Introduction to Design.
YEAR 0 - 2011
Eoin Tunstead.
1.0 - Around London 1.2 - Type / Image 2.0 - Pictogram 2.2 - Autobiography 2.3 - 24 Hours 3.0 - Grids 4.0 - Tony Pritchard 4.2 - Colour / Hierarchy 4.3 - Tony Pritchard 4.4 - Composition / Type 5.0 - Visual language 6.0 - LATCH 7.0 - Type / Kerning 7.2 - Vertical / Spacing 8.0 - Sweets 9.0 - Typonatomy
Typographic London
Image/Type, At the very beginning of the year our first project was given to us, the project brief specified that we must go away and research two areas within London, these could be streets, boroughs, parks etc. So after lots of travel around visiting areas, I decided upon firstly, the Greenwich foot tunnel and Portobello Market. The brief also stated we had to create a final Image for each chosen area describing aspects of its characteristics, one must be type based and the other Images only. So top left is my Image describing the foot tunnel, I wanted to show how nature was trying its best to take back the tunnel in to the river bed, It was so damp and enough water was getting through for constant drips and moss to grow on the walls. In Portobello I over heard this conversation at the top right, it just made me think this really sums up some tourists you have know idea why they are even visiting these places around the world, taking photos of things they don't even know the name of.
Typographic London
Presentation, we were set a group presentation task in the Atrium Gallery being told that we needed to devise the best way to lay all of our 20 x 20 square images side by side in a effective and inventive way. So after electing two people to direct positioning, we decided to split up all the images into the areas of London they were of, by North, East, South, West, and tried to map out a birds eye view of the capital, the Thames being represented by the channel through the work on the wooden floor.
24 Hours
Second task within the pictogram project, A story of 24 hours in my life represented only by the use of pictograms. My idea behind using the Iphone, was that how much we use our phones, and how I used mine throughout 24 hours showing all the different takes that were made easier by having it.
24 Hours
About me
Name? Where are you from? Family? Likes? Dislikes? Aspirations?
Grids
Grids, we spent two day's looking at grid structures. Within newspapers, magazines, books, web design. We went away and researched grids of our own ready to come in and carry on with creating our own grids. So using our gathered new spreads and other material we spent the afternoon drawing grids. After this we were told to further our grids in our own time.
Tony Pritchard "Visual Language and Grammar: Squares" Exercise One In this exercise you'll need a grey square of 150mm. Two black squares measuring 50mm and two white squares measuring 50mm. The effect of laying the white square over the black is that the white square appears to be floating above a black hole. Our visual perception is of three dimensional space on what Edward Tufte calls 'the flatlands of the glowing rectangle' which is your screen. If we start with a white square and overlay a black square our perception is that there is a light glowing behind the black square. Here's that exercise again in full. Exercise Two For this exercise you will need a 150mm grey square, a 50mm black square, a 50mm white square and two 30mm yellow squares. The yellow on the black is more visible than on the white. This is because of the minimal contrast between the yellow and the white background. We will repeat the first part of the exercise again, grey square, black square, white square, but now with two 30mm blue squares. The effect is the opposite to that of the yellow squares. There is very little contrast between the blue and the black background but increased contrast when on the white background. Colour and readability This is an important point when considering visibility of graphics and readability of typography. Yellow on white not so readable, Blue on white more readable. Blue on black not very readable, yellow on black very readable. Hey guys chill out, there is a happy medium where blue and yellow can co-exist in harmony on green. Even the crickets like it. Gestalt Theory: The Principle of Continuity We interrupt the broadcast to bring you an official warning. If you take two square and overlay them, although the eye can't see the continuing edges, it will make sense of the situation and see the resulting image as two squares one on top of the other. The brain helps simplify visual messages. We don't suddenly perceive the overlaying squares as a new 8 sided object. This is know as Gestalt theory and is the principle of continuity. Exercise Three: Random Squares For the purpose of health and safety can you now stand back from the screen. I'll be throwing some sharp edged squares on screen and those corners could have your eye out. You going to need a 60mm square, a 90mm square and a 30 mm square. Now arrange the squares on the 15 unit grid we've been using. Do this randomly disregarding scale. Exercise Four: Squares and Scale Lets consider scale. Small to large. This is almost like digital smoke. Again small to large. This is like the square is advancing towards us. Large to small. And the square is walking away from us. Again large to small. This is like a tornado spiralling down. Exercise Five: Free form Compositions Try some dynamic free form compositions using black and white squares proportioned to the grid. Consider various techniques such as overlapping or altering the proportions between black and white areas. Exercise Six: Cropping Squares Taking our 15 unit grid divide it into three vertically and horizontally. Threes into 15 makes 3 divisions of 5 units each. Crop black rectangles to different sizes and place them within the individual squares of the 3'3 structure. Consider whether the square diminishes progressively and what the developing relationship between each square is. The visual communication course I ran had students from all round the world. Hi guys! One student questioned my assumption of reading left to right and top to bottom in this exercise. In recognition of this I dedicate this next version to the students I've had the good fortune to teach. For this next one, I'm pressing the randomiser button.
