DIY Alphabet - Week 2

 For this week's task we looked at Ampersands in a variety of different fonts, and were tasked with creating our own, as well as looking at pre-existing ones that we liked the look of. For this, I looked at more decorative fonts and Ampersands as they were far more interesting than the more standard set of ones used on a daily basis. 

​​Campton - It was the simplicity of this font that drew me to it, as I liked the unusual use of two simple lines to make up the Ampersand as opposed to the more complex decorative fonts in the following examples. This makes it easier to read, and even easier to follow. 

​Chino Display - This Ampersand stood out to me simply because of how unusual it was, with curvy lines making it look playful, yet still legible, creating a balance between the two aspects. Although it is unique, it was also clear what it was meant to be.  

​Poor Richard - In this example, the font made the Ampersand look more traditionally decorative and cursive, but is able to make it decorative without overcomplicating it too much. It was particularly the tail of the Ampersand that drew me to this example.

​Baskerville Italic - Unlike 'Poor Richard' this font made the Ampersand look softer with its more curvaceous shapes, giving it more of an Art Nouveau feel to it, and feeling more nature inspired. 

​Avia - Unlike the decorative and curvy shapes that have come before, it was the use of negative space that drew me to this font, as it made the most of both negative space, and the use of tailing off of line width to make up the Ampersand. 

​Bretna Bold Italic - I chose this font due to the simplicity of the Ampersand, looking more reminiscent of what is usually used in texts, yet, giving it a little bit of variation in the tail and overlap of the lines that made it stand out against the others. 

​Carousel - Finally, this font made the most of a few of the aspects from the other Ampersands, making the most of line width, fancy tail and overlapping of shapes, and for this reason, is one of my favourite out of the line up. 

---

Making our own Ampersands

 For the second part of our task we were asked to chose from a variety of themes and fonts to design and create out own Ampersands. 

Christmas

​For my first Ampersand I saw the opportunity in using Bauhaus and the block like layout, and was able to split it into two simple shapes. Using the theme of 'Christmas' I came up with the following idea. However simple, it proved to be effective, more so given the base font that was used. 

Pets 

My second Ampersand was something that I initially struggled with, particularly on how to make the most of the theme whilst not just using the animals as I believed that was too much like my Selfie Letter from last week. However, once I got into using the inside of a rats cage such as a wheel and a hut, it became easier to tackle. Ironically enough it did turn out that the animals were the focus of the piece with the strongest part of my idea was using the rats tail as the Ampersand's tail too. 

Winter Wear

For my final Ampersand, I decided to stick with one colour to see how well that would work against the more colourful ideas that had come prior, and I believe it worked out fairly well as allowed me to clearly communicate the idea of Winter, in a different way than the other two. In contrast, the main focus point of this Ampersand was the contrast in line width, and the overlapping part of the character as opposed to the tail. I also believe it was the addition of white details that made this Ampersand work best.