10 Weeks of Typography by Andrea Gatlin

10 Weeks of Typography

Type

Objectiv e Vie

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d Bad n a ood

By Andrea Gatlin

ype in the Wild

Hello This little cute booklet was created in reference to an assinged project for a typography class at the University of West Florida (GRA2208C). Typographic specialist and Professor Jenea Wood led our class in summer semester of 2021. We were required to submit weekly examples of good and bad type in regards there visual interests or concerns. Here are my findings...

Table of Contents Author’s Comments.......................5 Typographic Comparisons...........6-25 Conclusion...............................26

Author’s Comments I am extremely new to typography and never knew the full context of its nature until I took this class. It it opened up a whole new world of creativity that I can now use in my designs. I will say that I am still in the introductory stage, therefore, please be mindful of my analysis. Criticism is definitely welcomed and encouraged! Enjoy <3

Week 1 One of my favorite lotions from Victoria Secret’s PINK brand, the Warm and Cozy scent, snatched the first entry as a good example of beautiful typography. As crazy as it may sound, I have actually had this empty bottle, yes, it is empty, sitting on my bathroom counter as part of my college chick décor which is actually coming to an end very soon (oh what sweet release it will be to finally graduate.) The build of the bottle is pretty and eye-catching to me. It never really dawned on me that the chosen typeface also plays a role in why I was so in love with keeping this empty bottle of lotion around. I was able to identify a few different elements that are present in the design of this, now vintage, PINK bottle. The first word that stands out the most at initial glance is the brand name, PINK. I love how the designer decided to use all uppercase letters for the logo and the typeface reminds you of a “letterman jacket-ish” design that fits perfectly with the desired target audience of high school/college/young adults. It gives off a bold affirmation of the name and I am sure that when using the brand name in written documents that using small caps (PINK) would be necessary in order to keep the same significance. Underneath the brand’s logo, PINK, you will see how the designer explored other font styles to fit the idea of “warm and cozy” which gives off extreme contrast between the two different fonts, however, the text could have been sized down just a bit to avoid it wrapping around the bottle.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have another bottle of essential lotion that is actually not empty this time around. The cosmetic design and use of font may not be as pleasing or eye catching enough to be kept around as décor but, I did wonder if the designer’s reason for such a bland appearance was because of the subtle natural product that is held within the bottle. Although this could have been the reason for choosing such a boring design of characters, it still serves as a bad example of typography. Potential buyers can easily skip over this amazing product just because of the lack of personality that is presented on the face of the container. The kerning within the text is also an issue here. The letter seems to be too close knit and tight which makes the design seems cramped. It is also important to consider the color contrast between the letters and the background and, in my opinion, believe the designer did a poor job with that as well by not considering the lack of hierarchy that this caused. They could have possibly used white letters in place of the dark orange letters. The green letters are ok here but, with replacing the orange letters with white would have made this a much easier read. Trust me, I am not struggling to read this bottle, but I can only imagine how difficult it would be for someone else with poor vision. I understand that they may wanted a simple design for a natural product with simple ingredients, but the design could have had a little bit more flavor. Maybe some serifs on the font could have enhanced the design?

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Week 2

Industrial sized signage typically used to catch consumers attention is extremely important when it to typographic design. Having good typographic appeal can determine the traffic of potential customers into your place of business. For instance, the SunTrust signage, my good example of typography for this week, is aesthetically pleasing and is sure to catch a glace or two by anyone passing by. Not to mention the high color contrast between the original color duo of the orange and blue strokes that, from my perspective, shows the bright personality of the financial institution and does a good job standing out from the offwhite background of the building. I would also like to point out the use of all capital letters, however, the “S” in Sun and the “T” in Trust are larger than the rest of the letters which indicates the replacement of lowercase letters for small caps instead. This alignment of the logo separates, in a way, the two individual words even though they are together and gives emphasis to their meaning. I would like to point out how the ‘N’, ‘T’, and ‘R’ look as if they are connected almost which adds visual interest to the design. I like to think that SunTrust wants their potential and current members to know that this is a bank that they can trust due to the emphasis of the capital T. The spacing between each individual letter appears appropriate and the baseline of the entire text block seems to be in alignment with the baseline of the orange sun rays object to the right of the text. Overall, this is a nice form of typography that you can enjoying viewing from across Creighton Road in Pensacola, FL.

