Visual Thinking A lice Far r ar
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Visual Thinking
Visual Thinking is t hinking through visual processing and u sing the visual approach to e nable the thought p rocess. It is an e xploration of images and typography, as tools for c ommunication and understanding, within creativity and graphic design. This unit focuses on extending my understanding of visual awareness.
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Visual Thinking Contents
Vi sual T h i n k i n g
1 2 3 4 5 6
Distinctive Characters
Postcard Design
Vernacular Letterforms
Poster Design
International Trip Berlin
For The Love Of Graphics
7 8 9 10 11 12
Cha p t e rs
Mein Gott Gutenburg Gone Digital
Silk Screen 足P rinting Workshop
Handlettering Illustration Workshop
Alt ered B o o ks
Visual T h in kin g L ect u r es
Type Ind ex & R ef r en ced
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Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
Distinctive Characters
Typography can be used as a powerful vehicle to transmit ideas and n otions of culture,gender, h istory, materiality and value.The functuon of t ypography is to c ommunicate a m essage so that it e ffectively c onveys and reinforces meaning. In the early 20th Century Beatrice Warde in The Crystal Goblet a scertained that t ypography should r ender itself invisible and be subservient to the c ontent. in the 21st Century digital i ntervention has allowed greater access to t ypographic t echnologies and no longer is t ypography judged on its ablity to remain within these constrained vessels.
Typography as a semiotic resource in its own right is capable of transmitting a variety of meanings. The study of s emiotics has been used by a cademics to analyse and d econstruct Post Structuralist T heories. If we look at the work of The Semiotic Alliance we can see how semiotics are used within the commericial sector to help some of the world’s biggest brands find fame and fortune. If we go much further back in history to the Middle Ages we see how r eligious and secular texts use I llumiated Characters to accentuate meaning and
establish hierarchical construction. the use of colour to provide particular emphasis and meaning to the texts. Working in groups of two choose an initial l etter from the following set and based on the t erminologies and g lossaries c ontained within the brief develop a word that is related to the unit- you can p roduce it in Caps or lowercase. After c areful planning design and make a three d imensional initial c haracter that c ommunicated its meaning. the model can be made of found objects but must finally be wall mounted.
N A T L H U I S N I V I G K M T R P E A S R A E I O I C T E S O U C E Y S
Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
As our first brief for the unit ‘visual t hinking’ states “ typography’s main function is to c ommunicate a m essage so that it e ffectively c onveys and reinforces m eaning.” Working in a pair we picked the l etter U out of a hat and had to c reate a three d imensional model that could be wall mounted and that c ommunicated a word or phrase s tarting with the same letter. After listing all the words b eginning with U, p lanning and sketching, we came up with the idea of the l etter U being represented by the word ‘Upstairs’. Both Jerome Corgier and Ryan Reigner inspired
this decision, through their work of relief. By building upon layers and layers of card they achieve a staircase effect that emphasizes the height. Initially c reating a R ockwell font white card p rototype U, we found it wasn’t the f inished, p rofessional look we were h oping for. Taking our p rototype and sketches to the model making d epartment, we wanted to take it a step further by l aser-cutting our final model. With a little help from a technician, we created our i llustrator design and transferred it to a lasercutting machine. Once the lines were all burnt through we used wood glue and left to dry.
Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
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Jerome Corgiers designs reminded me of the link between a rchitecture and typography. He builds up layers of different materials so create an emphasis on the height and this links to my idea for the word ‘upstairs’.He speaks many languages, loves and studies forms but also creates geometric patterns creating a three dimensionally sense, which links to my letterform. His work along with Ryan Reigner, inspired my groups layered stair piece.
erome Corgier
Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
Prototype Prototype and lasercut lasercut and
models models
I am happy with the finished model as it c ommunicates the word ‘upstairs’, which was our aim. Having not worked as part of a team prior to this project I was slightly anxious, however we both took up roles and stuck to them, making the t eamwork effortless and enjoyable. Photography the white card prototype and the lasercut wooden U shape shows the difference in professionalism.
Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
This is our laser-cutting process for our design. We gained advice and were allowed to use machinary which I wouldn’t normally have used and will used this knowledge for future projects.
Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
We photographed our ‘U’ l etterform against a white background and used artificial lighting whilst s hooting to achieve shadows, which emphasized the staircase and height.
We photographed our ‘U’ l etterform against a white background and used artificial lighting whilst s hooting to achieve shadows, which emphasized the staircase and height.
2 Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
The text to accompany the postcard design.
Distinctive Characters Postcard As a continuation to the ‘ Distinctive Charcters’ project, produce an A6 p ostcard with t he image on one side and a brief d escripton of the piece s tating why it links to g raphic design. Should include around 50 words of text, think about placement and design. The postcard will sit next to the three dimensional l etterform model on the wall so will help communicate the idea and meaning behind the link. The A6 postcard d imensions are 105mm by 148mm with a 3mm bleed.
