I had originally done this type process in two stages; one before I had come up with my "final" idea, and one before.
The "Before" Stage
For the before stage I just wrote out the whole line out a few times in different styles; one was done in serif that was inspired by my "Nevermore" piece, a script typeface, and a mixture of the script and serif. Even though I liked the script idea I am worried that it appears too feminine, and the first serif looked too strict. The third idea softened the serif style slightly but I still wasn't too sure about it because of it's slight angle as it might not work for the book layout.
I decided to carry on doing a few more styles to see which one has the right voice for my design.
Annotations
1. Too feminine and girly - better for girly books or children's books - although I do like the uppercase letters
2. An adaption of my first sketch where I didn't join them up. Looked a lot better but still too feminine, and it reminded me of the delicate handwriting you see on wedding invitations.
3. I moved away from the script style completely and focused on the serif style I had drafted out earlier. It was definitely more professional and less feminine, and the low contrast between thick and thin strokes softened the appearance and made it friendlier. However I still want to try out newer styles.
4. I then drew out the serif style but make it thicker and only drew the outline. This made it lose it's professional stand completely and turned it into something that looked a little childish. This was due to the way the serif were rounded and 'bubbly'.
5. I went back to my idea of mixing up the serif with script through creating subtle flourishes on the uppercase letters. I really liked this and it reminded me of what I had done for "Nevermore". It was very elegant as well which will be perfect for my book cover.
However I still wasn't too sure because I would ideally like to have two type styles, so this wouldn't be good for the opening line. It would be good for just "quotes" on it's own but the flourish on the Q wasn't that elegant.
6. I tried out doing the same style as above but made all of the lowercase letters uppercase, with the cap height shorter than the "real" uppercase letters. This was a bit too gothic, which isn't suitable for my book cover.
7. I put it at a slant but even though it made it look less gothic and more elegant, it wouldn't work if the type is centred and would be therefore hard to put into my chosen composition.
After all of these attempts I took a break and the next day gathered some inspiration and worked on some different compositions (as seen in my previous post).
The "After" Stage
I realised that the problem I had before was that I was producing a lot of elegant styles but nothing to provide a friendly opening. I had decided to do the "opening line" ("The Little Book Of") in a sans-serif style to do that, and then have "Quotes" in a slightly-decorative serif.
However I had to figure out how they would like in the format I had sketched out previously, so I once again went back to my designs to develop my chosen layout and added in a rough idea of the type. I developed my Art Nouveau inspiration and added some floral aesthetics to this design, especially surrounding "quotes". During the nineteenth-century Art Nouveau was a movement that used old methods for something completely new... Much like the way I'm using an already-done layout (by Penguin Classics) and using it to design something different.
I couldn't decide whether to have a decorate, floral flourish which forms into the shape of a book or to just have the "real" outline, so I drew another two sketches to get a better idea.
In the end I decided not to go with the floral outline because although it's a good concept, it would be too busy, especially if I have the patterned background.
With that in mind I then moved onto working on the typography, first drawing out the first line. I wrote it without considering kerning so that I could figure out if there was some sort of relationship between each letter before refining them.
I didn't want my first line to look too thin in comparison to the main word, Quotes, so I chose the thickest micron pen I had (08) and using the same measurements I had discovered within these sketches, I tried it out. I then did another version where I went over the letters twice with the 08 pen and it provided the perfect thickness. I had even tried out doing some little swirls on some of the letters but it was too much (especially if I am having a decorative typeface for Quotes).
It looks quite thick on the page but I know that when it comes to doing my main word, it would be lost on the page.
As I won't be using the floral flourish to the book, I added it to my type. This is because I realised that floral elements work really well with serif type - as shown by Jessica Hische's and Tobias Saul's work - but I kept it pretty minimal so that it was still readable.
I repeated my technique of doing some quick before refining the kerning and height as well as character thickness. After doing some sketches I realised that my T, E, S looked odd in comparison to Q, U, and O because they were too thick, so on the next page I concentrated only on T, E, and S. I took inspiration from Didot because it's a very elegant typeface that is used only in sophisticated and high-end fashion magazines such as Vogue. I took some inspiration from other serif typefaces but Didot was my main one.
The elegance was achieved by having hairline serifs and a higher contrast in thick and thin strokes.
After I had refined the other letters I moved onto the final sentence, FTWeekend. I decided to write this instead of "Oxford Literary Festival" because in their advertisement that I had seen in my local newspaper, they wrote FTWeekend instead. I'm not too sure if I will credit myself on the front cover but I'll definitely do it on an inside page.
This was relatively easy to do because I took reference from what I had done for "The little book of", but just shortened it slightly. This is so that it would appear more of a little credit note or author instead of being part of the book title.
Reflective Thinking - Summary
I am now ready to move onto drafting out the final sketch for my design! I have gotten used to refining my type and I feel that by doing this I have improve on my hand-lettering techniques as I'm doing all that I can to make it look as professional as possible. There will be some mistakes in the design but I don't mind too much as they reveal that the type was all done by hand and not an existing font.
This process was relatively time-consuming but I think it's a very key stage when it comes to design, and I've began to get used to figuring out the kerning and noticing the relationship between my letters. I have also been able to pick out characteristics of existing typefaces easily and I have taken more notice of their form and connotations rather than picking them because "they looked pretty".
I have come a long way in this project, and I'm glad that I am able to mix different styles now. I have been leaning more on using my microns so hopefully I can use my dip pens once more before my deadline.
Learning Outcomes:
[6] Developed skills of critical thinking, analysis and evaluation.
[7] Developed their ability to learn through reflection on practice and experience.
[9] Developed their ability to work with complex material, analyse problems and identify appropriate solutions.
[9] Developed their ability to work with complex material, analyse problems and identify appropriate solutions.
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