TYPOGRAPHY//

I wanted to move away from my Photography for a bit, so this week I decided to focus on Typography. First of all I needed to decide what type I wanted to go and which designs I wanted it to go on. After researching into typography, there were two main styles which I liked the most. Here are two examples below.

As you can see, one is very illustrative, and the other is very graphic. I wanted to try both of these techniques and maybe even combine the two.

 

So to start off, I read through my back catalog of The Albion and from a variety of other sources to find some suitable quotes. I wanted short phrases which are either common quotes when down at the skate park, or more deep and meaningful quotes from professional riders. I wanted the quotes to represent ths the reason why they ride BMX. The quotes I came across in The Albion were all relativly similar and they all express how BMX is not just a sport but a lifestyle, and one that is different to the norm. Here is my list of quotes I gathered.

Skate park quotes;

-Can you backflip?

-Can you Tailwhip?

- Are you sponsored?

Parents quotes;

- Are you riding your Circus bike again?

-Are you ever going to grow up?

-Do you need stabelizers?

The Albion;

- Chasing some kind of thrill

-The Scenic Route

-The long and windy road

-Mad, with a healthy dose of method.

-On your own path

-In your own time.

Others;

-Another Route

-Any which Way

-Life Behind Bars

-Off the Beaten Path

- No particular direction

I liked most of these quotes/phrases. But I decided to mainly use the ones from the Albion interviews with professional riders as I felt it captured the reason behind why people ride better, where as the parental quotes seemed quite negative towards the sport. The quotes were all relativley similar in meaning and i felt that the idea of BMX being a different way of life was clearly expressed through all of these quotes.

I initially sketched out some ideas, the varied from simple fonts and compositions, to more illustrative approaches. I wanted to do all of these designs hand rendered as I love the unique quality of line that is created. I then recreated these drawings by using tracing paper and fine liner, as this wood be better for when I scanned my designs in. 

It was clear to see, when drawn in pen, which designs would be more successful than others. for example, 'Life behind bars' was too busy and would heavily detract from the image/design it would go with. Whereas others, like the 'In your own time' would compliment my photography well as it would have a more graphic feel to it. For the more illustrative ones, I plan to use them as individual illustrations. Where I would use a bright colour pallete to exmphasise the childish approach.

Here are my first images with the type on.

I like the outcome of these and they have the look I was planning. My favourite aspect of these images are where I Blurred the background, as you can still tell what the image is, but it makes the type clearer to read without detracting from the overall piece. I also like the bottom two images more due to the centeralised type. I think this makes the typography more prominent.

I don't like the top one though due to the background image not being blurred, I feel the type clashes with the background slightly and is harder to read. I chose not to blur this image due to it not being as easy for the audience to decipher what it is, but this makes the whole image not as successfull as the others.