So here I am again, deciding to type up on my thoughts on what may be considered a reading. I said that I would start researching in January and this is the start of the project.
Febby Tan is the designer, and she has just finished her final year of her BA in Graphic Design. I am interested in her “applied typography” college project. On the website, it says that the students had to “apply a typography design to a real object.” She applied the typography to the stage and scale models of a drum kit and a guitar, and has a strong Indonesian flavour which ties all the elements together. This is relateable to my project as my first mini-goal is to find out how to apply typographical methods to costume (clothing) design. The way that she has used typography on her designs reflect one of the methods that I had come up with before.
Instead of using typography as the main point of focus, she uses it as a texture device. In her research process, she shows that her basis of design was a batik pattern from Indonesia, then there is a jumble of letters to fill in the black space of the pattern. This was then repeated over and over again.
What I think of this technique is if you want to cover an area with type, then it's the way to go. However, I don't think the letter forms actually mean anything, and thus isn't a real use of typography – more use of letterforms to provide a texture. I like to have a meaning that is represented in the typeface that I have chosen and if it's relateable to the design itself. So rather than using a block serif font, maybe something more that either looks “indonesian” or even go with the old written system of the Javanese alphabet. It doesn't even need to be comprehendable, it's such a beautiful writing system and would've given it an old school Indonesian flavour.
I don't know what the constraints for the assignment would've been, but I think this could've been acceptable, you would just have to prove that it is a writing system and thus it counts as typography. But I digress, it's a beautiful price of design and it think it would've satisfied the brief. It's just another of my interests; using non-english typography in designs and how different the typography becomes when trying to connote the same message. And darn it, I'm passionate about everything that I enjoy doing.
Back to my project. I think I could modify the technique and make the letter forms actually mean something to the character that I am trying to portray. I will be focusing on the Baker, as that is the costume that I want to make, but I will write about anything if my head moves in that direction.
I could apply this techinque of typography to the bakers costume if I needed to create some texture within the clothing. I don't want to have heavy blocks of colour in the costumes, it has to be broken up with another colour if possible. I could use the technique that Febby had used, but making it more relateable to the characters by using lyrics or pieces of script in a jumbled and organized mess. I'm going for a medieval baker look – something that looks old and where fairytales could've been set – but with some more modern accessories.
My vision for the baker
I'm imagining him in a fair few layers – it seems to be cold in the woods. However, when he is working he normally wears a short sleeved bakers tunic with a plain white shirt underneath. He is wearing basic pants/leggings that keep him warm and a pair of basic leather boots. When he goes out he is wearing a pair of thick pants, and a jacket hand-made lovingly by his wife.
As he moves out into the woods, he is wearing his father's hunting jacket – the jacket that he has found and with it has found his father's strength and protectiveness. This comes in the form of wanting his wife to stay home and chastising her whenever they meet up in the wood. There is also a scarf that his wife brings to him – I see it working as though the scarf horribly matches with the hunting jacket, but she sees it as a moment to follow him into the woods. He wouldn't dare to take it off though, it would just give her another reason to move back into the woods.
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These thoughts have triggered a lot of other thoughts that I have about how the costumes can represent other characters hold upon the character that is wearing them. But that's for another post as I think I have majorly stepped over the 750 word mark. Signing out!
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