it's all about the process by deryn joy

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the process

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finally, deryn joy presents

itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about

the process

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I came across a remarkably insightful comment today. The article appeared in my search results while I was looking up various definitions and explanations for the concept of “dialogue.” In context: recently, our world has been rocked by the collision of opposing viewpoints — that impact has created many angers, hurts, griefs, and an overall unwillingness to listen or sympathize with anyone else. This first project is to make a poster that provokes thought (and hopefully action!) In its viewers, relating to this multitude of recent issues and unhearing, uncaring responses; promoting, in a word, dialogue. Dialogue between any two sides of any issue. So, this insight. The comment was embedded in a writing-workshop article by author Holly Lisle, and she was actually speaking to dialogue in writing, but it was surprisingly applicable to real life. Ms. Lisle said, “Dialogue is about demonstrating character through conflict, either internal or external.” In real-life terms, being willing to dialogue with someone — have a humane exchange of views and opinions -demonstrates one’s own character. (I understand she wasn’t saying this, because I’m using a different definition of character; but what struck me was that similarity. I’m not wilfully misinterpreting her idea, just running with it!) To truly listen to someone who disagrees sharply with you on any topic can be painful, so it shows a largeness of spirit and a willingness to grow when you experience those conflicting principles, but really consider your own position in light of another perspective. Growth does tend to be painful, but that development is what makes us more gracious, more loving and empathetic — pain is what we need right now, because we are severely lacking in grace and love and empathy. That has to change for anything to get better. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to do this project because it’s helping me sort through my own thoughts and feelings on all the messiness and chaos of 2016. Right or wrong, people are hurting. How can I care for them — for them all? And how can I encourage others, right or wrong themselves, to care for the hurting, too? project 1 // 7

di • a • logue, n. An exchange of ideas or opinions on a particular issue, especially a political or religious issue, with a view to reaching an amicable agreement or settlement. dictionary.com A nice little packaged definition is cool and all, but there’s so much more to dialogue than that. At least—how? And why? Like Ms. Lisle’s definition, looking at dialogue from different angles threw some really interesting light on the concept (is this research a sort of dialogue itself? Hmm). I found some teacher-resource sites for teaching children about dialogue; they stressed the discussion tools, like asking questions. Dialogue is not pursuing a win/ lose resolution—it involves asking clarifying questions to better understand. And it involves disagreeing with grace, because the words we use can promote life or death. This all kept reminding me of my own life. I have a hard time really listening when I disagree with someone; I assume and respond based on those assumptions. My mom used to remind me a lot growing up (I think I’ve gotten better) to ask. Ask questions. Try to understand the other side. Of course, I’d ask questions “to understand” and then I’d argue with them—because the heck with understanding, I’m the one who’s right here, why aren’t they listening to me??

So for me, a true dialogue means also having the right motive. Am I listening to actually understand, or so that I can further prove to the other person just how wrong they really are? It’s the difference between hearing and listening. As Peter Schaller pointed out (nope, I’ve never heard of him either, but he said this): understanding breeds peace. We obviously have very little understanding in this country right now. —Not agreement. We don’t have to agree, but we have to find that common ground, if only in the fact that they too are human. I know that over the years, meeting people from wide varieties of background, I’ve come to recognize the “infinite grayscale” of humanity. While I still believe in an absolute truth, and I do think there are rights and wrongs, between those two points are a lot of different ways to do things. And that’s okay. It’s been interesting to find that you think differently on an issue when you know someone on the other side, and I think that’s an important point of dialogue, as well. I can’t have a dialogue with a movement or

an ideology or school of thought, first of all, and that movement or ideology or school of thought is often much more understandable when housed in a real person—especially if that person is someone I like. Practically, I found several great lists of things to keep in mind or implement when two sides are trying to come to terms with a contentious topic—maybe more applicable to scenarios where a conclusion-unto-action must be reached, but still good to hear. For example, PublicAgenda said: ▶▶ Accept there are no easy answers. ▶▶ Empathize with the other side. ▶▶ One’s own preferred approaches often have trade-offs. ▶▶ Overcome denial and wishful thinking. Original? Mind-blowing? Probably not, but I definitely need to be reminded about things, especially if I want to make a habit of implementing them in my life. But then for the next problem. How does one clearly, succinctly, powerfully communicate such a rich, rounded concept— especially one this important—on a poster?

project 1 // 9

My ideas are usually pretty text-heavy; fine for a type-focused class, but doesn’t work for a project that needs to be read at a glance. This time, I decided to start with images and add words after. These were my first, sketchy ideas. Some that I got rid of pretty quickly were song lyrics, pure lecture, too many words, too much explanation, or just didn’t do it for me. The sketches that worked best for me were a little more clever—the face/vase illusion, emphasizing multiple perspectives; bridges that span, supported by common ground; and my favorite, the red and blue 3d glasses that only work if you look through both sides. I took them all to class, though, to hear what other people thought.

project 1 // 11

The 3d glasses were a clear winner, surprise surprise. Just the image of one eye shut immediately gives the viewer an idea of what’s going on: we all know what it’s like to look through one lens to see the colored distortion on-screen, or just marvel at the perspective difference of one eye versus two. Amber thought “Don’t assume, ask” was such a huge concept it could be an entire campaign; I sort of agree with her, so I’m not planning on pursuing it right now. My “listening matters” was too controversial; it sounds confrontational to both sides, instead of encouraging empathy and ultimately the open exchange of ideas. “Make America nicer together” wasn’t as clever as Emily Johnson’s overtly political poster, and also isn’t that clever in the first place. (Leslie also suggested it might be seen as a jab against the Trump supporters, which also defeats the purpose.) The sketches to make the cut: Bridges. I’m currently trying to make a type-based poster that emphasizes the geographical parallels of bridges and constructive dialogue. Vase/faces. Love the idea here, but will it be clear at a glance? And I need to figure out how to either incorporate the text bubbles, or have words on there to connect the wesee-things-differently idea to the image. 3D. Still my favorite; I think the concept is spot-on. How to make it as clear as possibly possible is the remaining challenge.

the 3d experience

means seeing from more than one perspective. #dialoguefirst

understanding breeds peace.

