JORDON THEODORE GONZALES
T Y PE II JOURNAL 2017
I
INTRO THE GOALS OF TYPE III
The goal of this class was to reinforce the fundamental principles of typography. This class will help us make decisions
regarding typeface selections typesetting and informational
hierarchy. By looking at the history of typography we can grow to understand how to use grids to organize text and graphic
elements. Basically the goal is to learn everything their is to know about typography.
Serif
Sans Serif
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received.
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your mes sage may be received.
CHAPARRAL PRO, 9/13
ITC OFFICINA SANS STD, 9/13
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received.
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your mes sage may be received.
CHAPARRAL PRO, 9/12
ITC OFFICINA SANS STD, 9/12
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg
ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply
ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—
be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—“one
“one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you
cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to
fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you
consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your mes
message may be received.
sage may be received.
CHAPARRAL PRO, 9/14
ITC OFFICINA SANS STD, 9/14
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg
ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply
ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—
be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—“one
“one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you
cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to
fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you
consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your mes
message may be received.
sage may be received.
CHAPARRAL PRO, 9/15
ITC OFFICINA SANS STD, 9/15
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but
if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of
if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of
alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlaw
alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlaw
ick’s first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communicate”—
ick’s first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communicate”—
puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message
puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message
on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not
on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not
care how your message may be received.
care how your message may be received.
CHAPARRAL PRO, 8/13
ITC OFFICINA SANS STD, 8/13
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communi cate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you may inadver tently communicate that you do not care how your mes sage may be received.
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communi cate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may inad vertently communicate that you do not care how your mes sage may be received.
CHAPARRAL PRO, 10/13
ITC OFFICINA SANS STD, 10/13
1 JANUARY 12, 2017
LEGIBILITY AND READABILITY EXERCISE
This Exercise was very interesting because it allowed us to look
at type standing alone. It was difficult to create an interesting
layout but I learned that contrast has a super strong impact on a composition.
“If bad typography can have negat ive consequences, it shouldn’t be hard to believe that good typography can have positive consequences. ” –Buttericks
2 JANUARY 17, 2017
LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST
We learned the benefits of good typography by looking at examples of bad design through pieces from history. We explored the
butterfly ballot which had many different reasons why it failed.
This ballot failed solely due to poor hierarchy, which in part was bad design.
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
3 JANUARY 19, 2017
BALANCE BET WEEN EXPLORATION AND LEGIBILITY
Project 1 Critique #1
During this Critique we all learned that we had not explored the
activity to its fullest. Showing some consistency in the layout is a
key thing to focus on. Finding the balance between legibility and exploring the compositions.
Project 1 Critique #2
During this critique we saw that the heading and explorations
were successful when these were huge or bold in your face and
their was consistency, but they have contrast in type size and style.
Pushing your project to the extreme and then being able to draw back on the aspects that worked is the easiest way to come up
with concepts and ideas.
“…there’s much more to typography than fonts.”
– Butterick’s Practical Typography
4 JANUARY 26, 2017
DETAILS ARE NOT THE DETAIL. THEY MAKE THE DESIGN – CHARLES EAMES
I learned that today we need to focus on the detail of proof–reading. I think that is where I struggle the most. It can be very helpful for someone else to reread your page and get a closer eye on
it. We should also make sure all the correct punctuation is working correctly which was a key point in the Practical Typography
Readings.
Tip: using Find and replace we can replace offending punctuation marks and correct many issues in a document. Key commands will become second nature once we begin to use them more and more.
“type composition was about picking the right characters. text formatting was about the visual appearance of those characters. “
– Butterick’s Practical Typography
5 JANUARY 31, 2017
EXPLORE ALL OPTIONS BEFORE SETTLING ON ONE
Today my Dialogue project lacked in exploration of the type. My
project did not print the way it should have, so I need to really
take some time and make sure to leave time to print. Production is just as important as t the design. The photography it self was
approved by multiple people and it did carry the project. Exper-
imenting with the imagery could really give be great. Highlight
the skills you do have and work on the skills you struggle with.
BILL MOYERS AND JOSEPH CAMPBELL ON THE HERO
THE
JOURNEY
“Why are there so many stories of the hero in mythology?” —Moyers Campbell Because that’s what’s worth writing about. Even in popular novels, the main character is a hero or heroine who has found or done something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience. A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. Moyers So in all of these cultures, whatever the local costume the hero might be wearing, what is the deed?
Campbell If you have someone who can help you, that’s fine, too. But, ultimately, the last deed has to be done by oneself. Psychologically, the dragon is one’s own binding of oneself to one’s ego. We’re captured in our own dragon cage. The problem of the psychiatrist is to disintegrate that dragon, break him up, so that you may expand to a larger field of relationships. The ultimate dragon is within you, it is your ego clamping you down.
