifiable.

Further development using Berthold and using my new found knowledge of morse code through experimenting with strokes of letters to form the dashes. Letters are more identifiable to read, except E and S due to the lack of structure the dots produce. To further reiterate the fact the letters comprising of only dots would prove difficult to read the sentence of CAN YOU READ THIS, is rather confusing especially the word THIS which is mainly made of only circles. Although the design proved hard to use, this experimentation has opened up my understanding for legibility of typefaces through composition. In future this design could possibly be further improved possibly looking at a more squared and geometric typeface to follow the original structure and look of morse code and set a better grid layout from producing the E and the S.