#Nexus also got a slight redesign!

[the-sky-queen]

I'm on Artfight this year!

I've got eight characters up so far, and I'll probably do a couple other miscellaneous ones. But for now, here's what my roster looks like!

[teasodium]

Leosagi Spirited Away Au???

i feel like im losing it a little and this is by no means polished bUt

i cannot stop thinking of an alternate version of that episode where Big Mama is introduced where all but Leo trust her and it turns into a Spirited Away Situation™ also inspired by a Zukka Spirited Away au i read many moons ago...

(i suppose it could very much work with 2003 Leosagi too but the Yubaba to Big Mama pipeline is too strong)

whatever plot i got below the thingie if you want my ramblings

so we have from rise:

Leo = Chihiro

Big Mama = Yubaba

Don, Mikey + Raph = parents

from usagi yojimbo (all aged appropriately cause this is mY silly little sandbox):

Usagi = Haku

Kitsune = Lin

Gennosuke = Kamaji

most is up in the air but like the concept of Usagi being tricked into working for Big Mama cause she has his swords aka his soul instead of the name stealing? and by the end Leo slight-of-hands it away to free him??

like im not even sure how the brothers would be like... incapacitated? maybe Big Mama provides big feast for them in thanks for catching the oozesquitoes and Leo kinda wanders off, still saying how suspicious it all is only to return to see the rest of the boyos... knocked out?? maybe??? anyway causes him to bolt and bump into a bnuy Usagi who tries to get him to leave.

on the fence whether to keep that Big Mama has like... bathhouse management gig on the side or to completely redesign that it is the battle nexus?

also... if Usagi can turn into a dragon? maybe thats too far... but also dragons are cool so idk. i wouldn't have him as a spirit though.

i'll probably flesh this out more and draw a comic or something but know that this is occupying my two remaining braincells

[tylerhuguesdesign-blog]

Over the course of the semester, I have learned a lot about the Joanna Typeface, as well as the person who created it, Eric Gill.  To begin with, I started small with the research, looking at things as simple as when the Joanna typeface was created, who designed it, and some other small facts that I could possibly use moving onto the designing phase of this project.  However, once I touched the surface of this typeface, I then started to learn more and more about where it was used, and how it impacted the future.  I then learned about the Eric Gill series created by the designers over at Monotype.  It was from then where I learned that the Eric Gill Series was a set of three typefaces (Gill Sans Nova, Joanna Nova, and Joanna Sans Nova), That were reimagined versions of Gill’s typefaces for the digital era.  One of the most peculiar typefaces that come from this series is the Joanna Sans Nova Typeface.  When Eric Gill designed the Slab Serif typeface that is Joanna in the 1930′s, he definitely did not design it to be a sans serif typeface.  So when Terrance Weinzierl took on the challenge of turning the Slab Serif Joanna Typeface into a Sans Serif one, then it was important that it still had characteristics of the original font, to make it resemble its roots.  Also while researching the typeface, I learned that that one of the most influential typographic essays of all time was set in the Joanna Typeface . Eric Gill’s “Essay on Typography” tackles the topics of type anatomy, usage, and culture.  You can really gain an insight as to what Gill was thinking when he wrote this timeless essay.

There were also a lot of different typefaces that I found to compare to Joanna.  I felt that it was important to not only look at the Joanna typeface, but also look at other typefaces that are from completely different designers to see how they compared to my font. I feel that I really found myself analyzing the typefaces that I found and I felt as if I was more connected to the typefaces that I was researching after I really zoomed in close and analyzed each aspect of the letters.  In a post that I wrote earlier this semester, going over the comparisons of the Joanna Typeface to others, I wrote, “While I expanded my research on my typeface that I was assigned, I really feel more connected with the Joanna typeface.  I learned that the typeface was originally created by Eric Gill, and was named after his daughter, Joanna.  Eric Gill set his book, “An Essay on Typography”, in the Joanna Typeface,  and being that digital type was not a thing in the 1930′s, the typeface was strictly used for printing.  However, with this new digital age of typography, some of the designers at Monotype redesigned Gill’s typeface.  Those designers were Terrance Weinzierl and Ben Jones.  These two typographers modified the Joanna Typeface, into the new and improved, Joanna Nova, and Joanna Sans Nova Typefaces, made for digital use.Looking at how other fonts compare to Joanna, There are some major similarities between the typefaces; FF Nexus Sans, Whitman, Tribute, and FF Absara.  These fonts all have similar characteristics between them and Joanna but have slight differences such as line weight, numeral characters, or something as simple as how the serifs are used.  But if they were all the same as Joanna, then they would not be their own font.  These slight similarities show the inspiration that stems from the Joanna typeface.” I feel that I really covered a lot of ground going into the comparisons part of my booklet.  One of the biggest challenges that I came across during the research process was making sure that I was looking at Joanna, and getting the correct information about the original typeface before going into the revamped fonts.  I feel that I was completely in the dark at first, not knowing where to go.  But once I started comparing and gaining knowledge about Joanna, and the Eric Gill Series, and their designers, and other things along those lines, I feel so much more connected to the typeface I was assigned.  

