Rationale and Idea Crit

Rationale

Chosen adjective: Sublime

Synonyms: majestic, respected, grand, authoritative, highbrow, aesthetic, intellectual

Use: broadsheet newspaper title, patriotic culture, high-end brands – leaflets/ websites 

Thought process: The philosophical ideas of sublime touch on an immense greatness, that even at first we may not be able to comprehend, we gradually accept and adjust to its overwhelming characteristics so we can begin to comprehend it. Take for example a person looking at a waterfall and acknowledging its immensity as being overpowering; however, as they look at it for longer, the person slowly appreciates the awe it emits and begins to accept its beauty.

“In aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin sublīmis) is the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual, or artistic. The term especially refers to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement, or imitation.”

Section C - Kant’s findings on the Sublime

http://www.iep.utm.edu/kantaest/#SH2c

Character: A font that is a modernised version of old-style fancy writing, resembling fairy tail book writing styles. Quite royal in nature, maybe described as patriotic in its sense of traditional British monarchy associations (in order to resemble a higher aesthetic). It should be exaggerated and, if possible, connote immensity.

Purpose: It’s target use would be quite high-end, could be used for branding, such as through websites, (maybe naming, pricing and ‘about’ sections), brochures of designer clothing, or expensive jewellery companies, movie/ tv posters for relevant shows, and so on. If it wishes to be relatively extravagant, then it would mainly serve for smaller bodies of text and logos.  

Two ideas:

A condensed font with curved strokes and extravagant finishes, maybe spiral serifs, thin and thick combined edges 

Vs

More straight and block finishes in a sublime (in the sense of spirituality/ religious styled) finish, 

1) Bodoni –

Was revived in early 1900s into the digital age.

Bold look with contrasting strokes

Upper case more condensed than its influence of Baskerville

Unbracketed serifs with an even geometric style

Particularly well suited for title fonts and logos however is a popular font seen in almost every kind of typesetting situation

2) Caslon –

Used extensively throughout the British Empire in the early 18^th century

Was the font used for the U.S. Declaration of Independence

Revived various times since, particularly during the ‘British Arts and Crafts’ movement

Been through technological changes, however is still a standard type used today

Idea critique feedback:

Person 

1

-       Curved/ spiral like serifs represent the spirituality this word connotes well

-       Caslon’s bracketed serifs could represent the overwhelming waterfall, this font is also good for advertisement

-       Keep the font bold but allow the serifs to give it character

2

-       On the other hand another suggests that Bodoni is delicate and ornamental – thus could give me more to work with, really nice contrast between thick and thin strokes

-       Lengthening the ascenders and descenders may give a nice delicate effects

-       Spirals are too complex for body text – more appropriate for display font

-       Too much frill may be distracting

3

-       The varying stroke widths that Bodoni uses could represent the realisation of something being sublime

-       Keep the bolder strokes relatively thin, too bold may look aggressive

-       It needs to be almost entrancing, maybe ominous – again mentions bracketed serifs flowing together

-       Lengthening the ascenders and descenders adds elegance

-       Using calligraphy influences could make it more grand and bold and therefore authoritative

4

-       I think of a pleasant, flowing font, not too soft so maybe a few hard edges but emphasis on rounded and flowing

-       Discovering its beauty over time perhaps could leads to the font being subtle / neutral... it takes time to find the more elegant touches (a different approach from the other feedback)

-       Paintbrush/ calligraphy styles

Then, in order to gain an understanding of relationship between word and style, we were asked to interpret someone else's word based on the synonyms they had written down. First, it as to draw a geometric based image image in a small grid, that followed direction of line. Then another person had to interpret these into the letter 'a'. These were the results I was given back for 'sublime'. 

I really like the idea of the star and the way it has been presented, to represent a sort of nature that is beyond us.