Advanced Typography - Task 3: Type Exploration and Application

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Name: Liong Xenyi (0383125)
Module: Advanced Typography (GCD61004)
Date: 17/11/2025 - 15/12/2025 (Week 9- Week 13)
Degree: Bachelor of Design (Honors) in Creative Media 
University: Taylor's University

Task 3: Type Exploration and Application
Table of Contents
Module Information Booklet


Task 3
Instructions
Choose either one:
Create a font that is intended to solve a larger problem or meant to be part of a solution in the area of your interest be it graphic design, animation, new media or entertainment design or any other related area not necessarily reflecting your specialisation.
End result: a complete generated font (.ttf) with applications.

or

Explore the use of an existing letterform in an area of interest, understand its existing relationship, identify areas that could be improved upon, explore possible solutions or combinations that may add value to the existing letterform / lettering. 
End result: a complete generated font (.ttf) with applications.

or

Experiment: For your idea to qualify as an experiment it must be novel and unique — working with material that might be 3-dimensional, digitally augmented, edible, unusual, typographic music video or fine art. 
End result: defined by student.

  • Prepare final Task 3 presentation (Google Slide / PP) explain your intention, show examples, make an attempt (at designing the font for the ideas you selected). You should explore at least 3 possible ideas in you presentation.
  • Use a grid to ensure consistency in weight (stroke thickness).
  • Complete all letterforms uppercase, lowercase, numerals and punctuations.
  • Complete font generation from FontLab7 (use MacLab D7.04 for original software) or download a free application like FontForge. You may view this article from a former student on how to use it. 
  • Complete font presentations (5 artworks; 1024 x 1024 px each artwork, 300ppi).
  • Complete font applications (5 artworks simulated; size subject to application but should not exceed 1024px in width or height. 300ppi).
Process
I first made a presentation with several ideas I had for this task. I was brainstorming off on things I liked, such as games' posters or animations' posters, or experimenting with a mix of fashion and typography. This are my slides.
Fig 1.1 Task 3 Presentation (Week 9, 20/11/2025)

After feedback, I realised that the two ideas with a more solid area that I could research on and develop on that idea are ideas #3 and #5. For idea #3, I could research more on French font types back in the 1960s, while also researching on horror movie posters and mixing the two to produce a better font that could be used. As for idea #5, I want to experiment on something I like, with the opportunity to try something different.

After I evaluated both of these ideas, I prefer idea #3 as it has a more solid background where I can study and develop my font based on existing fonts. However, as for idea #5, I wasn't sure if I could get enough cloths for each letter, and wasn't so skilled in handling cloths in general, so to save time, I would do something I had done before.

Research
I did my research on French fonts from the 1960s. I read some articles to understand which fonts were used in that time, and I also came up with fonts I have studied previously, such as Bodoni MT. It was a little difficult to research on certain fonts, as I couldn't find much specific research on it. After researching on a few fonts, I wanted to compare all the fonts I have collected on a grid, so that I could study it and come up with my own. These are the fonts in order (as shown in Fig 1.2: Peignot, Anitque Olive, Bodoni MT, Didot, La Parisienne Serif (inline and regular), La Parisienne Script, Fournier MT Std and Chambord. 
Fig 1.2 Researching and comparing fonts (Week 10, 27/11/2025)

After comparing the fonts with the ones in poster with the font I intended to fix, I found the font used by the creator, which is Didot, an older inspiration for the current Bodoni typeface. I noticed Didot has thinner strokes compared to Bodoni, and it's a little more difficult in reading when looking from afar. I continued to study the typeface by laying out the ascender, descender, x-height, cap line, and baseline.
Fig 1.3 Dead Plate poster, fixing the typeface (Week 10, 27/11/2025)


Fig 1.4 Studying the Didot typeface (Week 10, 27/11/2025)

Furthermore, I also looked up horror posters with varying typefaces during the 1960s, and compared each one. I noticed that the typefaces are all very bold, in width and colour. There are a mix of normal and hand-drawn typefaces. 

