Alphabet Soup: Typeface

Research into Sarah's favourite designer HelloVon

Pure Nokia type via Creative Review

HelloVon's poster is printed in one colour (silver) on Light Grey Colourplan paper. "I chose to single out a letter whose shape resonated with me but also symbolised the calm simplicity inherent in the original font design. To me, it was more interesting to steer away from a flat, graphic representation and treat the letter as an object or form in its own right, with its own quietly fluid internal world."

I like the simple style of the design and the monochrome style which has a lot of varied tone within it. I think it relates to what Sarah has told me about liking bold designs with lines and intricate features to it. The use of different planes within the letterform also gives it a 3D quality. 

'Yes' - self initiated

This is designed in a similar style because of the 3D elements, bold outer form and inner detail. The use of tone & line creates a grain effect which emulates wood. The colour is used in a subtle way to create variation between the forms but keep them unified, and also to add elements of light.

Paralympics London 2012 Campaign

Illustrations for The Hunger Magazine

HelloVon works a lot with digital, monochromatic illustration. His ad campaign for the London Paralympics is to me really effective because of the simplicity of design - the single image in conjunction with the powerful and punctuated message is powerful advertising. His work is both realistic and clearly manipulated, and centered around image, usually in monochrome with a plain and basic layout.

Other Type Research

Cube 02™ Font via Font Fabric

This typeface is very mathematical and structural and comes off the page because of the cubic nature of it. It is quite technical which I like and the variation in tone gives the letters various parts to them which make them different to a standard geometric typeface. Sarah's most treasured possession is her iPhone so I am considering technology and a technological approach to type.

Mekkanika Experimental Typeface by Riccardo Sabatoni

"Experimental typographic project of a typeface totally composed by mechanical elements." - very intricate but the thickness of the letterform makes it still bold. I like the lack of colour and the use of shadow.

Sweater Letter by MaricorMaricar

These letterforms were sewn by hand and are all unique because of the pattern and colours used in the design. I think they work really well to communicate the idea of a sweater or patterned jumper - Sarah has a couple of really nice patterned jumpers which are more subtle in their design and monochromatic. However I don't know if the effectiveness of these letters lies in the use of sewing as a media - in black ink they may just look like standard geometric patterns.

Geomas Type

Technological font based around lines and geometry: "futuristic, bold, calculated and systematic." It has both a simplicity and complexity to it because of the lack of lines but the abstract forms. The use of a gradation of colour also adds a very modern element to it.

Peluda Typeface via Peluda Type

This type has a delicate nature due to the use of individual strands of hair and detail  -  also the layout of individual letterforms on the organic looking background draws attention to the intricacy of the design.

Naname-Kun

"Naname-Kun is a geometric typeface created with oblique lines as a main texture. Its unique particularity is to be filled with diagonal hatching that varies in thickness to create different styles and weights." I like how the hatching is so incorporated into the typeface and such an intrinsic part of it's success. Otherwise it would be very simple in form and this adds another dimension to it of geometry and texture. Normally I think of typefaces such as the standard fonts on computer software as being largely two dimensional and flat - Naname-Kun is different to that.

Gemini Typeface

This is so subtle especially because it is in lowecase, although some of the angular serifs give it a geometrical feel. I like that the double line is included successfully in every elements and how the font has  a serif//sans serif mixture - for example the s, v, w etc. are sans serif but the a, d, f etc. are serif. The name Gemini is a reference to the Latin word for 'twin' - this is incorporated in the typeface through the double stroke in the letters as well as the different sides to it.

Celestial Night

This is another geometrical, quite angular typeface. What I find interesting about Celestial Night is how all of the letterforms are still so legible even with missing elements to them. I like the idea of simplifying a typeface down to it's bare elements and pushing the boundaries of how much information is needed for it still to be understood as a font. This typeface is reminiscent of astrology and star maps which I am assuming is the reason for the name behind it, and display image.

Layout of complete typefaces

Typophobia by Erre Galvez

"Typophobia was born for my fun, by people's phobias, by an old book, by an abandoned house, by fear, by an ink drop and smell of paper." Although not immediately clear without a full explanation there is a clear concept behind typophobia as a font. It is very abstract in form and some of the letterforms have questionable legibility - but I think it works. In terms of presentation I think the layout on the left is really effective, utilising the typeface in a sentence but also by changing the texture of the font and having an image in the background - this puts it into a genuine graphic design context.

ALPHA_TXT by Viv Greywoode

"ALPHA_TXT, has developed into Typeface that represents the evolution of the English language. It reflects the way that we communicate due to our yes, yes, now, now global society. ALPHA_TXT reflects this issue by abbreviating individual characters in the English alphabet. It is governed by same rules imposed as SMS messaging on a mobile telephone keypad."

This typeface has been presented in several different contexts - digitally, in a publication and in a poster format. The publication presents both individual letterforms and their development as well as the complete typeface and in context.