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Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
Typography is like architectural structures due to the instinct of knowing what to do. The a utomatic movement when walking upstairs is similar to the flow of letterforms. Creating a layered piece emphasies the m ovement of the word, ‘upstairs’.
Visual Thinking Distinctive Characters
Continuing on from our three dimensional model design and still in our pairs, we were asked to design a postcard with a brief description linking our model to the word upstairs. L uckily a rchitecture and typefaces have a great deal in common b ecause they are both structures that can be studied and read. The a utomatic movement when walking upstairs is similar to the flow of reading letterforms. It’s the instinct of knowing what to do. Taking the photographs into Photoshop we edited and then chose three of our favourite images that would work well as the main image on our postcard. Playing around with typography fonts and sizes, we decided to keep it simplistic and have the text in line with the image and at a point seven size. We made sure the font was in keeping with the font we used for the actual model and stuck with Rockwell. This postcard will sit nicely next to the 3D model when mounted on a wall and will help communicate further our design and thought process.
3 Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
Vernacular Letterforms This brief begins with a visit to Poole where you will identify, c ollect and photograph, e xamples of vernacular letterforms in the town. Your images could be literal i nterpretations of details of road signs, gravestones or shopfront signs, etc or slightly more c hallenging ab stract collections of ‘ hidden signs’ dra wn from architectural forms, found objects and u nintentional t ypographic structures. You will be working in teams of four and p lanning which let terforms you each p hotograph in order to create a lexicon of
venacular letterforms. Remember, you will need a full alphabet. It is important that you keep accurate notes for each of the pictures: ie Photographer, L ocation, Date, Description b efore returning to AUB and uploading your p ictures to the hard drive. You will then go through a process of picture editing and retouching in readiness to prepare layouts for the book they will be published in. Technical s pecification: Trimmed size: 300x300mm
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
The initial brief started off with a visit to Poole. Sometimes the best way to spark creativity is to take a step away from the screen to explore and look at the real world. A key text I read prior to getting this brief called ‘Typefaces in the urban landscape’ by Peter Dawson, meant I had an i nitial understanding of what was wanted of us. The book outlines the typefaces we see
around us in our dayto-day lives because type is e verywhere, from billboards to graffiti. F ollowing our brief and working as a group of four, we visited Poole to p hotograph the typography. H owever, my group wanted to push the boundaries and ignoring the type faces like the ones shown in the book, we opted to only photograph hidden letter forms. P hotographing
these found everyday urban o bjects in such a way to create a letterform; using d ifferent angles and perspec tive to try and find that unique shot whilst still in keeping with the a lphabet. We steered away from just looking at shop fronts and actual typography and focussed more on the hidden aspect. Because of this, we made it more difficult for ourselves and we ended up going
to Poole twice. Finding all 26 letters was a challenge but after putting all our photographs together in a collection, as a group we managed it, even having multiples of some letterforms. Within this book that we designed on InDesign, is a selection of the photographs that we chose and favoured, in order of the alpha bet.
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
Whilst taking photos in Poole we spotted 足n umerous doubles.
Multiples of the letter O. This was the most common and easiest to find.
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
Some photographs of the perfect binding method. Long and 足t edious but fairly simple to do and I can use it in future 足p rojects.
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
We bound the book with the method of perfect b inding and chose a bright eye-catching cover to attract the viewer. Perfect binding is a commonly used bind in paperbacks. It is a long process of gluing and r egluing the pages as the spine and then the cover to the pages and leaving to dry. It is a long process but also fairly simple. I can use this perfect b inding t echnique in future projects and my
own personal work. I have liked working in a group of four, each bringing d ifferent ideas and opinions to the table but I prefer paired work because things were done quicker. This brief has taught me not only the method of perfect binding but has also helped me realise photographing something at a d ifferent angle can completely change the image.
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
Perfect bound book- Inside the final book.
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms
Perfect bound book
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Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms Poster
The text to 足accompany the poster design.
Vernacular Letterforms Poster Design A continuation brief. Each person from the group of four you are already in is to produce a A2 poster to 足p romote the book and it must contain 300 words of text. 足P roduced in Indesign. This brief was actually removed but because I had an idea, I thought I would still design one as I need to work on my layout skills.
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Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms Poster
Typography and letterforms are everywhere and e specially in urban surroundings. Stepping away from the screen and exploring the real world is the best way to spot them. Following our brief and w orking as a group of four, we visited Poole to photogra ph the h idden t ypography. Photographing these found e veryday u rban objects in such a way, to create a l etterform: u sing d ifferent angles and perpective to try and find that unique shot whilst still in keeping with our a lphabet. We steered away from just looking at shop fronts and actual typography and focussed more on the h idden a spect. B ecause of this we made it more difficult for ourselves and we ended up having to go to Poole twice. Finding all 26 letters was a challenge but after p utting all our photographs together in a c ollection, as a group we managed it, even having multiples of some l etterforms. Within this book that we designed on I ndesign, is a s election of the photographs that we chose and f avoured, in order of the alphabet. We bound the book with the method of perfect binding and chose a bright orange eye-catching cover, to attract the viewer. This brief has helped me realise photographing something at a d ifferent angle can completely change the image and getting and flipping through our book might help you do the same.