As the game poster I am looking into is based on the horror genre, consisting of a cannibal cook, I wanted to look at blood as the main theme. However, I want a more consistent look for the typeface, as I am mixing it with the studied French fonts, I will add a minimal graphic element to represent said blood. The dripping blood and slashes are too common and not to be used as a font. In addition, the game was very subtle in showing the cannibal, so I want to create a font that shows that, with the horror aspect dialed down in a subtle way.
Fig 1.4 Horror posters comparison (Week 10, 27/11/2025)

These are the short notes I collected that I observed that could be included in the new font.

French:
  • one side is thicker than the other
  • serif is thick to thin
  • thick overall
  • make it more bouncy/flowy like the richness of classy restaurant
  • somehow mix thickness of the era and thin with the delicacy of the theme

Horror:
  • thin in the middle, thick in the top and bottom
  • thick and chilly
  • a bit over the top with sketchy graphics
  • can show blood on the typeface
  • horror: human crime (killing, cannibalism), instead of monster scary, it has to reflect a grime, chilly human scare
  • blood as the main thing
Digitsation
I started making my font. I made the mistake of not being able to sketch my ideas, but didn't have the time, so I started experimenting on Adobe Illustrator instead. I used the researched French fonts to become my base of inspiration, while making adjustments to make it unique for the poster. I used Bodoni, La Parisienne Serif (inline) and La Parisienne Script as reference. I started by making the strokes and curves. I included a drop of blood as the graphic element to show the subtle look of the story. 

Using the Didot typeface, I measured the ascender, descender, cap line and x-height for my font. 
Fig 1.5 Font measurements (Week 10, 27/11/2025)

I was inspired by the cursive La Parisienne Script, so I tried doing my own version with the letter 'B'. But after testing it out, it was difficult to make a cursive side, let alone one that is consistent. Instead, I scrapped doing the cursive and first made certain strokes and curves that I would use for the font. 
Fig 1.6 First progress of making the font (Week 10, 27/11/2025)

Instead of using the pen tool, I used the shapes to create the curves and used the pathfinder tool. As for the stroke, I widen the thickness compared to the reference fonts, along with the poster, but not too much like the horror ones, just thick enough to be seen. I added the drop of blood at the bottom of the stroke, as if the blood is dripping down from the stroke. I added a curvy serif but only at the top of the stroke. All the strokes would have an empty space in the middle, taken inspiration from the La Parisienne Serif (inline) typeface, but with my own changes that I think would fit in the poster. I used a elongated diamond shape for the empty space in the middle, rounding the edges so it is more smooth. Because of the contents, I wanted to make the strokes look creepy and chilly, making it look like a bone with blood, thus the thinness in the middle, and becoming thicker at the end. The bottom would be thicker than the top.
Fig 1.7 Making the strokes and curves (Week 10, 27/11/2025)

I made several versions of the letter 'A' to see what works. After looking from afar, I realised that the blood droplet isn't visible, so I made it smaller. I'm not really a fan of the white space occupying the 'A', but I would work on that later. I continued doing the letters 'B' and 'C', and see what works and what doesn't. At the end of certain strokes, like the curves of C, I used the same curvy serif I made. I adjusted accordingly, using the pathfinder and pen tool.
Fig 1.8 Making the letters (Week 11, 5/12/2025)

I continued making the other letters while also constructing similar strokes I could use. I decided only those with the straight vertical and diagonal strokes will have the blood element. The curve strokes will only have the holes in them. I created unique strokes for different ones, such as the top and bottom stroke of E and F, or K with its different diagonal angle and top side stroke. As for the curved strokes, I used the one I made for C, with different adjustments based on the letter. I reused the serif part when making the first main stroke to put at the end of other strokes. 

