Typeface sketches

Obviously it is far too soon to actually get bang involved with designing digitally, as I have not yet explored many possibilites with regards to the typeface I am going to create. I took some time out to do some sketches, I was originally going to to 10 ideas for every letter but I figured that would involve going over and over the same styles. Instead I did 90 to get a fairly good idea of what styles I could use, I figure these cover quite a broad range.

I'm looking to go towards these sort of styles, I can't yet decide whether to do something a little more classy and rounded (the first B), or maybe go for a more mathematical approach and do an isometric-based typeface (the other B's). The isometric letterforms could be crafted very nicely on the right sort of grid, I could perhaps combine my Golden Ratio grid with some isometrics to get proper angles. I am unsure yet.

I quite like these slanted A's, they make use of the rule of thirds and offer a slight alternative to standard letterforms. One thing for sure is that I will be going for the whole fat/thin approach. At the bottom of this particular page I started to add in a sly triangle reference, just to tie in with the whole mathematics and the Golden Triangle thing. Maybe that's getting a little too ornamental for my liking. 

Also started messing around with slightly more abstracted forms, I might consider trying out some more styles like that, but its lack of legibility concerns me a bit so I might just mess around with these in my own time..

more improvements

getting towards the final product......

i rekon this has solved most of the issues raised in the crits and assessments and whatever. 

typeface has been changed to something a little more unique, and in some ways feels quite appropriate for this poster. Irrelevant elements have been removed, such as the overlapping 100ml thing that I 'ruined' the first one with. The information has been amalgamated and the elements present are given room to breathe, complimentary colours used and all sorts. not that happy with it, but it least it's a more refined resolution, which would work. The original A3-2:1 scale I was going to use (420mmx210mm) is now a bit small to view all the information clearly, so I will scale this up to be printed on A2 I think. A screen print would be nice, but time's running out, so it'll have to be a digital job. 

and so on

further development. aye aye captain

potential typefaces

Another issue raised was the typeface of my original prototype......'have you explored any other typefaces other than Helvetica....' or something like that. Obviously such an effective, functional and attractive font is just too lazy in these days. Yes maybe I was just too lazy to explore other fonts so I settled for a fall-back font. So I explored a few others...which may or may not work equally well....:

the font I will use will be the seventh one, called U.S. 101, which despite maybe being not quite as nice and well-functioning as Helvetica, is indeed different. It is still a very nice typeface. Solid.

collection 100 improvements

I want to amalgamate all of the information onto one poster, as this seems far more logical than having 3 to demonstrate an interpretation of '100'. I came up with a few ideas for how the posters might shape up, without actually laying any information onto it.

hmmmmmm.

the bottom left one makes the most sense for what I am doing....the theme is caffeine, which gives you energy. Yellow is an energetic sort of colour, so teamed up with the upward stance of the shapes, it definately conveys that sort of feeling....in a way....it will look a lot better with the information I imagine. the two bottom left ones are my favourites.

I

hope you are enjoying my blog

100 project improvements

The issues raised will allow me to respond and improve the final designs for this 100 collection project. The main issues highlighted were as follows:

- colour palette used
- over crowding of elements
- use of irrelevant material
- lack of amalgamating data

there were some aspects raised in the crit that I did not particularly agree with, namely the over-crowding of elements and the use of 'irrelevant' material (overlapping 100ml in background), which would dull the posters significantly if removed.

However, I will attempt to respond on this feedback as appropriately as possible, by amalgamating all the data onto one singular poster design, and allow for more room for the graphic elements to breathe and be viewed efficiently.

Another issue raised was the typeface used...it was mentioned whether I had studied any other typefaces...which to an extent yes I did, it always seems like Helvetica is a winner in most situations, but obviously this is my own point of view. However...I will examine a few more typefaces to see if any will work more effectively...

Final crit. 4/2/11

Issues raised...

:Colour palette used. Wasn't really sure why this issue was raised...perhaps it was not obvious as to why I chose these particular colours. Generally I felt that they had some sort of connection to the type of drinks shown on the graphs... i.e. yellow for energy, an energetic colour. hot drinks obviously link to red, and soft drinks being cold, would be blue. How this was not obvious I wasn't sure.

:Over crowding. really?

:Irrelevant elements. i.e. the overlapping 100ml in the background. I added this just for a small amount of aesthetic appeal, but perhaps it indeed is slightly too distracting, maybe I could fix this problem by further reducing its opacity or making it smaller or something. Can't be getting rid of it though, for I imagine it would just be too bland as a piece of design if this was the case.

:Amalgamate information. essentially, why did I make it on three, why did I not just make one big piece of design displaying all the data in the same place. To be honest, I don't know why I didn't do this. Maybe I will do this today and see what happens.

for final crit

poster designs for my final crit. i rekon the softer colours allow the graph to be read nice and clearly, and make them sit well as a series of designs.

refined ideas

the radar graph was useless. maybe this is just because i'm not that experienced at using illustrator. It was an achievement though, but sometimes it's just better to KISS......which i learnt is an acronym for Keep It Short and Simple...............or keep it simple stupid. So I'm going along with a new plan to create a simple bar chart but make it look unbelievable aesthetically pleasing. Of course I'm not one to judge. But here's some ideas anyway.....

click to enlarge.

a few info graphical ideas.

I started learning how to make graphs and stuff on illustrator.......doesn't seem to be that much you can do in the way of actually creating a graph, but of course editing it after it's been made is just standard.

They're not very good but I'm just getting to grips with it really.