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms Poster
Another continuation project where the group work “Letters in the Landscape” bound book has led onto a poster design. This project felt a touch more free because each m ember of the group could design their own A2 poster. After finishing our book and having it cut down to size on the guillotine machine we completed a shoot. We wanted to get p ictures from all angles, s howing some of the better inside spreads as well as the exterior so we set up a white b ackground and lighting shoot. L uckily b ecause there were four of us, I took the photographs, a nother held the book, a nother on lights and last e diting, which is where I think a larger group comes in handy; more of a team to work t ogether. After editing the images and having the freedom to design my way, I chose the image I thought showed off the book the best. I chose a photograph at an angle showing the front cover and the title
through a p eephole, but also a snippet of the interior with the fanned pages on show.I made the image small and places in the corner of the poster as a direct link for the audience to know what it looks like. I made the poster portrait and simplistic with one of our h idden letterform images from inside our book as the main image. Just the main i mage and a two h undred word p aragraph u nderneath to help people u nderstand what the book is about and why we created it. S truggling with where to place the text on the page I created a few screenshots of d ifferent positions so I was able to compare all the o ptions, side by side. I decided the text works well underneath so they look at the image first and the d escription follows. For the title I wanted it to be subtle but also obvious. H idden Letters with only the edges cut out so its see through and linking with the title.
Visual Thinking Ver nacular Letter for ms Poster
5 Visual Thinking Berlin
International Trip Berlin
Visual Thinking Berlin
Visual Thinking Berlin
I was lucky enough to be offered a chance to visit Berlin in the b eginning of February and would have been silly to say no. The educational trip gave us the freedom to see the historical sights and visit the m useums around the city for five days. Having been b efore I knew the h istory behind the city but a chance to revisit sites like checkpoint Charlie, the Jewish m emorial, the J ewish museum, the B auhaus, the Reic hstag, the Fernsentrum, the t ypographic museum and many others, meant that I was refreshed. We were given the opportunity to visit the edenspiekermann graphic design offices for a tour and lecture and were able to speak directly to them about the working life of a
graphic designer, which was i nteresting and p riceless. The trip came at the perfect time too, just as we started to write our essays on d esigners showing p assion and c onviction within their work and how i ncluding p ropaganda can i nform and p ersuade their a udience. P ropaganda is the art of p ersuading others that your ‘side of the story’ is correct and should be f ollowed not c hallenged. Within Nazi Germany, p ropaganda was taken to an extreme and v isiting some of the museums that go into further detail about the history, r eally helped my essay and gave me insight on how powerful p ropaganda can be.
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Visual Thinking For The Love Of Graphics
For The Love Of Graphics Exhibition
Visual Thinking For The Love Of Graphics
For the Love of G raphics was a one-day exhibition set up and curated by us, the first year graphic design students, which aimed to explore our love of graphics through a spectacular display of graphic artifacts and collections. The exhibition aimed to investigate how we consider, position, love and cherish examples of graphic design. I contributed some of my Art Nouveau Mucha posters as examples of what I love and was not alone. There were other posters it was joined by along with a vinyl section, great graphic books, c lassic children’s toys and games and also some of our own designs too.
There were four main organizers and g etting us eighty students t ogether with all the stuff cannot have been easy but I think the outcome and finished curated exhibition was brilliant. It was busy but well laid out so you could walk around the whole exhibition with ease. I think b eing left in charge and setting up an exhibition was somewhat stressful at times but a great chance for people to show leadership skills and also the group working as one big team to gather the items and also bring together collections with themes. We took the responsibility and succeeded whilst also having some fun.
Visual Thinking For The Love Of Graphics
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Visual Thinking Mein Gott Gutenburg Gone Digital
Mein Gott Gutenburg Gone Digital Workshop
I briefly touched on letterpress at Camberwell on my foundation diploma but wanted to try it again. When I went to sign up, unfortunately the spaces were all gone and it was full so I signed up for the closest to 足letterpress as I could. I was pleasantly surprised with the 足L etterMPress workshop. LetterMPress is a program that allows you to digitally letterpress without all the mess. It is obviously much faster while still achieving some of the print effects and patterns. Trying out this new piece of design software on the macs for a day was very 足interesting and I feel like I learnt a lot.
