Saint North Chicago TPSB

Saint North Chicago Rachel Greene

“Sometimes I get emotional over fonts�

-Kanye West

Table of Contents 4

Concept

16

Specimen

6

Development

24

Spotlight

10

Solution

28

Credits

CONCEPT “And I wonder...�

Flipping through a magazine, I came across an article about Kanye West who is indisputably a polarizing individual who consistently challenges and pushes the norm.

but interestingly a majority of the type on the clothing themselves resembles Helvetia which is the primary typeface for the KayneWest.com.

I admit, I had never looked into his Yezzy brand or his websites, so I decided to conduct a little research.

What I found were inconsistencies in type and overall tone. Every album may call for a different feel, but I felt Kanye's endeavors were generally lacking a thread that could tie it all together.

My goal then was to bring recognizability and consistency to Kanye by designing a typeface that could be used across the board on all of his Yezzy products, album promotions, album covers, concert tickets, etc. that is just as unique, rule-breaking and functional as he is.

The Yeezy website resembles a video game with its eight-bit style typeface and video game character-like poses of the models, 4

DEVELOPMENT Redesigning the wheel I decided to base the proportions and line weight of St. N. Chicago on Helvetica being as that is the primary typeface found on Kanye’s websites not to mention it is considered one of the few fully perfected typefaces that set the standard for type design moving forward.

Basing St. N. Chicago on Helvetica represents redesigning “perfection”a polarizing concept that a lot of people would argue against in the same way that people (including Jay-Z) were not so keen on Kanye altering rap as the world knew it. His “chipmunk soul” was too much for some people, and had no place in rap. However, Kanye persevered and made something entirely new and functional which is what I attempted 6

to accomplish (as a tribute to Kanye) with St. N. Chicago.

How does one redesign something that is perfected and still maintain it’s functionality? I began with the minuscule a and o as this would establish the x-height and general shape and tone of the typeface.

One of the first problems I ran into was finding a unique “o” shape that worked well both aesthetically and functionally. I found a good starting point with a tilted, rounded, rectangular shape, but it was still missing something that would make it distinctly Kanye.

“Tell

everyone at the label

only use Gothic or Helvetica fonts for email blast unless I otherwise approve�

- Kanye

DEVELOPMENT

Buildings, beans and bears, oh my!

Anyone that is even remotely familiar with Kayne is aware of his repeated use of a particular “Kanye” bear.

I began to pull different shapes from the bear’s face (nose, mouth, eyes, etc.) as DNA for St. N. Chicago, and experimented using them in every possible combination.

It looked hopeful for awhile; the minuscule a I was developing had a very distinct and unintentional resemblance to an image of the Kanye bear with a graduation cap.

From there, I also pulled inspiration from Kayne’s hometown of Chicagothe skyscrapers, cloud-gate, etc, and found that the bear’s mouth could be altered to resemble cloud-gate. (I will refer to this shape as the bean.) It 8

worked moderately well in place of the bear’s mouth as a negative space shape, however it did not allow for consistent line-weight, and thus hindered legibility.

I experimented further with other letters while also incorporating the shape of some of Chicago’s most infamous skyscrapers, and Kanye’s very own Yezzy heels.

It became apparent I was attempting to cram in everything Kanye as opposed to giving it one distinct quality. That led me to develop a system of using consistent angles, but that proved to be too limiting to work effectively across the board.

SOLUTION Oh!

My light bulb moment arrived when I began to trace the letters using a light box, and then digitally.

First, I removed the awkward heel shaped indent at the top and bottom of the letters, and replaced it with the smooth curve of the “o” then decided to completely redesign the o as to slim it down a bit and aid in maintaining a consistent weight.

The redesigned o better exemplifies Kanye’s diverse nature and mixed reception being as it includes both sharp and smooth edges.

Revising my original system of using consistent angles, I narrowed it down to using one angle consistently.

(This angle will be referred to as the “magic angle”).

10

Also, I decided to generally keep the tops of the letters smooth, and the bases sharp which worked well to add a sense of diversity to the typeface while not being too distracting, and, as test prints revealed, it did not take away from legibility.

