ARTS 246 Final Project by kareoart

TABLE OF CONTENTS - PROJECT ONE......................................... pg 6 - 11 - PROJECT TWO......................................... pg 12 - 25 - PROJECT THREE ...................................... pg 26 - 39 - PROJECT FOUR....................................... pg 40 - 47 - PROJECT FIVE.......................................... pg 48 - 51 - COLOPHON, WORKS CITED, ETC..................pg 52

welcome!

let’s explore typographic design together

PROJECT ONE Post One. Chapter Two. [01.15.2021]

This chapter was on the Anatomy of Typography. Though I have learned of a few of the basic terminologies of typography, I never paid as much attention to the capital and lowercase letterform construction. There is an incredible amount of detail that is put into each letter and yet because of technology today, I feel like we take the details for granted. Each stroke and weight of the letterform create entirely different fonts and it can either greatly improve legibility or hinder it when used appropriately/ inappropriately, respectively. It was interesting to see how there was such unity in design in the type font that allowed it to create a themed font. After trying to trace the letterforms for our first exercise, I am even more in awe of the people who had to create it from scratch and by hand because of how shaky my hands are. Above is a picture of my desk set up with all of my materials, snacks, and sticky notes on the walls. I’m excited to be able to take a deep dive into type this semester and be able to gain a better understanding of something that I feel like is taken for granted in daily life.

PROJECT TWO Post Two [01.22.2021]

Wow!! What can I say -- two weeks into school and we already have a guest speaker lecture. It was really interesting to hear about James Victore and his work as an artist/ lecture/author/etc. There are a few things that stood out to me in his call yesterday --

Through this lecture, I took a few moments out to journal and reflect on my own design process and what I value my work as -- I need to learn to redefine and let go so that I am able to “play” again and get paid for doing it.

1. His work process (jot notes down - play - one sketch work)

If I took anything out of this lecture -- it’s to get paid for playing like Karen Wong.

2. Stop judging your work

____

3. Always be a student/Do it out of love.

Above are also my works in progress from Wednesday’s class. I have mostly finished my letterform/kerning exercises but I have a few adjustments to make in the cap line, x line, and I also need to add in the classification labels -- but other than that I am ready to turn them in next week!

4. Maintain/find that childlike weirdness -- it’s what defines us It was also slightly alarming to me, especially as a business student/designer trying to break into the corporate world, to hear his opinion on it and for him to basically dismiss the idea. LOL -- but ironically it was also amusing to hear him to promote himself and his products as much as he did. You can’t out run capitalism as much as you try -- what can I say. But despite what he said about the corporate world -- I do find truths in what he said.

Post Three. Chapter 1& Beginning of Project Two. [01.29.2021] It was interesting to read about and visually see a timeline of the evolution of typography. Starting with early forms of mark making and Cuneiform back in the early c. 3150 BCE, it has been so incredibly important and interesting to see how the written history has been used in helping develop our societies to the way that they are now -(overarchingly speaking) an easy way to access and share knowledge through print and digital media. Since then, it has been altered in various different ways so that it would be easier to share and print these forms. Notably in the shifts from mostly handwritten typography, to first being printed on the Gutenberg press, to even now on digital signages for big companies such as Facebook. I think it is fascinating to see how trends have stared off very minimalistic and have shifted to increasingly more

complex fonts with more extravagant and extra lines, to where it currently is in the 2020s where many bigger companies are once again trending towards more minimalistic looks. Of the timeline that was found in Chapter One, I personally enjoy the reference examples displayed in the 20002010 the most. I have also attached my own mood board on possibly the ideas I’d like to incorporate into my own poster. I enjoy simple but effective designs that highlight singular or a handful of letters. For project two, I’d like to research the typeface Didot.