Visual Thinking Mein Gott Gutenburg Gone Digital
We were allowed to mess about on it for a bit, to get our bearings and then to design a piece we would w a n t t o p r i n t . I c r e a t e d a f e w , s o m e o f w h i c h r e l a t e d t o t h e 足p r o j e c t w e h a d a t t h e t i m e . F o r o n e o f m y 足 d e s i g n s I w a n t e d t o s e e w h a t h a p p e n e d w i t h d i f f e r e n t l a y e r s a n d c o l o u r s a n d 足n o r m a l l y w i t h l e t t e r p r e s s , this could have been quite time consuming with swapping inks and the waiting drying time etc, but with t h i s o n l i n e p r o g r a m , y o u c a n s w a p a n d c h a n g e w h e n e v e r . U n e x p e c t e d l y t h e l a y e r e d p r i n t w a s m y 足f a v o u r i t e and I thought it was worth printing. The program was simple but extensive and I could and will spend hours designing new typography pieces on there with ease for future university and personal projects.
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Visual Thinking Silk Screen Printing Workshop
Silk Screen 足P rinting Workshop
Visual Thinking Silk Screen Printing Workshop
During my foundation course, I spent a lot of time in the printing room, c o m p l e t i n g e t c h e s , s c r e e n p r i n t s a n d l e t t e r p r e s s . K e e n t o f u r t h e r m y s k i l l s and continue silkscreen printing here at AUB, I signed up for the Silkscreen p r i n t i n g w o r k s h o p a n d i n t r o d u c t i o n . E v e n t h o u g h I h a v e d o n e s c r e e n - p r i n t i n g p r i o r , i t w a s g o o d t o r e f r e s h t h e k n o w l e d g e I a l r e a d y h a d a n d t o l e a r n n e w t e c h n i q u e s . G e t t i n g m y s e l f f a m i l i a r with the workshop ways and layout, I w e n t b a c k a f t e r t h e i n d u c t i o n t o t r y out some of my own designs. I had two d e s i g n s , o n e o f w h i c h i s t h e f r o n t c o v e r of this book. Preparing one board to print on, I aligned both d esigns side by side. U s i n g a v a r i e t y o f c o l o u r s a n d p a p e r s t o f i g u r e o u t w h i c h w o r k e d b e s t I c h o s e b l a c k i n k o n w h i t e c a r t r i d g e p a p e r f o r t h e f i r s t d e s i g n . F o r m y s e c o n d print the design was based around a c i t y s o p r i o r t o s c r e e n - p r i n t i n g , I c h o s e a p h o t o I h a d t a k e n i n N e w Yo r k a n d t h e n o v e r l a i d m y c i t y d e s i g n o n top in white. The first print worked w e l l , h o w e v e r p r i n t i n g d irectly onto a p h o t o g r a p h d i d n ’ t c o m e o u t h o w I ’ d hoped. The p aper I printed the photo on wasn’t a bsorbent enough. If I had more time to reprint, I would print my initial p h o t o g r a p h o f N e w Y o r k o n t o c a r t r i d g e p a p e r . I f o u n d i t v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g t o compare to the digital printing workshop to see the contrast. I will be using this method of printing in further projects.
Visual Thinking
Visual Thinking Silk Screen Printing Workshop
Some of my final prints from the Silk Screen w 足 orkshop. I built on my knowledge already and learnt my way around that workshop. I enjoyed the freedom and 足w orking 足e nvironment and will go back for future 足p rojects.
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Visual Thinking Handlettering Illustration
Handlettering Illustration Workshop
Visual Thinking Handlettering Illustration During this unit we had the opportunity to choose lectures and workshops from other courses, one of which was the handlettering workshop from I llustration. I have always enjoyed working with typography, both by hand and also through a screen so thought this would help me develop my type further. This workshop helped me broaden some of the skills I touched on in my foundation and the first unit but was also quite fun and hands-on. With varied tasks including time limits, switching hands and copying other peoples designs, some of which I hadn’t ever tried before meant it was a day of variety. In terms of helping me for this project, it showed me how many d ifferent methods of drawing there are as well as how using d ifferent media can affect the final image and if/ when taking typography further in a project, I can include some of the research and f indings from the key text ‘type and typography’ which I found an interesting read after I had learnt the basics and b eginnings of sketching a letterform from this workshop.
10 Visual Thinking Altered Books
Altered Altered Books Books
Gaining inspiration for this project from the 足e xhibition of a third year students work in the 足L ibrary.
Visual Thinking Altered Books
Altered Books
This workshop looked at the idea of altered books as art. I have completed book art for previous projects but thought this would be a good o pportunity to follow up and see if I can push the b oundaries of the book further. We were able to explore d econstruction & r econstruction of the existing book forms. My work for this unit has involved text, t ypography, books and binding so I was e xtremely interested in this workshop as it linked in and a llowed me to e xplore the d econstruction further. For my final altered book, I folded d ifferent pages in different places to achieve a fanned p attern when the book was finished and s tanding. I would take this idea and topic f urther by exploring this as a project.