JUST KIDDING. Those were the sketches I thought I’d go with, but I was wrong. The bridge just didn’t come together. I had several pencil sketches, but I couldn’t articulate my idea well enough in the space (I felt) and also... I ran out of time. Too much thinking, too little doing. This is a balance I’m working to strike in many, many areas of my life. I ended up digital-sketching my 3d glasses, the face/vase illusion, and—oddly enough— the Peter Schaller quote (“understanding breeds peace”) that I came across in one of his ElephantJournal articles. I spent a lot of time trying to present it different ways; and while I’m not really planning on continuing with it, focusing on the actual type again was delightful.

#dialoguefirst (quote by peter schaller)

understanding breeds peace.

#dialoguefirst (quote by peter schaller)

It’s all a matter of perspective. #DialogueFirst

project 1 // 13

Refining is always the hard part for me. I had an idea and I’ve expressed it sloppily, but how to make that expression better? Digital roughs always feel like they’ve taken the sparkle with none of the craftsmanship, and I have to start all over to come up with the polished version. Still not sure about the actual caption words, I asked my parents. No project background, just “Look at this poster. Which caption seems most insightful?” I was crushed when my dad said, “I don’t get it at all.” As he looked more closely at the poster it came to him, but without the context of political dialogue (and reading the crummy caption I’d started with) his thought process had gone in a totally different direction and he was just confused. Mom got it a little faster, but she overheard some of our conversation and was primed for politics. My poster was maybe too subtle. Well, I started again on the 3d glasses, only I sketched the eyes this time — I didn’t like the stock-photo feel and also wasn’t sure about the copyright limitations. Where to place the text was also tough, because if I wasn’t careful, the caption and hashtag looked like a moustache and mouth. We came up with a better caption (I think? Still not super jazzed), but I just didn’t want to let go of the other two ideas. I felt the face/vase was a much more powerful image and the quote was...a quote. I love quotes. So I did all three.

and he said “I don’t get it at all”

project 1 // 15

see more per

#Dialogu

how do you see the world? #DialogueFirst

ore: face or vase? It comes down to what you see—and not everyone sees the same thing. Sometimes we

pinions, too. Let’s not miss out on a better world because we don’t want to hear what someone else has to friends made differing decisions? Ask. Listen.

It’s been a tense time for America lately. People pick sides choose to see the other sides of our problems and the othe world because we don’t want to hear what someone else h

understanding breeds peace.

perspectives.

ogueFirst

sides and refuse to negotiate. Moving forward, how can we e other angles to our solutions? Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not miss out on a richer else has to say.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s make the world a more peaceful place by listening to what others have to say. Do you know why your friends (or enemies) made different decisions? Ask. Listen. (Quote from Peter Schaller)

#DialogueFirst

project 1 // 17

I added a yellow highlight to the headlines for continuity among the three print versions and wrote my own captions, so each would relate to its poster’s image and hopefully clarify the entire message. My flyers are almost identical to the posters, but my Instagram images I changed a lot. The information for these will be in the caption; I wanted to focus on eyecatching and curiosity-inducing above any other criteria. The 3d glasses were really tough, because they weren’t really designed for a small square. So I decided to split them over two images, meant to be posted sequentially, to add to the ‘seeing one side isn’t seeing the whole picture’ idea. I still love the concept, but I think it’s a little too multifaceted to be presented here. Like, I needlessly complicated things by having the eye closed; I could have split the glasses over two posters and that would have been a lot more interesting. Oh well; live and learn.

Michael Winters brought our final, 16x20-inch posters into class on Monday. For the first time, I was actually happy with my final product—which I didn’t think would happen at such a large size. I never like my designs printed huge: it seems to magnify all the issues, and this one in particular because I wasn’t sure how all the white space would translate. I was worried that it would seem empty and overfull— empty of content but with graphics that were awkwardly big. And I mean, maybe it is. But I wasn’t disappointed with myself like I’ve been before. Seeing the in-process poster next to the final (after thinking I hadn’t changed much) was really encouraging: the little improvements people had suggested made the final so, so much better and I realized—maybe I really can do this!

project 1 // 19

type hi exhibit

istory tion “Eat the elephant one bite at a time.”

This was Leslie’s advice from last spring, when all the cohorts got together and we talked about what makes a good designer, beyond actual output. How should we be thinking about design and life, and what should our practices be in general? It was amazingly helpful. I wrote everything down on a piece of paper that I’ve kept in my binder since then, so I see it every day and it helps me calm down whenever we get a new project. I’m always a little lost when the new project starts. My head is sort of in the last one’s space still and starting from square one on something new feels overwhelming; I need to remember that it doesn’t need to be done in one sitting. I need to break it down into manageable steps and do my best on each step from there—and it will come together. Project Type History Exhibition is one of the biggest elephants I’ve encountered yet. The project sheet lays it out clearly enough (“[Design] a hypothetical exhibition on typefaces throughout history”), but part of what got me at first was breaking it down into those eatable steps. Like, it’s not elephant → bite in one jump, oh no, this elephant needs to be hewn into body parts and then further into meals and then into servings before it can become bite size—not to be too graphic or anything.

