Typography - Task 2: Typographic Exploration and Communication
24.10.2025 - 7.11.2025 (Week 5 - Week 7)
Cheyenne Liew Khye Yean / 0378330
Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) Creative Media
Task 2: Typographic Exploration and Communication
Cheyenne Liew Khye Yean / 0378330
Typography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) Creative Media
Task 2: Typographic Exploration and Communication
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. LECTURES
Week 5: Understanding Letterforms
Letters
Figure 1.1.1 Different Stroke Weights of the Baskerville (left) and Univers (right) Stroke Form, Week 5 (24/10/2025)
- The letterforms suggest symmetry, but are actually not symmetrical.
- Each bracket connecting the serif to the stem has a unique arc.
Univers
- The letterforms may appear symmetrical, but the width of the left slope is thinner than the right stroke.
Maintaining X-height
Figure 1.1.2 Maintaining X-height, Week 5 (24/10/2025)
Form & Counterform
Figure 1.1.3 Form & Counterform, Week 5 (24/10/2025)
- Form - white space; Counterform - black space
- Developing a sensitivity to the counterform is just as important as recognising specific letterforms.
- When letters are joined to form words, the counterform includes the spaces between them.
Contrast
Figure 1.1.4 Contrast Diagram, Week 5 (24/10/2025)
- Contrast is the most powerful dynamic in design as applied to type.
- Simple contrast produces numerous variations: small+organic / large+machined; small+dark / large+light
Week 6: Screen and Print
Typography in Different Mediums
Figure 1.2.1 Typography in Print (left) and Screen (right), Week 6 (30/10/2025)
- Typography exists not only on paper but on a multitude of screens.
- It is subject to many unknown and fluctuating parameters, such as operating systems, system fonts, the device and screen itself, the viewport, etc.
- Our experience today changes based on how the page has been rendered, because typesetting happens in the browser.
Print Type vs. Screen Type
1. Type for Print
Typefaces
- Good typefaces - Caslon, Garamond, Baskerville
- Their characteristics are elegant and intellectual but also highly readable when set at small font sizes.
Static Typography
- Has minimal characteristics in expressing words.
- Traditional characteristics such as bold and italics offer only a fraction of the expressive potential of dynamic properties.
2. Type for Screen
Typefaces
- Typefaces intended for web use are optimised and often modified to enhance readability and performance onscreen.
- This can include a taller x-height (or reduced ascenders and descenders), wider letterforms, more open counters, heavier thin strokes and serifs, reduced stroke contrast, as well as modified curves and angles.
Hyperactive Link/Hyperlink
- A hyperlink is a word, phrase, or image that you can click on to jump to a new document or a new section within the current document.
- Found primarily in all web pages and are normally blue and underlined by default.
Font Size
- 16-pixel text on a screen is about the same size as text printed in a book or magazine.
System Fonts for Screen/Web Safe Fonts
- Each device comes with its own pre-installed font selection (based largely on operating systems).
- Windows, MacOS, and Android systems all use their own.
- If the font used in a site's design is not installed and isn't pulled from a web-friendly place, the font the viewer sees would default to some basic variation.
- Web safe fonts appear across all operating systems.
Pixel Differences Between Devices
Figure 1.2.2 Pixel Differences Between Devices, Week 6 (30/10/2025)
Motion Typography
- Temporal media offer typographers opportunities to "dramatize" type, for letterforms to become "fluid" and "kinetic" (Woolman and Bellantoni, 1999).
2. INSTRUCTIONS
Figure 2.1 Module Assignment Briefs
Task 2: Typographic Exploration and Communication
- Create a 2-page editorial spread using InDesign and Illustrator if needed.
- Choose one of the 3 given texts and express it with minor graphic elements.
3. PROCESS WORK
3.1 Research
Figure 3.1.1 Punk Poster References, Week 5 (25/10/2025)
I created a reference board with a variation of punk posters to explore the visual language and elements associated with my topic of choice, which is “Punk’s Design Revolution: Breaking the Rules”. The most prominent visuals within these posters are the bold, textured titles, the cut-out text, and the mixture of different font weights and styles. This gave me a clearer idea on how I could design my text layouts.
3.2 Ideation
Figure 3.2.1 Thumbnail Sketches, Week 5 (25/10/2025)
I started by sketching out some ideas I had in mind for the layouts to explore different text placements before digitising my work.
Figure 3.2.2 First Drafts, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
I then made these 4 layouts entirely in InDesign, but I felt that they were too clean to fit the punk theme. I liked the balance in the first layout, but it didn't really convey the punk feel well. I also wasn't really happy with how the bottom two layouts turned out, so I decided to start incorporating Illustrator into my layouts.
Figure 3.2.3 Adding Texture to Text, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
I added texture to my headline while still ensuring the text can be edited just in case I decide to switch it up later on.
Following that, I fixed up Layout #1 and made more layouts, one more based on my thumbnail sketches and two additional ones, that I am far happier with.