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Visual Thinking Lectures
Propaganda
Post modernism
Design is usually based around a m essage the designer wants to c ommunicate w hether it is p olitical or not. A key text ‘What is G raphic D esign’ by Quentin N ewark helped me u nderstand the power and e ffect of h aving a political message behind the d esign, on the audience. This lecture on power of p ersuasion and p ropaganda was by far the most u seful when it came to starting my e ssay. The l ecture c ombined the h istorical aspects and meaning of p ropaganda but also a rtists and d esigners that use it within their own work. It e xplored propaganda within wartime, Nazi G ermany, r ecruitment posters and how it is even still used today. Some of the photos shown were shocking at times but n ecessary to feel how the audience was scared into b elieving c ertain ideas. C ensorship played an important role, because the use of c ontrolled i nformation can make something sound p lausible and b elievable. This lecture also e xplored the use of p ersuasion t echniques and e xamples including the use of icons, flags and e xaggerated p atriotism. This lecture helped me u nderstand further what propaganda is, its power and why it is often used in adverts and posters to reinforce, persuade and/or convince.
Postmodernism is a late twentieth century movement within design, departing from modernism. It recycled the past and returned to earlier ideas of decoration and style. G oing into the lecture, I knew about modernism but not much about p ostmodernism. The lecture helped me understand the meaning and ideas surrounding the s ubject and how it is the complete opposite to modernism. There was a belief in s cientific a pproaches to organisation and how less is more in terms of reductionism. Form follows function and designing for the purpose became more important than anything else. After the lecture, I followed up on some reading to get a further understanding of the movement from a key textbook ‘visual research: an introduction’ by Ian Noble and Russell Bestley. I think there is a blur of postmodernism between advertising and fine art but after looking at examples including the Jewish museum building by Philip J ohnson, I can see how it relates to graphic design and could help with future projects. Transmedia A lecture, which played a part to my projects for both the three-dimension letterform and the letters in the landscape projects, was on transmedia. It is about s torytelling through an image and built upon monomedia, which was only literature or the s poken word. We learnt about the mixing of cultures and multimedia and how sound and image have only been working together for roughly one hundred years. These three terms, monomedia, transmedia and multimedia are all fairly new to me, knowing little if not nothing before the lecture. The lecture was interesting, showing examples of t ransmedia in books and films like the matrix. With a cannibal culture, there is intertexuality running throughout the media, so we looked at the relationships between current historical and how the method of reusing designs plays a part in the design world today. This lecture opened my eyes at how processes and methods can change but the designs are reused and recycled.
Visual Thinking Lectures
Notions of Taste The word taste is derived from the old French term to touch or feel. The attraction d ifferent people have to different objects and this association with taste. This lecture explored our relationship with objects and how we respond to and give value to ‘things’ and how our aesthetic judgements and purchase decisions relate to the consumer culture. The affect of the advertising world, persuading and alluring the audience to buy, is powerful with thought out designs. This lecture didn’t have a direct link to my essay but in general taste s urrounds the design world and in that sense this was a very important lecture and has helped me without realising. Photography killing Painting vs Digital is dead Growing up in the 20th century, I am considered a digital native. Our generation is u sing media and technology more and more within design. Artists and photographers like Ansel Adams wanted to capture and record an emotion as realistic as possible, which p aintings could not fulfill. He had a desired image so altered and developed the lens to try and achieve the desired effect. The word image comes from the Latin word imitation and d esigners are resorting to realism. This lecture was extremely fascinating and thought provoking. Given many links and references, I intend to follow up and look deeper into this topic. Cinematic Bodies This lecture was based around the analysis of the human body within cinema, mainly based around horror. We watched various clips from different horror films looking into h uman m ateriality, human development, and how the cinematic screen can act as a mirror. Us as the audience invest in the characters, inverting reality through fiction. This lecture didn’t help me in terms of this unit or essay but I chose it because I have always been interested in film and this gave a brief history behind it.
Typography Index
12 A
A l te r nate s
D i f fe re nt s ha p e s (o r gl y p h s) fo r t h e s a m e c ha r a c te r i n a t y p efa c e, fo r exa m p l e s ma l l c a p s , swa s h c ha r a c te r s , c o ntex t ua l a l te r nate s , c a s e - s e n s i t i ve fo r m s , etc. W h e n a l te r nate s a re b ui l t- i n a s O p e nTy p e feat ur e s , c e r t a i n (o l d e r) o p e r at i n g sys te m s a n d a p p l i c at i o n s w i l l n ot b e a b l e to a c c e s s t h e m. A p e r t ur e T h e a p e r t ure is the p ar tially e n c l o s e d, r o un d e d n e gat i ve space in some c ha r a c te r s l i ke ‘ C’, ‘ S’, t h e l owe r p a r t of ‘e’, o r t h e u p p e r p a r t of a d o u b l e - s to rey ‘a’.
