PROCESS
Typography II Fall 2018 | Claire Warhover
to clarity
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introduction
inspiration
typesetting
brainstorming
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refinement
illustrating
re-illustrating
critique
introduction
Assignment Design a calendar for the semester’s Sam Fox events. The calendar must function as both a source of information (the event title, speaker, time, date, location, synopsis) and as a poster to advertise/call attention to the school’s programming.
Objectives • Further your understanding of the grid • Gain experience in setting typographic hierarchy • Investigate how color reinforces message • Explore the integration of type and image
inspiration
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When I was looking for inspiration for my calendar, I found myself gravitating towards posters that showed depth, both in typographic and illustrative elements. I also really loved posters that created a sort of setting for all the elements to live in, such as the building in the example above and the vines in the example to the left. I knew fairly quickly that I wanted to illustrate my poster, while still making sure that the typography was expressive and well-considered.
typesetting
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When I was figuring out my typesetting, I considered the hierarchy of information. I knew that I wanted people to see the date first, but after that I was unsure. Is the artist name more important than the name of the lecture? Or the location? I also tried to make sure that there was a difference in scale but that this difference didn’t feel too large.
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Ultimately I decided to group information into two different sections, the top one being the information about the lecture itself, and the bottom being the time, location, and category that the event fell under. I also put the number of the day on top so that you see that first. Even though the location and the time are at the very bottom, I set them in a medium weight so that your eye is still drawn there after reading the title of the lecture.
For the months (and other high-level information) I knew that I wanted to use a more engaging typeface, possibly one with depth. However, none of the typefaces I looked at were exactly what I wanted, so I decided to draw the large text myself.
brainstorming
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When I began brainstorming, I drew my inspiration both from the posters that I had looked at and from the work of the artist’s that we were including on the poster. Many of the visiting artists were architects, so I brought architectural elements into many of my ideas.
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I decided to pick a combination of the above two ideas. I wanted to bring depth and architecture into the poster somehow, either through type or illustration, but I also wanted to bring in large scale text and letters scattered across the page.
refinement
Poster Attempt #1
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Once I had created my first full-sized poster (on the previous page) I realized that I wanted to push the depth further than what I had done. I decided that the best way to do that would be to create projecting boxes that included pictures of the artists’ work and the artists’ name. I began experimenting with the ways that these boxes could look, including where each element would be placed and the colors.
I created my next set of calendars using the boxes that I developed. I liked the direction the poster was taking, but not the way that it was taking shape. I decided that instead of working digitally, I was going to draw the elements by hand so that I would have greater control.
illustrating
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For the illustrated typography, I started with the words “Sam Fox,” but eventually illustrated all of the large scale text. The words “Sam Fox” were the only words whose letter forms had depth however, so these were the most difficult to nail.
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I started by illustrating the boxes without putting much consideration into their shape or how the shapes would fit with the images that were placed inside them.
Once the entire poster was illustrated, I received feedback that the boxes that I had drawn did not fit the images of the artwork, and they felt arbitrarily placed. Additionally, all of the images were small, so I needed to have a scale shift between them. I decided to make the poster much bigger, so that I would have room to make these large scale shifts. Making the poster bigger and making the boxes fit the artwork meant re illustrating everything in order to create a more successful composition.
re-illustrating
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I began illustrating the other typographic elements, such as the title of the calendar and the month numbers. Then, it was time to come up with a new composition for the larger size. I started by drawing boxes around the pieces of art that I wanted to use to make sure that they would fit more intentionally. I then took these boxes and placed them in InDesign, arranging them in a composition that I liked. Once that was done, I printed this at full size so that I could redraw the boxes at their full scale, ensuring that all of the line weights were the same.
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These are some of the boxes that I drew to fit the artwork during the re-illustration process. I also decided to illustrate a crane to draw the viewer’s eye to the note about construction on the poster.
critique
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At critique, the main criticism I received was that the front of the poster (the image side) felt more busy than the back of the poster (the calendar side). I think that this is partially because not all of the elements overlap on the calendar side, so it could make sense to make sure that everything overlaps the way that it does on the front. Everyone also agreed that they wanted more elements like the crane scattered throughout the poster, which could also help the feeling of emptiness. Overall, people liked my poster and said that the size and color choices made it stand out off the wall, and that the typesetting of the events was done well.
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Claire Warhover To Clarity Process Book Typography II Fall 2018 Strada TF
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