Online prescence

Choosing where to sell my font (obviously just s mock up!) Just wanted to see which out of these selected from previous research would suit my typeface and my font could compliment and sit comfortables on the site... You Work For Them, A2-Type, Playtype, Underware and Colophon Foundry. I think Colophone Foundry and You Work For Them best suit my typeface and could look nice mocked up on my boards.

Brief 01 version 04

Brief
Create an alternative version of Helvetica Bold for use as a display font, which does not appear to be derived from the original version to communicate personality and creativity.

Background/Considerations
The aspects of Helvetica Bold which can be changed for maximun effect is the lack of serifs and thickness of stems. Decoration can also be added to the new shape of the letterforms. How can this font be promoted and creativity and adding personality to fonts as a whole.

Mandatory Requirements
Changes made must be within the restrictions of Helvetica Bold and uppercase, lowercase, glyphs and numbers must all be made. Font must be usable and working. Promotion must be fun and appropriate to creative audience.

Deliverables
1x font
1x specimen booklet
1x specimen PDF
10x postcards
1x poster prints

1x pencil case

1x ruler

1x pencil

1x pen

1x sketchbook

Brief 01 version 03

Brief
Create an alternative version of Helvetica Bold for use as a display font, which does not appear to be derived from the original version.

Background/Considerations
The aspects of Helvetica Bold which can be changed for maximun effect is the lack of serifs and thickness of stems. Decoration can also be added to the new shape of the letterforms.

Mandatory Requirements
Changes made must be within the restrictions of Helvetica Bold and uppercase, lowercase, glyphs and numbers must all be made. Font must be usable and working.

Deliverables
1x font
1x specimen booklet
1x specimen PDF
5x postcards
5x poster prints

Fontsmith

The thing that stands out from Fontsmith to me is the creation of fonts for big businesses. They are different fonts, however they are not really as illustrative I would say as I would like to create. But they do seem to be a great studio.

A2-Type

Type Foundry, born from A2/SW/HK. Absolutely beautiful stuff and really nice look for their specimen book. Many other specimen books have quite a simple design, and this is no exception, however the addition of the lucid pink really brings the whole thing to life and the continuous use of A across the spreads keeps a convention but shows the difference between fonts.

Playtype

"Playtype a foundry and online font shop was created by brand & design agency e-Types, as a showcase of more than 20 years of type design – from commissioned works to fonts created out of passion. Typography is and has always been the focal point of graphic design by e-Types. Through many years of working with typography it started to make sense transforming our foundry's typeface portfolio into a fontshop open to everyone."

I think it is a fantastic idea to have a store! Although I don't know how much traffic they would actually have... I want to go and visit this place!

Typeradio

Whaaaat...? This is relevant to everything that I do as it is all type based.

"Typeradio. Now we are talking. Typeradio, the radio channel on type & design. Type is speech on paper. Typeradio is speech on type. Typeradio is a Microfm broadcast, a MP3 internet radio stream and a podcast station. Since 2004 Typeradio (which is Donald Beekman, Liza Enebeis aka LoveLiza & Underware) is visiting different design events around the world, to meet designers and to talk."

I think this is amazing, I have selected loads of these podcasts and downloaded them. I hope to listen to them while in the studio and make notes where appropriate. 

Underware

"For more than ten years the pan-European design collective Underware has been creating versatile fonts, surfing the waves, conducting type workshops, running the radio station Typeradio, throwing cannon balls, experimenting with blood, practicing kamikaze chess; but mostly, they gave flowers for their mothers and turned them into a cover girl. Which resulted in an everlasting smile on their faces.
The company was founded in 1999 by Akiem Helmling, Bas Jacobs and Sami Kortemäki. We are based in Den Haag, Helsinki and Amsterdam."

I really like how on their website, not only do they sell their typefaces but they also show them in context.

They also sell their specimen books, but unfortunately I cannot buy any as they are either sold out or are in the wrong currency for me to purchase. 

"This book, designed by Faydherbe/DeVringer, is the first demonstration of the typeface Dolly. The book contains texts which are written by several people, i.a. Erik Spiekermann, Edwin Smet, Guy Tavares, Ewan Lentjes, Anne Knopf, Michael Rock, Eike Menijn, Markus Brilling & Somi Kim, Lennart Wienecke & Wilbert Leering. It also shows the font in different ways of course."

"This book is the first demonstration of Sauna. More than just a specimen, it is an intensive approach to the world of saunas. The typeface Sauna is presented in a rich content; giving pleasure not only to graphic-designers but also to everybody who's life is not connected to ligatures and smallcaps. The book was designed to withstand a sauna bath without any damage: it is restant to hot steam of 120 degrees Celsius. Even better, some parts of the book can only be read inside a sauna at 80 degrees Celsius or higher! So take this book, go to a sauna, and get the "live" experience while reading."

Specimen colour

I want to use a colours which have personality and stay clear of black, white and grey. Inspired by Colophon foundry and their specimen book for one of their fonts, I have decided to use 3 colours. A bold colour for the information text (Helvetica), a bold colour for the featured font (Exilaro) and a pale colour for the background. These colours should work well together, but should all be different, as in not all blue or pink.

I looked through this Pantone book to get an idea of what colours I could actually print. I have made a note of some and will apply these to my specimen book and see which versions work best.

Exhilaro

I want my font name to have a connection to Helvetica. I was initially calling my font 'Helv' but it was so simple and obvious that it was boring. Through this reaseach, I discovered that font names are not picked at random, but are actually pretty informative of the font itself.

"In 1960, the typeface's name was changed by Haas' German parent company Stempel to Helvetica (derived from Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name for Switzerland) in order to make it more marketable internationally. It was initially suggested that the type be called 'Helvetia' which is the original Latin name for Switzerland. This was ignored by Eduard Hoffmann as he decided it wouldn't be appropriate to name a type after a country. He then decided on 'Helvetica' as this meant 'Swiss' as opposed to 'Switzerland'." - Wikipedia

A Latin word would be appropriate... something like, personalised or cheerful. 

• to make cheerful : exhilaro 
• to make progress, advance : proficio 
• to add : subinfero 
• to be in the habit of using : usitor 

Exhilaro has been chosen as Helvetica has no personality, and to be cheerful it must have a personality.

Zetafonts

Promotion of a font does not need to be strict or as you would expect. This is an example of how colour and style can help sell a typeface. My specimen book does not have to be all 'serious' but could communicate aswell.