As you can see, there is nothing really unique to take from this display of text. Not sure if it is to blame the wear and tear for the dullness but, it is still not a good enough of an excuse to exempt it as bad example. Although the typeface delivers good legibility, the color just seems to blend in almost with the background of the building. Looking up at the sign from my point of view does not do this claim much justice but, I bet if you are standing from far off near the road that your eyes would overlook this sign, in which, our company may miss out on attracting new customers into the center. The spacing between “cash” and “advance” seems like a little too much to me as well. Or is it just me? I do think decreasing the tracking alignment over the whole text block would have made the awkwardness of unnecessary space diminish. There is also quite a bit of space between the letters in the words as well that could benefit from the effects of adjusting the tracking alignment. As far as the typestyle goes, this text block has little to no character to it. It is just plain capital letters that resemble the Calibri font style and is just not as attention grabbing as I think it should be for a company pushes ten google reviews per week. Digital adoption is definitely important in this dynamic digital age but, I believe these pieces of physical marketing should be tended to as well because you may be slipping through the cracks of nearby venues whose signage stands out more than yours do.

Week 3 This is an almost bare example, but you cannot go wrong with a simplistic look that gets the point across at first glance. Obviously the first being that SOCOO is the brand’s name and the second being that it is a manufacturing water bottle production company that produces bottles that are “so cool” for the convenience of holding such large amount of liquids in a fashionable way. After reading a few pages in our assigned text, I was able to identify elements within this text block that I thought would help place this simple text as my good example for the week. The way the letters are almost geometrical in shape stood out to me the most and is what gives it that nice, clean, and minimalistic look. I did notice how the set-width for the “S” and the “C” are a little larger than the three “O’s.” This may have been done to add emphasis to separate the words of “so” and “cool” without actually separating them or I could be for the looks of it all, however, I like to think that the first assumption was the logical and creative decision of the designer. The tracking between each individual letter seems to be appropriate as well. Showing just enough space to elongate the text and assist in the geometrical design which is placed and perfectly aligned in the middle of the surface area between the ridges of the bottle.

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The Classic Raw rolling papers’ famous logo “RAW” caught my eyes in a different manner this week and sent me into a questionable state. I thought to myself “Why is the R and the A attached but the W stands alone?” and still have not been able to figure out the reason for letting this small, but yet distracting, disruption in the text get approved. This may be a reach but, the little OCD pertaining to order and alignment that I have does not like the way it looks. I understand that the strokes emitting from both the R and the A can be quite challenging to space in a way that does create too much negative space while also paying attention to the space of the other letters in the text. Perhaps the opposite stroke of the letterform A could have attached to the W as well? Although this small distinction stood out to me as something that could have been done differently, I could not find anything else wrong with this example. In regard to the style and texture of the text, I like the natural personality the textured font is displaying. The designer also chose to use a bold face font for the RAW logo which puts emphasis on the main element of the product itself which is raw and unrefined papers. Other than that, the bad side of the whole design that displays in the main text still sticks out like a sore thumb to me. A little kerning of the two letters may have done a little justice in making this a perfect logo without bothering folks like me who cannot even stand the sight of a crooked picture frame.

