Visual arts and 2D – 3D motion typo.graphic design

This project explores issues of typographic design within multimedia contexts, which include interactive, sonic and animated components

The use of the spline function in computer-aided type design

The traditional type designer works with pen, in and paper. The characters that he designs go through many changes before the whole font is finalized and set in the printing medium. Further alterations to the font may occur after he prints and evaluates a sample piece of text. Computer-aided type design presents the type designer with a new design tool. Computers have been used in the printing industry for typesetting; the automation of type design is a logical next step. Freeing the designer from the repetitive tasks of the design cycle is one obvious advantage cf using computers. But computer-aided type design makes its real contribution when a designer can use it with the same facility that he uses traditional design tools like pen, ink and paper. This research investigates the use of the spline curve in type design. Contemporary type designers are expected to perform a variety of tasks. On the one hand, they may design characters that will last because of their artistic merit and singular characteristics. On the other hand, they may design characters that can be recognized by machines. A computer-aided type design tool should be flexible enough to meet these demands and con venient to use. The focus of the research will be on the input requirements for drawing the spline curves that form the characters. First, the mathematics of the spline functions and their use in two dimensional graphics is discussed. Next, a brief survey of the use of the spline curve in computer-aided type design is given. In order to investigate further the problems of designing characters, a pilot system was written to design basic character shapes, using raster based graphics. The system was designed with the objective of having input specifications which would be familiar to a type designer. This system is described in the last section

Computational models for expressive dimensional typography

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-84).This thesis research explores the prospect of typographic forms, based on custom computational models, which can be faithfully realized only in a three-dimensional, interactive environment. These new models allow for manipulation of letter-form attributes including visual display, scale, two-dimensional structure and three dimensional sculptural form. In this research, each computational model must accommodate the variation in letter shapes, while trying to balance functional flexibility with the beauty and legibility of fine typography. In most cases, this thesis work approaches typography at the level of a single letter, looking at ways we can build living, expressive textual environments on the computer display.Peter Sungil Cho.S.M

A dialogue of forms : letter and digital font design

Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1986.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.Bibliography: leaves 104-120.by Debra Anne Adams.M.S.V.S

EFEKTIVITAS PERANCANGAN TYPEFACE DENGAN METODE IKONOGRAFI

This article describes the typeface design method based on Dayak Iban tattoo. It uses iconographic theory from Erwin Panofsky and the evaluate it through a Likert survey on a scale of 1-5 using four aspects of assessment(similarity, uniqueness, readability, and legibility). Based on the iconographic analysis, this study categorizes Dayak tattoo motifs into three worlds, which are; The Upper World (Hornbill), Middle World (Tree of Life, Eggplant Flowers), and the Underworld (Dragon and Scorpion) will put on each letter anatomies. The evaluation stage found that the typeface has a 3.8 average level of uniqueness, readability, and legibility, although the level of similarity in this typeface with Dayak tattoo motifs needs to be increased again because of the score is just 3 of a maximum of 5

Fontes paramétricas e fontes interpoladas: o renascimento de fontes dinâmicas e a sua utilização no design gráfico

Este trabalho de investigação incidiu num atual interesse de designers de tipo, programadores e utilizadores na aplicação de tipos dinâmicos re-emergentes. O nossos principal objetivo, foi contribuir para o conhecimento histórico da prática tipográfica, bem como de métodos e processos que mais diretamente estabeleceram o uso das fontes paramétricas e variáveis. Assim, esta investigação interligou dois universos que consideramos relevantes no campo da tipografia: a produção do tipo e a experiência do utilizador na sua aplicação. Foi abordada a terminologia e os momentos que se associaram à evolução tecnologia que caracterizou a produção e o uso dos tipos, desde os caracteres móveis aos tipos digitais, e o módulo como a programação se aliou ao design, nomeadamente a sua relação com a tipografia. Foram também analisadas as tecnologias tradicionais e contemporâneas que têm permitido ao designer de tipos gerar as possibilidades de exploração da forma das letras, os quais, por outro lado,têm permitido uma maior liberdade ao designer gráfico na concretização das suas composições. Por fim, este trabalho de investigação introduz a proposta de estabelecer uma mediação entre o conhecimento do designer de tipos e a experiência do utilizador. As ferramentas digitais que viabilizam ao utilizador a exploração livre da estrutura das letras, deverão ser enquadradas através de determinados de controlos definidos na própria interface e que contribuam para se estabelecer o uso tipógrafo

An Investigation into the growing popularity of script typefaces and the technical means by which they are created today

The examination of any current type specimen book invariably discloses a large number of faces designed to imitate some form of handwriting. Strictly speaking, such designs are known as script types. It is a matter of opinion which typefaces should be classified as scripts, especially since all early type designs were derived from written forms. Today, we typically label a typeface as a script if it retains the look of having been written with a pen or other writing implement. Type specimen catalogues of the nineteenth century list numerous examples of such written forms, though these are mostly restricted to styles developed by the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century writing masters. Modern scripts differ from those of the last century because of a bewildering variety of structures derived from forms created by different writing instruments, including the broad-edged pen, the steel pen, and the brush. In addition to such traditional sources, more recent scripts have been inspired by the felt-tipped marker, pencil, ruling pen, ball point pen and even the spray paint can. For this thesis project, the author prepared a historical introduction and then attempted to classify as many historic and contemporary script faces as possible in order to determine how type designers are breaking new ground in the structure of these fascinating letterforms. Many recent script faces are radically different from traditional models, while some explore the very limits of style, legibility, and technical fit. Such experimentation would have been much more difficult in the days when types were cast from metal or even when types were made for photocomposition devices. Today, the number and variety of script faces are increasing at a rapid rate due to improvements in computer type design software. Therefore, this thesis project also reviews some of the powerful type design software and digital technology now available which allow designers to create types of great originality. Also included are the results of a questionnaire sent to selected contemporary designers of script faces

Methods for Processing Languages with Ω

International audienceIn this paper we discuss general issues of multilingual typesetting and methods used by the Ω typesetting system. We describe the different levels of language processing with Ω, giving special emphasis to the level of virtual fonts; in particular we give a complete description of the configuration file which is used to create 16-bit virtual fonts out of 8-bit PostScript fonts containing the necessary glyphs

Learning a Manifold of Fonts

The design and manipulation of typefaces and fonts is an area requiring substantial expertise; it can take many years of study to become a proficient typographer. At the same time, the use of typefaces is ubiquitous; there are many users who, while not experts, would like to be more involved in tweaking or changing existing fonts without suffering the learning curve of professional typography packages. Given the wealth of fonts that are available today, we would like to exploit the expertise used to produce these fonts, and to enable everyday users to create, explore, and edit fonts. To this end, we build a generative manifold of standard fonts. Every location on the manifold corresponds to a unique and novel typeface, and is obtained by learning a non-linear mapping that intelligently interpolates and extrapolates existing fonts. Using the manifold, we can smoothly interpolate and move between existing fonts. We can also use the manifold as a constraint that makes a variety of new applications possible. For instance, when editing a single character, we can update all the other glyphs in a font simultaneously to keep them compatible with our changes