B
Baseline T h e i ma g i na r y l i n e upon which the l et te r s i n a fo nt a p p ea r to re s t . b o d y
O r i g i na l l y t h e p hys i c a l b l o c k o n w h i c h ea c h c ha r a c te r s at , i n d i g i t a l t y p e i t i s t h e i ma g i na r y a rea t hat e n c o m p a s s e s ea c h c ha r a c te r i n a fo nt . T h e h e i g ht of t h e b o d y e q ua l s t h e p o i nt s ize; i t s w i d t h i s rel ate d to t h e w i d t h of t h e c ha r a c te r. b ow l T h e c ur ve d p a r t of t h e c ha r a c te r t hat e n c l o s e s t h e c i r c ul a r o r c ur ve d p a r t s (c o unte r) of s o m e l et te r s s u c h a s ‘d’, ‘ b’, ‘o’, ‘g’, ‘ D’, a n d ‘ B’ i s t h e b ow l.
Visual Thinking Typography Index
C
Ca p h e i g ht
T h e h e i g ht f r o m t h e b a s el i n e to t h e to p of t h e u p p e r c a s e l et te r s (n ot i n c l u d i n g d i a c r i t i c s). c a s e - s e n s i t i ve The position of a n um b e r of p un c t uat i o n ma r ks l i ke hy p h e n s , b r a c ket s , s l a s h e s etc. i s c e nt re d o n t h e x- h e i g ht of t h e l owe r c a s e l et te r s . Fo nt s w i t h c a s e - s e n s i t i ve p un c t uat i o n a l s o have s l i g ht l y r a i s e d a l te r nate s of t h e s e c ha r a c te r s t hat a re c e nt re d o n t h e c a p h e i g ht (t h e h e i g ht of t h e u p p e r c a s e).
D
Descender
A ny p a r t i n a l owe r c a s e l et te r t hat ex te n d s b el ow t h e b a s el i n e, fo un d fo r exa m p l e i n g, j, p, q, y, etc. S o m e t y p e s of d e s c e n d e r s have s p e c i f i c na m e s d i a c r i t i c s A diacritic is a a n c i l l i a r y ma r k o r s i g n a d d e d to a l et te r. I n t h e L at i n a l p ha b et t h e i r f un c t i o n i s to c ha n g e t h e s o un d va l ue of t h e l et te r s to w h i c h t h ey a re a d d e d; i n ot h e r a l p ha b et i c a l sys te m s l i ke A rabic o r H e b rew t h ey may i n d i c ate s o un d s ( vowel s a n d to n e s) w h i c h a re n ot c o nveye d by t h e b a s i c a l p ha b et . d i s p l ay A c ate g o r y of t y p efa c e s d e s i g n e d fo r d e c o r at i ve o r h ea d l i n e us e.
E Ea r
Ty p i c a l l y fo un d o n t h e l owe r c a s e ‘g’, a n ea r i s a d e c o r at i ve f l o ur i s h us ua l l y o n t h e u p p e r r i g ht s i d e of t h e b ow l.
embedding I n c l u d i n g fo nt i nfo r mat i o n i n a d i g i t a l d o c um e nt , to e n s ure t hat t h e tex t i s re n d e re d w i t h t h e fo nt s p e c i f i e d by t h e aut h o r. S o m e EU L A s r e s t r i c t e m b e d d i n g. eye M u c h l i ke a c o un te r, t h e eye refe r s s p e c i f i c a l l y to t h e enclosed space in a l owe r c a s e ‘e’.
Typography Index
12 F
Fa m i l y
A c o l l e c t i o n of r e l ate d t y p efa c e s w h i c h s ha r e c o m m o n d e s i g n traits and a c o m m o n na m e. A t y p e s t y l e m ea n s a ny g i ve n va r i a nt of t h i s c o o r d i nate d design and is the e q ui va l e nt of a fo nt o r t y p efa c e. Su p e r fa m i l i e s a r e ve r y e x te n s i ve w i t h a ve r y l a r g e n um b e r of we i g ht s and widths. Ty p e sys te m s a r e c o l l e c t i o n s of r el ate d t y p e f a m i l i e s t hat cross type c l a s s i f i c at i o n s . fo nt A c o l l e c t i o n of l et te r s , n um b e r s , p un c t uat i o n, a n d ot h e r sy m b o l s us e d to s et tex t m at te r. A fo nt i s w hat yo u us e, a n d a t y p efa c e i s w hat yo u s e e.
G Gl y p h
Eve r y c ha r a c te r i n a t y p efa c e, (e.g: G, $, ?, a n d 7 ), i s re p re s e nte d by a gl y p h. O n e s i n gl e t y p e d e s i g n may c o nt a i n m o re t ha n o n e gl y p h fo r ea c h c ha r a c te r. T h e s e a re u s ua l l y refe r re d to a s a l te r nate s .
g re e k (a p p e n d e d to a fo nt o r vo l um e na m e) L a n g ua g e s u p p o r t; i n c l u d e s t h e Gre e k a l p ha b et a n d a l l n e c e s s a r y a c c e nt s fo r Gre e k .
