TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II TYPOGRAPHY-II
aman bhardwaj
窶｢窶サYPOGRAPHY-II
This document is a submission requirement for a course on typesetting at NID for second-year graphic design students in January 2014. It aims to explain my process and record learnings during the two-week module. Typefaces used (without rights) are Scala Sans Pro designed by Martin Majoor, at 14/18 for body, and Verlag designed by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones. Pages (except pg 01) are layed out in a 3-column grid with 30 pt margins and 30 pt gutters.
TYPOGRAPHY-II 01
an OVERVIEW
02 04 06
10
STUDYING the NEWSPAPER GRID
NOTES on the SELFSTUDY
DESIGN of the NID BROCHURE
DESIGN of the A3 PANEL
applications of grid// multi-column grids// establishing levels of visual hierarchy// readability// content-heavy// flexibility of grid
aesthetic theoriesmusic + gestalt// page formats// macro & micro// types of grids// brockmann
visualizing the physical form// accounting for extremes// consistency of system// font size
type combinations & textures// panels v. posters// legibility// contrast// test prints & iteration
Typography-II introduced me to working with large amounts of text and creating systems for the same. The process of trial and error has helped me make choices of format and layout more consciously. I feel my knowledge and analysis of typefaces is more detailed after having used them as elements of a meaningful composition rather than as individual forms. Grid and test-prints have proved essential; Indesign is more approachable and I’m able to use papersketches and digital tools together more effectively.
02 TYPOGRAPHY-II
STUDYING the NEWSPAPER GRID During the preceding discussion, we’d discussed grids and their presence in most text-heavy publications among other topics such as factors affecting the nature of type used, organic grids etc. I decided to study newspapers since: • They have a high amount of text of different tones/ categories of information • Because of this, they have a high number of hierarchical levels on a given page (minimum 5) • There is an apparent presence of grid due to multicolumn layout and justified text PROCESS
For my study, I used a Sunday Times (TOI). Initially I thought every single line on the newspaper, vertical or horizontal, would be defined by the same grid and was marking each line on butter paper; I even recorded the different typefaces and weights used in the front page to create hierarchy. As I studied more pages and started taking measurements, I understood that the basic system was a very simple 8-column grid that is used flexibly as per requirement. With further analysis, I saw that the equal column-width, equal gutter-width grid wasn’t applied in an exactly uniform manner on all the pages. Some of the variations I noticed were: • Using 4 column-widths for 3 wider columns • Placing ads of 2 or more column-widths in the bottom half of the sheet • Sections such as ‘Sunday Special’ within fixed boxes • Variations in gutter width based on the relation between its adjacent columns • Use of an alternative 10-column grid for the classifieds
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STUDYING the NEWSPAPER GRID
CONCLUSION
While I realized that the design of newspapers is not as precisely grid-based as I had assumed, I also realized the indispensability of the grid when composing large amounts of information in such a format. Grid is, in this case, used as a framework for arranging text and image; time and space are determining factors in the implementation of layout and type. This study helped me understand the power of grid as an organizer of space and a tool for creating visual unity.
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NOTES on the SELF-STUDY We (Kunal Agnihotri and I) studied the relation between page proportions and music. We started our half-day study from ‘Elements of typographic style’ by Robert Bringhurst. Based on our prior understanding of music theory, we started understanding the ratios considered essential to Western Music theory that (to our surprise) governed page formats as well. On realizing that the cause of this inter-relativity of visual and aural harmony is actually mathematics, we studied what role it plays in determining the definition of a musical interval (the ratios upon which many popular visual proportions are based); we found out about the opposing theories of just intonation and equal treatment from a book called Musimathics. It’s interesting to observe how certain approaches became more popular over time because of mass-production. Equal temperament, as an ideology, became more widespread when musical instruments started getting manufactured; similarly, the A (root of two) proportion of paper, which would during the European Renaissance be considered aesthetically displeasing in comparison with a perfect fourth proportion, is the most common proportion of paper in use today due to its convenient property of selfreplication upon halving. Our study also took us into less factual analyses about aesthetic and the similarities between the visual and aural art composition theories - the elements of contrast, harmony, rhythm, texture, balance, dynamism et cetera. This analogy made me see the task of design differently.
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NOTES on the SELF-STUDY
PRESENTATIONS
Each of the other groups gave presentations that were informative on a variety of topics that would prove relevant to the more complex assignments. • Page Formats talked about standards one must be familiar with to be able to use technology effectively as well as possibilities in format to consciously explore. • Gestalt brought clarity to the previously known principles and was later a useful reference while critiquing our work. • Web v. Print shed light on the differences between the two approaches while clearly explaining relevant details about macro- and microtypography. • Grid explained Ellen Lupton’s chapter well, telling us about the basic constituents and common types of grids. • Josef Muller-Brockmann showed us interesting work by a person who was a pioneer of using the grid and had an influential opinion on its importance and nature. • Exhibition v. Publication showed through examples how type could be looked at differently in a larger scale.