Figuring out those sub-breakdowns of work is going to be the biggest challenge my group and I face, I think. Once we know what to do, we can do it; it’s portioning out the work efficiently and logically that needs to happen first. The first day is always hard as everyone struggles in his or her own way to get a handle on what exactly is going on, and we were pretty disorganized today. On the other hand, my group (Alex and Caitlin) came away with some good concepts that could really turn into something as we refine them, and I think after we do our research—which to me is a key first step—we’ll have a better idea of where we’re going, which will lend itself to figuring out a plan for how to get there. (Please note: no elephants were harmed in the making of this journal.)

project 2 // 21

I kind of dismissed our first day in the intro on the last page, but the second day was also rough. On day one, Leslie wanted us to start sketching immediately. “Don’t think, just sketch, go” she said. We were supposed to sketch for five minutes, pin our sheets up, discuss and critique, and then sketch again. Technically this is a great way to build on ideas and take the best ones further, right? It didn’t quite work like that for us. I was in a bad mood: I didn’t know what I was doing (Exhibition space? What?), I wanted to research and think (and Leslie kept being like, No, just sketch, seriously), and the three of us were coming up with really boring and somewhat redundant ideas on how to place the information on the wall. I wanted to take it a crazy new direction, so on day two, I started suggesting floor decals; a spinning wheel that you turned to get information; hands-on exhibits, with real printing apparatuses and printyour-own-line-of-type stations; levers to “scroll” through information; even splitting the wall up or making it curve as the exhibition continued. Ummm, said Caitlin to most things, which meant “No!” (Alex said nothing at that point, because he was watching ESPN highlight videos between working on Meena’s project. And researching Baskerville, I assume.) Eventually he tuned back in, and then they both said Ummm, or in some cases, “But how would we mock that up?” Both of which answers meant “No!” —and which I’ll cover later when I talk about how our team functioned together. But that’s what my sketches illustrate: a lot of ideas that we didn’t go with. The little text boxes are the kind of a lot of explanation they require, which may be a good point Alex and Caitlin were trying to make. I got a little complicated, and I understand it’s hard to get behind something requiring a lot of work that wasn’t your idea. They both liked the idea of an oversized Baskerville letterform as a transitional piece (it’s like a visual PUN), so that was nice. It gave us something to agree on and a central piece to design around. We’ll see how it goes.

project 2 // 23

Caitlin and I posted our digital

sketches over the weekend so every team member could see what we were visualizing. My ideas were consistently so contentfocused that my visual execution wasn’t great; Caitlin was obviously spending more time on the layout than the content.

In case you missed it, this is foreshadowing. My intense content-full layout

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION this period in western history is marked by a surge in mechanization: instead of making things by hand, people were exploring the combination of science, speed, efficiency, and all kinds of machinery.

*30 feet long this is john baskerville.

he was born in 1706 in warwickshire, england and for most of his life did work completely unrelated to type specifically running a varnishing business. but in 1757 he retired on those profits to establish his printing house.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT human wisdom + science + philosophy + questioning + breaking free from tradition

baskerville wanted to perfect his craft, though. interested in improvement and technology, he set out to create a clearly defined letterform. instead of modeling his type on pen-made letterforms, baskerville made his type more angular, the strokes more contrasted, and the entire process more consistent and mechanized. how?

We the People

maybe a reproduced document that uses baskerville?

he then mixed his own ink, creating a darker, more opaque black. first, he rechanged the press. instead of wooden platens, he made them metal; this evened the printing pressure for more consistent results.

labeling

finally, he added a hot press process to the final printed page: this heat and pressure gave the paper a creamy smoothness and immediately dried the inked letters to keep them from feathering - crisp and sharp on the paper.

some people hated his new type; “it’s too contrasted, it hurts the eyes” - especially in england, where his elegant books were putting other printers to shame. but ben franklin loved it and used it in his new country’s documents.

and then he printed books.

franklin, caslon, and jb

where baskervile is used today why “transitional”?

p>p>p

franklin’s influence eventually brought b into popularity; but baskerville died old, crabby and poor.

we remember him today, however, as a pivotal figure in this period of type history. baskerville’s type was part of a larger movement, called transitional.

label etc.

o o

platen picture

this is a replica of baskerville’s first published print: the works of virgil. 1757.

stamp your own baskerville!

transition 5

breaking from tradition

the enlightenment

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Caitlin’s visuallyfocused idea

r transitional type paved the way for modern type. transition through the N to see the next developments!

other transitional typefaces like caslon

project 2 // 25

SPeeD tRIP speed trip speed trip speed trip We took a fabulous field trip to the Speed Museum on the second day of this new project: since we’re designing an exhibition, why not see on in real life? Carrie Donovan (who graduated last year) works over there now and designed a spectacular system for the displayed works and related material of Frederick Weygold (who worked closely with the Lakota people around this area). I was actually more interested in the exhibition design than the exhibition itself at this point, because designing something at such a huge display size is not something I feel at all capable of doing. Some interesting things stood out to me: Just how big the type has to be. For the “header”/ exhibition name, the letters were about 10 inches tall—which feels enormous in my head, but looks fine and even a little small in person. The informational text for each section of

the exhibit is definitely smaller, but much larger than I would have considered: because you want to be able to read the words from standing farther back, not at normal reading distance! This hadn’t even crossed my mind. It also struck me how low on the wall the materials were displayed. There was a clear line all throughout the exhibit—probably six or so feet off the ground—from which the work seemed to hang; which is a good gridlike idea for consistency, but was surprising since that wasn’t even halfway up the wall. The top twelve, fifteen, twenty feet of the wall was completely empty! In all my sketches I hadn’t considered the inconvenience and impracticality of looking up instead of keeping things at average-eye-level.

This particular exhibition was designed specifically around one of Weygold’s watercolors, and this was what informed the rest of the design decisions, more or less said Carrie’s co-designer Andy (I paraphrase). It stuck with me because I’ve been struggling to conceptualize our own exhibition, and I think it’s because my team is missing that central element: we need to have the focus on one thing and align everything else in an intuitive hierarchy, as well as create a simple but extraordinarily organized system for display. Seeing so much information on the walls of the museum really made me realize how important organization is for all of this. The bigger the design, the clearer it needs to be: people will be seeing the details up close. (Unless of course it’s an enormous banner displayed for road viewing. Then 15 ppi is totally okay.)

