Stencils Cut

I am so happy with the way that the final stencils have come out. It was completely worth the amount of time we dedicated to designing the symbols and making sure that they look great and are designed so that they cut well. The final stencils have rounded corners and a hole in the top right corner so that they can be hung to store. Nathan has sprayed the surface of the plastic with a spray that gives acrylic a slightly frosted finish. This means that when the stencils are handled a lot, they will not show finger marks. Also, the etching at the bottom of the stencil is on the reverse of the plastic. We decided after experimentation that it looks best when the writing shows through the plastic. It is more subtle and sophisticated than an etch on the front side of the stencil. 

edited symbols

I have edited all of the symbols that I created with this new way of working in mind. I also refined a lot of my symbols so that they are more aesthetically pleasing. I am rather happy with the result of my final symbol ideas.

These are my edited symbols. They have been designed on an indesign document that is the maximum size that the lazer cutter at uni and cut. This is the size that the final stencils are going to be cut to. They are 700mm by 400mm. This is not as large as we originally wanted, but after measuring this size we determined that it was more than large enough to create the impact that we desired. Also, with us now editing the final symbols in this size they were looking very consistent in style. Not all of the symbols above that I have edited have been chosen as final symbols but I quite like them laid out like this as there is a consistency to my design. I am going to get a stencil cut of the symbols that I have designed as well as the stencils for Bath Uni. 

I also had an attempt at the new logo. It is a play on the sustainable energy centre's existing logo. They talk about caffeinne and coffee a lot in their talks and so the idea is that we create a new logo that uses the hexagon shape with a syalised coffee bean in the centre. 

My attempt:

Nathan produced the final logo following this idea:

It is a more rounded version of the logo which looks aesthetically balanced pleasing on the eye. 

We have also emailed the final edited symbols to Bath Uni so that they could approve them before we start on the final stencil layouts. They emailed back rather quickly to say that they were all great, and so it was on with the production of the stencils!

I created the first draft of the layout for the stencils. I chose the stencil that would have the most amount of symbols on it and created this first. My idea was that I would create a grid to structure the stencils so that they looked consistant in style and layout. 

They wanted numbers on all of the stencils so that they could use the stencils to write chemical equations. These stencil layouts are looking fairly nice. The problem with them is that some feature large gaps because of my grid structure that I have used to refine them. Instead of using a grid, the second version of symbols utalises a footer area which contains the logo and the title of stencil. Then, all of the symbols have been laid out so that the composition looks aesthetically balanced and there is a consistant margin around the edge of the symbol and consistant gaps between symbols.

Final stencil layout:

Test cut

Me, Jordan and Nathan decided that we should do a test print of our symbols onto a small piece of acrylic to test the minimum stroke thickness that would use in the designing of our symbols. two factors affect the decision of this. Firstly, thinner lines are more brittle. We want the stencils to be durable. Secondly, we need to be able to actually use these stencils with a piece of chalk or a pen. We each took one of our most complicated stencil ideas that we had designed as we felt this would be a good true test for the stencils.

We decided that the 6mm plastic is actually really strong. However, the problem is that our symbols for stencils are causing issues. They are just too complicated and need to be simplified. This isnt a problem, we just need to reduce the form of the most complicated ones to simpler shapes. We determined a minimum stroke thickness for any line. This was 6mm. This was determined by measuring the thickness of a whiteboard pen. Bath uni are struggling to find a blackboard so we have come up with a whiteboard marker instead. We brought a standard whiteboard marker from the uni shop and measured the nib. It was around 4.5mm in diameter so we have determined that if all lines are a minimum stroke of 6mm then the pen will easily be able to draw through the stencil. With these alterations in mind we started editing the symbols to create finals. 

The symbols designing

Finally, we have had the list of symbols for each of the four areas from Bath Uni and so now we can get on with designing them.

We thought that the best way to approach designing these symbols is to each take the large task of designing a symbol for each of the ideas. We would try and make the symbols as consistant as possible in style. Outlined specifications were that we would make the symbols as simple as possible. Naturally, they would also have to be designed to be able to be used as stencils. We decided that then, we would print all of the symbols out and compare them, deciding upon a final set of symbols which would inevitably include a mixture of everybody's symbols attempt. 

These are my initial stencil ideas. They have taken rather a long time to produce. It has been a crash course in illustrator and I have had to research tutorials to get the best out of the programme. The symbols have to be created as outlines and so I have had to learn how to do this, this means fully understanding the pathfinder tool and how illustrator renders shapes and objects. Some of these symbols are stronger than others, but that was inevitable. 

Each of us produced a set like this and they were laid out across a table. We then went through the list of symbols that we needed and circled the strongest attempt from the four of us. We now have a complete set of symbols ready to show Bath Uni on Monday. 

symbols research

To be able to create symbols effectively for the stencils, I am going to look at some references of symbols that already exist.
I have found a great book in the library at university.

