The challenge was to conflate the two opposite concepts. Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain - which is a hedonistic approach to life can be seen as the opposite of an utilitarian approach characteristic to a functional audience. The solution was to utilise the visual style of hedonistic attributes to produce a typeface. I managed to find quite an unexpected solution: identify the main feature of entertainment venues’ front signs - such visual characteristics as shine and glitter. Thinking about transfering this into something graphical i came up with a sparkle symbol whcih sums up the idea of hedonistic experience.
Hedone font styles
5 font styles: from the most minimalistic one to the richest (depending on the sparkle elements positioning)
With an initial intent to find the right shape for each letter, the sketching-on-paper method induced the creation of several different variations of each individual letter. Depending on the position and the amount of sparkles (and their parts) as building blocks, each letter acquired several variations starting from the most minimalistic and modest to the busiest and opulent.
This was a very important aspect of the project, the technical process of searching for the appropriate shape inspired the idea of making it potentially variable.
This was a very important aspect of the project, the technical process of searching for the appropriate shape inspired the idea of making it potentially variable.
Letters ACDGB sketches
Iterative development
Hedone sketches
'H' - 'X' similarity troubleshooting, exploring the ways 'M' could be constructed, 'U' - 'V' design decision
Letter shape sketches
incorporating the hedonism paradox (duality of pleasure) into the letter shape: ->make the first stem-vertical ->and the second stem-diagonal