project 2 // 27

So. Much. Research. I know nothing about exhibition design, so I began a little lost—where to even start? i Love Typography/John Boardley is a great resource for type history, and I got a lot of information and sources from him; and I also found some fascinating articles on paper. This seemed important to me, because a huge part of the development of transitional type were the technological advancements (by John Baskerville and others) that made its distinctives possible. For example: the contrasts between thick and thin strokes in the Baskerville typeface are much greater than earlier typefaces (like the style of Bruce Rogers’s Centaur) because Baskerville developed, among other things, a more even printing process, smoother paper and hot press drying technique that kept the ink from feathering once printed. His resulting typeface was sharp and clear; this and other changes he made eventually caught on among other printers and pushed the prevailing modes toward the extreme contrasts of “modern” typefaces like Didot and Bodoni. So I also feel it’s important to describe not only what makes Baskerville a transitional typeface, but how Baskerville—the man and the font—changed the face (pun!) of printing for years to come. And the context of these developments is important to include, too, because they made Baskerville’s mindset and efforts possible: it was the Industrial Revolution, when organic

forms were being mechanized, and everyone wanted to make processes more efficient and less human-hands-on. To provide the most rounded picture of this period in type history, I think that my team needs to include at least a little of all this information in our exhibition. We may include more text-heavy components (or just “further reading/information” sections) in the accompanying print material, but I think we need to include a lot of it; or transitional type won’t make a whole lot of sense. My teammates don’t seem to share this impression, but I’m hoping to win them over. I also really want this exhibition to be really interestingly interactive. I love type, and this exhibition isn’t really engaging me (surprisingly), but then how is it going to engage an ordinary viewer if I’m not excited making it and if the information is just sitting there in a lump? I want this to be a very hands-on exhibition—3d and manipulable elements, textured features; more than flat printed images. I’ve loved the work of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller for a long time, and I’d love to do a highly emotive installation along their lines (not sound-installation, specifically, but a whole panoramic experience that asks you to tell the story). How to take this exhibition beyond flat design and into the 3d or interactive world is the big issue I’m facing next.

project 2 // 29

I am increasingly unhappy with the way my teammates and I are approaching our assignments and how we’re working— or rather not working—together. Our presentation was thrown together in less than an hour by a team member who felt guilty (apparently) for not having been that involved earlier. Ultimately, we didn’t go over together what we wanted to present and why, so when the time came for us to speak to the class about our project, we were (in that teammate’s words) “just winging it.”

What is Tran

// Transitional represented the departure immediatley predate the modern period

// Created during the 17th century Europ

// Age of Enlightenment, which was a re

// The pen’s influence has all but disapp

Look: I am not about to just “wing” my career. Why wing the practice for it? This lack of preparation is disrespectful to the classmates who dedicated time and effort to their own concepts and presentation; this is disrespectful to the teacher who asked us to do this and expected at least a good effort; and it’s a terrible habit to be in: clients want to feel their investment of time and money isn’t going to go to waste, and no one was going to hire us after that fiasco.

// Little influence in homeland (1758) • When Ben Franklin brought it to

I’m bad at confrontation, but something needs to change.

So after the presentation, we went back to the lab to address feedback and critiques. Leslie announced we could add space to our exhibition, if that would help.

nsitional?

e from old style tradition and d.

All along, I’ve been suggesting ideas that I felt were a little crazy, a little out of the box, and sure, maybe more work in the long run. But I had visions, and I wanted my teammates to modify my ideas with their own so we could actually, you know, work together. They consistently shot down my ideas, not expressing why it wouldn’t work, but most often with this wincing sort of, “Wellll, I mean, that’s... how would we even produce that?” HECK, I DON’T KNOW. LET’S FIGURE IT OUT.

ebellion against traditional old style.

peared the United States.

Having finally come up with an idea we could all get behind (the one we presented) was good, but no one was pushing to make it more exciting and interactive—which was really something I thought was necessary for a type exhibition that regular, ignorant people (and I mean that in the best way possible) would find intriguing and informative. So when Leslie said we could add more space, I was pumped, and tried to get Alex and Caitlin on board with modifying our design a little. Again, neither of them liked my ideas; but instead of moving forward with that presented design, they tried to completely overhaul it and do something totally new.

I was definitely part of this: I lost track of the ultimate goal and got bogged down in critiquing ideas myself, instead of saying “Hey, we already pitched something that works, so why waste time trying to come up with something new?” But we ended up very, very upset with one another. No one was listening. I would present an example, one or the other would find fault with that example (instead of addressing what I felt was the concept), and I would try to further explain and would be interrupted. But then I did the same to the other two, and it was chaos. Finally, Alex grabbed my paper and said, “Here, we’ll just do this.”

project 2 // 31

I was furious. He hadn’t offered any of his own ideas so far, merely critiqued Caitlin’s and mine, and now he’s telling us what we’re going to do as if we ultimately answer to him. So I said no. I told him, “I’m not 100% behind this idea, so no, I’m not going to go home and sketch one wall of the three”—without knowing what the other two are doing? Hey, man, that’s turning this into a one-person project, and we’d just be presenting separately. This isn’t a group project anymore, then, and how would it be in any way cohesive, design- or content-wise?

I don’t want to be pushy and I don’t want to ignore others’ ideas, but this seemed like a terrible decision. So I basically told Caitlin and Alex to sketch ideas to bring on Monday that we could discuss— bringing us essentially back to an overwhelming square one.

It was not good.

After Alex left, some of the other people around the lab who’d noticed the tension talked me off the cliff and I tried to figure out how to fix things going forward. First, I got back on Facebook so Caitlin could start a group chat, and we publicly apologized for our unprofessional behavior; and then she and I each suggested how to move forward. We agreed to go back to our original idea.

