Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

My text is the Artificer Infusion list from the Eberron Campaign Setting Book from Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition. It is a “futuristic” setting for DnD it takes place in a world where technology has developed leaps and bounds beyond the typical fantasy setting, at times mirroring or exceeding modern technology, but at times lacking, because it is a world shaped by magic. Cars exist, but they are powered by elementals from magical planes. Things we take for granted exist in a new ways, and things such as giant airships exist that we can’t build with our modern technology. It is in a lot of ways reminiscent of Harry Potter’s universe. Artificers are like the engineers of this world, building and inventing all sorts of items by applying a scientific/engineering minded approach to magic as opposed to the more traditional fantasy approach.

Infusions are to Artificers what Spells are to Wizards. They are magical in nature, however they are applied in a different way. I wanted to capture this feeling, so what I’m going to try is to take old norse/celtic runes and give them a modern printed feel.

What I noticed with the runes was that nearly all have a strong vertical line. I’m going to take that idea and exaggerate it.

The Rules I’ll use as I see them now are as follows:

1) There will be a 3 wide by 4 tall grid

2) Between columns 1 and 2 will be a BOLD line as part of all capitals (if I do lowercase later I’ll have to adjust this) that stretches from the top to the bottom

3) All lines Right of the line will be thinner, (50%? 75%? I’ll have to experiment) All lines left of the line will be thinner than those to the right by the same difference (for example if I do 50% the ratio will be 1:4:2)

4) No curved lines (If this looks ugly, plan B is to allow half circles where necessary)

5) Cross bars will be at 1 square from the bottom. “Curves” (Such as P) will be half height

6) All Lines will start and end at a vertex of the grid

I had a radical change of approach late in the game, so I don’t have my sample letters done, as written I’m imagining the letter S will give me the most difficulty rules wise. So that’ll probably be the third letter I try (Get a couple to work before I tackle the hardest)

For this assignment, the text that I decided to choose was a poem from Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe was a Poet who lived from 1809-1849. The poem I chose to use is named Dreamland. The poem is written with words and structure used during the 19th century. Because of the context, I want my alphabet to have a natural, materials-based feel to it. If I used a modular method to construct my alphabet, it would feel disconnected to the poem.  I want this font to look like it is hand written because back then, they did not have technology like now and I want the ascenders and descenders to have a slight curve. As for the exact size, I need to try out a few sizes to see what is more successful with some feed back.

Rules:-Organic feel-slightly cursive-serifs-lowercase

For my alphabet design I plan to use the modular method of design to define my rules for my type. I chose to do a sans serif all capitol alphabet because I am using a poem by Shel Silverstein called “No Thank You”. The rules I made to define the design of my letters are, the lines of the letters will all be the same even thickness of five point throughout with no contrast. The grid system I am basing the letter forms off will be a tall skinny oval one for the letters with curves. For the letters height and width I made a rectangle box to have the letters fit in so they are all the same size. The ascenders and descenders will be at the same height to fit in the box so there will be fluent continuity. I am choosing to make all of the letters capitol because in the sense of the poem, the feeling is slightly funny and passive aggressive. I made the font be sans serif because it will look more modern and clean so the tall skinny letters wouldn’t have any elements added onto them to make the type look different. The tops of the letters will be flat as well because I didn’t want the tops to be pointed. Overall the feeling of the font will be modern but light to go with the sarcastic poem, “No Thank You”.

The text that I will be using for this project is a poem called Daffodils by William Wordsworth. The poem is very lighthearted and reminds me of the summer so my goal is also to create a font that feels light and summery. My own handwriting was kind of an influence when I started doodling options on paper. I decided to create this type using a modular method. My grid for each letter is 3/4″ x .4″ all letters will be created in lower case.

Some rules I set for my type are:

• Letters need to have an organic feel
• There will be subtle serifs at the bottom of every stem and descender
• Bottom of stem needs to be wider than the top of the stem
• Stems for letters like “b”, “d”, and “l” have to be 3/4″
• X-height is 1/3″ or 1/3 the height of the grid

I think that these rules will fit my text because they are in lowercase and to me when I see something in lower case letters I get the message that this is more relaxed and casual. This poem is not very deep it is very descriptive. Therefore there is a lot of imagery created within the poem. When I read it I could literally picture the scene Wordsworth painting in my head. So I think that it is important that the type doesn’t take away from the poem, instead I want it to be present on the page, but not stand too strong like a type in all caps would or a thicker/bolder type.

Font

The text I chose greatly influenced the mood I wanted my typeface to omit. I wanted the font to appear somewhat handwritten, while looking simplistic and somewhat irregular and organic. I started out wanting to use a modular method, however after creating a few letters I realized that I wasn’t really following the process or system by which a modular method is made. I didn’t use a grid and because of its irregularity maybe it was a materials-based method. Upon the conclusion I realized I maybe executed this part of Project 3 incorrectly so I will probably end up changing my alphabet. However, I did create a set of rules that I want my ultimate text to have. I think these rules will pair with my text well as it is a children’s story that is still pretty heavy in philosophical discussion about selfishness and selflessness. Since the content is heavy, but the book is a children’s book, I wanted a light, condensed font to mirror the organic, simple nature of the book.

1. X height is same height as capital letter (text will be all caps)

2. Sans serif font

3. Uppercase

4. Minimal contrast, thin weight

5. Upright posture for the most part, some letters will be somewhat askew/angled to portray organic/irregular nature

6. condensed width

7. Font will appear handwritten, somewhat sloppy to imitate content of story

8. Most straight lines will be at least somewhat curved, again to demonstrate irregularity

I chose the song “World Alone” by Lorde. The song is slow paced, gradually building so I want the font to portray a feeling of movement,to do so I am going to have outlines for the sizes but they will not be required to hit those measurements dead on (after some hours working like this I have decided instead to set multiple specific places for letters descenders, ascenders and bases to hit, in order to give it at least somewhat of a cohesive feel). It is a love song but not overly dramatic so I am leaving room for long ascenders and descenders to give it a romantic feel. I don’t want it overtly decorative or tacky so the ascenders and descenders will not have tons of extra loops or lines but they will avoid straight lines to keep a sense of movement and a delicate sense. It will be in lower case for now, if I chose to do upper case the uppercase letters will be more decorative than the lower ones. The lines also use an oval brush, giving it a more organic and less serious shape.

My rules:

Serifs

2×6 units(this will need to be altered)

avoid straight lines

avoid hard points, stick to curves

minimal extra decorum