Progressing further with the Monotype brief, we have concluded on the idea of representing tattoo culture with the intention to show how the misconceptions are incorrect, and how the misunderstood culture is nothing to shy away from. The tone of voice and overall campaign collateral will emphasise tattoo's in a positive light, as an expression of human identity.
In preparation for the photoshoot on Wednesday, my particular role in the preparation for the photoshoot is to investigate gothic, expressive type- a popular tattoo font selection which may come across as intimidating. With the collection of the typefaces to a shared google drive folder, we will all also create a range of tattoo designs using the chosen typography. I am particularly excited for the opportunity to design tattoo's, as that itself is a personal interest of mine.
The overall aesthetic of Gothic fonts are the epitome of decoration. Often illegible in fluid sentences, with the upper case letters completely illegible when paired together. Despite this, in some combinations of lettering, a delicate beauty is brought to the style, suggesting a regal elegance. Gothic script tattoo's have been popular through all denominations of life.
Blackletter, or as it is often mistakenly called, Gothic or Old-English, is an all-encompassing term given to a range of fonts which started with Gutenberg’s 42-Line Bible. It strongly maintained its roots in the calligraphic scripts and organic shapes of its ancestors-in-influence for the following 500 years as it remained in strong use.
Often referred to as 'The Blackletter Typeface', Old English or Fraktur printed in one of the first books printed in Europe. This style of typeface is recognizable by its dramatic thin and thick strokes, and in some fonts, the elaborate swirls on the serifs. Blackletter typefaces are based on early manuscript lettering evolved in Western Europe from the mid twelfth century. Over time a wide variety of different blackletters appeared, but four major families can be identified: Textura, Rotunda, Schwabacher and Fraktur (owned by Monotype).
As 'blackletters' are difficult to read as body copy, Roman and Italic typefaces faces were easier to read and to print as movable type. For these reasons, in the 1500’s, blackletter became less popular for printing in many countries except Germany and the German speaking countries, where some connotations now lie due to the Nazi Regimes use of Mars Fraktur.
As the brief is for Monotype, it seems only right to investigate the Fraktur family first. As the emphasis for the campaign is on positivity and slogans which say just that, hopefully the negative history of Fraktur will be overlooked and embraced as a beautiful creation in its own right.
Below are type samples of all the letters and numbers available. Fraktur comes in a range of strokes and styles, yet all predominantly used for headings, posters and title sequences.
Exploring legibility through Pangrams. When you step back away from the screen, the type becomes more eligible the more relaxed your eye gets- suggesting that the implementation of this typeface needs to be for prominent, bold and short words.
Common uses of Fraktur are on newspaper nameplates, where it may be considered the font lends historical gravitas to the publication. Also commonly used btw beer brands such as Corona, heavy metal bands, rap artists and even Disneyland!
One could argue that Fraktur's history makes it one of the more inappropriate typefaces to represent a theme park, yet due to subtle tweeks and iterations of the existing font, those negative connotations are not automatically noticeable. Unless you knew the history of Fraktur (with emphasis on Nazi use), there would be little concrete signifiers that you were dealing with the face of a death regime.
Experimenting with variations of Fraktur, under the Monotype 1 hour free trial. Little consideration to design for now, simply seeing how the typeface works in a range of compositions and line lengths. As a group we have not pin pointed the exact wording of what we want to say yet, which is something all members of the group are working to define. We need to generate a range of phrases, all corresponding to the wider message, which will be transposed onto the models bodies.
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Poster I created indicating the Fraktur alphabet in lower case, most used symbols and numbers. The black and white style was partly done for clarity and to allow a clean image trace, yet I wanted to explore and wipe out Fraktur's negative suggestions by emphasising multi-cultural acceptance. Recapping on my own research into subcultures- the 1970's and 80's when SKA music, neo-nazi skin heads and Northern Soul was on the rise, the implementation of black and white was common by bands like The Specials, promoting the integration of black and white culture, love and hope. (The use of half-tone was also common, yet when considering a tattoo execution this does not seem like the most appropriate avenue to go down.) |
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| Further experimentation with Fraktur, creating a multi layered type piece with grey stroke, suggesting a drop shadow. |
Other typefaces within the Monotype collection, also reflected the gothic stroke conventions and quirky script popular within tattoo's. As the project is currently quite male dominated in its concept (removing the negative connotations created but gangs, prisons and bikers- all patriarchal attributes), I felt it was really important to feature some lighter strokes, which you would more commonly see on a woman's body.
When looking at initial tattoo research, it was clear that the femininity of tattoo's needed to be portrayed, just as equally as the men. I explored Rage Italic Com briefly, another popular font choice from the Monotype library accessed on free trial. The delicate joins of the letterforms create a variation of stroke widths, still maintaining a fluid legibility and bold clarity. When first considering the use of Rage Italic Com, my instant reaction was to juxtapose the femininity with a manacing/powerful quote about femininity or tattoo's.
A slightly heavier script, also by Monotype called Linotype Gneisnamette. Much more scripted, referecining a hand rendered style, subtle extensions of terminals acts as a decorative serif- common within heavily scripted or gothic typefaces. It seems italic typefaces are favoured by tattoo lovers, so incorporating an italic stroke similar to this Linotype, merged with Fraktur could be an interesting combination. Prior to any typeface choices more feedback will be obtained.
Alternative typefaces to Fraktur:
Germanica is the most true to form, taking direct inspiration from Fraktur's elongated stroke and vertical alignments.
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