From just entering the data I created a radar graph of all 100 values of caffeine content. Removing every other detail of the graph just leaves this nice shape, but apparently as it contains no other information it is practically worthless. 

standard click to enlarge............

got quite a way to go yet. However I don't really want the entire of the final chart to be crafted entirely digitally......because I don't. I'll deal with that later though.

Caffiene content of 100 UK & EU drinks

Drink	mls	Caffeine (mg)	mg/100mls
28 Energy Drink	250	80	32.0
6 Hour Power	60	125	208.2
7-Up	354	0	0.0
Afri Cola	354	89	25.1
Ammo Energy Shot	29	171	578.2
Battery Energy Drink	331	106	32.0
Battery Juiced Energy Drink	443	144	32.5
Blood Energy Potion	100	80	79.6
Blue Bolt	250	80	32.0
Blue Charge	250	80	32.0
Bomba Energy Drink	248	75	30.2
Boost Energy Drink	250	80	32.0
Bulldog Buzz	350	204	58.3
Burn (UK)	250	45	18.0
Cherry Coke	354	34	9.6
Chocolate Milk	236	5	2.1
Club Mate	330	66	20.0
Coca-Cola Blak	236	46	19.4
Coca-Cola caffeine free	236	0	0.0
Coca-Cola Classic	354	35	9.7
Coca-Cola Zero	354	35	9.7
Coffee (Brewed)	236	108	45.4
Coffee (Decaf, Brewed)	236	6	2.4
Coffee (Decaf, Instant)	236	3	1.1
Coffee (Drip)	236	145	61.3
Coffee (Espresso)	44	77	173.6
Coffee (Instant)	236	57	24.1
Coke Zero	473	46	9.7
Cyborg	249	80	32.1
Diet Coke Plus	354	45	12.7
Diet Coke with Lemon	354	45	12.7
Diet Coke with Lime	354	45	12.7
Diet Coke with Splenda	354	34	9.6
Diet Pepsi	354	36	10.1
Diet Vanilla Coke	354	45	12.7
ED Energy Drink	499	160	32.0
ED F/X Special Light	499	160	32.0
ED Green Light	499	160	32.0
Emerge	250	75	30.0
Fanta	354	0	0.0
Firestar Energy Booster	29	200	676.3
Ginger Ale	354	0	0.0
Green Go	250	80	32.0
Hot Cocoa	236	5	2.1
Indigo	374	94	25.1
Irn Bru 32	330	106	32.1
iShot Energy Shot	60	120	199.9
Kick	250	80	32.0
Kinley Soda	354	0	0.0
Kombucha Tea	236	24	10.1
KX Energy drink	1000	300	30.0
Lift Plus	249	36	14.5
Lipton Brisk lemon	354	10	2.8
Lucozade	380	46	12.1
Lucozade Alert Plus	60	120	199.9
McDonald's Large Coffee	473	145	30.6
McDonald's Small Coffee	354	109	30.7
Monster	500	160	32.0
Monster Import	250	76	30.5
Monster Lo-Carb	500	140	28.0
Monster Ripper	500	160	32.0
Mountain Dew	354	54	15.2
Orange Rush	236	250	105.7
Pepsi Caffeine Free	354	0	0.0
Pepsi Max	354	69	19.4
Pepsi-Cola	354	38	10.7
Premium Cola	330	83	25.0
Pure Bio	250	80	32.0
Pure Cofain 699	250	175	69.9
Pussy Energy Drink	250	90	36.0
Race Energy Drink	245	80	32.6
Re-load Energy Spray	29	340	1149.7
Red Bull	250	80	32.0
Red Bull Cola	248	32	12.9
Red Bull Energy Shot	60	80	133.3
Red Devil	473	160	33.8
Red Eye	328	106	32.3
Red Heel	251	75	29.8
Red Rooster	250	80	32.0
Relentless	499	160	32.0
Roaring Lion	354	112	31.6
Source	250	80	32.0
Sprite	354	0	0.0
Starbucks Bottled Frappucino	280	90	32.0
Starbucks Grande Caffe Americano	473	225	47.6
Starbucks Grande Caffe Latte	473	150	31.7
Starbucks Grande Caffe Mocha	473	175	37.0
Starbucks Grande Cappuccino	473	150	31.7
Starbucks Grande Coffee	473	330	69.7
Starbucks Grande Decaf Coffee	473	13	2.7
Starbucks Grande Iced Espresso Drinks	473	150	31.7
Starbucks Short Coffee	236	180	76.1
Starbucks Tall Caffe Americano	354	150	42.3
Starbucks Tall Caffe Latte	354	75	21.1
Starbucks Tall Caffe Mocha	354	95	26.8
Starbucks Tall Cappuccino	354	75	21.1
Starbucks Tall Coffee	354	260	73.3
Starbucks Tall Decaf Coffee	354	10	2.7
Starbucks Tall Iced Espresso Drinks	354	75	21.1
Tea (Brewed)	236	47	19.9
Tea (Brewed, Imported)	236	60	25.4
Tea (Green)	236	25	10.6
Tea (Iced)	236	47	19.9
Tea (Instant)	236	26	11.0
Tea (white)	236	15	6.3
Tiger Energy Drink	250	80	32.0
Tonic Water	351	0	0.0
Ubershot	59	210	355.1
Vanilla Coke	354	34	9.6
White Tiger	250	80	32.0
Wired X 3000	473	188	39.7
X Ray Energy Drink	250	60	24.0

from energyfriend.com

there's actually 112 items listed.
I could use the right hand column (mg/100ml) to create some cool infographics.....potentially. Perhaps mixed in with the sugar content of these drinks also. Would make quite a nice comparison.....amount of sugar compared to the amount of caffiene......the options are limitless. Haven't even heard of that many of these drinks...