Design 115 Process Book

Process Book Judy Zhen DES 115

TABLE OF

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CONTENTS I. Minimal Letterforms p.4 II. Type Hierarchy Studies p.8 III. Paul Rand Book Design p.12 3

Minimal Letterforms

Drafts

For my first drafts, I was able to explore and examine several typefaces that we were given to work with. I experimented with the characters of Centaur, Memphis, Garamond, and Univers.

After tracing several different characters, I was able to point out differences between each typeface. Out of all the Gestalt principles, I decided to go with continuation since I enjoyed having each letterform flow into one another.

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For my second drafts, I chose the drafts that I thought had the best continuation in the flow of each letter.

Upper left:

A, K, H, and W Garamond Premier Pro Semibold Italic

Upper right: P, B, K, and G

Garamond Premier Pro Semibold Italic Lower draft: A, N, G, and P

Garamond 3 LT Std Bold

For the third drafts, I wanted to try inverting the letterforms of my first drafts. With the inverted colors, I felt that this one had the best continuation. The white seperation between each box helped with the visual connection of each character.

Upper left:

P, B, K, and G Garamond Premier Pro Semibold Italic

Lower right:

W, X, Q, and Z Garamond 3 LT Std Bold Italic

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Minimal Letterforms

Final

As for the final product, I chose the one that I felt had the strongest continuation throughout. With the colors inverted, the white space between each box connected all four characters. The thick and thin strokes created a variety within the entire composition.

Letters used: W, X, Q, and Z Typeface: Garamond 3 LT Std Semibold Italic

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7

Type Hierarchy Studies

Drafts

In this project, we were given the content and a set of restraints with which we were to arrange in a way that established a clear visual hierarchy. For the first few drafts, I cut and pasted strips of text on tracing paper. Throughout the process, I played with diagonals and balance to achieve a sense of movement.

Restraints

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Set 1A: Set 1B:

15 pt. Univers 45 15 pt. Univers 45 and 65

Set 2A: Set 2B:

15 pt and 9 pt Univers 45 and 65 15 pt. and 9 pt. Univers 45, 46, 65, 66

Set 3A: Set 3B:

Use given rules of any length Any size, weight and style of Univers, with or without rules

Visible Language A lecture series exploring the relaionship between form and content

Visible Language A lecture series exploring the relaionship between form and content

Lectures are free and open to the public

Lectures are free and open to the public

More than just a love of letters Tobias Frere-Jones Jonathan Hoefler Zuzana Licko Thursday, December 10 135 Walker Hall UC Davis 6 pm

More than just a love of letters Zuzana Licko Jonathan Hoefler Tobias Frere-Jones Thursday, December 10 6 pm 135 Walker Hall UC Davis

Thursday, December 17 Design Museum UC Davis 7 pm

Matter/anti-matter/does it matter?

Marian Bantjes Andrew Blauvelt Stefan Sagmeister Thursday, December 17 7 pm Design Museum UC Davis

Visible Language A

r on urm au elt W i B s F ul ed ola Sa Ru ich ard N ch

Ri

r3 be em ec ,D ay all H sd er ur Th pm alk W is 6 5 av 13 C D U

t en nt c co li d ub an e p h g rm o t rin n fo n t plo e pe ex e o s etw d rie b an se ip e e sh fre ur n e ct io ar le rela es r e th ectu L

Orientation and disorientation

Matter/anti-matter/does it matter?

Stefan Sagmeister Andrew Blauvelt Marian Bantjes

Orientation and disorientation Ruedi Baur Nicholas Felton Richard Saul Wurman Thursday, December 3 6 pm 135 Walker Hall UC Davis

Orientation and disorientation Richard Saul Wurman Nicholas Felton Ruedi Baur Thursday, December 3 135 Walker Hall UC Davis 6 pm

Visible Language A lecture series exploring the relationship between form and content Lectures are free and open to the public

Orientation and disorientation

an

Ruedi Baur Nicholas Felton Richard Saul Wurman Thursday, December 3 135 Walker Hall UC Davis 6 pm

More than just a love of letters

T

r o fle s ck e ne Li Ho -Jo na n re r 10 za tha re mbe Zu na as F Dece Jo bi day, all rH To hurs lke

6

pm Wa is 5 av 13 C D U

Matter/anti-matter/does it matter?

More than just a love of letters Zuzana Licko Jonathan Hoefler Tobias Frere-Jones Thursday, December 10 135 Walker Hall UC Davis 6 pm

Matter/anti-matter/does it matter?

