OUGD403 | STUDY TASK ONE | WHAT'S MY TYPE

During Studio Practice task 1, we learned that there are only 6 typefaces essential for successful graphic design, generally, according to Massimo Vignelli.

 These included Garamond, Bodoni, Century Expanded, Futura, Times Roman and Helvetica. 

To get our brain juices flowing we were asked a series of questions to help us think about ourselves and our personalities:

When are you happiest?

At Christmas time.

What is your greatest fear?

Going deaf or blind.

What is your happiest memory?

When Chino Moreno from Deftones high fived me at Leeds festival. 

What was your most embarrassing memory?

Weeing myself on Blackpool log flume.

What makes you unhappy?

Whaling.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

An actress. 

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Drake's music. Don't pretend you don't love it too.

What is your favourite hobby? 

Drawing.

Where is your favourite place?

American Apparel.

Initially I was leaning towards Times Roman, which is my favourite, but upon researching into details of each individual typeface, I discovered that in fact Times Roman doesn't really reflect my personality at all. 

Since Times Roman was released in 1931, technically you could call it an "older" font, as is Bodoni, Garamond and Century Expanded; which all predate the other fonts in the 6. Although it is dependent on the context, usually serif fonts reflect a more dated era, for example Garamond was first published in the 16th century. I think I am a more 'modern' thinker, and even though I feel serif fonts can be used for modern design, typefaces such as Futura and Helvetica are much sleeker and minimalistic. 

My opinions do not fit tradition, and possibly reflect a more 'postmodern' progression in our society for example I am very passionate about feminism. I feel a sans serif font would fit me much better than a serif typeface for this reason.

I am obsessed with American Apparel clothing which famously uses Helvetica for their branding, another reason why Helvetica is a fitting font for my personality. 

A snap I took whilst shopping on Briggate at American Apparel.

In regards to why I chose Helvetica over Futura, although Futura's lowercase 'a' is said to represent the majority of people's handwriting, I don't particularly like the way it looks and much prefer the way Helvetica looks as a typeface.