I spent a long time producing a much more detailed digital sketch that I’m planning on showing them next class after our FirstBuild field trip. Considering how our collaborative sessions have gone so far, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if they both wanted to overhaul the entire thing and go in a completely different direction. I’m not excited about this project.

project 2 // 33

then it was the weekend. We had a few days apart to cool down; and then when Monday came, I was not feeling well and actually went home before our field trip (to FirstBuild to see 3d printers! I was so disappointed!). But I went home and got some emails sent and some schoolwork done and that was good. Back in class, Caitlin, Alex, and I reconvened and established what we wanted in the exhibition. It is really hard for me to express what I want and why, for some reason; I know I always fear my teammates will think my idea is stupid and I suppose that makes it really hard for me to be honest about what I’m thinking. That needs to stop, so I tried to clearly and nicely say 1. what I wanted and 2. My honest critiques of the others’ ideas. From

what I could tell, they were trying, too, and we came to a good compromise on the design. Good. Step one. Then we divvied up the work, and this is what has smoothed our group interactions: we each had a particular element that mattered most to us, and ultimately each person got their element. To me, the history and innovation and processes—the word-content of the wall—are all related and really important both to the layout and the interest of the viewer. So I volunteered to write it all. Alex wanted the wall with the Q, and since he had a vision for that, he got the long wall; and Caitlin wanted the room. So we worked in stages: my writing fueled the layout for the other two, and we’ve all three interacted over the rough sketches of each. It’s becoming a more personal and

more collaborative effort at once, and that’s changed the whole atmosphere of our group: instead of being lost, stressed, and myopically focused on our own vision, we’ve managed to agree on a final product and work individually on the parts that matter to us most—and come together to critique after each step.

it may not be ‘happily ever after’ but it’s comfortable.

project 2 // 35

s r l The in-proc

john baskerville

John Baskerville was born in 1706 in Warwickshire, England and for most of his life did work completely

unrelated to type—specifcally running a varnishing business. In 1757 he retired on those profits to establish a printing house, where he worked to perfect his craft. Interested in improvement and technology to the point of perfectionism, he set out to create a clearly defined letterform. Instead of modeling his type on pen-made

letterforms, Baskerville made his type more angular, the strokes more contrasted, and the entire process more consistent and mechanized.

First wall on the left

One of Baskerville’s slate advertisements.

20’x10’ adjacent room

1706

1730

Third wall on right

0 the press First, he changed the press. Instead of wooden platens* he made them out of metal; this evened the printing pressure for more consistent results. He then mixed own ink, creating darker, more opaque black. Finally, he used a hot roller process on the final printed page: this heated pressure gave paper a creamy smoothness and immediately dried the

TTransitional ra nwithsiJohn tio oBaskerville na l 5

Second wall at the back

ink, which kept the letters from feathering and left them crisp and sharp on the paper. *Platens: plates that apply the pressure to make the print.

For comparison, one of Caslon’s specimens

Some people hated his new type; “it’s too contrasted, it hurts the eyes”—especially in England, where his elegant books were putting other printers to shame. But Baskerville’s books were so expensive to produce that no one could afford to buy them, and he died old and relatively destitute in 1775.

a new style

However, Baskerville was only a part—though a large one—of the changing type all over Western Europe. These contrasting, less organic typefaces were later named ‘Transitional’ for their pivotal part in moving the Old Style to a Modern age.

1750

1775

Stroke Contrast

Breaking from Tradition The late 1700s were a time of revolutionary upheaval as people questions old things and experimented with new ones – in science, technology, government, and in this case, printing. The Industrial Revolution was at its peak in England, where manufacturers developed increasingly mechanical processes unto mass production. The Age of Enlightenment was also impacting society at this point; moving away from a monolithic belief system, people began to use logic, philosophy, and humanistic reasoning to answer age-old questions of truth and ultimate meaning.

Revolution and war were impacting the cultures of America, France, and slightly later, Russia – all radical changes and developments in societal thought which influenced their technological output. The printing press and moveable type had changed little since Gutenberg printed his Bibles in 1452; those “old style” typefaces were still based on the Italian Humanists of the Renaissance, who prized the organic shapes of hand-penned letters. This all changed with the advent of John Baskerville.

Greater contrast between thin and thick (sub-) strokes

Ascender (Head) Serifs

The head serifs are generally more horizontal

Verticle Stresses

Vertical or almost vertical stress in the bowls of lowercase letters

Bembo

Jenson

Baskerville

Fourth wall w

john baskerville

First wall on the left

John Baskerville was born in 1706 in Warwickshire,

England and for most of his life did work completely unrelated to type—specifcally running a varnishing

business. In 1757 he retired on those profits to establish a printing house, where he worked to perfect his craft.

Interested in improvement and technology to the point

of perfectionism, he set out to create a clearly defined letterform. Instead of modeling his type on pen-made letterforms, Baskerville made his type more angular, the strokes more contrasted, and the entire process more consistent and mechanized.

1706

0 10

One of Baskerville’s slate advertisements.

a new style

1730

part in moving the Old Style to a Modern age.

Fourth wall walking

ess walls. 1775

the press First, he changed the press. Instead of wooden platens* he made them out of metal; this evened the printing pressure for more consistent results. He then mixed own ink, creating darker, more opaque black. Finally, he used a hot roller process on the final printed page: this heated pressure gave paper a creamy smoothness and immediately dried the ink, which kept the letters from feathering and left them crisp and sharp on the paper.

Second wall at the back

*Platens: plates that apply the pressure to make the print.

For comparison, one of Caslon’s specimens

1750

project 2 // 37

Last working day before we presented our paper scale mockups, Leslie showed up with our flyers. There were six for each of us: five to use, one to ask people about. We had to put those five up around campus and then ask strangers for feedback—which was actually the hardest part for me. I still struggle with shyness and I blush so easily (which makes me more awkward and uncomfortable) that it takes a lot for me to actually approach someone. But Leslie told me to, so I did it. One of the first people I asked considered it and told me she liked the space—it wasn’t too crowded—and the little information made her want to look more closely. I asked her if she thought it would stand out on a crowded bulletin board in, say, Bingham, and she said yes, “because of the extra space.” That’s something everyone mentioned, and though I don’t know if it’s true, I was surprised by how many non-designers mentioned that. Everyone also said something about being curious, and that it made them want to find out more; this was encouraging at first, but it made me wonder later if that meant they were all confused. When I asked everyone what message they got from it, essentially everyone (about 7 strangers total) said it was about being open to new perspectives, seeing things someone else’s way. Cool, they can all read.

