dabble research 2 - typography

Today I've been looking into typefaces that have a sense of kinetic energy or are appropriate for a brand like dabble. Based on the key assumptions of movement and efficiency thereof.

When thinking of an upright regular face that best displays changing pace and efficiency of movement within a semi-universal style that often displays even line weights as is popular within the industry Giselle by Faith Hardel was the first typeface that springs to mind. The universal weight into horizontal line pinch points and cut out elements gives a definite theme of reliance around beautifully weighted forms and allows for balance despite the changing weight. Cut corners then also give an approachability to the face lending it to the neutrality of branding and making it a perfect for display and headings". The Giselle font is designed for designers, music, film and TV, logo, publishing (magazines, books), corporate identity, games, entertainment, theater, cinema and screen design. It contains only one weight". The face was originally inspired by Armin Hofmanns modernist ballet poster also titled Giselle, Hofmann contrasts evenly weighted sanserif text with the fluid form of a ballet dancer.  I should attempt to explore tempo and changing pace within my own type design. 


 


On the faster end of the type scale, you can find faces like slipstream which offer more dynamism and the simulation of lateral motion. Seen below in action on a T-shirt for DR.ME, the trailing letterforms make it harder to distinguish where a letter ends, giving it a motion blur. This technique is incredibly effective at speed as the letterform is perceived to face a gradient fade when it is blurred by motion causing the letter form to take on a new life when moving. This particular implementation might be more effective for a racing team or a Scifi film but the concept itself is strong nonetheless. It could also be argued somewhat tangibly that the motion trails provide a secondary tone to the letterforms whilst saving the ink that a secondary tone might require, making the typeface potentially more ecologically sound. 

"Stefan (Hürlemann) was approached by the Shanghai-based agency RoyalClub to create four typographic interpretations of the word dash, faster, run and speed. “The goal was to create fast-moving, typographic illustrations to reflect the character of the Nike Zoom mix while matching the type with patterns and the Nike brand," the designer tells It’s Nice That."

Using grids to create dynamic forms is another option as demonstrated by Stefan Hurlemann. The motion of running is not dissimilar to that of cycling in terms of the human input but these renditions would perhaps be too direct and agressive for this brief. However, they still have some transferable characteristics.  

Going back to Fridays conceptual link to perpetual motion there are a few examples of designers using the same inspiration for typographic ventures.

These two videos by digital foundry 'fontfabric' use twisting and revolving animations to portray cyclical movement. Although they may be a little outside of my comfort zone and I would need to brush up on my movement skills this could be a good idea for a primarily digital platform to use on social media for promotional videos. Videos will gain way more interaction than stills for fledgling brands due to the algorithms on sites like Instagram.

Here is a typeface I found online based on perpetual motion. It doesn't look finished to me but there's some interesting elements, certain parts of forms flow fluidly, others are detached, dictating pace and flow. This balance between cadence is something I would like to try and experiment with and it appears easier to experiment with whilst maintaining legibility when a set uniform weight is established.