Visual Thinking Typography Index
H
I
L
A n i nte r m e d i a r y s t y l e b et we e n o l d s t y l e f i g ur e s a n d l i n i n g f i g ure s , hy b r i d f i g ure s a re s o m ew hat s ma l l e r t ha n t h e c a p i t a l l et te r s a n d have a c o n s i s te nt b o d y s ize, yet s o m e p a r t s ex te n d s l i g ht l y u pwa r d s a n d d ow nwa r d s .
A (m o s t l y) s l a nte d type style which t a ke s i t s b a s i c s ha p e s f r o m a s t y l i s e d fo r m of ha n d w r i t i n g, a n d i s us ua l l y n a r r owe r t ha n i t s r o ma n c o unte r p a r t . I t a l i c s are commonly us e d fo r e m p ha s i s i n tex t . T h ey a re p r i ma r i l y fo un d i n s e r i f d e s i g n s , w h i l e o b l i q ue s o r i g i na l l y we re a s s o c i ate d w i t h sans serifs.
T h e ve r t i c a l s p a c e b et we e n l i n e s of tex t ( b a s el i n e to b a s el i n e). A l s o k n ow n a s l i n e s p a c i n g.
H y b r i d f i g ure s
W h e n t h e d i f fe re nt f i g ure s et s a re b ui l t- i n a s O p e nTy p e feat ur e s , c e r t a i n (o l d e r) o p e r at i n g sys te m s a n d a p p l i c at i o n s w i l l o n l y b e a b l e to a c c e s s t h e d efaul t f i g ur e s .
Italic
L ea d i n g
l i gat ur e s S p e c i a l c ha r a c te r s t hat a re a c t ua l l y t wo l et te r s o r m o re c o m b i n e d i nto o n e. I n c a s e s w h e re t wo a d ja c e nt c ha r a c te r s wo ul d n o r ma l l y b um p i nto ea c h ot h e r, a l i gat ure a l l ows t h e l et te r s to f l ow t o g et h e r m o r e g r a c ef ul l y. T h i s us ua l l y ma ke s wo r d s ha p e s m o re ae s t h et i c a l l y p l ea s i n g.
Typography Index
12 M
Monospaced
A fo nt i n w h i c h eve r y c ha r a c te r ha s t h e s a m e w i d t h, a n d n o ke r n i n g p a i r s . T h i s a l l ows fo r n eat l y s et t i n g c o l um n s of tex t a n d t a b l e s , fo r exa m p l e i n p r o g r a m m i n g c o d e, a c c o unt i n g, etc. O as in Oldstyle Fi g ure s
O
O b l i q ue
A fo nt t hat i s s l a nte d. O b l i q ue fo nt s a re d i f fe r e nt f r o m i t a l i c fo nt s , i n t hat t h ey a re m e c ha n i c a l l y s h ea re d, t h e n s l i g ht l y a d j us te d. I t a l i c fo nt s , o n t h e ot h e r ha n d, a re d e s i g n e d d i f fe r e nt l y f r o m u p r i g ht o r r o ma n ve r s i o n s . T h ey a re us ua l l y na r r owe r t ha n t h e i r r o ma n c o unte r p a r t s , a n d ref l e c t m o re of a c a l l i g r a p h i c s e n s i b i l i t y t ha n l owe r c a s e o b l i q ue fo nt s . o pt i c a l s ize Some type designs come in d i f fe re nt ve r s i o n s o pt i m ize d fo r us e i n s p e c i f i c p o i nt s ize s . S ubtle va r i at i o n s i n we i g ht , c o nt r a s t , a n d p r o p o r t i o n ma ke them as legible in s ma l l tex t a s t h ey a re b eaut i f ul i n b i g h ea d l i n e s .
Visual Thinking Typography Index
P
Pet i te c a p s
R
Ro ma n
Sl i g ht l y s ma l l e r t ha n s ma l l c a p s , p et i te c a p s a re c a p i t a l l et te r s t hat a r e e xa c t l y a s h i g h a s t h e x- h e i g ht of t h e l owe r c a s e l et te r s .
T h e (s t a n d a r d) u p r i g ht t y p e s t y l e. T h e te r m Ro ma n i s a l s o s o m et i m e s us e d to d e n ote t h e R e g ul a r
p i xe l
p o i nt
Pi xel fo nt s a re m o d ul a r t y p e d e s i g n s t hat t a ke a d va nt a g e of t h e p i xel g r i d to re n d e r of te n ve r y s ma l l t y p e o n s c re e n. T h ey a re ve r y p o p ul a r i n we b d e s i g n, b ut a l s o b e c a m e a n ae s t h et i c o n t h e i r ow n.
Ty p e s ize s a re g e n e r a l l y ex p r e s s e d i n p o i nt s . T h e p o i nt is a typographic un i t of m ea s ure c o r re s p o n d i n g to 1 ⁄ 12 t h of a p i c a . At 10 0 % zo o m o n e c o m p ute r p o i nt c o r r e s p o n d s w i t h o n e i ma g e p i xel o n a c o m p ute r m o n i to r d i s p l ay.
we i g ht .