T

s je lt r nt ve ste Ba lau ei n B gm r 17 ia ar ew Sa mbe M ndr an Dece m A tef day, eu S hurs us M

7

pm ign is v es a D CD U

Marian Bantjes Andrew Blauvelt Stefan Sagmeister Thursday, December 17 Design Museum UC Davis 6 pm

9

Type Hierarchy Studies

Final

The themes for the final products are diagonals and balance. However, I was still careful to maintain an angle that was still easily readable.

The arrangement of text creates movement and additional interest throughout the composition.

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SET 1B

SET 1a Visible

Visible Language

ge

Orientation and disorientation

e tur se

Ruedi Baur Nicholas Felton Richard Saul Wurman

rie

xp se

A lectu re the rela series explori ng io Lecture form an nship betwee s are fr n d e c e o a n open to nd tent the pub lic

ec Al

Langua

ing lor

Thursday, December 3 135 Walker Hall

Licko Zuzana Hoefler n a th a n Jo ones Frere-J Tobias

hip

ns More than just a love of letters

be

10 ember ll ay, Dec Thursd 35 Walker Ha 1 is UC Dav 6 pm

Zuzana Licko Jonathan Hoefler Tobias Frere-Jones

orm nf

ee tw

n

entatio

Thursday, December 10 135 Walker Hall

t

ten

on

dc

an

aur Ruedi B Felton s la o h ic N urman Saul W Richard 3 ember ay, Dec er Hall d rs u h T lk 135 Wa Davis UC 6 pm d disori

on an rientati

O

UC Davis 6 pm

aio rel

love o

the

n just a

a More th

f letters

UC Davis 6 pm

sa

e tur

c Le Matter/anti-matter/does it matter?

re

nd

ea

Marian Bantjes Andrew Blauvelt Stefan Sagmeister Thursday, December 17 Davis Museum

lic ub

p he

t to en

op

Bantjes Marian lt er/ tt a -m Blauve ti an Andrew gmeister Matter/ Sa Stefan 17 ember ay, Dec useum Thursd M n Desig is UC Dav 7 pm

fre

r?

matte does it

UC Davis 7 pm

In Set 1A and 1B, diagonals and balance can be seen throughout both compositions. In Set 1A, I angled the introduction towards the right to differentiate it from the rest of the text. In Set 1B, I wanted to experiment with using text as a rule that I could also align the rest of the text to.

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SET 2a rie nt so di an d

se

n

A lecture series exploring the relaionship between form and content

re ge the ua ring ng explo La ries

e ur ct

at io

le

le

A

ib

pm

r ton urm au el W i B s F ul 3 ed la Sa o Ru ich ard ch N

Ri

r be em ec ll , D Ha ay r sd lke a ur W vis Th a D

5 13

C U 6

tio la p be

O

Orientation and disorientation Thursday, December 3 Ruedi Baur 135 Walker Hall UC Davis Nicholas Felton 6 pm Richard Saul Wurman

hi ns

an

rie nt

Visible Language

is V

at io

n

SET 2B

ee tw n rm fo

of lo ve a st ju an

m C

6

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U

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6

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5 13

More than just a love of letters Thursday, December 10 Zuzana Licko 135 Walker Hall UC Davis Jonathan Hoefler 6 pm Tobias Frere-Jones

pu ic bl

Lectures are free and open to the public

Matter/anti-matter/does it matter?

Thursday, December 17 Marian Bantjes Design Museum UC Davis Andrew Blauvelt 7 pm Stefan Sagmeister

In Set 2A, I bolded and rotated the headings at a 45 degree angle in order to create a visual hierarchy with some movement. In Set 2B, each line of text is aligned to create a clean box-like look.

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SET 3B

SET 3a A lecture series exploring the relationship between form and content

6 pm

Lectures are free and open to the public

UC Davis

135 Walker Hall

Thursday, December 3

Richard Saul Wurman

Nicholas Felton

Ruedi Baur

Visible Language

Visible Language Orientation and disorientation

Ruedi Baur Nicholas Felton Richard Saul Wurman Thursday, December 3 135 Walker Hall UC Davis 6 pm

More than just a love of letters 6 pm

UC Davis

135 Walker Hall

Thursday, December 10

Tobias Frere-Jones

Jonathan Hoefler

Zuzana Licko

Orientation and disorientation

A lecture series exploring the relaionship between form and content Lectures are free and open to the public

Thursday, December 10 135 Walker Hall UC Davis 6 pm

7 pm

Matter/anti-matter/does it matter?

UC Davis

Design Museum

Thursday, December 17

Stefan Sagmeister

Andrew Blauvelt

More than just a love of letters

Marian Bantjes

Zuzana Licko Jonathan Hoefler Tobias Frere-Jones

Marian Bantjes Andrew Blauvelt Stefan Sagmeister Thursday, December 17 Design Museum UC Davis 7 pm

Matter/anti-matter/does it matter?

