Ligature Study Task

The brief given was to create a ligature, punctuation or emoji symbol which would then fit within a typeface and eventually be found on a keyboard, to be used within social media or just typing to communicate in general.

Research was undertook to (Figure 1), establish which phrases or words were used most frequently in social media, which we could then shorten and create into a symbol. The problems associated with each phrase were looked at, to decide which phrase had the most relevant problem to overcome or solve. 'Happy Birthday' was selected and associated words, events and letters were investigated to decide how to incorporate the personality of the word into the type symbol. (Figure 2)

(Figure 1)

(Figure 2)

(Figure 3)

(Figure 4)

Experimentations with ligatures of joining the letters 'H' and 'B', seeing how the letters can be involved with each other whilst also portraying the personality of the phrase. Initial Ideas (Figure 3 and 4).

(Figure 5)

(Figure 6)

An idea from the initial sketches was then selected and then developed and built upon. The 'H' and 'B' join together to create a box which represents a present. The 'B' was moved around to change the size of the counter, the smaller the counter, the more it looked like a bow. The cross bar of the 'H' was lowered to create a cross shape on the box. In the sans serif experimentation, the crossbar is too thin.
 Experimentations with both Sans Serif and Serif fonts showed that the symbol wouldn't have worked within a serif typeface, as the serifs make it look too complicated. (Figure 5 and 6).

(Figure 7)

Final Design incorporates the 'H' with the cross bar placed through the centre, the the 'B' has been placed down to reduce the size of the counter. 

Improvements which can be made include, experiment with the arrangement and placement of the letters, therefore it will be able to fit within a serif typeface, as well as a serif typeface. the feedback given; looks to similar to 'ID' magazine logo, it could also be associated with Mcdonalds already. Believed it would fit within a keyboard as a symbol and the diagonal, italic font was thought as the best one. 

Strategies to think about in the next brief or study task, is to explore a wider range of ideas first before going down one direction. Make sure it fits within different contexts and in different fonts, to see if it still works in the same way. Also do more research, into the history of the word therefore a less pragmatic meaning could be thought of.