Because yes; but there’s more to it—it’s about actively seeking that other view, about actively working to see your prejudices and biases, and talking about those things with others. You know, dialogue. And for all they claimed they were curious, nobody asked me “so what’s it actually mean?” and nobody asked to look closer. So I don’t know if it really worked. I put the flyers up and I hope they do something for someone, but at this point I wonder. At least they’ve done something for me: I have been trying to implement asking and understanding in more areas of my life. This project has really become a part of me, and if I’m the only one it ultimately changes, that’s okay. One person can still do a lot.

project 1 // 39

Our first proportional mockup was due the Monday after that. It was a little mindblowing to realize how big our spaces would be at full scale, but exciting to see how far we’ve come from halfhearted sketches. Leslie told us to present as if we were presenting to clients, because this was our practice round before we really did present on Monday to “Ben or Cynthia” from Solid Light (exhibition design). Some teams did better than others; ours was not one of them. I didn’t end up saying much of anything, and we were kind of all over the map as far as outlining our goals in this project. “Winging it” is not my thing, so I’d really like to get together with my group and at least establish who’s going to say what before we’re given the chance to represent our program in front of absolute strangers. I’m wondering if a good approach to this might be getting together some kind of outline on my own, beforehand, and presenting it to my teammates; it’s not that they’ll be resistant to a structured approach, necessarily, but I know that if I put it off until class and pitch it then, they won’t want to do the work of getting it together. I might spring it on them and sweep them along with the force of my eloquence and enthusiasm. That’s amusing, because if I had such an overabundance of eloquence and enthusiasm I probably could wing it. As if.

So many field trips! It’s been a blast. This time we went to Unique Imaging Concepts to understand their process and consider our options for printing the exhibition maquettes. It was a really interesting tour, but surprisingly hard to grasp. I came in five minutes late (my GPS couldn’t find the location), so I missed some introductory remarks, but I heard owner Dan Rutledge’s whole explanation about the sublimated printing process. I couldn’t take notes fast enough, there was so much information to absorb. Mr. Rutledge has been in the printing business for over 30 years, and he knows so much and it’s so obviously a craft to him. When I see that kind of investment and motivation in an older careerperson, it makes me want it, too. I want to love what I do, whatever it is I do, and I want to start cultivating that expertise now. I can’t have 30 years of experience in something now because I still have 8.5 years until I am 30, haha, but— We have this saying in my family. Some friend at some point was talking to my parents about going back to school as an adult for nursing. She couldn’t decide whether it was worth it or not—she would be 50 by the time she finished the program. So much time, so much money; but she finally decided to do it. “What decided it for you?” my dad asked. “Well,” she said, “I’m going to be 50 either way. Did I want to be 50 with a nursing degree or without it?” That’s what I’m thinking. The day will come when I will be old enough to have 30 years of experience in something, but I have to actually start gaining experience if I want to get there. I don’t have to—I can’t— be good right away: that takes time. Like, say, 30 years of time. Well, I’m 21-and-a-half. Time is what I’ve got.

project 2 // 41

Not totally knowing what to expect from our “official” presentation to Solid Light, I was pretty nervous going into it. But Ben Jett, their design director, was really laid back and gave us some great input. I appreciated his graciousness, because I was embarrased to stand next to our project. It wasn’t any one thing (and Alex did a fantastic job with our mockup); it was that overall, it was a pretty underwhelming exhibit. I don’t think people would be drawn in, and I don’t think we handled any aspect superbly. It’s just totally bland. This was probably the most frustrating project I’ve worked on. “Frustrated” is the perfect word, actually; I feel like everything I envisioned or wanted was met with opposition. Our mockup is the perfect visual representation of my group’s constant struggle to compromise, and the result—since we went with no one powerful idea—is a gray mush with no focus and no purpose. Every time I look at it, I’m reminded of our petty inability to work together and I feel like a failure.

Here are the pictures of our final mockup, for what it’s worth. I totally appreciate the work my teammates put into it: especially Alex, who got to class more than an hour early to put the final example together and did a bang-up job. He also took the pictures, and I am really grateful for that. Caitlin was constantly checking in with both of us, tying the group together and working overtime to pick up slack. She was a wonderful teammate. That said, I still feel that an accurate representation of our working relationship was typified by the seating arrangements at the presentation. Every group sat together except us.

project 2 // 43

Despite a rocky introduction to it, exhibition design really intrigues me. Seeing Solid Light’s projects kind of captured my imagination: I’d love to be a part of an interactive design project like that, something on a big, explosive canvas, working with lighting and maybe sound, trying to capture the interest of a visitor and present the information in a powerful, meaningful way. Like I mentioned awhile back, it pretty much comes down to the interactivity. I’m realizing I love the interaction between object and person; I want to craft the viewer’s response as if it were a tangible thing. That’s what I love about print design, I think, mostly because it’s a texture thing—I can control what the reader physically feels when they touch the paper, but I’m also directing their experience: the order in which they read the content, how visible or invisible the container, emotions and connotations. Exhibition design is all that and more, and I’m really interested in trying more of it—now that I have a small idea about what goes into a wall-size display. By “small idea” I really do mean “small idea”: they’re general guidelines, like “don’t go too high on the wall and don’t go too low,” but that’s what I’ve really taken away from this project. I’ve learned a lot about the fundamental considerations in designing for an enormous space, and that things typically need to be bigger than you think! I feel more prepared for group work, too. Groups need a leader, they need to listen, they need clear division of jobs, a clear schedule, and a definite goal. —I think. These are things my group would probably have benefited from, but then every group will probably have different issues. In that case, communication becomes the most essential factor, and that’s something I definitely need to grow in: the courage to say what I think and present the reasoning behind it.

