But that typeface is not as pretty as ours!

Here's some of the research that I've come across when researching artists that use words in their artwork and use typography as imagery, with a bit of what I've learnt about type thrown in too!

Tony Ariawan:

Greg Lamarche:

In this example, Greg combines a collage of decorative type that influences your view of the image. If the image was a stand aloe one then there would be a range of possibilities of what could be happening with them, what they meant. But with the type present, you automatically see the purpose. This shows how type can influence how you view things when partnered with things like an image.

Si Scott:

The thing I like about Si Scott's work is that the typography is often done in the same style that the imagery is, which means that they fit perfectly together. You can instantly identify someone to their style, and already having a type that fits your style saves time when you get a brief that requires it.


Craig Ward:

Alex Beltechi:

Alex creates incredible visual typography, this is simply an example of one. The text he creates usually reflects or at least compliments the imagery or theme that he has chosen. An example how text and image can compliment each other and convey a theme or message.

Yulia Brodskaya:

Yulia Brodskaya is an absolute genius, she creates typography that can be dull statements and brings them to life through patterns, colour and swirls! It's a way of visually communicating a message by combining imagery and typography.

Maria Boavida:

Maria explores type and image through her Illustration meets typography series. She wants the audience to take a journey of discovery, whether the letters lead you to see the image or if the image reveals the letters. This can show how typography influences how images and there messages are seen, or how images can reinforce the typography.

I'm constantly learning about type, and feel like i'm slowly getting a better understanding of how it can be used. I do tend to lean towards decorative/ hand drawn type, mainly due to my style of work and the fact I prefer to work by hand over the computer. To me, type is type, but like I said, I am beginning to see that there are different ways that you can use it, in different forms and for different things.
I'll get there eventually!

Words ARE Images

We've recently been given two briefs that revolve around typography. One is a words and image brief which gave us multiple pieces of text that we had to pick three, create an illustration that would go with those chunks of text and compose a square page that flowed.
At first I got the wrong end of the stick (apparently) and chose the children's publishing text that was all about creepy crawly facts! I wanted to take an adult spin on them and create an old school monster movie poster but was quickly shot down when I spoke to my lecturer, gutted! And so I had to quickly come up with another idea with the text that was meant for the general illustrators, luckily i'd mind mapped for both right at the start (I'm learning to be thorough!) and so I had my idea and just had to push it a little further.
I'm learning that my idea process isn't necessarily bad and that so far *touch wood* I've managed to come up with ideas that not only the lecturers have ok'd but also I've liked them too. For me, it's being able to carry through the idea that's in my head (or something that looks similar to it) to be executed well and to a good quality. But I'm working on that!

Anyway, we were given several descriptions of things beginning with "D" and had to chose three we wanted to use, there was also a requirement to had the letter D on the page somewhere too. I chose ditto, dot and doodle. Dot (as in time) is represented by the clock face, Ditto is represented by the double apostrophes around the edge and Doodle is represented by the doodle type inside the face.

First rough visual.

The first rough was successful and got the ok and I got to work on the finals. I saw this as an opportunity to work with lino cut for typography, which I'd never tried before. Now I did try to work on a larger scale than normal to save any fiddly bits but it still wasn't big enough! and so I chose to just print selected words and then ink the rest in with a dip-pen after.

Final Lino cut with dip pen.

I cleaned the lino up in Photoshop (something I'm understanding a lot more nowadays!) before taking it into illustrator (understanding, not so much) to add the text that was required. 

Final Image.

Like I said before, we had to look at typography, something I'm not as picky about as some in my class! Too me type is type, it depends on the circumstance and how exactly you're using it and probably will never get into a heated debate on the apparently condemned Comic Sans. But I researched into some types and thought that this image needed a sketchy type as opposed to a formal one, I tried out a few and chose this one which is for some reason called LoveYaLikeASister. I didn't make it!

After a group crit this is the feedback I had: The text inside the apostrophes is not particularly legable (something that my course tutor said wasn't important, but wasn't there on the day of the crit!) They liked the typeface I had chosen and although they found it difficult to read the lino type they liked it overall with the only change I have to make being the apostrophe lettering. Overall not bad feedback.

We've also been looking at typography in groups after being assigned a typeface to research before giving a 10 minute presentation on why our typeface blows the others out of the water. Thankfully I didn't get san serif or serif but display! Yay! The other was hand drawn which I would have happily taken too! Anyway I personally have been looking at how typography can be used with imagery. Something that definitely helped with this brief. It made me think about the use of typography and what it can add to the image. We've not sat down as a group and put all the research together yet but I'll post about it when we do.

In first year I think I actually cringed when typography was mentioned, either that or I didn't take any notice because I didn't see any relevance to what I did. By doing these briefs and having more involvement in typography, my attitude is changing towards type and although I have a preference of hand drawn fonts, I do see its relevance, whatever form it comes.