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Week 4

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The typography on the game board of an iconic party game, Twister, demonstrates as a good example of eloquently used text. As you can see, the designer chose to give the word Twister an abundant amount of character through the use of many different components in the letterforms such as, the extreme oblique serifs at the end of the ‘T’, ‘w’, and ‘i’ characters, the unique stress that created the ‘s’ and the ‘e’, the big chunk of an ear for the ‘r’ to match the overall goofiness of the game, and the tight spacing between each character is perfect because it captures the essence of the game itself by insinuating that this is an up close and personal form of entertainment. Although having tight spacing between characters can be a concern with the text passing as legible, this is actually an easy read at first glance but, that remark could be debunked by the seniority of the nostalgic party staple. Twister has been around for ages, so it is easy to read the big bright red words “Twister” from a distance even with my glasses off! Speaking of reminiscence, I was a bit curious and did some research on what the old typography looked like before they made some new age changes. My findings showed a chunkier style of font for the twister text and slimmer serifs than the new version. The old version also has low readability which may be due the display typeface chosen. Nonetheless, both versions still held true to the tight spacing. Also, one nice touch to the new version that is drastically different from all others in the past is the “twist” in the stem of the uppercase T. It just adds so much personality and meaning.

I came across a few of the brochures from MoneyGram in one of our cabinets at work while purging some old marketing materials. We are transitioning from MoneyGram to Western Union this week and no longer need any of this stuff lying around. After a few years of helping others send to their families overseas through wire transfers, I have never thought of how MoneyGram was lacking in the typography department. Of course, this is a straightforward service that consist of just basic cash transactions and from personal experience, if a family member is in need of some emergency funds but lives in an entirely different continent then MoneyGram can definitely help in minutes, so their logo does not need to be as captivating in order to lure in customers because the customers will find the locations regardless. However, it still could use some minor changes to eliminate the lack of concern for their overall appearance of design. MoneyGram is supposed to be one whole word. Ok, we get it. But the ‘y’ and the ‘G’ in the text could definitely use a little kerning. The only other thing I could find that was a little off to me was the alignment of the shadow underneath the ball with the arrow. I see that the light is hitting the object from an angle, but it still looks a little awkward at first glance. I do like how the point on the ‘G’ looks almost identical to the arrow in the ball. Other than that, the y and the g just need a little independency from each other.

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Week 5

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You can find the most interesting typefaces on the labels of beauty care products. With there being so many options to choose from, it is almost vital for any brand that is part of an overly populated industry to make sure their products can turn heads. I have a usually large selection of hair products in my possession and most of them were swept off the shelves mainly because of their appearance, and because of the benefits of course! I found this BOB hair products company on Amazon that I am now in love with now because of how luxurious it leaves my hair feeling but, I literally clicked on the link because of the nice and clean design that their products portray. For this good example, we have a dark black background that works well with the contrast of the text. The designer decided to incorporate three different shades of color which is enough to give it more life but not too much to complicate the design. The first piece of text that stands out to me the most is the ‘tgin’ due to its extreme difference in size in relation to the lines of text below it. The sans-serif characters are used throughout this inter label which plays into that nice and clean appearance while also keeping consistency within the typeface. Everything is evenly spaced and the alignment of all lines of text is perfectly aligned to the middle of the label. I also love the emphasis that was created by setting ‘NATURAL’ to all caps. It assures the potential buyer that all ingredients are completely natural and what the company stands for all-in-one glance at the first two lines of text. Great marketing moves here!

As stated above, most hair products are aesthetically pleasing in appearance but, some do not even come close to the nice design above. The brand CHI is widely known for its high performance in hair care and is recommended, and used, by many professionals worldwide. However, the only eye catching thing about it is the vibrant red bottles and the contrast it makes between the red background and the bold silver text ‘CHI’. That is honestly it to me. In my perspective this model is extremely lacking with the design of the type face. They assumed that placing the meaning of the acronym ‘CHI’ within the silver bold letters would be a nice touch but all it does is creates a super awkward alignment between the background text ‘CHI’ and ‘CATIONIC HYDRATION INTERLINK.’ For instance, examine the space at the end of ‘CATIONIC’ and you will see how it touches the huge silver ‘H’ in the background. Now as you trace your eyes along that line of text to the right, you will see that there is a bit of space between the beginning of ‘INTERLINK’ and the ‘H’. Then we have the rest of the word ‘INTERLINK’ finishing off beyond the placement of the bold letter ‘I’ in the back, however, ‘CATIONIC’ begins in the counter space of the big ‘C’. Overall, the alignment between these two pieces of text is completely off. It may would have worked better if the meaning of CHI were placed underneath the acronym and not within it. Then the other information that is placed below is so hard to read which is due to the incredibly small font and the horrible contrast between the dark red and black.

