Week 3 – The week of January 21st – 25th: Letter spacing: kerning, tracking & word spacing, a.k.a. Micro typography, part 1

Peer-to-peer feedback groups and revisions for your projects.
Demonstration: Making your inital mark into an Illustrator file.

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Lecture: Letter spacing & word spacing. Kerning large letters — done in teams.

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Indesign demonstration for setting up your typographic work space in InDesign. Working with letter spacing, kerning, tracking and word spacing, line spacing in InDesign for small amounts of text.

In class assignment — Kerning, Letterspacing, Tracking & Word Spacing
Practice kerning at this site: http://type.method.ac to help you see the negative space between letters and feel more comfortable with proper letterspacing.

Then download the Indesign document below and practing wordspacing on your computer. When you are done print it out and bring it to class next week.

Click here for the kerning practice Indesign file.

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Small feedback groups for your projects.

HOMEWORK

Part 1: Finish your business card design. Refine your initial mark and place the final mark within your business card design. Finesse your letterspacing and word spacing, if needed. Print out your design in color, trim it out (and if you have a front & back—glue it together—if needed). Your project will be finalized this week and the final design will be due next week.

Part 2: In a separate layer in your file, label what typeface classification just your name belongs to and label aspects of type anatomy listed below. Print out an extra copy of your name with the layer of labels visible.

Typeface classification
Baseline
Median
X-height
Cap-height
Ascender height
Descender height
Mark the stress
At least 2 aspects of anatomy for each letter in your name.

READINGS AND LINKS

Required reading:

Adventures in spacing (site)

Microtypography Lecture, part 1 Letter Spacing (PDF file)
Letterpress Inspired Spacing Terms (PDF file)
Spacing

“How to” files:
Setting up your typographic space in Indesign (PDF file)
Kerning/Leading Key Commands (PDF file)

Kerning and Tracking — Entire Chapter 4 (Lynda.com)

In class assignment:
Practice letter spacing/kerning: http://type.method.ac (Site)

BRINGING YOUR INITIAL MARK INTO ILLUSTRATOR:

Recommended reading: review these links below to help you refine your letters:
1. Practice modifying (shaping) type on your own (site)
2. Also to help master the pen tool you can play The Bézier Game: http://bezier.method.ac/
3. When you create your initial mark, consider refining it using grids and geometry: http://www.creativebloq.com/logo-design/6-tips-using-grids-logo-design-11513984
4. Plotting Vector Points with Jessica Hische Video

5. Letter-Building Method One — Scaling and Shaping
6. Bezier Curves in Illustrator
7. Lettering Tutorial site
8. Lettering: Logo, Font & Lettering Bible (Look in Jill's Lessons Folder for complete PDF file)

Creating text effects for custom letters:
1. Creating stroke widths in illustrator
2. Text effects: Drop shadows and line patterns within drop shadows
3. How to warp text in Illustrator
4. 3D Text
5. Decorative text shadowing in Illustrator
6. Creating swirls with variable widths
7. Multiple strokes on text
8. How to create custom lettering in Illustrator
9. Hand Lettering and vector points
10. How to vectorize hand lettering (video)

Recommended videos on logo design:

Skillshare: Brand Identity: Design Adaptable Branding Systems (Paula Scher)

Aaron Draplin takes on a logo design challenge (video)
Skillshare: Logo Design the Draplin Way: Building with Shape, Type, and Color (video)

George Bokhua—Logo Design with Grids: Timeless Style from Simple Shapes
George Bokhua—Mastering Logo Design: Gridding with the Golden Ratio