The process sped up a bit with my revised system. I was able to replace the o shape in the minuscule b, d, p, c, e, g, q, and the magic angle provided a template for other letters moving forward, however a few letters in particular needed more attention and revision (B, E, F, R, S, s, K, k).

the

magic ang le

SOLUTION

BRB‌back to the drawing board I struggled with the majuscule B, and in turn the R. There was no way to incorporate both the bean shape for both negative spaces while maintaining the magic angle from the majuscule H as I had hoped which was a setback that led to a lot of reworking and experimenting.

I needed to find balance in the positive and negative space that allowed for clear legibility while not diverting to far from the established system as to hinder functionality.

Ultimately, I stuck to using the magic angle, and created an alternate negative space for the lower half of the majuscule B which I then used for the upper half of the majuscule R. My reasoning was to maintain 12

the unity throughout the typeface.

Every negative space, angle and curve is present in more than one letter/ number in the typeface, so that it appears and operates as one functional unit as opposed to many individual parts.

For example, the majuscules E and F also proved tricky, until I utilized one of my strongest and most utilized curves- the O. From there, all I had to do was flatten the bottom of the majuscule E to stick with the system of smooth top, sharp base.

SOLUTION “Family Business”

Other repeating DNA: • the leg of both k’s also derived from the angle of the x's leg •the angle of the v is consistent in both the majuscule and minuscule, and is duplicated and overlapped to create the majuscule W plus the magic angle is used as a guide to cut the excess of the V’s •the angle for the majuscule N derived from the z •the crossbar for the minuscule z is the same shape as the line in the majiscule Q •the minuscule m and w derive from the minuscule h and are almost identical flipped horizontally

14

SPECIMEN Majuscules

16 16

A H O V

B C D E I J K L P Q R S W X Y

F G M N T U Z

SPECIMEN Minuscules

18 18

a b c d e f g i j k l m n o q r s t u v w y

h p x z

¡!

SPECIMEN

<>

Punctuation

¢ -‹

20 20

™

©•

&$

–

* ? \

“” +-

‘’ []

# :

()

SPECIMEN Punctuation

22 22

· ± ; ,

≈~ %‰ †…

×− °® _—

÷ =

SPOTLIGHT Flashing Lights When it came time to test out the typeface on merchandise, I focused in on Kanye's new album which is set to release June 1st.

As of right now, the speculated title, according to a tweet and screenshot shared by Kanye himself, is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Love Everyoneâ&#x20AC;? in reference to Kanye forgiving the surgeon, Jan Adams, for Kanye's mother's death.

According to Kanye, Adams is set to appear on the album cover which is why I chose to use his face for the album artwork, and tour merchandise.

24

SPOTLIGHT Flashing Lights

26

CREDITS No copyright intended.

All products, websites, merchandise, etc, affiliated with Kanye West and the Yezzy brand belong respectfully to Kanye himself.

pg 2- Kanye (Getty Images) https://media.gq.com/ (hyperlink)

Miranda) https://dribbble.com/ (hyperlink)

pg 4- Apparel www.Yeezy.com (hyperlink)

pg 26 & 27- CD and Vinylhttps://www.pixeden.com/ (hyperlink)

pg 5- Website screen grabs https://www.kanyewest.com/ https://www.kanyewest.com/ credits/ (hyperlinks)

Stickers (created by Axel Valdez) https://axelvaldez.mx/ blog/2017/10/free-sticker-psdmockup/ (hyperlink)

pg 25- Men's long sleeve shirt http://www.designbolts.com/ (hyperlink) Woman's long-sleeve shirt https://www.graphicsfuel.com/ (hyperlink) Ticket- (created by Miguel 28

pgs 2,16,18,22, cover and ticket mockup- Chicago skyline https://chicagourbanfamily. files.wordpress.com/ (hyperlink) original image of Jan Adams (hyperlink) tweeted by Kanye (edited and used for mockups starting on pg 24)