It is called the symbol sourcebook by Henry Dreyfuss. Inside it is absolutely packed with hundereds of symbols. The book is catagorised into sections, I even found a section on chemistry symbols. 

The first thing that I notice about these symbols are their simplicity. I need to create symbols that use as few elements as possible. This is because firstly, they need to be inkeeping with the style of the symbols on the helix stencil. On the helix stencil, the symbols are incredibly simple and focus on the most recognisable components of the object it is illustrating. Secondly, a more complex symbol means that it will take longer to draw through the stencil and create the image. This means that the stencil is less practical. We actually want the stencils to be used. We do not want them to be used purely for decoration. 

I really like the hangers symbol here. The plane uses as few components as possible in its creation. It is just one shape. Also, the corners are curved. For us to create a consistant set of symbols we need to carefully consider the corners of the design of all of the symbols. We need to establish a system to create them. This will include a minimum stroke width on lines. Factors that decide this will be the thickness of the drawing material that will be used with the stencil.

Above are the chemistry symbols in this book. I like the idea of creating a set of arrows and a plus and a minus symbol. They could be placed aesemetrically on the stencil and used whenever they were needed. Then, if they had symbols such as letters numbers they could illustrate chemical equations whilst they are talking. Of course, this idea depends on what they say when they get back to use with a final list of elements for what they want us to illustrate through symbols. 

Some of the stymbols above are great. Its amazing how informative such a simple symbol can be. For instance, look at the kettle symbol (left page, 6 rows down, 5 symbols in). It is literally just a rectangular shape with a spout and a handle. Each of these elements are illustrated with the simplest of forms. The handle is just one semi-circular line with a stroke width. The spout is just a rounded trianglular shape which connects to the body of the kettle. My task is to simplify objects to their simplest, most recognisable forms. 

Another thing that I will always have to keep in mind when designing my symbols is that they are going to be used as stencils. Therefore, they cannot have shapes within shapes as they will fall out when the plastic is lazer cut. This is not a problem however, I just need to figure out a way of either filling in areas of shape or creating cuts into lines (similarly to type stencils).

I have also been documenting symbols that I have found over the last week through photography. Symbols are everywhere and part of our daily life. They are used as a means of communicating in its simplest form. 

This is a great symbol above that is communicating an escalator  It has been simplified in such an extreme way but it is still immediately recognizable as an escalator  People are communicated by a circle for the head and a rounded topped rectangle for the body. The escalator is very short, but the angle that it makes with the horizontal and the illustration of people standing on it are enough for the symbol to fulfill its purpose- to look like an escalator  I particularly like the large stroke that has been placed on the escalator outline. I think that it makes it bold and a stroke like this would easily be able to be used as a stencil with a piece of chalk or a pen. 

Again, a train on a track here is shown with extreme simplicity. The track is illustrated by two lines that show perspective. it is interesting that they are separated from the body of the train, but it is still obveous that the train is on the track. I think that the windows and the lights are an effective way of communicating the fact that this is the front of a train, but I would not be able to create a symbol like this because these elements would fall out of a stencil and I would just be left with the outline of the front of a train.

Above is a great symbol. It is symbolising an exit. This has been illustrated with an arrow and a line with two corners. Even though this line does not look like a door, the symbol suggests an exit. Perhaps it is because the left missing side of the rectangle shape suggests that the door is open? Or perhaps it is just a symbol which we have become so familiar with that we now immediately associate it with its purpose. 

The above I found on a train station and it shows the type of message that can be achieved when 2 or more symbols are used together to create one image. It is clear that this 3 symbols illustrating a waiting room. The clock suggests time, the suitcase suggests that it is a place that you can rest luggage, and the person sitting down suggests the chairs that are in the room for waiting. I suppose that the person sitting with an arrow pointing in the direction of the waiting room could have also illustrated this point, but using the 3 symbols is a more fun way of communicating the message. We could achieve a similar thing with our science stencil designs. We could create 2 or 3 symbols that work together to illustrate one point or idea. 

Although the hand above is quite intricate in design for a symbol, This would actually work as a stencil. This is because it is created with one continuous line as an outline. I think however that this does not really work visually as a symbol. The thing that he is pressing is such a simple, styalised symbol that reduces the object to its simpliest form (I am not sure why they have illustrated the wires coming from this). The hand is more complex and shows details such as finger nails and the thumb line. I think that they could have communicated this hand by a simple filled in outline. 

Above is another example of two symbols working together to create a message- press the button in the event of a fire. This message is communicated with great simplicity. Visually however, I do not think that the flames are aesthetically designed. 

The left of the two messages shows how three symbols work together to communicate a message. The man running, the arrow pointing downards and the extremely simplified door conveyed as just a rectangle show that in an emergency, you should leave as quickly as you can through the door that is located below this sign. It is a brilliantly effective illustration and shows how important arrows can be as communicative devises in symbols.