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Images proliferate in this media-rich environment, and so too does the written word.
Far from diminishing in influence, text has continued to e x p a n d its power and pervasiveness.
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Typography is an element of design that e x p r e s s e s m o o d , meaning, and ideas visually through type. Each style conveys a feeling that can either a t t r a c t or repel the viewer. It’s timeless nature and constant evolution provides one w i t h the ability to perfectly portray their individual message to the p u b l i c . The alphabet is a direct representation of ourselves and the world around us.
A are the blue domed churches scattered amidst the white buildings of Oia. B are the strings of bright lights that hung above the roaring crowd at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. C is the sun as it slowly descends into the horizon, paintinng the evening sky with pastel colors. D are the round tops of the numerous umbrellas that neatly line the hot sand of lido mexico. E are the colorful buildings that greeted me upon my arrival at the port of the Island of Ponza. F are the New England trees that change with season. G is the unique design of the expresso coffee pot that sits on the coil burner. H are the doors and windows of Lucca, each displaying their own personality through color and style. I is the Greecian flag that stands tall on the hill of the acropolis. J is the elegant trunk of the south african elephant. K are the stray cats that wander the cobble stoned streets of Minturno. L is the step after next, each one solid and pure. M are the remaining Roman aqueducts I spot through the car window on the way to my grandfather’s house.
N is the long staircase I climbed to reach the top of the Guinigi Tower. O are the freshly made pizzas beautifully garnished with the colors of the italian flag. P are the cast iron street lamps of Chris Burden’s “Urban Light” sculpture in Los Angeles. Q are the drops of water that fill the Trevi Fountain. R are the Spanish style roof tiles I pass on my walk home from the beach. S are the rocks that peak through the silky blue sheet of the Mediterranean. T are the signs that lead me in the right direction. U are the arches of the Colluseum. V is the view from on top of the donkey that carried me through the beautiful hills of Santorini. W are the windows that illuminate grand central station. X are the triangles that spiral the floor of the Oxford Exchange bookstore. Y are the sharp shadows of the palm leaves dancing on the white wall as the wind blows. Z are the lingering lights of the cars that pass during the late hours.
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are the colorful buildings that greeted me upon my arrival at the port of the Island of Ponza.
The clean, smooth surfaces of modernism proved an unsound fortress against popular culture, which is now invited inside to fuel the creation of new work. Image and text eat away at the vessels that would seal them shut. Forms that are hard and sharp now appear only temporarily so, ready to melt, like ice, in response to small environmental changes. All systems leak, and all waters are contaminated, not only with foreign matter but with bits of structure itself. A fluid, by definition, is a substance that conforms to the outline of its container. Today, containers reconfigure in response to the matter they hold.
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Typography is the art of designing letterforms and arranging them in space and time. Since its invention during the Renaissance, typography has been animated by the conflict between fixed architectural elements-such as the page and its margins-and the fluid substance of written words. Evolutions in the life of the letter arise from dialogs between wet and dry, soft and hard, slack and taut, amorphous and geometric, ragged and flush, planned and unpredicted. With unprecedented force, these conflicts are driving typographic innovation today. Typography is going under water as designers submerge themselves in the textures and transitions that bond letter, word, and surface. As rigid formats become open and pliant, the architectural hardware of typographic systems is melting down.
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The flat opacity of the printed page has been challenged by graphic designers who use image manipulation software to embed the word within the surface of the photographic image. A pioneer of such effects in the digital realm was P. Scott Makela (19601999). In the early 1990s, he began using PhotoShop, a software tool that had just been introduced, as a creative medium. In his designs for print and multimedia, type and image merge in dizzying swells and eddies as letters bulge, buckle, and morph. The techniques he helped forge have become part of the fundamental language of graphic design. The linear forms of typography have become planar surfaces, skimming across and below the pixelated skin of the image.
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is the Greecian flag that stands tall on the hill of the Acropolis.
The alphabet is an ancient form that is deeply embedded in the mental hardware of readers. Graphic designers always ground their work, to some degree, in historic precedent, tapping the familiarity of existing symbols and styles even as they invent new idioms. While some designers pay their toll to history with reluctance, others dive eagerly into the reservoirs of pop culture. Tibor Kalman (19491999) led the graphic design world’s reclamation of visual detritus, borrowing from the commonplace vernacular of mail-order stationery and do-it-yourself signage. Designers now frankly embrace the humor and directness of everyday artifacts. In the aesthetic realm as in the economic one, pollution is a natural resource-one that is expanding rather than shrinking away.
The flush, full page of the classical book is dominated by a single block of justified text, its characters mechanically spaced to completely occupy the designated volume. The page is like a glass into which text is poured, spilling over from one leaf to the next. By the early twentieth century, the classical page had given way to the multicolumned, mixed-media structures of the modern newspaper, magazine, and illustrated book. Today, the simultaneity of diverse content streams is a given. Alongside the archetype of the printed page, the new digital archetype of the window has taken hold. The window is a scrolling surface of unlimited length, whose width adjusts at the will of reader or writer. In both print and digital media, graphic designers devise ways to navigate bodies of information by exploring the structural possibilities of pages and windows, boxes and frames, edges and margins.
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Typeface designs in the Renaissance reflected the curving lines of handwriting, formed by ink flowing from the rigid nib of a pen. The cast metal types used for printing converted these organic sources into fixed, reproducible artifacts. As the printed book became the world’s dominant information medium, the design of typefaces grew ever more abstract and formalized, distanced from the liquid hand. Today, designers look back at the systematic, abstracting tendencies of modern letter design and both celebrate and challenge that rationalizing impulse. They have exchanged the anthracite deposits of the classical letter for lines of text that quiver and bleed like living things.
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B D O O N I
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Giabattista Bodoni 1798
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The Bodoni typeface was first introduced in 1798 by designer Giambattisa Bodoni. Classified as a neoclassical typeface, Bodoni was greatly influenced by John Baskerville. It is seen in a broad variety of publications and uses since the late 1700s, for example on the Mamma Mia! movie poster. Bodoni is also featured in many logos for its classic style, such as Georgio Armani and Calvin Klein. The Bodoni typeface is well known for it’s many distinctive characteristics. Its extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes provides a unique balance in each character. Hairline serifs with little, or no bracketing is another characteristic of the Bodoni typeface. To emphasize its structure, the typeface includes a vertical stress and small x-height. It’s simple geometric styling is well recognized in displays, posters, headlines and logos.
M
ELISABETH N E T T A
SPRING 2016