Colour / Hierarchy
Tony Pritchard Word shape We recognise words through their shape. In our exercises we will be using a typeface called Helvetica Neue. It has a simplicity in its designed form. We don’t read individual letters and then work out what the word is, rather our eye scans the text and recognises distinctive word shapes. Compositions that use a lot of words set in capitals or uppercase only can look blocky and reduce the immediacy of word recognition. Capitals are important in recognising the start of single words as you might find in airport or road signage. For most designs using typography (such as posters) upper and lowercase is advisable. Copy analysis We’re going to consider copy analysis. Copy is another name for words or text. You may have heard the term copy writing. The copy writer or copy editor is someone who writes words for advertisements or articles in magazines. In our exercises we will imagine that we are designing an invitation to a private view of an exhibition. Typically publicity will be comprised of certain types of information. To be able to act upon information we need to know what the event is, when it is taking place, who it involves and where it will be. It aids our understanding if we read information in a meaningful sequence. This is the task of the person commissioning the publicity and the designer who will use typography and layout to present the information in a visual form. Typography has to attract attention and then inform. Our information is currently a grey block of type. If we analyse the copy we see it is comprised of four pieces of information. What is the event? It is an invitation to attend a private view called Typescapes. When will it be? It is on Friday 4 December. Who will it involve? There are four well known people in the field giving gallery presentations. And where will it be? It’s at the Design Museum. Position We can clarify the groups of information by introducing line spaces between the groups. We can also consider the location or position of the information. Drawing some out to the left gains emphasis for that information. We see it first and therefore read it first. In this composition we have placed the information in 5 horizontal groups, giving each piece of information a separate location. We read the information sequentially from left to right. This helps the reader build up a picture of meaning, each piece of information adding to the previous. In information design this is known as progressive disclosure. When driving along a motorway you appreciate information being broken down into digestible chunks. Being given all the information in one go can be confusing. If we want to raise the level of importance of individual pieces of information we can literally raise them up. Here’s the what – Typescapes exhibition. The when – Friday 4 December. The who – the four people speaking. And finally the where – the Design Museum. In this layout I’ve decided that it’s the what and when that will be seen first. I could equally have fronted up on the personalities involved. These are the types of decisions designers and their clients make. The red lines show the key construction or alignment points. The composition is divided into thirds vertically. The top third is pure space. I tend to prefer layouts that use space to the left and top of the composition. The yellow lines demonstrate that I have used vertical increments based on the lines of type. Weight So far we have only used one typeface, one size of type and one weight. In this next sequence we will consider the impact of weight, but again keeping to one type size. I will move the weight sequentially through the block of information. When selecting a change of weight of type remember that contrast is a key tool for designers. Choose a significant weight change where you can see the difference. In this version I am using weight to emphasise the event title and layout to group information in key locations. These techniques not only articulate the information but through considered use of position and space create visually intriguing layouts. This is known as typographic syntax. I’ve used key words in the main horizontal statement to structure the other information. The date aligns with the word Typescapes. The gallery presentations align with the word Typography (all the people are known for their typography). And the location (the Design Museum) aligns with the word Environments. Considering the meaning of words when aligning typography is known as semantic typography. Size Now we consider the impact of changing the size of type. Again think contrast. Setting type twice the size makes it more noticeable than say just going to the next point size up. In these exercises I have been setting the type bigger and bolder than I would due to the screen resolution on YouTube. If I was designing for print, I might choose 9pt regular for the text, maybe 9pt bold for sub-headings. If I wanted to gain additional emphasis say for section headings I might go to 12pt or 18pt headings. You will notice there is a mathematically proportional relationship between the sizes. On screen we have a layout based on changing the size of the event title (the what). The type is twice the size of the smaller type. The other information is structured in relation to this first main statement. Next it is