Figure 3.2.4 Updated Layout #1, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.5 Layout #2, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.6 Layout #3, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.6 Layout #4, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.7 Layouts #1 to #4 Blocked-out, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
I decided to change the body text from Bembo Std to Futura Std, as I realised using a serif font on a punk themed layout made it overly fancy and formal. I also experimented with the cut-out letters and mixed up fonts in a few of the new layouts.
Figure 3.2.8 Feedback, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
After the feedback session, I noticed an error I made in Layout #2, where I placed the body text in the central gutter. However, Mr. Vinod told me to proceed with Layout #1 and suggested some changes to make it better. One thing he suggested was to add a pull-quote to fill up the inevitable awkward gap after rearranging the text.
I wasn't too familiar with pull-quotes, so I went looking for some inspiration and references on Google.
This helped me familiarise myself with how pull-quotes are usually done. So, I jumped straight into selecting a sentence and quoting it.
Figure 3.2.10 Pull-quote Process, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.11 Blocked-out Layout #1, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.12 Updated Layout #1, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
During the Week 7 feedback session, I was given more suggestions on how to improve my layout. I changed the 'A' at the beginning of the pull-quote back to lowercase, but still in small capitals, and adjusted the leading, On top of that, I also fixed up some of the ragging in the body text.
Figure 3.2.13 Leading Adjustment Process, Week 7 (3/11/2025)
Figure 3.2.14 Kerning Before and After, Week 7 (3/11/2025)
After some consideration, I decided to make the body text larger, from 8.5pt to 9pt, as I was afraid it would cause legibility issues, especially when reading at arm's length.
Figure 3.2.15 Hyphenation Before and After, Week 7 (4/11/2025)
I already did some kerning to the text on the left before I noticed the widow at the bottom, so I ended up using hyphenation at the word "unpolished" to fill in the paragraph and remove the widows.
Figure 3.2.16 Final Layout, Week 7 (4/11/2025)
After all the changes made, I noticed that the layout looked better and easier to read, which I think improved the layout a lot more.
Figure 3.2.2 First Drafts, Week 6 (26/10/2025)I then made these 4 layouts entirely in InDesign, but I felt that they were too clean to fit the punk theme. I liked the balance in the first layout, but it didn't really convey the punk feel well. I also wasn't really happy with how the bottom two layouts turned out, so I decided to start incorporating Illustrator into my layouts.
Figure 3.2.3 Adding Texture to Text, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
I added texture to my headline while still ensuring the text can be edited just in case I decide to switch it up later on.
Following that, I fixed up Layout #1 and made more layouts, one more based on my thumbnail sketches and two additional ones, that I am far happier with.
Following that, I fixed up Layout #1 and made more layouts, one more based on my thumbnail sketches and two additional ones, that I am far happier with.
Figure 3.2.4 Updated Layout #1, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.5 Layout #2, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.6 Layout #3, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.6 Layout #4, Week 6 (26/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.7 Layouts #1 to #4 Blocked-out, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.8 Feedback, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
After the feedback session, I noticed an error I made in Layout #2, where I placed the body text in the central gutter. However, Mr. Vinod told me to proceed with Layout #1 and suggested some changes to make it better. One thing he suggested was to add a pull-quote to fill up the inevitable awkward gap after rearranging the text.
I wasn't too familiar with pull-quotes, so I went looking for some inspiration and references on Google.
This helped me familiarise myself with how pull-quotes are usually done. So, I jumped straight into selecting a sentence and quoting it.
Figure 3.2.10 Pull-quote Process, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.11 Blocked-out Layout #1, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
Figure 3.2.12 Updated Layout #1, Week 6 (27/10/2025)
During the Week 7 feedback session, I was given more suggestions on how to improve my layout. I changed the 'A' at the beginning of the pull-quote back to lowercase, but still in small capitals, and adjusted the leading, On top of that, I also fixed up some of the ragging in the body text.
Figure 3.2.13 Leading Adjustment Process, Week 7 (3/11/2025)
Figure 3.2.14 Kerning Before and After, Week 7 (3/11/2025)
After some consideration, I decided to make the body text larger, from 8.5pt to 9pt, as I was afraid it would cause legibility issues, especially when reading at arm's length.
Figure 3.2.15 Hyphenation Before and After, Week 7 (4/11/2025)
I already did some kerning to the text on the left before I noticed the widow at the bottom, so I ended up using hyphenation at the word "unpolished" to fill in the paragraph and remove the widows.
Figure 3.2.16 Final Layout, Week 7 (4/11/2025)
After all the changes made, I noticed that the layout looked better and easier to read, which I think improved the layout a lot more.
3.3 Final Outcome
Head
- Font/s: Futura Std Extra Bold Condensed / Futura Std Medium Condensed
- Type Size/s: 150 pt / 105 pt
- Leading: -
- Paragraph spacing: -
Body
- Font/s: Futura Std Book / Futura Std Medium Condensed / Serifa Std 65 Bold
- Type Size/s: 9 pt / 55 pt / 345 pt
- Leading: 11 pt / 44 pt / -
- Paragraph spacing: 11 pt / - / -
- Characters per-line: 45-55
- Alignment: Left
Page Margins
- Top + Left + Right + Bottom: 10mm
- Columns: 5
- Gutter: 7mm
Figure 3.3.1 Task 2 Final Outcome - JPEG, Week 7 (4/11/2025)
Figure 3.3.2 Task 2 Final Outcome - PDF, Week 7 (4/11/2025)
Figure 3.3.3 Task 2 Final Outcome with Grid - JPEG, Week 7 (4/11/2025)
Figure 3.3.4 Task 2 Final Outcome with Grid - PDF, Week 7 (4/11/2025)
4. FEEDBACK
Week 6
GENERAL FEEDBACK: Having body text placed along the middle gutter is problematic and makes it hard to read.
