Final Three Outcomes

01) Rocket Launch 

My inspiration behind this type screen specimen was the Apollo 11 mission rocket. I built a rocket silhouette using the title font of ‘FUTURA’ and then by changing the alignment of the small paragraph, placed it as the smoke and fire behind. The broken circle represents the rocket leaving the atmosphere, heading towards the moon. I incorporated the Bauhaus colours of red, yellow and blue as it highly influenced Renner when he designed the font. I am quite pleased with how this design translated onto the digital screen. It started off completely different as I had planned on building a more complex structure of a rocket launch. However, I found this quite challenging and my trials were quite messy and didn’t have the clean finish I wanted to achieve. So I went back to researching and found inspiration with more images and created this design. I feel it highlights what font I am displaying and gives a good amount of background information on it, including the link to the rocket. My only issue that I’m not too sure about it the sizing of the circle and text. I tried exploring if I could increase the size but it didn’t work as well which means I’m left with a lot of blank space.

 

02) Split Moon

This was my first design I created on Figma.The concept is that the three components create the shape of the moon. The date included is the month and year, July 1969, that the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon. This was created following a long process of adding small changes and taking parts away until I ended up with this composition. Again I included the Bauhaus colour palette in the bottom of the numbers to show the link back to the German art. I like the simplicity of the piece. I placed it onto a black background and switched colour around, but found the black was too harsh against the text, so I kept to the plain black. Similar to the first screen, I left a lot of blank space, but I feel it can represent how the moon is surrounded by empty space. I’m not too sure about the alignment of the text. I tried to get it as even as possible but the right side is a bit off. While it is aligned in the centre, I think the organised stagger of the lines links in with the design.

 

03) Moon Map 

This was the most time consuming out of the my final designs. During my research, I saw the map of the moon is often shown in circles. This is due to the number of craters on its surface. I immediately thought of how Renner used circles as a driving influence when he designed the Futura font, so I felt this would be a good link. The map is made up of around 1500 circles. This is why I decided against having a small paragraph of information and incorporated small points of information within the gaps in the map instead. I hoped this would prevent the screen from becoming too busy that the reader gets overwhelmed. Opacity was a key element within this screen to add another layer to the design. I am really pleased with how this design turned out. An issue I have however, is the lack of colour. Maybe adding some of the Bauhaus colours ever so slightly could have added another link to the background information. I have picked this one as my main type specimen screen as I feel it is the strongest looking piece and most cohesive.

 

Group Critique Feedback & Changes

01) This was the design which was received the best during the critique, even though before I wasn’t that confident with the design. My main feedback was to look at the gaps between the main ‘FUTURA’ and the blue versions building the rocket shape. I was concerned about the simplicity of this but with my feedback I am a lot more confident with this one now and I’m considering it to be my final screen. The other comment was to brighten the paragraph of information in red and yellow as while it is visible, it could be more clear so it is more obvious what it is.

02) Before the critique, this was my favourite design, but I hadn’t realised that I didn’t include the font name within the design, so it isn’t that clear what the font being shown is, unless you know the link with the Apollo 11 mission. I found the links I made weren’t as obvious as I had hoped, the Bauhaus colours and moon shape, so I don’t think this is my strongest design anymore. But I am going to add the title font and possibly sections of the alphabet to see if it improves the overall design.

03) While the overall look of this design works, is isn’t really a type specimen screen as it doesn’t highlight the font enough. It is more of a poster as the imagery is main focus rather than Futura. In an attempt to make this more of a type specimen screen, I’m going to experiment with the opacity of the circles or taking a section of the map of the moon out and putting the paragraph of information in its place. My hope by doing this, is that the font and information about Futura are the main focus and then when you take a closer look at the design, it is then you notice the map of the moon.

 

Revised Versions

 

I found it simple enough to update my first two designs but just adjusting spacing and colouring, and adding a small ‘Futura’ to the stop of the paragraph. However, it was my third design I really struggled with trying to find a good composition where the paragraph matched in with the rest of the design, so in terms of this piece, I’m not happy with the outcome, but I am pleased with the other two.

 

My Final Pick

For my final submission, I have decided to use the rocket launch design as my final type specimen because I feel it is my strongest design, which highlights the font I chose and gives an insight into the background of the font. I also like the overall visual of the screen is effective, as it keeps the text as the main focus, and when you take a closer look, you can see what the text has visually built. From the very beginning, the use of the Futura font for the Apollo 11 mission jumped out at me as a focus for my design, which I followed through in all my designs, but the rocket launch is my favourite.