Description The assignment was to choose a letterform and create a website capturing the history and style of the typeface. I chose the "Z" from Regulator Nova, which has been used in comic books and was designed by an avid comic book designer. As a result, I decided to design the website in the style of a comic book cover with the Z as the main character. Keep scrolling to see my process.
Step 1 To begin, I looked through Adobe Fonts and found 6 typefaces with varying characteristics. For each typeface, I picked a letter or character that I found interesting within the family. I was originally undecided about which of the characters I would use for the project. However, in class, my group almost unanimously chose the Regulator Nova Z.
Step 2 Once I decided on my character, I began doing research on the designer, Rian Hughes, and the typeface itself. I learned about how involved Hughes is in designing various items for comic books and movies. I also learned Regulator Nova was a reworking and extension of a previous typeface.
Step 3 After looking through the history, I decided to focus on the comic background of Rian Hughes and began creating wireframe sketches. I tried to pull in the comic book influence and based the sketches off a quick look through Google Images of comic books. The influences included the traditional comic book page, some comic book covers, and the scenes where many comic book action scenes take place.
Step 4 At the same time, I was putting together a visual analysis of the Z and settled on showing the different straight lines in the letter. In Illustrator, I realized that none of the diagonal lines were parallel adding character to the shape of the z. The lack of consistency in rotation on the lines creates a dynamic feeling for the z.
Step 5 The final step before coding was creating a digital mockup on Adobe XD. I originally liked the look of the sketch with the city landscape and buildings. However, once I began to transpose it to a digital setting, I liked the central circle with 4 squares behind it. Playing around with different settings in Adobe XD led to a digital mockup I was happy with.