studio brief 2: creating type specimen OUGD403

After creating my font I wanted to take the project as far as possible. I decided to do this by designing a type specimen. I felt this task was almost like trying to sell my font. I got inspiration for the type specimen through looking at font smith type specimens giving an over view of what a type specimen should consist of. My type specimen had to really communicate the feel and vibe of the word suave. I know I needed my full alphabet somewhere on it and the name, as well as a description of the qualities of my font and rationale about who and what its used for. I really wanted to lean on the idea of suave having a split personality and try to convey this through the specimen. I divided the pages on both sides of the specimen to create this feel. I also enlarged the p and q and overlapped one and other in the middle of one of the sides. This was to show the difference in the characters, which would not normally be much but in this case, each letter form on one side of the letter has curved slab serifs and the other side has hairline serifs. This is to show confidence and sleekness through the curved slab serif, yet also the refined and poised characteristics of suave through the simplicity of the hairline serif. Before going straight onto illustrator I did a quick couple of sketches giving me a rough idea of where I wanted everything. I spent a long time manipulating and changing the composition so it reads best. I used a range of opacity and different greys to create the layered effect of words, to describe suave and what I want the font convey. I also decided that I wanted to add some colour into the mix instead of just greys which I feel would have make the piece not look nearly and charming and probably quite dull. I did this through making the decision to make the word suave gold. Originally I wanted and embossed gold word, but soon came to the realisation that with my time constraints I would not be able create my font so I could use it in letterpress. As an alternative I decided to use the vinyl cutter in the digital printing facilities. This allowed my font to be perfectly cut out on gold vinyl which then meant I was easily able to peel out the lettering and hand stick it onto the specimen completing it, as well as giving it a bit more life and making the font seem more charming.