Trying sometime new: further exploration

Today I decided that amongst the heap of research I have been doing and books I have been reading, I wanted to create something fun and show my own development. I had come across an insta reel by graphic designer Anton Burmistrov (antoncreations). https://www.instagram.com/p/C3Wi3NqsGsW/

Instagram page of Anton Burmistrov 2024.

One post in particular that caught my attention was Burmistrov's exploration using a free online generative browser-based tool by the creator https://afterimage.cc/tools/ 

This informed me of what I could explore next within my current letterform designs. I decided to implement a recent Alef letter that was designed via the iPad using Procreate as my hand lettering tool of choice. 

This letterform was part of my iteration process exploring different calligraphic forms of the Hebrew letter Alef using a combination of two brush pens. One was created by Noita Baranes and the other was a free-generated black letter brush creator unknown. https://www.noabaranes.com/shop/p/hebrew-calligraphy-brush-for-procreate Full iteration of the different letterforms can be seen below here. 

Screenshot showing the iteration process of the Alef letterform by Jordan Jones.

The design style and creation was inspired by a typeface family called Afek, created by type foundry AlefAlefAlef. They are a type foundry that is devoted to the exploration of Hebrew typography and letterforms in the modern day with contemporary typographic design in mind. https://alefalefalef.co.il/en/%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%98%d7%99%d7%9d/

Image shows Type specimen book of typeface Afek V2 created by Type foundry AlefAlefAlef.

My research and development informed me of my iteration process when designing these Alef letterforms as shown above. What I wanted to explore next was how this will this letterform communicate in a contemporary way? Having familiarised myself with the free online browser-based tool, I decided to insert my Alef design as an SVG file which was recommended by the creators. 

This allowed me to see firsthand hand right infant of my letterform being generated onscreen crazy right? The idea of my letterform being drawn up using gradients and textures, allowed for my design to be explored further and adapted to fit within modern-day design. 

Here you will see the finished result that I decided to record and upload to my socials as part of my research journey and to gain feedback from both the creators of the software and designer Burmistrov. 

The video shows the exploration of the Alef letterform using the online generative gradient tool.

Thoughts after creating this outcome, I wanted to incorporate this into a poster mock-up to add further connotation to the design and give it a visual identity. I feel this was a very successful experiment and will be something I will adapt further within my research journey exploring letterforms both within Hebrew and Latin from the perspective of generative design and contemporary typography. 

Poster mock-up showing the final experiment by Jordan Jones. 

What makes this design successful is the use of grain textures that were applied to the original letterform. The gradient colour palette is also a great touch to the design and gives a dynamic feel to the overall design. Adding additional placeholder text within the poster was driven by the idea of adding further information to the poster design, It also supports a Swiss design style to the overall look and feel of the poster, something that I am driven by within my own design development. 

The strong use of negative space allows room for the heading and sub-heading text to breathe within the design. The background colour and overall design style complement this in a minimalistic manner whilst driving the narrative towards the Alef letterform. 

After creating the final poster, I decided to continue to explore this online app. From my current exploration and knowledge in writing Hebrew letterforms, I decided to go for a freehand approach using only my keypad on my Mac to guide each line stroke on the screen. Below is the final outcome of this exploration. 

Exploration of the Alef-Bet using https://afterimage.cc/tools/ 

The final outcome coveys an organic feel within each letterform, somewhat relevant to the systematic approach within calligraphic writing. I wanted to explore visually to see how well this method of writing each Hebrew letterform would look visually and to identify if they are still legible.