Set 3A was designed so the headings and designers stood out from the rest. I got the inspiration for Set 3B from the designs of newspapers and magazines.

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Paul Rand Book Design

Drafts

For the brainstorming portion, I sketched a few thumbnails of potential ideas for the layout of the book. I wanted to design a simple but playful book.

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PAUL RAND

and n the DESIGN g i s e PLAY D and the

PAUL RAND

Design and the Play Instinct

Play

Ins

tin

Design and the P l a y Instinct

Paul Rand

The Tangram

ct

PAUL RAND

Throughout the brainstorming and drafting stages, I had trouble figuring out exactly what I wanted. After several drafts and noting my preferences, I finally designed a creative cover.

The Tangram is an ingenious little Chinese toy in which a square is divided into this configuration. It consists of seven pieces, called tans: five triangles, one square, and one rhombus. The rules are quite simple: rearrange to make any kind of figure or pattern.

On the left is a spread from my book in progress. I wanted to have a strip of color on every edge of the page for cohesion.

However, I changed it after I acknowledged that the design needed more interest.

Here [above] is one possibility. Many design problems can be posed with this game in mind, the main principle to be learned being that of economy of means—making the most of the least.

Further, the game helps to sharpen the powers of observation through the discovery of resemblances between geometric and natural forms. It helps the student to abstract: to see a triangle, for example, as a face, a tree, an eye, a nose, depending on the context in which the pieces are arranged. Such observation is essential in the study of visual symbols.

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INSTINCT

11

15

Paul Rand Book Design

DRAFT CONT. “I demand of art,” says Le Corbusier, “the role of the challenger…of play and interplay, play being the very manifestation of the spirit.”1

The absence in art of a well-formulated and systematized body of literature makes the problem of teaching a perplexing one. The subject is further complicated by the elusive and personal nature of art. Granted that a student’s ultimate success will depend largely on his natural talents, the problem still remains: how best to arouse his curiosity, hold his attention, and engage his creative faculties.

Chinese Characters Through trial and error, I have found that the solution to this enigma rests, to a large extent, on two factors: the kind of problem chosen for study, and the way in which it is posed. I believe that if, in the statement of a problem, undue emphasis is placed on freedom and self-expression, the result is apt to be an indifferent student and a meaningless solution.

Conversely, a problem with defined limits, with an implied or stated discipline (system of rules) that in turn is conducive to the instinct of play, will most likely yield an interested student and, very often, a meaningful and novel solution.

The Chinese character is always written in an imaginary square. The ninefold square, invented by an anonymous writer of the T’ang dynasty, has been employed as the most useful, because it prevents rigid symmetry and helps to achieve balanced asymmetry.7 At the same time it makes the writer aware of negative and positive spaces. Each part of the character touches one of the nine squares, thus achieving harmony between the two elements and the whole.

Within this rather simple discipline the calligrapher is able to play with space, filling it as he feels would be most appropriate. The composition of Chinese characters, says Chiang Yee, “is not governed by inviolable laws…however, there are general principles which cannot be ignored with impunity.”8

Two powerful instincts exist in all human beings which can be used in teaching, says Gilbert Highet: one is the love of play. “The best Renaissance teachers, instead of beating their pupils, spurred them on by a number of appeals to the play-principle. They made games out of the chore of learning difficult subjects—Montaigne’s father, for instance, started him in Greek by writing the letters and the easiest words on playing cards and inventing a game to play with them.”2

This character for the word tan (sunrise) is designed within an imaginary grid. Geometry functions here in a manner similar to the previous illustration, namely as a guide to filling the space correctly, but not to produce a geometric pattern.

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2

3

In replacement of the pink strips on the edge, I started using triangles and transparency. I also started to angle my paragraphs so that it would conform to a triangular shape. However, I realized that this method of arranging text created more widows and rivers within the paragraphs.

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“I dem an d of ar t,” says L e Cor bu sier,

This

drawing

is

reproduced from the first

volume of Hokusai’s Rapid Lessons in

Abbreviated Drawing (Riakougwa Hayashinan, 1812). In the book Hokusai shows how he uses geometric shapes as a guide in drawing certain birds. This exercise may be compared to the Tangram in that

or guide to illustrate them.

implicit in game-playing are equally

and

way in which it is posed. I believe that

implicit in successful problem-solving:

personal nature of art. Granted that a

if, in the statement of a problem, undue

student’s ultimate success will depend

emphasis is placed on freedom and

largely on his natural talents, the

self-expression, the result is apt to be an

problem still remains: how best

indifferent student and a meaningless

to arouse his curiosity, hold his

solution. Conversely, a problem with

attention, and engage his

defined limits, with an implied or stated

by

the

elusive

discipline (system of rules) that in turn is

motivation competition challenge stimulus goal promise anticipation

used in teaching, says Gilbert Highet:

one is the love of play.