project 2 // 45

type study design-your-own project 3

For our final project, Leslie gave us nearly free range. The final had to involve display type, and we weren’t allowed to... vectorize a quote in our own handwriting, for example. Maybe two years ago, but she wanted us to push ourselves a little for this. We’re a semester away from portfolio, after all. My hope this semester had been to design a typeface, but that’s Steve’s thing, and Leslie didn’t feel up to guiding students through the long, hard process, so we’ve focused on other things; this project was the perfect opportunity. Of course, there are like 4 weeks left in the semester and I’ve never done this before. First for everything, right?? So designing a typeface. I needed to come up with a project goal and the schedule for meeting milestones along the way. I knew I wouldn’t have time for all 26 letters, much less numbers, punctuation, extra glyphs... bummer, but you deal. I needed a reasonable way to cut the number of forms down and then something to do with them once I’d designed them; ambitious, and I worry that I won’t be able to get enough done before the semester is over, but I’ll cross those bridges when I come to them.

on serif capitals. I divided them by shape category—round, square, round-square, diagonal—and then chose one from each category (9 in all). For a 10th (I like round numbers) I decided to do an ampersand, if I have time; as in, I will do an ampersand, and depending on how much time is left, I will also do either 9 or 4 letterforms. Ampersands are my one weakness. I wrote out all the letters in the order Cheng recommended designing them, and then wrote their categories below: for example, ‘I’ is both square and extra narrow, so it could represent either category. Then I picked one from each category, did some further research on the order typefaces are typically designed in, and wrote out my capitals in the order that seemed most efficient. My latest step was writing up a creative brief. I want to keep the mood, the colors, the ultimate goal in mind throughout the process, and keep track of that process and my reasons so that when I put the final forms on their posters, I can add that thought content, too. If I can finish it all in time, this should be a pretty great project.

After emailing Steve and checking out the book he recommended (Designing Type, by Karen Cheng), I decided to focus

project 3 // 47

project no. 3 to explore Individual letterforms — essential shapes / design characteristics

project goal To create a series of 5 - 10 posters, displaying singular letterforms — decorative or serif capitals, representative of main design characteristics (as presented in Karen Cheng’s Designing Type).

journal entries

checkpoints & deliverables March 20 - 25: Research starting points

•

Determining project

•

Creating project (THIS!)

•

Initial research

•

Final conclusions

•

Which letterforms to create

•

Type design process (O > E > B etc.)

•

What a beginner could be expected to accomplish in this timeline

•

Project modifications (for class) and taking it further (summer)

March 27 - April 4: Sketches & decisions •

Beginning: decisions,

challenges, sketches •

Feedback / response

•

Decorative or serif?

•

Feel & use/context

•

Produce at least 3 serious sketches to run by Steve & Leslie

April 5-15: Create forms •

Work-in-progress

•

Sketch and finalize forms (hand)

•

Digitizing & adjusting

•

Transfer and finalize forms (digital)

Create posters

•

Final reflection

•

Layout, info

•

Assemble, adjust/complete

LOVE LETTERS type for the beauty of line

Intended use Artwork / to be displayed

Project sheet and creative brief. I wrote for where I thought I wanted to go, but ended up changing my vision a little—though I did update my brief somewhat to reflect those changes. Is that cheating?

What makes these forms unique They’re marked by extravagance, elaborateness; unuseable in a copy context (though possibly as drop caps). They’re love letters to, celebrations of, the shapes that make up our alphabet. What are its attributes • • • • •

Serif Decorative Drop-cap-esque Display Historical elements

Feel Bright, textured, rich, detailed, fine

project 3 // 49

The ﬁnal exhibition maquette is due next class. I’m stressing

because I realized I don’t actually have a vision for these letterforms, but I’m supposed to have sketches by the end of the week. Also I need to write my journal entries (see this? SEE THIS??).

My teammates were great about this: Alex volunteered to pick up our maquette wall-thing from Unique Imaging, so I could come to a better breaking point, and then came back to take Caitlin and me to FirstBuild. I always struggle with doing things for the first time; I hate the helplessness of not knowing what I’m doing, but this needed to be done and fortunately the other two had actually gone on the field trip. There were a few hiccups (that I didn’t totally understand because when do I ever) but the other two were fantastic and got it all going. Whoa. The whole thing was really impressive. Our printing Q caught on fire, which was the coolest, and then Zach almost got his hand cut off. But it was all good and we were good and all left to do was attach the two and we’d be DONE!

Up next: how to choose which letterforms to create? This was difficult for me, because I don’t know where to start but had a vague idea that there was an optimal process. When in doubt, turn to Karen Cheng! I wrote out all the letters in the order she recommended designing them, and then wrote their categories below: for example, ‘I’ is both square and extra narrow, so it could represent either category. Then I picked one from each category, did some further research on the order typefaces are typically designed in, and wrote out my capitals in the order that seemed most efficient.

project 3 // 51

I’ve managed to stay pretty on track with my schedule, but that’s at the sacrifice of more type exploration. I can tell I’m barely touching on all the options available, and it’s actually been tough even with an idea of where I want to go: as I’ve researched and looked at so many beautiful typefaces, my original idea has morphed and blurred because I want to make them all. I’m trying to stay focused and refer back to my Pinterest board and brief to keep in mind my ultimate goal (not get sidetracked by all the other roads I could follow), but even then, my original ideas just aren’t what I want to do. I’m changing them a little: something not so bright and fun, but a little more sophisticated, with a little more historical flavor. By which I mean, Sanborn Map-style, because I always inadvertently end up back there. Why do I always end up copying Sanborn Maps? It’s terrible. I will never be able to do something in Helvetica: it will slowly become more decorative and then BAM have little ornaments everywhere. I’m such a sucker for vintage vernacular.

project 3 // 53

Today Leslie came to check up on my project, and I ended up in the art library with six type specimen-y books that added up to about 15 pounds of page and ink. I spent literally hours looking through them and gleaning elements from typefaces that I want to incorporate; which means I’ll need to go back over the letterforms I’m going to finalize (Leslie said I should go for 5, not 10, which does make these last few weeks easier) and get those sketches tightened up. My next steps after that graphite finalizing will be scanning and vectorizing. I’m not using font software because I’m not there yet; maybe over the summer I can finish this alphabet and start working with anchor points. But one step at a time right now. I’d forgotten how fun it was to draw letters, and I’m loving this project. My paper samples should get here this week and I can’t wait to nail down the color details. I only wish this project had more scope and I had more time to devote to it!

