Objective and subjective

Analysing text 

As I'm wanting to encompass sharpness into my design, looking at objects that have a sharp quality could help inform my design decisions and generate new ideas.

Contextual research:

Looking for a context for my outcome of font the first thing that came to mind when connecting bitterness and sharpness was possibly using it within a horror movie context.

Commonly horror movies use quite a similar font called 'Trajan'

Trajan's design comes from roman square capitals which were used for the inscription at the base of the Trajan's column. From this we can see Trajan has an elegant and strong look and also used well universally. T sharpness of the serifs is something that I think connects well with the context of fear and horror and something I've taken into mind when looking at my own designs.

I used baskerville regular as a starting point, only a rough design. Thick stems to emphasise stabbing synonym and the harshness of the adjectives nature.

Different adjustments within the serif design, making the more rounder shape sharper and seeing what effect that had but also looking at the boldness of the letters and whether it worked as a design. From feedback I've learnt that the subtle changes rather than making it a very bold look were prefered, therefor I think i'll attempt to look at this choice and work with subtle sharp changes as the boldness doesn't necessarily mean its more impactful,*Looking at other design choices * also something about 'bitterness' seems to be quite subtle its usually a concealed emotion in comparison to anger, its not an obviously shown and I think that could be shown in the normal boldness. 

I found working with baskerville itallic quite difficult as I found the sharpness quite overwhelming and I thought in a title context might become unreadable. I prefer the subtley that  Baskerville regular has 

For my final design I took Baskerville as an original font, made the weight thicker and sharpened the serifs, this way it has a bolder and more impactful effect, I wanted it to be used in a title context due to its boldness and the aggressive nature I wanted it to possess, more specifically I wanted it to be used for a horror or thriller poster. 

I prefer the outcome of Baskerville regular, the weight has been increased and the serifs have been sharpened to really exentuate the theme of bitterness, although more subtle than the other outcomes I think this can be related to bitterness being a rather hidden but still strong emotion.

In the case of it being used in context on a poster, it remains readable and still has an alternative feel from its original design. I think as a typeface I've managed to encompass various elements that I originally set out to achieve and hopefully created an effective outcome.

Used in a modern design:

*Not wanting an outdated design exploration of the characteristics was key*
I wanted to explore whether this font could have a timeless look to it and not been too outdated in a modern design.

* In this context it works well for the original design*
I think in this context it works quite well, the original design for this poster uses a neon effect which could be an attempt to relate to the films ambiguous timeline. I think 'Bitter' has the possible ability to remain timeless, the sharpness of the serifs (especially in red) gives this poster a more sinister design and was part of my original idea to produce.

Research into baskerville revealed that is had a strong trait of being 'razor sharp' a phrase in which I found connected to the synonyms of bitter, making me  choose it initially out of all the font choices we were given, another factor that I thought could be interesting to work with was that baskerville was described as a convincing font and to challenge that was interesting as possibly making it the opposite would fit with my design goals.

My idea was to make it quite abstract but keep to being sharp, and definitely be alternative in its outcome. Research into other poster designs using similar fonts gave me a clear goal of its context making it much easier to work with and design as other work proved as good inspiration. 

I wanted my type to be distinguishable, sharp, impactful and bold and be able to establish a certain mood, and I think I was able to achieve this, my informed choices based on my research, testing of different ideas were important parts of making a full typeface.