I used similar strokes and shapes to add consistency, but also changed some parts to make certain letters have unique characteristics. This part of the process was difficult for me to make the letters, to try and maintain consistency while making it look interesting and readable. There are many changes I would like to improve on. I made different versions of some letters to compare and choose which is better. 
Fig 1.9 First Construction A-L (Week 11, 5/12/2025)

Fig 1.10 First construction M-T (Week 11, 5/12/2025)

Fig 1.11 First construction U-Y (Week 11, 5/12/2025)

Fig 1.12 Stroke construction (Week 11, 5/12/2025)

I did some changes after looking through the letters, adjusting the size and width of the strokes, the placement and how well the letters are balanced. I tried to keep the strokes consistent by using the grid.
Fig 1.13 Letters adjustments A-N (Week 12, 10/12/2025)

Fig 1.14 Letters adjustments O-W (Week 12, 10/12/2025)

Fig 1.15 Letters adjustments X-Z (Week 12, 10/12/2025)

After the letters, I made the numbers. Using the same main stroke with the blood element, I made a new curvy element for the numbers only. I used the Didot typeface as reference for the size and shape, and later added its own characteristics. Similar to the letters, the strokes have a variety of thin and thick strokes, typically thin in the middle, and thick at the end, while adding the serif element. Since it is a smaller group, I made sure every number is consistent and well drawn out in one go as a group. 
Fig 1.16 Number construction (Week 12, 10/12/2025)

Lastly, I made the punctuations. I was stuck with the comma at first, but decided to still use the blood element as part of it characteristic. I used the same strokes from the letters. I made some different punctuations, but not all, only focusing on what could be deemed as important. 
Fig 1.17 Punctuation construction (Week 12, 10/12/2025)

My process is pretty messy, but it was easier for my thought process to flow. This is the whole canvas.
1.18 Font making process (Week 12, 10/12/2025)

Uploading the Font
I couldn't use FontLab anymore, as my free trial expired, so I used Font Forge instead. I exported the letters, numbers and punctuations as svg elements and imported it on Font Forge. I tested it out and see how it looked. There are some big mistakes that Font Forge didn't manage to smoothly import, which I had to manually look and fix one by one. I then proceeded to kern the letters. It was pretty tough too, since some of my letters don't follow the rules exactly, so I had to space them with my eye and test out with different types of letters 
Fig 2.1 Testing out on Font Forge (Week 12, 13/12/2025)

I generated a test run to see how it looks like. However, there are many small errors from importing the letters from Adobe Illustrator that create bumps and unwanted spaces or elements. I had to recheck and fix the tiny problems to make it look better when up close. I tested out the kerning again and generated the font. However, this had to go on longer than I thought, as I took a lot of time to fix the font. I did the previous step a few times before the font finally turned out how I wanted it to. Over this process, I generally made some changes to the letters, such as making the blood drop smaller so that it could be seen from afar.
Fig 2.2 Font errors (Week 12, 13/12/2025)

Fig 2.3 Fixing errors on Font Forge (Week 12, 13/12/2025)

Fig 2.4 Fixing errors on Font Forge 2 (Week 12, 13/12/2025)

I tested everything to make sure they seem the best before I exported the font. 
Fig 2.5 Testing numbers and punctuations (Week 12, 13/12/2025)

Fig 2.6 Font Forge screen grab (Week 12, 13/12/2025)

I named the font 'Vincent La Guele', using the inspiration from the game reference for this task. Here is more information on the game, Dead Plate. Vincent is the antagonist who is a cannibal in the game, owning a restaurant named La Gueule De Saturne, French for "The Mouth of Saturn". 

I named it after Vincent's mouth since, well, that's a focus on his character in the game. Also, I'll come forth and say that I do not know a single thing about French, absolutely clueless, and I had to quickly find a name (my previous failed generated fonts had similar but different names), so I know it's wrong grammar, but names don't really matter too much I hope. Continuing on, since this was about making a better font for the game, most inspiration and ideas were taken from this game. 