“The best Renaissance teachers, beating spurred

instead their them

of by

play-principle.

They

skill observation analysis perception judgment improvisation coordination interest

timing curiosity concentration abstraction discretion discrimination economy

pupils, on

a

number of appeals to the made

games out of the chore of learning difficult subjects—Montaigne’s father, for instance, started him in Greek by writing the letters and the easiest words on playing cards and

inventing a game to play with them.”2

rs

6

patience restraint exploitation excitement enjoyment discovery reward fulfillment

7

m

yste

id S e Gr

Th

The grid system has as many detractors as it has adherents. Its detractors generally misunderstand its use or its potential—and that it is merely a tool. It has been condemned as stifling, rigid and cold. But this confuses the product with the process. The grid does not automatically insure an exciting product. The

designed within an imaginary grid. Geometry functions

designer must still exercise all the experience at his command,

here in a manner similar to the previous illustration, namely as a guide to filling the space correctly, but not to produce a geometric pattern.

Like the architect’s plan, the grid system employed by the graphic

both use geometric means. The Tangram, however, uses geometry as an end in itself—to indicate or symbolize natural forms—whereas Hokusai uses it as a clue

of problem chosen for study, and the

complicated

often, a meaningful and novel solution.

ract e

This character for the word tan (sunrise) is

psychological and intellectual factors

perplexing one. The subject is further

Two powerful instincts exist in all human beings which can be

5

Cha

the problem, some or all of the

a large extent, on two factors: the kind

likely yield an interested student and, very

4

ese

Depending on the nature of

that the solution to this enigma rests, to

makes the problem of teaching a

conducive to the instinct of play, will most

“the role of the challenger…of play and interplay, play being the very manifestation of the spirit.”

Chin

Through trial and error, I have found

and systematized body of literature

creative faculties.

1

ing Draw ’s i usa Hok

The absence in art of a well-formulated

designer provides for an orderly and harmonious distribution of miscellaneous graphic material. It is a system of proportions based

The Chinese character is always written in an imaginary square.

on a module, the standard of which is derived from the material itself. It is a discipline imposed by the designer. Unlike the Modulor,

The ninefold square, invented by an anonymous writer of the T’ang dynasty, has been employed as the most useful, because it prevents rigid symmetry and helps to achieve balanced asymmetry.7

it is not a fixed system based on a specific concept of proportion, but one which must be custom-made for each problem. Creating

discretion, timing, and a sense of drama and sequence. In brief, the intelligent designer will recognize that the grid can help him achieve harmony and order, but also that it may be abandoned when and if necessary. To function successfully, the grid system, like all workable systems, must be interpreted as freely as necessary. It is the very freedom which adds richness nd a note of surprise to what might otherwise be potentially lifeless.

the grid calls for the ability to classify and organize miscellaneous material, with sufficient foresight to allow for flexibility in handling

The grid, then, is the discipline which

content which may, for one reason or another, be altered. The

frees him from the time-consuming burden

grid must define the areas of operation and provide for different

of making certain decisions (dimensions,

techniques, pictures, text, space between text and pictures,

proportions) without which fruitful and

columns of text, page numbers, picture captions, headings and

creative work is extremely difficult. He can

other miscellaneous items.

move directly to those aspects of the problem in which individual expression,

At the same time it makes the writer aware of negative and positive spaces. Each part of the character touches one of the nine squares,

Here is a simple grid system for a booklet. Devising such a grid

thus achieving harmony between the two elements and the whole.

involves two creative acts: developing the pattern that is suitable for

novel ideas, and freedom of choice are essential.

the given material and arranging this material within the pattern. In a sense, the creative ability required for the former is no less than

Within this rather simple discipline the calligrapher is able to play with

that for the latter, because the making of the grid necessitates

space, filling it as he feels would be most appropriate.

In the artist’s own words, his system “concerns the manner of making designs with the aid of a ruler or compass, and those who work in this manner will understand the

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proportion of things.”

analyzing simultaneously all the elements involved. But once it is evolved, the designer is free to play to his heart’s content:

The composition of Chinese characters, says Chiang Yee, “is not governed by inviolable laws…however, there are general principles which cannot be ignored with impunity.”8

with pictures, type, paper, ink, color, and with texture, scale, size and contrast.

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18

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17

Paul Rand Book Design

Final

As for my final draft, I changed my spot color from pink to a shade of green. I felt that the new color would be easier on the eyes. I also changed the layout of a few pages and discarded the triangular text frames for rectangular ones since they yielded better results.

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I felt that the changes I made improved the book. The general theme of this book includes triangles and transparent graphics.

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