project 3 // 55

I came up with an “optimal order” of letterform creation from people who were designing all the letters in the alphabet, and could therefore use earlier letters as models for later ones—matching thicknesses and angles and things for better overall consistency and ease of design. I’m just doing too few for this to even matter (the order, not the consistency). Ultimately, I have too little time for it to matter at all and that means I wasted a ton of time early on when I could have been sketching. Getting that time back would be great right now. I’m finally seeing all the possibilities for a typeface and realizing that I didn’t want to base it off modern type: it’s become a sort of decorated Didot. No, I wanted a sophisticated Clarendon. Clarity is great to have, but I don’t know where the time to produce that vision is going to come from. ...The thing is, I always get end-of-the-semester blues around now. I just need to take a deep breath and remember it will all be okay.

it will all be okay

project 3 // 57

Mood board. I have to constantly go back to my brief and this board to remind myself of my original vision. Even if I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stick to it, I need to know what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m changing and change it on purpose. Consistency is my friend. Consistency is also my biggest struggle right now.

project 3 // 59

Digitizing my letterfoms is hard. I don’t know where to start or how to move on from there: use the pen tool? Carve from shapes? Where do I match the sketch, if it’s okay to deviate in the interest of smoothness or flow? Is it even okay to not match the sketch? I’m lost. And I have like 4 more letters to do. Leslie was interested in my ‘A’ explorations and wanted me to focus on those - just those first and foremost. I think I’ll do the others across the summer; at least the ones I originally planned, and maybe expand from there to the whole alphabet. Issue is, in that case I probably should have done the ‘Q’ first since everyone says that’s the base shape to start with. On the other hand: this is my firstever attempt at creating digital letterforms from sketches, so I can’t be expected to know it all yet. Right now I just need to make something.

project 3 // 61

So I’ve buckled down and made 2.5 As; hopefully I can finish the last one today and maybe even tweak some rough points on the earlier two; then I’d have a little work to show at the final, at least. Overall, I’m excited about what I’ve learned and happy to have an idea of the direction I want to go over the summer. This project has been hard for multiple reasons.

1 I struggle with self-discipline. I mean, that’s really it; if I don’t have a hard deadline, like, why rush? I hate this, and I’m trying to force myself to work even when I don’t want to, but it makes the project that much harder.

2 Lack of direction, due to ignorance. I wanted to get help from Steve, but never made time and also felt that my project was a little too unfocused for him to help (for one), and that his idea of what a type project is would pressure me to change my ultimate goal (for two). So I checked out the book he suggested—which was definitely super helpful - but had like no further guidance. Not knowing what to do, not knowing what to do next, and no self-discipline is a terrible combination.

3 Ambitious scale, not enough time. Even if I’d known what to do, I was hoping to accomplish a lot in very little time. As it sunk in that I wasn’t going to finish all I’d wanted, my motivation kind of drained out of me. Every day it was, “I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s not coming together the way I want, and I’m not even going to have something good to show the class at the end.” 4a Fuzzy project outline: difficulty with deliverables. I wrote out my plan and thought it was good, with measurable goals. Ultimately, my goals were too big and not broken down enough—and I just didn’t have enough time to get through them all, like I said. Not being sure of my next step made the next step really hard to take.

4b Fuzzy project outline: discouragement over deadline and perfectionismoriented need for closure. This ties into everything else. I’m not getting everything done in time, and I don’t even know when to move on—from, say, digitizing the form to designing the poster to hold it. How do I wisely budget my time; when is each step complete; and I’m not going to be done by the last day of class!

5: Worries for the future: see number 1. What if I can’t push myself once the semester’s done? How do I keep myself motivated and do good work without a class structure around me? Writing these out feels really good, because articulating my fears lets me address these issues and fix them—and puts them into perspective. Instead of worrying about being self-disciplined, do something about it. “Lack of self-discipline” is not a thunderstorm that descends upon my helpless head: be disciplined, and the forth-springing consequences of not-being will go away. I can finish these letterforms and do a fabulous job.

L O V E

L E T T E R S

type for the beauty of line

*hmm more cowbell project 3 // 63

L O V E

L E T T E R S

type for the beauty of line

L O V E

L E T T E R S

type for the beauty of line

Posters by trial and a lot error. None of them looks good. And also I bought really nice colored paper that it would be a shame to waste.

L O V E

L E T T E R S

type for the beauty of line

project 3 // 65

My poor choices of paper color. I ordered crazy paper because I wanted to have extra and sort of hoped it would work once it arrived—but orange and red look very different by themselves versus next to coordinated colors with cool things printed on them. So I was a little lost when it came time to print; fortunately gray worked, and made my raw letterforms look a little more polished. And they are raw. They aren’t ornate and beautiful and extravagant—yet. I’m really motivated to make this an incredible project over the summer.

project 3 // 67

So here’s what I ended up presenting at the final. I really wanted to have a blow-you-out-of-the-water final project, but it really takes longer than one would think to create new letterforms from scratch, and I’m not such an expert. It was a little discouraging presenting to the class, knowing it doesn’t look like much but knowing I’ve agonized over this project like a prodigal son; but I also know that I have done the work. I’ve worked hard, and I’m not disappointed in myself. Of course, I’d like to elaborate on them further (celebratory pun, because the semester is now over and because PUNS), and Leslie has suggested some really cool directions for me to take this project in the future. And that’s exciting.

L O V E

L E T T E R S

type for the beauty of line

L O V E

L E T T E R S

type for the beauty of line

L O V E

L E T T E R S

type for the beauty of line

L O V E

L E T T E R S

type for the beauty of line

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only going to get crazier as time goes on; but I can do itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and have fun. Even in the middle of the crazy.

the

end

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not about

as much as how you get there.

// 71

ÂŠ deryn joy 2017

To everyone who is struggling to become a better friend sibling believer designer or person this book is lovingly dedicated. There is always hope.

grids though