   While looking at what Joanna was used in, I was most intrigued by the use of it from JCREW in an advertisement that was promoting their spring sale.  JCREW, being a name that I’ve heard before, really helped me connect with how the typeface is used in today’s world.  For instance, going into researching this topic, I did not necessarily know what “An Essay on Typography” was, but once I did research, I became familiar with its contents.  I feel that JCREW helped me see that this typeface was indeed, relevant in today’s world. I also did more research on typeface anatomy which helped me with the terminology that I added to my writing. I felt that getting the correct terms, while also putting it in a way that if someone who did not understand this font were to read it, that they would be able to gain a general understanding of what exactly the Typeface is about.  I also learned a lot about Eric Gill as a typographer, and as an artist overall through the examples of his prints.  

Also, while doing my research on the designers of the Eric Gill Series, I came across interviews with Ben Jones and Terrance Weinzierl about their Joanna Nova, and Joanna Sans Nova typefaces.  When Ben Jones explained “Perhaps the most noticeable difference between Joanna and Joanna Nova is the increase in the number of weights; there are now nine in total including the Thin and Ultra Black display weights”.  This seems to be one of the biggest improvements of the Joanna Nova Typeface.  However, when Terrance Weinzierl described his Joanna Sans Nova, which is a Sans Serif version of Eric Gill’s Slab Serif typeface, he stated, “My goal was to have a balance of simplicity, beauty, and usability”.  The two very different approaches to this series are what I find so interesting.  The fact that there was one where it was more of a face-lift to the original typeface, making it more usable for the digital age, while the other one kept some characteristics of the original typeface, but made it into a Sans Serif typeface.  I feel that the two approaches are very interesting to look at because it is the same typeface, just reimagined two different ways.

Looking at my sketches, I tried to create several possible layouts that the pages could have.  I tried to focus on experimental typography, while also looking into Swiss Typography that I have looked at for the past couple of projects.  I feel that there was a lot of different directions I could have taken with this project.  Moving into the design phases of this project, I really took a lot of time figuring out how to lay out my booklet.  First, when I was doing the sketches, I was gearing to be more formal and direct with the placement of type and image.  Once I started placing everything where it went, then I really started to see what I could do with the image and type.  I then learned that I was becoming too experimental with how I was utilizing the text and image, so therefore I had to tone it down and focus on creating a system that worked in my favor.  I took the time to go to the library following the feedback I got on my layouts, and I looked at magazines, and some interesting reads on editorial design.  I feel that this really helped me see what publication and editorial design can entail.  So after taking a little bit to hit the ground running again with my design, I found myself following a better system, as well as coming up with ideas that I did not originally have.  I wanted to have more of a magazine feeling to it when I first started designing the booklet, and I tried to do so by utilizing columns and placing the pictures where they work with the text.  After looking at several different magazines, I saw that there was more than just one way to do this type of design.  So I really had to step outside of my train of thought and figure out a way in which I could make the designs work.  I feel that the most important aspect that I needed to keep in mind was the personal touch that would make Joanna’s identity more easy to understand to everyone.  The way that I would do this is through the use of easy to understand words, as well as imaging, and models to show differences between different typefaces that I choose to show.  Once I learned that my original designs were not going to work for this project, I went back to the drawing board and focused my attention to what I had learned from my looking at editorial design.  I felt that it was important to make the design look as elegant, but playful at times as possible.  

Moving onto my final design, despite the ups and downs of the designing phase, I feel that the end result was pretty good.  I tried to focus on what I learned from looking at the magazines at the library, while also trying to fix what the original version had wrong in it.  The Rags were tough to get right but I feel that I made them a lot better since I started to look more at editorial design.  I tried to stick to doing columns, while also adding one or two things to make each page interesting.  Personally, I saw this project as extremely challenging at first.  And as I started to put the puzzle pieces together, I then started to picture how the pages would come together to tell the story of my typeface.  In the end, I really started to create a design that I became proud of.  If I were to ever do this type of project again, I would definitely make sure that I push myself even further out of my comfort zone, and experiment with 3D aspects and more involved aspects of the book.  One of the other challenges that I ran into was the French Fold aspect of the book.  This was a type of fold that I have never worked with before this project.  there were limitations involving not being able to use bleeds and other things of that sort.  I feel that I really had to problem solve and work around the limitations, which I feel made me step outside of my comfort zone. I really liked that about this project because I feel that more challenging designs make me a better designer because I learn how to adapt to changing design rules and limitations.  Also, I ended up using faded background images that help set the mood for the era of the typeface that I am writing about at a given point in the book.  For instance, in the beginning, when I am talking about the original Joanna typeface, I chose to use a gridded background, kind of similar to the one that Gill used in the “g” drawing on this post.  Once I move onto the reimagined typefaces of the Eric Gill series, I start to transition into using digital, and more modern photos to add texture to the background.  I feel that aspect really helped put a timestamp on the specific parts of the book.    

This project definitely pushed me to become a better designer.  I feel that despite the complications that I had during the process of this assignment, between word choice, word placement, and image placement, once I sat down and made the revisions that I needed to make in order to make my design successful, that I really did create a design that sums up the Joanna typeface.  

Links to previous posts:

https://tylerhuguesdesign.tumblr.com/post/165741610132/joanna-typeface-research

https://tylerhuguesdesign.tumblr.com/post/166902518412/while-i-expanded-my-research-on-my-typeface-that-i