Campbell Well, there are two types of deed. One is the physical deed, in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle or saves a life. The other kind is the spiritual deed,in which the hero learns to experience the supernormal range of human spiritual life and then comes back with a message.
Moyers I like what you say about the old myth of Theseus and Ariadne. Theseus says to Ariadne, “I’ll love you forever if you can show me a way to come out of the labyrinth.” So she gives him a ball of string, which he unwinds as he goes into the labyrinth, and then follows to find the way out. You say, “All he had was the string. That’s all you need.”
Moyers Does your study of mythology lead you to conclude that a single human quest, a standard pattern of human aspiration and thought, constitutes for all mankind something that we have in common, whether we lived a million years ago or will live a thousand years from now?
Campbell That’s all you need—an Ariadne thread.
Campbell There’s a certain type of myth which one might call the vision quest, going in quest of a boon, a vision, which has the same form in every mythology. That is the thing that I tried to present in the first book I wrote, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. All these different mythologies give us the same essential quest. You leave the world that you’re in and go into a depth or into a distance or up to a height. There you come to what was missing in your consciousness in the world you formerly inhabited. Then comes the problem either of staying with that, and letting the world drop off, or returning with that boon and trying to hold on to it as you move back into your social world again. Moyers How do I slay that dragon in me? What’s the journey each of us has to make, what you call “the soul’s high adventure”? Campbell My general formula for my students is “Follow your bliss.” Find where it is, and don’t be afraid to follow it. Moyers Is it my work or my life? Campbell If the work that you’re doing is the work that you chose to do because you are enjoying it, that’s it. But if you think, “Oh, no! I couldn’t do that!” that’s the dragon locking you in. “No, no, I couldn’t be a writer,” or “No, no, I couldn’t possibly do what So-and-so is doing.” Moyers When I take that journey and go down there and slay those dragons, do I have to go alone?
Moyers Sometimes we look for great wealth to save us, a great power to save us, or great ideas to save us, when all we need is that piece of string. Campbell That’s not always easy to find. But it’s nice to have someone who can give you a clue. That’s the teacher’s job, to help you find your Ariadne thread. Moyers Like all heroes, the Buddha doesn’t show you the truth itself, he shows you the way to truth. Campbell But it’s got to be your way, not his. The Buddha can’t tell you exactly how to get rid of your particular fears, for example. Different teachers may suggest exercises, but they may not be the ones to work for you. All a teacher can do is suggest. He is like a lighthouse that says, “There are rocks over here, steer clear. There is a channel, however, out there”. Moyers In all of these journeys of mythology, there’s a place everyone wishes to find. The Buddhists talk of Nirvana, and Jesus talks of peace, of the mansion with many rooms. Is that typical of the hero’s journey - that there’s a place to find? Campbell The place to find is within yourself. I learned a little about this in athletics. The athlete who is in top form has a quiet place within himself, and it’s around this, somehow, that his action occurs…. There’s a center of quietness within, which has to be known and held. If you lose that center, you are in tension and begin to fall apart.
“The size and complexity of recently-developed type families has reached unprecedented levels.”
–Butterick’s Practical Typography
6 FEBRUARY 2, 2017
MARGINS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS THE INFORMATION
Paragraph styles are going to help in the long run when it comes
down to setting it up it can seem like a pain in the *ss, but when
you need to change one simple thing in a long body of text then
it will be simple and not tedious. Once you have something that
you are liking you can use paragraph styles for a majority of the
type and then intertwine character styles. When laying out text don’t fear the white space. Margins are almost as important as the
information on the page. This has to do with leading, line length, and keeping the reading as easy as possible for your client.
“Always use a layout grid for your design projects. No exceptions.
If you don’t, you’ll never be able to repeat that look consistently.”
–Designer Insights
7 FEBRUARY 7, 2017
GRIDS CAN HELP CREATE CONSISTENCY
Today we learned about grids and how to set them up. Along
with this we were able to see how we can abide by the grids or
even break them. Also we looked at our first comp of the Elements of style. This was a good way to have each student explore
their own initial concepts before we come together and collaborate. Working in groups is good but can also be a little tough
depending on who your group members are and how well you mend, when it comes to work styles.
“A type designer must know how type works in a piece of text, he must know what happens with the type on different sorts of paper, he must know how a typeface behaves with different printing techniques.”
–Martin Majoor
8 FEBRUARY 9, 2017
GROUPS ARE GOOD AT EXPANDING STYLE AND WORK FLOW
After looking at our final Elements of Style, our class was able
to see what was successful over all and what could be approved
upon. The successful projects contained exploration and legibility.
Exploration included die cut which was solely production and legibility contained type sizes that were perfect for reading at the document print size.