the turn of the date to take dominance. Again the information is structured to this typographic statement. Then the people’s names are emphasised. And finally the location is emphasised. Notice in each case the overall design is driven by the first large statement. This way of working through analysis and determining hierarchy often yields the creative solution to the layout. You don’t always have to impose another conceptual idea on top. You can let the idea grow organically from the information. If I grey out the information then bring each part back in order of the sequence in which the decision was made you will see how the design is constructed. First the large title. Then the line above it is added. The You of You are invited is aligned with the T of Typescapes. The date is then added – it aligns with the type to the left but also with the S of Spatial. Again I am considering significant words to align with. The gallery presentations align left with the date and the S of Spatial. Then the location, Design Museum, with the E of Environments. The red lines show you those key construction points. Here the date takes prominence. First the date is set. Then the type underneath is structured in three columns aligning with Friday, December and 2009. Then the title aligns above December. With the private view finally aligning with the Friday. You will notice that I often choose not to space the components out evenly. This is an attempt to create visual tension and dynamism within the information. The type at the top clings to the top edge and the type under the date clings to the date. The edges and the white space are considered as equally important in their contribution to the composition. The red lines show the key alignment points. In this composition I have emphasised the speakers’ surnames. Sometimes a design comes together in parts. The first idea sees the information at the top stepping down. The alignment points are again on significant words. It’s as if the words are clinging to milestones as it steps its way through the information. The steps create 4 potential alignment points for the names. Before arriving at this location I will have tried the others. I felt this position afforded the best sense of balance for this asymmetrical design. I wanted the feeling of pulling off the centre to a more right sided balance. The red lines allow you to see those key decision points. I often think all I am doing is making decisions as to where to line things up. Finally we are using the location of the event, the Design Museum, as the driver for this composition. I let the rest of the address flow on to the right. A simple typographic observation – Design Museum is made of two words. Both have strong vertical initial letters – ideal for left aligning other information. The gallery presentations list gives me the most number of lines which creates a strong left edge. The date is broken into 3 lines to align with the word Design. Don’t be afraid to experiment with splitting the lines. Look for visual splits but also keep in mind splitting for sense. Maybe read out aloud the words as you have split them to see if it makes reading sense. The title hooks onto the word Friday and extends out to the left. Finally I am isolating the words private view from the main group to create emphasis for it.
Composition / Type
The past few pages, have been the work that I produced during Tony Pritchards workshops. Tony really broke down everything brilliantly and made everything thoroughly understandable. I found all the workshops really enjoyable and engaging and I really think that I learnt a lot.
Visual Language
LATCH
Latch, our first workshop on classification, George and myself were working together on our assigned list of words, we sat and went through all the words and did several initial types of organisation, documenting and tallying results, the above graphs are the final production of all the information we gathered from our list of words shown in different attractive forms.
Type / Kerning
My attempts at manual and some computerised versions of the type exercises from Sheena's type workshop. Including examples of, kerning, vertical type alignment, and spacing. I really revel in the fact that typography doesn't necessarily have to be computerised, even though probably 90% of any typography in industry is done through it, we can still go back to the core fundamental typographic background techniques and us them to great effect.
Vertical / Spacing
Sweets
Sweeties, information design final poster. After developing different thoughts and researching into lots of different types of information design by various designers. Taking inspiration from certain aspects of work, but going with my first idea to illustrate the sweets rather than use photographs. After looking into many different aspects of classification, I used the content shown as it was most accurate.
Type Anatomy
These are a few early development Ideas of my "Type Anatomy" booklet, which I made during my research into current child education books on the market, Simplicity is the key, but something like this is not going to be right for the audience age I am creating my book for. Something more engaging and enjoyable to look at would probably be more appropriate than something of this nature.
The Back of the Book.
YEAR 0 - 2011
Eoin Tunstead.