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Week 6

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I chose this bottle of hand sanitizer that accompanies me daily at work as my good example of typography for the week. I like how the designer illustrated the plus sign to look like the characters ‘d’ and ‘p’ to go with the brand name Defense Plus. Everything is perfectly aligned to the center of the label including the images above the text. The plus sign image is centered perfectly in the middle of the brand name, Defense Plus, which acts as the main focal point of the whole design. As far as the text potion goes, all characters are sans-serif style which keeps a simple consistency across the whole design. This is a straight-forward product that is widely used due to current conditions in the economy, therefore, a simple and clean design is best for this kind of product. I do want to point out who the designer chose to capitalize and change the color of the text ‘ADVANCE’ to stand out from the rest of the text that surrounds it. The designer may have chosen to do this because he/she wants the consumers to know that this product is proclaimed to be an advance hand germ terminator needed to keep the germs away rather than your average wimpy corner store bought hand sanitizer. I honestly do not believe it is anything special about it, but it may help sway a buyer’s decision who is more skeptical about touching door handles without hand wipes. One thing that almost made me not place this as a good example is the excessive claim of seventy percent alcohol. It is literally on here three times but, I guess the just really want you to know how much ethyl alcohol it contains.

There are so many things wrong with my bad example for this week. A cute little pouch of touch screen wipes stole the place of what not to do with typography for week seven. Alignment was completely ignored, the different text sizes do not make any sense, and the chosen color combinations do not necessarily mix. Paying attention to the alignment of this design, you can see how the ‘Dust Off’ image pushes the word ‘Touch’ off to the side which completely messes up the alignment of the line of text on top of ‘Screen Wipes.’ I really want the image to be placed somewhere else or the designer could have just moved both image and text to be centered but, that probably would not have looked any better either so the image could definitely be placed elsewhere. Even the ‘Show Your Screen Some Lover!’ line of text is off. I believe they wanted this line centered in relation to the text below it, but it looks weird the text that hovers above it. Now for the different sizes in the text, the ‘Touch Screen Wipes’ being larger than the rest makes sense since it is the most important description for the product but, the line of text that includes ‘Contains: 1 Pre-Moistened Wipe’ has different sizes in the text. I’m not sure why this was design this way and it just makes the overall look of the design look very amateur looking. The overprinting of the dark blue color of the text over the light blue and green gradient background is a little distracting as well. Overall, this is not a good design.

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Week 7 I did not have to scavenging too far for this next good example of typography for this week’s post since it rested right on top the biggest appliance I have in my apartment. The hierarchy of the text is certain in this design by the great size of the ‘GO crush’ placed perfectly in the middle of the design. At first examination of this bold bright orange text, you will immediately associate it with the unique visual identity the design team has created for the brand. For instance, Kashi has plenty of different products that go far beyond GO crush such as, GO lean, GO play, and GO keto just to name a few. This tends to create a sense of corporate identity which is a result of achieving purposeful typography. Not to mention, the arrow on the tip of the ‘G’ is also a nice touch to the visual appeal of the text and it projects the literal meaning of the word ‘GO’ as well. Placing the word crush in the center of the counter of the ‘O’ is also a good use of space and balance. The designer also chose to align the brand name to the left which creates emphasis in the design since all the other lines of text are aligned to the center of the box. It is safe to say that this is a good example of typography because it exemplifies a good deal of typographic design elements by implementing appropriate hierarchy within the text, mixing the alignment of text, giving certain areas character (the arrow on the ‘G’), and the high contrast between the colors in the text and space that surrounds it.

