Cārakkaṭṭu means "scaffolding" in the oldest language in the world: Tamil. Why use Tamil and what does this have to do with this font? Well, Tamil is the foundation of all modern languages, it is the earliest form of verbal communication. I am exploring what makes a building stable or unstable, so; you need strong foundations for a good building, but scaffolding if it becomes unstable. Cārakkaṭṭu represents the foundations of a building that has become unstable, and needs to be repaired again.
This typeface shows impracticality and functionless. Like a decoration, this type has no function or use beyond being just something to look at. Each character is collapsing downwards with the different shapes in each letter slipping apart from each other. Some letters have completely collapsed whereas others are still falling apart.
This is Chicken Lickin'. It was inspired by the word Lurid and follows an odd train of thought back to my year 5 teacher. She would always wear lurid clothing and a nickname I had at the time was 'Chicken legs' which came from the parents of the football team I played for in my youth, Clapham Colts.
This font was designed around the theme of 'Dangerous'. It was inspired by fencing I documented around Bristol. I mainly used photos I took from around Clifton & industrial estates as a referenc as the designs majorly differed and I wanted to intertwine these differences to create a universal font that can reflect this. Regardless of design of fencing in each area - the ultimate purpose is to keep you out of their property.
FORWARD- I wanted to create a font in which felt like it had movement. I also wanted it to relate to codeing and glitching, so it had a technical feel. This font connects together, even when re-arranged. This was put in place to lead the viewer through the text so that they felt they were being lead into a digital world. I wanted This Font to be Energetic and hectic, and i feel like ive done this with the use of smaller pixels breaking up the thicker and more readable lettering.
This is a cloneInspired by perspective and architectural drawings, this font was a response to the word 'systematic'. The purpose for the design of the font was to create the effect of seeing each letter in two different perspectives. I was initally inspired by my grandad, who was an architect, showing me some of the designs he had drawn throughout his career and seeing how complex and techinal each one was, and how by using perspective you can create a three-dimensional effect on a two-dimensional scale.
'STANDARD' - This font was influenced by systematic shapes and objects.
I looked at stencils and stamps and the forms they create and incorporated this idea by constructing gaps in each character to create an overall stencil style.
Each character is the same width and height and almost bound by how much space they fill. I found similar patterns and rules in systematic objects which is why I tried to incorporate that into my font.
This is a font inspired by the word decorative. It uses letterforms that have been flipped and rotated multiple times to create a pattern. Each Letter is made up of 4 simplified letters. It is a display font as it is difficult to read, and should only be used for large scale posters or as a decorative type.
This is a cloneI based this typeface off the theme of introversion, and so went about creating a font that worked from the idea of the unseen, less obvious shadows of the letterforms, using arrows and angles to continue the theme of what is internal and not what the eye sees immediately.
Based on the theme of 'Systematic'. My research led me into compulsions which in turn became developing my own system where I surrendered control and randomly generated a variant of a Triangle, an angle to rotate it to and then a cell it would go into. This would then be removed to create the final letterform. Designed to be a display typeface.
I designed this font based on the word 'Thunderous'. My thinking in how the word relates is due to the Norse God Thor. I then started to look in to old Norse culture, this got me interested in runes. So with deeper research in to the Futharks spawned this type.
I developed this typeface in response to the theme of 'dangerous', my inspiration was barbed wire and fencing. I associate dangerous with restricted areas and confinement so I felt that creating a typeface reflecting wires and sharp points would accurately represent my theme. The straight, angular lines are similar to metal bars and so I believe give the feeling of a prison.
Distressed is an uppercase font focusing on the theme destruction. Within this element I looked more specifically at mental health and how social media has an affect on our mental wellbeing. I created a cracked and distressed effect on each individual letter to visually express the pressure and insecurity we can experience from social media.
This character set is inspired by the ironwork of balcony railings on Clifton's Victorian buildings. Based on the theme "elegant", I intended to capture the "elegance" portrayed by these ornate artworks, and so the internal patterns are based on actual pattern works from the iron railings. I felt that a set of capitals best captured the almost boastful and eye-catching nature of the railings.