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DESIGN of the NID BROCHURE The NID admissions brochure interacts with an important sector of the public including prospective students (for UG as well as PG courses), their families, similar educational organizations, counselors among others. Its main aim, therefore, is to effectively deliver the institute’s external communications. The two parts of this challenge are: • Providing accessible, navigable information with a clear hierarchy • Express NID’s context and ideology CONTENT
We classified the spreads into 2 categories based on the information they included - general admissions and discipline-specific. Each of us was given one spread to work on; the final goal was a (text-only) system or template that could be applied to all spreads of that category. I was given a discipline-specific spread. A brief couple of initial readings wasn’t enough; subsequent revisions became necessary throughout the design of the spreads. Moreover, to come up with a system that works, we had to go through each page within the category so as to get familiar with the different elements on the master page; we needed to know the maximums and minimums for each element. FORMAT
As students, we were given complete freedom to explore the shape and proportions of sheet we wanted to use. Though I’d considered grids easily derivable from geometry as shown in Bringhurst’s book, I decided to attempt a nonrectangular page format. I sketched parallelograms because I wanted to use a smaller format which meant text would fit in a more compact manner. Three factors determined the final shape of page: • the angle of skew • the height of the circumscribed rectangle • its width.
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DESIGN of the NID BROCHURE
FORM
It was necessary to consider the physical form of the entire brochure; the use of a non-standard format had unexpected implications for the form, mainly because the format changes on turning the page. Having explored the possibility of a centre-staple that would require me to develop three spread layouts for the three resulting formats, I chose a 15 degree angle and a 17.8 cm width by 22.6 cm height based on calculations for an accordion booklet with 4 folds and 10 spreads; this would result in two laterally inverted spread formats. Later in the process, I had to rethink my format choice because of text constraints (large amount of body text, optimum type size for readability). I decided to make a system wherein all discipline pages would be individual slides in the same format stored in a folder or rack; this decision allowed me to use a more comfortable size (7.5 degree angle within in a 11cm by 28.8 cm rectangle) for my layout.
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TYPE
After it became clear that the largest body of text would need to be cramped onto the format I was working with, I tested different kinds of text typefaces for readability and efficient use of space. Since I wanted the type to give a formal, classic undertone to the communication, I decided to set the body in Adobe Garamond Pro, which is based on the old style typefaces of Garamond and performed well at 8.4 pt in both the aforementioned criteria. Later, I also chose Futura as its condensed face worked well for the headers. With its origins in Bauhaus ideology, it represents a more recent, modernist definition of classic while relating to NID’s own beginnings. One liberty I took during the final testing stages was using two different body text font sizes. Since, in contrast with product design, pages for film and video communication and other low text pages had an overpowering white space in the originally chosen 8.4 pt, I devised the unideal solution of setting the body text of these particular pages in 10pt for better visual uniformity. Of course, this only worked because the form of my system is individual slides and not a booklet.
TYPOGRAPHY-II 09
DESIGN of the NID BROCHURE
LAYOUT
Sketches for the layout started immediately after the format was initially selected. I toyed with the idea of an organic grid and that of an unusual interaction with the (accordion-fold) brochure involving rotation of the spread to read the pages before test-prints brought me to a standard two-column grid; the stark contrast between the minimum and maximum words in body text in discipline-specific spreads led me to adopt unequal columns.
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DESIGN of the PANEL This assignment was different from the preceding in that it had a less definite context and fewer restrictions, but a fixed format (A3 portrait) and required the use of image. Hierarchy, color, layout and visual style were all decisions left completely to us. The distinction we had to keep in mind was that we were designing a basic template or system for a group of exhibition panels on films. The text elements were given: • Title • Year • Stars • Director • Writer(s) • Runtime • Imdb rating • Genre PROCESS
With the panel, I got past the thumbnail sketch faster than with the brochure. I experimented more with typeface combinations on the computer. The challenges were: • making an inviting template with accessible information • choosing a hierarchy to communicate while using image as an element in layout • finding the balance between consistent and attractive, remembering that the panels would be viewed repeatedly LAYOUT
Of my options, the one that excited me most was the idea of creating a grid by interspersing text blocks at a large leading. I made many explorations trying to get resolved type textures that showed adequate contrast between the text blocks. The final selection was chosen based on the above challenges and fidelity to the paper-sketch.
TYPOGRAPHY-II 11
DESIGN of the PANEL
COLOR
I decided to use only black and white for text as that would present a greater challenge while working with textures. Consequently, I limited the use of color to the image and an optional band of color highlighting the title.
HIERARCHY
The hierarchy I finally chose to work on was: Image, Title, Year// Synopsis, Genre// Writers, Director, Stars// Imdb rating
TYPE
Having experimented with various typefaces, I settled on a combination of HTF Gotham and Gotham Rounded as they created pleasing textures while being versatile enough to be appropriate for any film.
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RESOURCES
The Elements of Typographic Style - Bringhurst Thinking with Type - Lupton Designing with Type - Craig Musimathics - Loy Format - Ambrose, Harris WEB
http://library.pressdisplay.com http://www.thinkingwithtype.com http://www.thegridsystem.org http://ilovetypography.com HUMAN
gdug12 Mona Gonnsai Nidhi Sah Tarun Deep Girdher THANK YOU! :)
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