S
Spacing
S p a c i n g refe r s to t h e d i s t r i b ut i o n of h o r izo nt a l s p a c e o n b ot h s i d e s of ea c h c ha r a c te r i n a fo nt to a c h i eve a b a l a n c e d a n d eve n tex t ur e. S p a c i n g p r o b l e m s i n d i f f i c ul t l et te r c o m b i nat i o n s (exc e pt i o n s) a re s o l ve d w i t h ke r n i n g. Wel l - s p a c e d fo nt s n e e d c o m p a r at i ve l y l e s s ke r n i n g p a i r s . s wa s h A n el e ga nt e x te n s i o n o n a l et te r fo r m, e i t h e r a m o d i f i c at i o n of a n ex i s t i n g p a r t o r an added-on part. W h e n swa s h c ha r a c te r s a re b ui l t- i n a s O p e nTy p e feat ur e s , c e r t a i n (o l d e r) o p e r at i n g sys te m s a n d a p p l i c at i o n s w i l l n ot b e a b l e to a c c e s s t h e m.
12
Typography Index
T
U
Visual Thinking Typography Index
W
X
Ta i l
Unicase
We i g ht
X- h e i g ht
I n t y p o g r a p hy, t h e d e s c e n d i n g, of te n d e c o r at i ve s t r o ke o n t h e l et te r ‘ Q’ o r t h e d e s c e n d i n g, o f te n c ur ve d d i a g o na l s t r o ke o n ‘ K ’ o r ‘ R’ i s t h e t a i l.
Ty p e d e s i g n w i t h u p p e r- a n d l owe r c a s e l et te r fo r m s t hat s ha re t h e s a m e h e i g ht .
A s i n gl e s t y l e o r i te r at i o n of a t y p efa c e. S o m et i m e s , t h e te r m “ we i g ht ” refe r s s p e c i f i c a l l y to t h e h eav i n e s s of a t y p efa c e. H oweve r, i t i s of te n us e d a s a g e n e r a l te r m fo r a ny s t y l e: I t a l i c, Sma l l Ca p s , B o l d, L i g ht E x p e r t , etc.
T h e h e i g ht of t h e l owe r c a s e l et te r s , d i s r e ga r d i n g a s c e n d e r s o r d e s c e n d e r s , t y p i c a l l y exe m p l i f i e d by t h e l et te r x. T h e r el at i o n s h i p of t h e x- h e i g ht to t h e b o d y d ef i n e s t h e p e r c e i ve d t y p e s ize. A t y p efa c e w i t h a l a r g e x- h e i g ht l o o ks m u c h b i g g e r t ha n a t y p efa c e w i t h a s ma l l x- h e i g ht at t h e s a m e s ize.
t y p efa c e An artistic i nte r p r et at i o n, o r d e s i g n, of a c o l l e c t i o n of a l p ha n um e r i c s y m b o l s . A t y p efa c e may i n c l u d e l et te r s , n um e r a l s , p un c t uat i o n, va r i o us sy m b o l s , a n d of te n fo r m ul t i p l e l a n g ua g e s . A t y p efa c e i s us ua l l y g r o u p e d to g et h e r i n a fa m i l y c o nt a i n i n g i n d i v i d ua l fo nt s fo r i t a l i c, b o l d, a n d ot h e r va r i at i o n s of t h e p r i ma r y d e s i g n.
uppercase The capitals in a t y p efa c e. T h e na m e refe r s to t h e d ays of m et a l t y p e, a s t h e c a p i t a l s we re ke pt i n t h e u p p e r p a r t of t h e t y p e c a s e.
we s te r n L a n g ua g e s u p p o r t; includes all n e c e s s a r y a c c e nt s a n d c ha r a c te r s fo r A l b a n i a n, B r eto n, Cat a l a n, D a n i s h, D utc h, En gl i s h, Fi n n i s h, Fre n c h, G e r ma n, I c el a n d i c, I r i s h, I t a l i a n, N o r we g i a n (+ B o k må l & N y n o r s k N o r we g i a n), Po r t u g ue s e, R haeto - R o ma n c e, S p a n i s h, a n d S we d i s h.
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Visual Thinking Referenced Books
Referenced Books
Books I used and referenced in this ebook and project.
4. ‘The Visual Dictionary of Typography’ by Gavin Ambrose & Paul Harris.
1. ‘What is Graphic Design’ by Quentin Newark
5.’Visual Research’ by Ian Noble & Russell Bestley.
2. ‘Type & Typography’ by Phil Barnes & Andrew Haslam.
6. ‘The Fundamentals of Typography’ by Gavin Ambrose & Paul Harris.
3. ‘Fully Booked’ by gestalten.
7. ‘The Fundamentals of Typography 2nd edition
by Gavin Ambrose & Paul Harris. 8. ‘Typefaces in the Landscape’ by Peter Dawson.
Vi sual Th i n ki n g Al ic e Farrar
A