OUGD403 - Vector Type Interim Crit

Today we had an interim crit for Study Task 2: Vector Type. For the crit we were asked to select a design from the ten ideas generated from the previous study task. We had prepare our chosen design and present a minimum of three letter forms. I attempted to apply a grid to all four but it didn't go all too well. I ended up generating an individual grid for the upper case letters A,B,C and D. I will need to work on producing a grid that accommodates all letter 26 forms of the alphabet by the end of the task. 

Below are a few examples of grids that have been applied to the Futura family. I find them helpful in understanding the make up the typeface. Futura has an appearance of efficiency and forwardness. The typeface is derived from simple geometric forms (near-perfect circles, triangles and squares) and is based on strokes of near-even weight, which are low in contrast. In designing Futura, Renner avoided the decorative, eliminating non essential elements. I want to take the idea of 'eliminating the non essential elements' even further to create design that epitomises passiveness.

At the moment I have only designed upper case letter forms so I should really consider looking at lower case as well to broaden my design skills and create a dynamic typeface. Below is a digital mock up of my final design idea. I will look at refining it even further by reducing the weight even further and perhaps using half tone patterns and experiment with opacity. I think reducing the weight will improve the design massively.

Feedback: I received positive feed back on the design I had chosen to develop further, People admired the way I had de-constructed Futura's original form to create something that is subtle and makes less of an impact, but is still effective as a typeface. They said I had made Futura passive through my design process, which I was pleased about. I have been inspired by concepts of light and shadow and the group said I should look at shifting the angles of  the shadows and to experiment with different weights as well. They said they liked the original weight of the lines. 

After today's crit, I took the feedback on board and experimented with adjusting the weight of the design. Below is an example:

I really like how refined and subtle my design has become and I believe it can be taken a lot further to create a bespoke final outcome. Below further variations of what the final typeface could look like.