SPECIFIC FEEDBACK: Mr. Vinod said that Layout #1 has a good headline, but the body text is too messy and random. I should let the text flow more naturally and add a pull quote to fill the gaps after rearranging it. He also advised being mindful of the spacing between the headline and body text to avoid the body text from looking like it's floating. Additionally, all text should start from the same baseline for better alignment.
Week 7
GENERAL FEEDBACK: Mr. Vinod advised us to watch out for our gutter sizing depending on the design.
SPECIFIC FEEDBACK: The large 'A' at the beginning of my pull-quote, which is stylised in small capitals, is not typically used that way and looks out of place. The leading is also too small. In addition, I should readjust the kerning in the body text, as the ragging is too noticeable.
GENERAL FEEDBACK: Having body text placed along the middle gutter is problematic and makes it hard to read.
SPECIFIC FEEDBACK: Mr. Vinod said that Layout #1 has a good headline, but the body text is too messy and random. I should let the text flow more naturally and add a pull quote to fill the gaps after rearranging it. He also advised being mindful of the spacing between the headline and body text to avoid the body text from looking like it's floating. Additionally, all text should start from the same baseline for better alignment.
GENERAL FEEDBACK: Mr. Vinod advised us to watch out for our gutter sizing depending on the design.
SPECIFIC FEEDBACK: The large 'A' at the beginning of my pull-quote, which is stylised in small capitals, is not typically used that way and looks out of place. The leading is also too small. In addition, I should readjust the kerning in the body text, as the ragging is too noticeable.
5. REFLECTION
Experience
Since my chosen topic was based on punk, I wanted my layout to have a sense of imbalance while still having it be visually balanced. For example, the layout is balanced on both sides, but the texts are slightly misaligned to reflect that messy punk feel. In the end, I was told it was better to keep the body text clean for better reading flow, which made sense after trying out both approaches. I thoroughly enjoyed this task because it's like making my favourite kinds of posters but in a more structured and serious way. However, because of that, I was worried that keeping it too clean would lose the punk feel, but making it too messy could also go against the class requirements.
Observations
While working on my layout, I noticed how tricky it was to balance reading flow and style. I also realised that punk-themed layouts don't necessarily have to be chaotic to capture the theme, which is why I chose to use a texture on my text instead of the other options. Seeing how different levels of balance, especially after blocking out the text, affected the design helped me better understand how much control is needed in typography even when the goal is for the design to be messy.
Findings
After finishing my layout, I realised that the suggested characters per line didn't quite work for my design since I was working with 5 columns. Initially, I tried using Futura at 8.5pt, but the line length felt too short to me, and increasing it to the suggested 55-65 characters made it even smaller and harder to read. I later changed it to 9pt instead, which helped with readability, especially at arm's length. Despite the frustrations of constant adjustments, I'm quite satisfied with how my final layout turned out.
6. FURTHER READING
Figure 6.1 The Vignelli Canon Cover and Page 24, Week 6 (28/10/2025)
This page from The Vignelli Canon by Massimo Vignelli talks about how visual strength plays an important role in good design.
Visual Power- Good designs show creative strength through clear concepts, form, and colour, where every element expresses the content most strongly.
- Powerful expression in design can be achieved through multiple ways, such as differences in scale, contrasting bold and light type, and more.
- It is essential that a design carries visual power and unique presence to achieve its purpose, which can be accomplished through both bold and delicate layouts.
- Visual strength is an expression of intellectual elegance and should never be confused with just visual impact (usually visual vulgarity and obtrusiveness).
In conclusion, this reading relates to this current task where we had to express our chosen topics visually through typography. I chose the punk topic, and it reminded me that visual power is not only about making something look loud and messy, but also about using design elements like contrast and scale to express the rebellious nature of punk while keeping the layout clean and clear.
Figure 6.1 The Vignelli Canon Cover and Page 24, Week 6 (28/10/2025)
Visual Power
- Good designs show creative strength through clear concepts, form, and colour, where every element expresses the content most strongly.
- Powerful expression in design can be achieved through multiple ways, such as differences in scale, contrasting bold and light type, and more.
- It is essential that a design carries visual power and unique presence to achieve its purpose, which can be accomplished through both bold and delicate layouts.
- Visual strength is an expression of intellectual elegance and should never be confused with just visual impact (usually visual vulgarity and obtrusiveness).
In conclusion, this reading relates to this current task where we had to express our chosen topics visually through typography. I chose the punk topic, and it reminded me that visual power is not only about making something look loud and messy, but also about using design elements like contrast and scale to express the rebellious nature of punk while keeping the layout clean and clear.
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