How to Design Custom Typography using Memory Typography

[?Music?] [Treehouse presents] 0:00 [Exercise Your Creative] 0:05 In this episode of Exercise Your Creative, 0:10 we're going to create a custom text lockup for a company called FuturTek. 0:13 FuturTek is currently using Helvetica, 0:16 but wants something original. 0:19 For this project, we're going to use an exercise called 0:21 typography memory inspired by the late and great Eric Speakerman 0:23 or as some of you might know him as the typomaniac. 0:27 This process can be broken down into three easy steps. 0:30 The first step, finding an original font; 0:34 the second step, studying that font; 0:36 and the third and final step, drawing that font from memory 24 hours later. 0:39 I'm going to use a font called Dosis for this project. 0:43 You can find this font in the Google Webfonts Directory. 0:46 Once the font is downloaded, I'm going to open it up 0:49 in Illustrator and compare the old layout with Helvetica 0:52 to the new layout with Dosis. 0:55 Then I'm going to print out the compared fonts 0:57 and use this as a study guide. 1:00 After I've spent some time with the font, 1:02 I'm going to trace the word Futurtek. 1:04 When tracing, I want to pay close attention 1:06 to the font's proportions and curves. 1:09 Because I'm using grid paper, 1:11 I want to keep an eye on the font sizes. 1:13 As I trace, I make small notes of the block heights 1:15 from where the t's end and the widths of the letters. 1:18 After I have completed the studying process, 1:22 I want to put the tracing some place where I can't view it for 24 hours. 1:25 After that 24-hour period, 1:29 I want to draw the letters which I'll need for the word Futurtek. 1:32 These letters are f, u, t, r, e and k. 1:35 Now, let's take those letters and bring them into Illustrator 1:41 to make our final layout. 1:44 This final process is to clean up the font 1:46 and create our vector format. 1:49 Once I have finished cleaning up all the letters, 1:51 I would then want to add an off-set drop shadow 1:53 to give the type a unique look. 1:56 There we have it, our very own custom text lockup. 1:58 This process also comes in handy if you can't afford 2:01 a specific font or if you just want an altered version of your own. 2:04 As always, have fun 2:07 and exercise your creative. 2:09