This is the link to the font: 
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s6DwrJu-WOFP9LK4jdNkPq8Jjckn3ce?usp=sharing

Fig 2.7 Final Font (Week 12, 13/12/2025)

Font Presentation and Application
As mentioned previously, this is mostly inspired by Dead Plate, so I looked at some of the visuals to take inspiration from. With my previous study on Russian Constructivism, I observed that the game's art-style draws inspiration from it, with its bold and contrasting colours, mainly neutral colours with one bright colour, and the simple elements.
Dead Plate's References

Fig 3.1 Dead Plate References (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

I started brainstorming ways to present the font. I did not want to present the font on the poster, as it is stealing someone else's work, but I used the font on the poster and logo as a reference.
Fig 3.2 Using the font on the poster and logo (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

I used my previous knowledge on typographical design and tried to present the font to the best of my abilities. Since this font is meant for headers and titles, the letters were displayed in large, more singular rather than in paragraphs of texts. The colours used were taken from the main poster of Dead Plate, as it displays a good colour scheme that matches the mysterious and gritty tone of the story.
Fig 3.3 Font colour palette (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 3.4 Process of making the font presentation (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Next, I looked at the references and looked back at my research for this font in order to make the font application. I went for ideas related to horror, story/game, restaurants and food to present what the font is for. At first, it was a little hard for me to find good mockups for free, so I tried making a few and comparing them to see what is good. In the end, I choose a movie poster, restaurant sign, menu board, menu book and a retro television. This is my process.
3.5 A few mockups (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 3.6 Menu book mockup process (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 3.7 Movie poster mockup process (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 3.8 Whole presentation and application (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Final Submission
Font link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s6DwrJu--WOFP9LK4jdNkPq8Jjckn3ce?usp=sharing


Fig 4.1 Font PDF (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.2 Font Forge Screengrab(Week 13, 15/12/2025)


Presentation:
Fig 4.3 Presentation #1 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.4 Presentation #2 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.5 Presentation #3 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.6 Presentation #4 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.7 Presentation #5 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)


Application:
Fig 4.8 Application #1 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.9 Application #2 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.10 Application #3 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.11 Application #4 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.12 Application #5 (Week 13, 15/12/2025)

Fig 4.13 PDF of Font Presentation and Application (Week 13, 15/12/2025)


Feedback
Week 9:
General Feedback: Be smart and know how much you can complete in the given time. Do the task with time in mind and plan properly, as this task is hard with the amount we have to do. Always use a grid when forming letterforms, and have consistency and good spacing that is maintained. 

Specific Feedback: The first two proposals had a few issues, as the first idea's typeface looks like its from an exisiting font, while the second had a mixture of upper case in the place of lower case letters, making it hard to develop the font properly. My third and fourth proposal is based on fixing a font and making it better, with my third having a basis and reference that I could look at. My last one was an experiment using fabric to make letterforms, choosing either to make upper or lower case with some numbers, while Mr. Vinod suggested I could use wasted fabric that could prevent wastage. Proposal 3 and 5 were the best ideas, but I still have to make my own decision.

Week 10:
General Feedback: Be quick. Be consistent and use a grid. Use the same strokes and lines.
Specific Feedback: To save time, I should be consistent with my font, using the same lines, strokes, and curves. Since I have no time, I should stick to only making the Uppercase letters, numbers and punctuations. 

Week 11:
General Feedback: Make the sizing and width the same size when creating the upper and lower case letters. Use the same grid with consistency. Quickly finish making the presentation and application.

Week 12:
General Feedback: Use good colour scheme and make the presentation attractive and unique to the brand or font. Finalise the blog and make sure all links work and PDF visible. The blog format must be followed and rules applied. Everything listed in submission must be presented clearly.

Week 13:
General Feedback: Finish everything, including submission and all blogs. Make sure all the rules are followed correctly.


Reflection
Observation:
I have seen that I could use the skills I have learned in typography to apply and use it for this final task. Even though it is similar to my previous module, the task is easier to tackle with prior knowledge that helps me through the process. However, it is noted that I still need to work on my time management, as typography takes a lot of time to carefully craft.

Experience:
This task was tougher for me as I wasn't sure how to go about it, but it worked out in the end. I'm not too fond of making my own font, as drawing it is fun, but making it consistent and fixing errors can be really frustrating and difficult. However, I would need to gain more experience on this topic by practicing and continuing applying my skills. I even noticed I do tend to observe certain typographical icons, brands and designs in general in my daily life.

Findings:
I find that typography isn't my strong suit at all, as keeping something always consistent and in a grid is tough for me. I need to continue to observe and practice applying my skills so I could keep what I have learned growing in the future.

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