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I hesitated on my entry for this week’s bad typography because I love the design of the cover as well as the book itself but, I could not get over how cringy it was to see improper use of colors of the text on such a great read. The first thing that stood out to me was the overprinting of the Empowering Your Life Through the Ancient African Religion of Ifa on the busy background that has the same colors as the text deeming it as almost illegible to read. Same concept goes for the text PREFACE BY DR. AFOLABI EPEGA that sits right below the three statue images. I understand that the designer wanted the attention to mainly be towards the title of the book but, resizing the subtitle to be a bit larger would not have stolen the dominant positioning in hierarchy of the main title. Also, highlighting the background of the title with a bright shade of yellow does give a good contrast between the words and the background but, the excessive use the same tones of reds and yellow with conjunction of the design in the background tend to make the text blend in a way with its surroundings. It probably would have been a good idea to also make the title’s text color the same as the one set for the author’s name. I just think that using the green tone would have brought the title out more so it would avoid blending with its background.

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Week 8 My good example of typography for this week came with benefits-an aesthetically pleasing appearance companied with an amazing scent and savings for my bank account. I love to catch bath and body works sales on their scented candles whenever I get an itch to do some late-night shopping and this time around, I decided to go with their Sunshine scent instead of the typical Mahogany Teakwood that everyone lives for. I absolutely love the scent and, at the same time, realized that I love the appearance of the container that holds the magic too! The besides the bright yellow color that matches the accent pillows in my living room, I can say that the text on the face of the container is quite nice to gaze your eyes over as well. The full overview of the body of text serves as a minimalistic look which I due to using a sans-serif typeface throughout the few lines of text. The designer also chose to place the name of the scent at the top of the label to make it easy to distinguish the certain scent selected. The size of ‘Sunshine’ is also quite larger than any other text on the label which makes it stand out from the rest of the text that surrounds it but, it is subtle enough for the viewer to grasp the name and move on to the other informational lines of text that are perfectly placed in the background. I want to also point out how the designer chose to have ‘made with essential oils’ italicized to give emphasis to an important ingredient that the candle has. In my perspective this is a great example of “invisible text” incorporated into product design.

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I actually came across this wall of text a few years ago and been meaning to snap a picture of it to use as a bad example of typography since I started this class. If your local to the Pensacola, Florida area then you may have seen this confusing advertisement for college professionals on the side of a building that sits on the corner of Davis Highway and University Parkway. I thought it was just me at first who was showing signs of dyslexia but, after showing others and getting their feedback on how to fluently read what the intended message is, I can now say that this attempt at an artistic typographic advertisement was a failure. At first glance I read “Community College for & Young Professionals”, wait, that does not make much sense. Therefore, I then read it as “Community for College & Young Professionals” which sounds a little better and I think this I what the designer intended for the message to convey but, I do not think the placement of the individual words works in way that any and everyone will be able to fluently read and decipher the correct message during their first attempt. Obviously, you can still tell that this place of business’ target audience are college students and young professionals, and that community action is set in place for these individuals but, it still does not excuse the comical typographic mural that sits on the side of their wall. Also, the ‘for’ looks like it is slightly italicized which is confusing because I am not sure what the emphasis is for.

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Week 9 I chose another item in the office as one of my examples for this week but, this time it came in the form of what to do instead of what not to do. My good example shows one of our many advertisements that we have in the center, and it does a good job at catching any passer byers attention who may be interested in a title loan. The largest size of text is ‘Title Loans’ and it is also characterized by black and bold sans-serif letterforms which is perfect because it indicates a new addition to our services that has never been offered before. Title loans are actually illegal in the state of Florida unless it is financed through a car dealer or a bank, therefore, we are the “middle-man” who will actually connect prospective consumers to the loan department that they will receive the Title Loan from, which is usually in the State of California or Ohio. With that being said, we have been approving many new customers who need financial relief when everything else fails, so, having this sign to sit outside daily has done a great job with turning heads and bringing in new faces. Turning attention to the other lines of text, we can see that the designer chose to change the rest of the text underneath the most important line to the color blue. This gives the advertisement a little personality and separates the characteristics of the new product from the name. The designer also chose to increase the size of the amount that a consumer can potentially receive but, not the size that overpowers the main attraction of the overall ad.

