Creating a Typeface

Creating type is something I have always enjoyed and found came naturally. In the lesson we were using images and objects as our inspiration to eventually create a set of alphabets.

In the first image I looked at a series of 3d vector patterns, which are similar to the pieces I collect on my blogs for inspiration. I wanted to test myself with this set and went about to create swirling lettering, which I have difficulty drawing and picturing because of it's similarity to hair. Each of the letters took about 40 minutes to create because of the detail involved and also from my inexperience drawing these type of shapes. In the end I like the outcome the process was out of my comfort zone but I think it needed to be to show myself I can create work like this.

The second typeface was much more simpler to make as I was aiming to create shape taken directly from a collection of patterns created by Veekee Workshop. The original shape of the type was taken from the pattern you see in the top right of the image and then I cut away at the base shape with shapes and lines I picked up from more of their work. I would like to work more on this, looking back on the typeface there is something that needs to be added or cut away. In the making of the alphabet I originally wanted to add pattern into the design which would bring in more colour but the outcome looked too overpowering.

The final typeface is a favorite of mine taking inspiration from imagery on a poster and my love of origami. I love the angular shapes which the paper creates to make something recognizable. When making this alphabet I thought about how the paper would fold to create each letter and in some cases I had to create the letters by folding paper and drawing them to get a realistic angle.
I wanted to limit myself to using three colours and to only creating quadrilateral shapes as my main inspiration had, doing this made the outcome more interesting with angular letters I have never pictured. I would like to look into this further with making the type more 3d with shadows and playing around with the opacity.


Overall I love the outcomes for each typeface, finalizing the designs on illustrator gave them a cleaner look and allowed me to tweak any lines or angles efficiently. My favorite would have to be the first one because of it's elegant style.