This week, we looked at the topic of typography again but in this case it was more heavily focused on understanding how to represent and communicate typefaces to those who are using it. We began by looking at examples through time of how typography had been represented and the emotional meaning behind it which lead to us looking at what typefaces we could use for our banking app, keeping in mind the factors we wanted to relate to.
Building on our fundamental study of typography from last semester, we're now exploring how type functions in branding and communication. Throughout this course, we've examined ancient carvings and hieroglyphics to understand their textual purpose and significance. We've also revisited the history of type in our first semester of our course, noting how traditional terminology like upper and lowercase persists in our digital era. By studying these historical milestones, we can better understand how typography evokes emotions and feelings. Type plays a crucial role in establishing a brand's tone of voice, as its visual characteristics directly shape how messages are perceived.
Daniel introduced us to type foundries which is about the organisations that create and sell typefaces. I had always wondered where designers found such unique and interesting fonts. I plan to explore several reputable foundries as resources for this project, hoping to discover one that will become a lasting inspiration. The idea of working as a type designer at a foundry particularly appeals to me, as it feels deeply connected to traditional design practices like typesetting.
When working with type, it's helpful to start by consulting type classifications to narrow down your options. While we learned about several classifications last semester, we're now exploring even more. Slab Serif particularly stands out to me—these typefaces are bold and direct in their communication. I'm drawn to their strong character and could envision using a similar style for my bank brand.
As part of our main project, I was tasked for this lecture to come up with 5 Banking brand names that I would want to use and pursue for my banking app design. I had spent time researching and looking into past and current bank names; looking at what they included, the meaning behind it, their purpose and what their aims were as a bank. I decided on the following names:
With these names now in hand, I was able to get an idea of what route and theme I would like to go down when it comes to branding and designing for my banking app.
As a class, we were all able to share on Miro all five of our chosen names that we had come up with and share feedback on them as well being able to number which names we thought were the best out of three. I was able to receive some constructive feedback with my top three being Coinnect, Square and Clearpay. I feel that Coinnect was my strongest with the play-on-words effect but also how it was able to mean various things as my intentions were to link to connecting with banks globally as well as have that digital affect with reference to sites such as Bitcoin.