This font i created is based on the theme word Ambitious. I traced back to the 1980s and took inspiration from there. These are considered the years of individual aspiration and cultural diversity. People were more ambitious, expressive and they were creating their own identities and attitudes. So i wanted to create a font that looks bold and energetic to represent that ambitious attitude.
Petri is a font inspired by the theme "unstable".
The main influence of this font was bacteria.
The font is supposed to represent the growth of bacteria with in a petri dish. I created this effect mainly through weight of line, by using a range of squares, this enabled me to create different amounts of space within the letters making it so that some areas are spaced out and some are crowded. The mixture of size helps portray a loose and some what fuzzy visual which I feel accurately represents the spread of bacteria.
This is a clone'Fold' was inspired by the theme 'energetic', and coveying movement within a form that doesn't move. I thought about how things fold, creating this type face in which the letters follow the same 'folding' movement.
"Energy" was created with my chosen theme "energetic". I developed my ideas from researching into neon light lettering and after that, looked into circuit boards. I then created guidelines which I would create the fonts within in order to make my type font as consistent as I could. This is version 2; very similar to version 1 but with minor tweaks.
This is a cloneFor my font I began with the word ‘Elegant’. I started off by looking and experimenting with flowers and plants and the small details. This led me to looking at the theme of art nouveau and art deco. A style very familiar to Gatsby scene on the 1920’s. I then tried to expand on “elegant’ and started looking at feathers involved in text.
JUNCTION is a typeface created from the intersection of two circles.
It was created in order to represent an INTROVERT (person who RETREATS mentally) theme. The intersection of the two circles symbolizes the limitations that the characters fit in to.
Geometries and grids are some of my interests and these are what inspired my ideas.
Malnourished- a display font. Malnutrition is a lack of proper nutrition, caused by not eating enough or by not eating enough nutritious food. This font was created to show the final effects of being malnurised; bones.
Font inspired by industrial structures under the theme ‘Strong’. I looked specifically at pipework and the shapes they create, occasionally mimicking the letterforms unintentionally. Additionally, I was inspired by the shading the metal created and how it exaggerated the bends in the structures. My aim was to ensure the user could read the letters yet still relate it to the theme.
My fontstruct is based on the theme of theatre. The designs were achieved from my observations of some theatres in Bristol, as well as further research online. The main inspiration came from the achitecture around the stage curtains, which then lead me to a more art-deco style appoach.
HIGH SOCIETY
This font was created based originally on the word 'Gregarious'. From that I researched Social Housing in the UK. These are spaces designed to house many people for as cheap as possible. I used compound blocks to create complex detailed flats that stack up as high as a tower block usually would.
This font is based of the theme 'gregarious'. For this I looked into coral reefs and sea anemone, then developed ideas through print making with acrylic paint and sponges. The type face is inspired by the flowing nature of the sea anemone and how some sea creatures/ plants grow upwards towards the sun. Eventually the type began to look more like flames/ smoke than a plant, which I decided to focus on instead. This shows how a project can completely change from the initial idea and just how it is important to always develop further taking into account others opinions and thoughts.
This fontsruction is based on the theme, systematic. It is inspired by popular early 20th century popular fonts such as 'Prisma' created by Rudolf Koch. Wave takes further inspiration from the methodology of Wim Crouwel and his use of grids and allignment using a dot matrix to create systematic letterform
This is a cloneCrystal Clear is a decorative typeface that was inspired by crystals and precious stones.
I bought a couple of different crystals and based the typeface on them, some of the crystals used were rose quartz, fluorite, smokey quartz, clear quartz and a couple of other ones. Some of these stones were already cut and not in their natural form, unlike the rest which were rough looking and not cut to a certain shape.
This font is inspired by the people that rebel, protest and defy our political stances. Taken from the word ‘unstable’ this font aims to convey a sense of political instability. Using the imagery and typefaces created from protest banners I created ‘f*ck boris’ whilst encompassing iconic rebellion symbols used throughout our history.
My first fontstruction is based around the theme “confidence”.
I explored the idea of flowers and the pettels and how they representing opening up. The simplicity emphasises delicacy and innocence. I chose to use the element of pettels throughout.