Sunday, 5 May 2019

Research in different Typefaces

6A2

I decided to investigate different editorial pieces which contain different typefaces being used. The issue with my practice is I would tend to stick to the same san-serif typeface. However, different projects need different typeface to fit the concept and purpose. Therefore, I decided to investigate different typefaces. I gathered different websites, where I could download typefaces: Adobefonts, Dafont. I also wanted to to know what fonts were used in campaigns, therefore, I collected images and used a website called Whatsthefont.com. This allowed me to create more meaning and purpose towards my projects. For instance the Balboa typeface was a typeface used in the civil rights movement, for a campaign called, "I AM A MAN!".

Source: https://fontsinuse.com/tags/1420/editorial-design

I gathered research from the website fonts in use, this website contained many fonts and identified which fonts were used for different publications. 

I will show a few examples in this blog of different contextual research collected. 

Punch Drunk Love stood out to me as the typeface is more hands on. This creates a more expressive style towards the publication. I could perhaps incorporate my painting skills to create a typeface similar to this aesthetics. 




contributed by Flo doe on August 14th, 2015. Artwork published in circa July 2015.

source: https://www.behance.net@schoener

Typefaces in publication:

*Elegant Lux

*Transat

*Capsa

*Acta Poster

*Erotica

*Dream script

*Dream caps

*Lince

Elegant Lux


Elegant Lux is a reinterpretation of the light cut of Hans Mohring's Elegant Grotesk (Stempel, 1928), first issued as a demo version in 2014. Elegant Lux Pro is a revised version with a wide range of ligatures and alternates, released with TDF in 2015.

Acta Poster


Acta Poster is designed by Dino dos Santos, which was released in 2010. Related typefaces are Acta, Acta Display

Type Life- Issue 3- contributed by Swiss Typefaces on October 15th, 2018. Artwork published in circa 2018.


Photo: Swiss Typefaces

The third issue of Type Life, Swiss Typefaces celebrate contemporary type made by others. The Swiss design studio created a selection of there favourites typefaces, licensed the fonts and used them to design a magazine. The visuals are developed by lettering artist Julien Priez.

TypeLife3 showcases 19 fonts. The type design represents diversity and overview of design in the modern day. Most of the fonts were released in the past few years, and draw inspiration from past eras. The type explored are black lettering, script, slab serif, sans serif. The three major trends in modern typography are: stress of newness, historical references, vast stylistic purity (Florian Hardwig, 2018).

There are also functional fonts designed to solve specific problems. The type designers who created the fonts come from a diverse background. The represented distribution models range from traditional licensing to subscriptions, free and open- sourced fonts, as well as experimental or even unfinished releases.



The book consists of different typefaces being experiments and explored. The format of the pages being transparent creates an interest effect with type. I could perhaps consider this technique when creating own projects. 

Type Life: Issue 1


Type Life is a publication based on the topics about design, typography and lifestyle by Swiss typefaces. The content includes photography, illustration, lettering rather than a heavy-long text, the overall concept is to create a visual experience. The print includes the use of metallic and neon colours. 

The publication explores new ideas and fonts. The first contemporary font explored is BRRR. BRRR is a fun wide Grotesk font. The typeface is inspired from Simplon Monotype, the type was originally designed for a poster series for Swiss artist Simon Paccaud. BRRR is apart of the Lab typefaces.





Non-Central Moscow

contribute by Yury Ostromentsky on March 20th, 2019. Artwork published in December 2018. "Non-central Moscow" is a student project designed and composed by Viktoria Makeeva at HSE Art and Design School in Moscow. The typography uses the Regular, Old and Italic weight of CSTM Xprmntal 02, a set of three stylistically different typeface exploration by CSTM Fonts. 


 The use of kettle stitch makes this design very successful. I feel this relates to my style of work of creating a vast amount of content. The use of kettle stitch allows the pages to be easily visible compared to perfect binding.



The typeface is contemporary by the typeface being more diverse and innovative. The use of a clean feel makes the typography and out for the editorial finish. This has helped me develop m practice in considering how clean a design can be. It has also encouraged me to research into more diverse typeface. The use of the clean background allows the design to stand out more. 

Sean O'Brien







WEIGHT magazine
January 23rd 2019

Weight is a fictional culture and lifestyle publication that uses hiphop music as a focal point to explore new things. Every issue will highlight a new album release from the artists in the industry, sharing their stories background and highlighting their lyrical content. Designed by Sean O'Brien while studying Graphic Design at Art Centre College of Design. 


The Rage
contributed by XYZ Type on March 8th, 2019. Artwork published in September 2018. Designed by Veronica Corzo-Duchardt, in collaboration with Jessica De Jesus and Margot Harrington. 

Bitch Media, published on independent magazine called Bitch with the phrase "a feminist response to pop culture." In 2018, the designers created a rebrand for their monthly, membership program as 'The Rage'. The name comes from the concept of anger, emphasising marginalised communities. The typeface used for the logo is Cortado, this design branding was used for totes, mugs, bookmarks, and membership cards. 

The rebranding was heavily influenced by hand lettering of protest posters and 80's and 90's punk aesthetics Cortado typeface includes a sense of urgency and punk attitude. For the final logo Corzo-Duchardt manipulated print outs of Cortado on an old photocopier to push the emotion of anger and urgency even further. 

Cortado type

Cortado script was designed by Jesse Ragan and Ben Kiel. The typeface was originally designed for Aldo shows 2013 campaign "Give Me Aldo" and is used for to all of Aldo's in-store design and e-commerce. Primary elements of the type were painted by Cecilia Carlstedt. In 2014, Ragan and Kiel updated the typeface and made it available for general licensing at cortadoscript.com. Since May 2017, the typeface is available from XYZ Type, with the name shortened to Cortado. 






The last two examples are relevant towards my practice as they explore the theme of diversity. The use of the typefaces will help my practice develop in using typefaces similar to these aesthetics. overall, this research has helped me gain more knowledge in more contemporary typefaces which will fit projects in my practice.  


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