03 Typography: ISTD
Project brief
The ISTD Student Assessment scheme is reviewed annually to ensure that it reflects current best practices in both design education and industry. Strategy, research, target audience, concept development, typography skills, specifications, presentation and credibility are considered for this project. One of the following briefs had to be completed for this project: Lighthouses of the World, Agenda for Sustainability, Shaping the World, A Colourful Story or Typography Research Unit.
Deliverables
1. Strategy document
2. Research document
3. Final outcome of deliverables
Design strategy
After researching A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft, I was motivated to use the book as my topic to create something in the support of women’s rights. Even though women’s rights isn’t an unheard of topic anymore I found an interesting angle to base this project on literary works that have helped in equalising the rights between men and women. Therefore I decided to create an ebook website with the mission of honouring, celebrating and reminding people about the female authors in history that have been forgotten about. I chose the name Reignite to symbolise that these literary works have been brought back to life.
Promoting A Vindication of the Rights of Women is a primary focus of the website, therefore a book cover was designed using quotes from the book to turn type into shape. Book covers has been designed for each book featured on the website through using typography to illustrate the story/title of the book. Instead of having a static website I decided an animated website would work best to draw in readers. Therefore, as the user would scroll down a new screen would appear like a slide show.
Relevant links
To view the research document please click here.
To view the strategy document please click here.
To view the final outcome of website please click here.
Process work
Mood boards of type driven book covers, images of 1700's women fashion and a mind-map of ideas inspired by A Vindictaion of the Rights of Woman.
Typography
For this project two typefaces were used, Fraternite and Gill Sans. These two typefaces were chosen because it best represents both the old and the new. Fraternite includes both femininity and old fashioned styles of type. Gill Sans is a perfect combination with Fraternite due to the light weight the typeface carries. The typefaces creates a good balance between the feminine and the modern.
Reignited colours
A colour palette with soft yet bold colours were chosen to accommodate the message and tone of the brand and website. I wanted to have some colours to embrace the femininity yet at the same time not be exclusively feminine. The colours match the modern look and feel that have been created and work well together in creating an aesthetically pleasing website to browse through. The colours in combination with the style of the website creates a fun environment that attracts users to educate themselves.
Book cover sizing
The following measurements are based off of a book cover’s size and these proportions were used when designing the different book covers for the Reignite ebook site. Keep in mind that after the book covers were designed they were downscaled, keeping the proportions of these measurements, to fit into the ebook site wire-frame.
Grid system & spacing
A detailed guide is given with specifications about grids, spacing and typeface usage. Note some of the screens of the website have been left out in this section due to it having the same grid and spacing rules as some of the frames explained below.
Reignite home page screens
Below are all the screens that appear on the home page.
The paragraphs on the right hand side of the screen changes as the user scrolls down. The 'WHAT WE'RE ABOUT' stays the same and the dot indicators on the right hand side indicates which screen the user is on.
Before the user moves onto the book cover of the main book being promoted by the website, first they will see this screen giving a short descriptor of what the book is about.
Book cover for 'A vindication of the rights of woman' by Mary Wollstonecraft, the inspiration behind Reignite.
Some of our reader's favourite books every month will be displayed here.
Upcoming Reignite events displayed as clickable cards and a website footer at the bottom.
Genres page
In addition to the home page a genres page has also been designed which shows numerous book covers designed by using type. The screen shows a specific genre of books along with their prices and titles. The flow of the genres site will work the same as the home page where as the user scrolls down the next screen appears like a slide show. Therefore, a part of each next genres title can be seen at the end of each screen to indicate to the user to continue scrolling to view more.