“Robert Bringhurst proposes a new classification system of world’s various
written languages and scripts. This approach promotes a consciously inclusive approach to typography, and considers the whole history of humanity
and its relationship to script and meaning.”
–Peter Bil’ak
9 FEBRUARY 14, 2017
CREATE CONSISTENCY USING A STYLE GUIDE
Today, we worked on creating a style guide for any type of style
that was needed to create hierarchy and/or differentiation. Being able to import and export type styles is going to be very helpful
especially because its hard to line up our groups schedule. We
have finally laid out a few pages, so I believe that we have a better understanding of how our final layout will work. Lets just hope
we can pull it all together.
“Final Projects were turned in and some of them were successful and some fell short even though the work load is less in groups they can be difficult when scheduling does not line up ”
– Jordon Gonzales
10 FEBRUARY 16, 2017
TEAMS MAKE WORKING EASIER
Thinking about having to do all of the text layout by myself is
stressful. But, by breaking it up in a group takes the workload off
of one single person. Only issue is being able to find a consistency
and sticking to it when designing. Sometimes ones ideas are not
communicated correctly and can create inconsistencies.
“Besides Latin based languages, Lava also supports Cyrillic and Greek.
Furthermore, a special version of Lava has been developed for Latin/Arabic typesetting. It is being released as the Latin component of Harir, and has
been adjusted to match Harir’s weight, rhythm and contrast, as well as its
three optical sizes.”
– Peter Bil’ak
11 FEBRUARY 23, 2017
LIMIT
YOUR NEED FOR INSPIRATION
Today we looked at passed Zines which could be a double edged sword. It sometimes helps getting inspiration, but sometimes
limits you to copying and that could be bad. Thinking about layout of type is going to be interesting. Now its time to start
sketching, well at least once we get the articles finalized. Doing
everything from scratch even
“Gill Sans is the Helvetica of England; ubiquitous, utilitarian and yet also quite specific in its ability to point to our notions of time and place.”
– Ben Archer
12 FEBRUARY 28, 2017
LAYOUT CAN BE SPONTANEOUS OR PLANNED
Baseline grid could be great to keep consistency as well as grids.
They are their just to help but not to rely on. It can help the photos correlate with the copy and vise versa. Also by dissecting real
world magazines we can see how the grid is used as well as how the grid is broken in similar cases.
“I have to admit that dealing with ugliness was a lot more interesting than revisiting the beauty contests of the classicist printers.”
– Peter Bil’ak
13 MARCH 02, 2017
CHOOSE
TYPEFACES CAREFULLY FOR WEB DESIGN
Its interesting once you get into studying typefaces and you get to see the tiny quirks that work and don’t work. It also depends
on the reasoning why you use it. Some of the things you need to
focus on when choosing typefaces for web:
• Type contrasts • Tall X-height
• Beware of extremes (such as extreme x-heights) There are many other things to focus on but if you abide by them you can accomplish legibility and the goal of your web or digital projects.
“Designer Mark Jamra was moved by the need for a typeface that would help preserve a nation’s language and culture, and began by adapting a Latin typeface he already had in the works.” –Jamara/Type Culture
14 MARCH 07, 2017
LOVE
PROJECTS THAT INVOLVE TYPOGRAPHY
Neutrality is the goal of a type face. Its the things not noticed that
make a great typeface or type face family. It comes down to what
the goal of a typeface, and the plain answer is to communicate.
This goal was seen when we watched the video on the Cherokee
type with Marc Jamara. The goal was to update a language to
help it communicate just as much as the roman typeface in the digital age across all platforms.
“Aware that there is no such thing as total neutrality, Neutral typeface explores how the absence of stylistic associations can help the reader to engage with the content of a text.” –Kai Bernau
15 MARCH 07, 2017
FEEDBACK IS THE MOST CRITICAL PIECE TO SUCCESS
Today we had small group critiques on our working zines. It was
good to get feedback and see that the spreads that I did spend
time on developing more seemed to get good feedback. It was
just the encouragement I needed to keep going on this magazine
layout. I can’t wait to see the final pieces from all of my classmates.
16 MARCH 14, 2017
MISSED THIS WEEK DUE TO A MIRACLE
This week started out with my daughter being born on March
13, 2017. After 22 hours in the delivery room, I had some catching up to do. Seeing life be born was a perspective change and
showed me a whole new way of thinking. I want to do the best
now for my family and not just for myself.
17 MARCH 21, 2017
ZINE THE ZINE IS FINISHED
Here is a look at the Zine that took quite some time. I even worked on it while my wife was laboring. The final product came out great just what I envisioned clean and editorial.
COLOPHON Designed by Jordon Theodore Gonzales
Typefaces Caslon and Bodoni was used to design the Type Journal