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The packaging that this iPhone 11 case came in served its purpose-to house the new case properly to avoid any scratches or other liable damages until it is in the hands of the new owner. I get it, the company is more focused on producing products that protect digital devices of all kinds and not so much on the beauty of their packaging but, even the most elementary design is acceptable if done properly. As you can see, the designer chose to left align, right ragged, the three lines of text on the front of the package, in which, I personally think does not work well with the overall design in the background. It may have been better if the text was centered since the rounded rectangles in the background design are making my eyes drift to the center more often rather than having to navigate to the left side of the box to the awkward placement of text. Also, the weight of the strokes in the text is too similar to the lines in the background which gives the design poor contrast in separating the text from the noise that is behind it. The next thing that did not sit well with me it the confusion in hierarchy between the three lines. To elaborate the brand name “Mkeke” is actually “cut out” of a white block which is completely different from the other two lines of text which is good but, the ‘SHOCKPROOF’ text is slightly larger which challenges the brand name for the attention of the viewer. The last line of text is slightly smaller than the other lines with is ok but, there is not really any consistency in the text on this label other than all the text holding a sansserif typeface.

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Week 10

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This week I was able to discover two examples of pleasant or tacky typography on items that hold dietary supplements that I use quite often. The first being the face of a dark brown bottle that holds organic cold pressed black seed oil by the brand Kiva. The designing team did a great job with allocating the appropriate text in the best areas to keep a great balance in the levels of hierarchy. For instance, the head or top of any field is the first-place people to scan their eyes over when engaging in the act of reading or examining an image. Kiva, taking human nature into consideration, was able to make their brand stand out on their products by first “introducing their name” and then let the consumer continue to drift their eyes down the pleasantly placed centered type to find out what they have to offer. They also chose to turn the letterform ‘V’ into what seems to be two leaves which adds the brand’s personality of an all-natural holistic company. This also incorporates a more artistic approach that blend perfectly in the mix of the thin sans-serif letterforms that surrounds it. Moving down the one-column design we can see a ribbon that has the words “COLD PRESSED” dissected out of the middle to reveal the brown hue of the bottle. This is nice distinction from the rest of the text on the bottle and gives emphasis to the natural nature of the product itself. Underneath that we have the actual product name that the viewer will be able to see and quickly understand what they are reviewing due to the size and boldness of the type. The rest of the bottle leads down into some iconography and more useful information in the appropriate text size that doesn’t draw too much attention from the important top portion of the bottle.

Next up I have a holy grail product that is praised in the natural community, Wild Turmeric Powder, or going by its scientific name, Kasthuri Manjal. At first glance, I do see the product’s name first which is great for someone like me who tends to frantically search for products in a cupboard full of similar looking foil baggies that hold other herbs. The designer was able to achieve the result of having the product’s name stand out due to the size but, this was the only thing I can say I like about the design. Overall, the typographic grid seems very sporadic here. Besides the good choice of placing the brand and product’s name at the top, the other useful information is not aligned or fits well in the layout of the label. To elaborate, examining the text in the left-hand column of the design we can see that absolutely nothing is aligned in any way, shape, or form. The text also tends to switch between so many different typefaces, styles, and sizes, leaving no room for consistency in the design. Take a look at the line of text that reads “Inclu. of All Taxes” and the expiration notice. You will be able to detect that the text was not strategically placed and was rather inputted in an awkward positioning that exempts it from being centered, right, nor left flushed aligned with any other information that is presented. Moving over to the right side of the layout, we can see the cut off of the turmeric powder image which is the only object that runs off the face of the label. This results in an unbalanced design and disrupts the appearance of the layout.

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Goodbye I hope you enjoyed the babbling yet informative analysis that I was able to conjure up for this semester! As I enter my last year in college, I am sure that I will be able to take away a lot of lessons learned from this class. Besides being able to analyze type, I learn the basics of how to create a book! I do want to ask; did I present good typography in this booklet?

Thanks to Proffessor Wood GRA2208C Typography Univerisity Of West Florida Summer 2021

10 Weeks of Typography Andrea Gatlin