The objective of this project is to choose a letter, research the history of the letter, and create three posters, each highlighting a different element, the symbol, the headline, and the paragraph. The concept is about the letter C going through a journey from initially being the letter G to eventually becoming its own letter. The inspiration to go along with the theme is a camel’s journey through a desert. The colors chosen are a terracotta orange, a light tan, and navy, which give the impression of a desert setting. The selected fonts are Adobe Casion Pro Semibold and Rollerscript Rough. Adobe Casion Pro Semibold is the primary font for all the posters, while Rollerscript Rough is only for the letters G and C in the main elements of the posters.

Research:
I chose the letter C because it represents the initial of my name, Callie. Through online research, I explored the history of the letter, its origins, and how its pronunciation and form evolved over time. The letter C can be traced back to the Phoenician Alphabet, where it was known as Gaml and had a hard G sound. The Greeks later adopted this letter, renaming it Gamma and modifying its symbol. When introduced to the Latin and Etruscan alphabets, Gamma represented the hard K sound. The Romans, in developing their own alphabet, named the letter C and used it for both hard G and K sounds. Over time, the hard K sound became predominant. The Romans also modified the symbol, giving it the familiar curved shape we recognize today. Presently, the letter C retains its shape and is associated with the hard K sound, although it also has a soft C sound pronounced as "S." This versatility allowed C to bridge the gap between Germanic and Romance languages, shaping modern English.

For my thumbnails, I tried to create designs that resembled traveling, movement, past-to-present letter symbols, and curves. After making my thumbnails and receiving feedback, I narrowed my thumbnails down to 6 designs, 2 for each section, that were the strongest design and could convey a topic.

After considering my theme and receiving feedback, I selected the final thumbnails to proceed with. The chosen display type thumbnail features a connected G and C, fitting well with the journey theme. For the symbol thumbnail, the text lines resemble a camel's hump, creating a sense of movement forward. Lastly, the text type thumbnail was chosen for its complementary nature to the other two thumbnails and its spreading-out design, reminiscent of how the letter C spreads across regions.

My inspiration for this project is based on my research. I was drawn to the letter Gaml, meaning camel, and C's journey to becoming the modern-day letter we all use. The imagery of a camel taking a journey through the desert immediately came to my mind. I then went to Unsplash to find images that fit that look. I used these images to create my color palette and chose a font that fits the style well.

My color choices stem from the theme I chose for this project, the journey of C. I was inspired by a camel's journey across the desert, so I pulled colors from that setting. The terracotta orange and tan represent the landscape and the heat, while the navy color represents the sky.

I selected two fonts for my design: Adobe Caslon Pro Semibold and Rollerscript Rough. Adobe Caslon Pro Semibold is used for paragraph copy and some headlines. Its classic serif style aligns with the historical aspect of the theme while maintaining readability. In contrast, I chose Rollerscript Rough for the C Symbol and headlines featuring the letters C and G. I appreciate its rugged edges, which evoke a sense of completing a challenging journey.

For my first version of these posters, I stuck to a very similar structure to my chosen thumbnails and had four colors for my palette. I posted this version on my class discussion board and received feedback from my classmates. The first and most common feedback was that my four chosen colors needed to be more cohesive. I did not create enough contrast, specifically between the tan colors. Also, the orange and blue were hard on the eyes for the Symbol Type. The second most common feedback was to work on the rags throughout all my posters because they were distracting. The last input from most of my classmates was to incorporate the Rollerscript Rough font on the headline of the Text Type poster to create a cohesive poster series.

After my first class critique, I made several updates to the posters. I adjusted the color palette by deepening the blue to navy, removing a darker tan color, and keeping the light tan and orange from the previous version, resulting in a three-color palette. In the Symbol Type poster, I extended the paragraph lines into the C symbol and changed the background color to navy. For the Display Type poster, I shortened the line connecting G and C, and repositioned the headline and paragraph. In the Text Type poster, I changed the color to orange and replaced the G and C letters in the headline. These updated posters were presented in another in-class critique, where my classmates acknowledged the improvements but provided new feedback. The main critique focused on the tightness of the paragraphs and letters, making them difficult to read. I was advised to work on tracking, kerning, font size, and paragraph positioning. Additionally, classmates mentioned issues with white space and found the roughness of the C symbol to be distracting.

For my final version, I worked heavily on the typography and hierarchy of each poster. I started by adding a few tracking points and kerned some areas of the paragraph that needed a little extra space. I ensured the leading was even, especially on the symbol and text posters. I adjusted the hierarchy on the display type so that the word journey, letter G, and the letter C stood out more. The last significant change I made was to the text type. Instead of the paragraph beginning at the bottom, I changed the reading direction to start next to the headline. The elements I did not change were my choice of colors and font. My final versions create a more structured layout that helps improve the readability of the posters.