Type design

Continued exploration of 3 dimensional type by David Pidgeon. One Point explores the form of a six side cube from a single perspective.

Submission into the 1st Australian Poster Annual which need to respond to the theme ‘Beauty Rich and Rare’, which comes from the Australian National Anthem:

Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history’s page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.
Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We’ll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who’ve come across the seas
We’ve boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Our response looked the cultural diversity of Australia and that not everyone looks at things in the same way.

Hex is modular typeface based on a hexagonal grid which has eight different configurations depending on the linking of the elements within each character. Hex has been designed to explore modularity of type and colour application within an individual character form, not for a pure aesthetic.

The hexagonal grid allows for characters to be created from dots/lines on 30, 90 and 150 degree angles. These directional elements can then be isolated and individual fonts made for each of the directions. Type can then be set, duplicated, assigned one of the three fonts and coloured accordingly. At the point where the lines intersect there is also the opportunity when offset printing to overprint the three colours and generate an additional 3 or 4 colours within a single character. The ability to colour type in this way is an innovation in type design that has not be explored previously.

Hex also has the ability to be weighted according to the specific use, as the modular nature allows the thickness or thinness of the dot or line to be reduced or enlarged at will. It can be very simply animated by oscillating between the eight different configurations, giving the appearance of movement, which has specific applications in websites or banner advertisements to draw attention to a static piece of typography.

Hex has provided the opportunity to explore much broader issues in typography than just style by addressing issues related to function and use in varying environments.

Parallelogram typeface specimen poster which typographically illustrates the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal winners from 1960–2002.