Post Four. Week 4: Chapter 3 [02.05.2021] This week was on the idea of legibility in font and all the details that go into making something easily accessible and understandable. I really appreciate how in depth someone can get about kerning, justifying text, the colors, the width, x-line, and etc... much of these things go over my head because I usually know which typefaces I gravitate towards. In my mind, I already skip over a few steps on why I like the type (because of the legibility, the width, the fact that they have/don’t have serifs, the colors on it, etc). and I let my mind usually wander to the phrase -- “ah yes, I like that. This looks cool.” But “cool” has so much detail that has gone into it to make it the way that it is, so that I end up choosing the same three fonts every time I create things with text. I knew some of the ideas of legibility beforehand but even after reading the Gestalt’s articles as well, I have learned that you could also apply the knowledge from Gestalt’s theory into typography as well. The way that you space/

group together, use symmetry, use figure/ground, etc.. all combine together to make this huge beautiful and easy to understand piece. Many will continue to gloss over it, but there is a beauty in having a simple, yet effective design. Above is a screen capture of the posters that I am currently working on. Lots to do this weekend!

Post Five. Week 5: Chapter 4 [02.12.2021] It is so interesting to see the golden section place itself so deeply into our minds that we subconsciously see and judge things/beauty/nature with it. I love how math was in grained into proportions in the spacial interactions and balance within art. Each margin or ratio has been put under so much thought and care that once again (most people don’t notice when it’s right, but then when it’s wrong people feel uncomfortable and cannot seem to place their finger on why they don’t like a type design). For my designs in group critique, I thought that my group was able to give me really good feedback in adding more margins on both the posters and centering the “&” in the second conceptual poster. I didn’t realize that I had under estimated my margins when I didn’t consider my page guidelines to gauge where I should put my margins, but rather I estimated it by looking at the background color and the bleed to give me my margins -- I quickly realized

as soon as I saved it and put it into Miro for our group critique and changed it shortly after class. I’m excited to be able to finish and go get it printed in mockup form or just as is.

Post Six. Week 6: Chapter 5 [02.19.2021] This chapter was an interesting read because it directly correlated to our past project this past week and leading into our zine project. I think that this was incredibly informational as it went even further into detail with design and type principles that would help us to be able to deliver a more cohesive zine. Elements such a visual hierarchy, repetition/contrast, the “rhythm” and movement that the words used were all things that I want to pay more attention to going into this project. The picture attached above was my final mockup of both posters, but one of the things that were mentioned in critique was to add more spacing and make my elements a little smaller and to break my columns down more so that it wasn’t in a singluar paragraph chunk. These deign principles when used properly will allow for me to make more interesting and interactive designs as it will be easy for the viewer to see and understand my work.

Moving forward, I’d like to play around with consonance/ dissonance and column/ margin placement to create an elegant piece of type work/ poster/zine.

PROJECT THREE Post Seven. Week 7: Chapter 6+7. Gill Shuler Talk [02.26.2021]

These two chapters were incredibly thought provoking because it brought in this idea of giving words a new/ added layer of meaning an expression. The dynamic representation of language and typography creates a new way of communication. It is really fun to see the improvement and evolution of the way that the printing press has become more technologically advanced and how typography has evolved with the times as well. The technology that has been put into computers in combination with high resolutions CRTs and lasers has changed the world of design, especially for digital designers. IMAGE 7 I wanted to merge social media and health together and try to do the topic of human anatomy and how social media has influenced us to try and achieve this idea of “perfection.” I think it would be cool to merge medical stats and people we know to

create a blend of stats and my own option (that people are beautiful the way that they are and there is no need to bend to society’s standards of beauty). I wanted to use this as a space to merge illustrations of the skeleton and portraits of people.

MADE FOR YOU. 30

Post Eight. Week 8: Chapter 8 [03.11.2021] I loved learning about this topic today! As I continue to work on my own project and my website portfolio. It was really interesting to learn more about how simple and effect design can be achieved through the type that you chose. Legibility and simplicity is so important and I really enjoyed learning about the paring of fonts. (Definitely something that I want to use in my own work!) It is also incredibly important to know how to understand this because much of what we use is digital already and so if something as simple as text cannot be done properly then people will ignore your work. Details matter! KELLY WALTERS Kelly Walters is the founder of BrightPokaDot and a designer in the design and typography field. Her work revolves around the experiences of Black designers and the Black community. I think that it was really interesting to see how she was able to combine things that she was passionate about and design/social

advocacy together. I think that it important to change perspectives and the narratives that are given so that we can increase the conversations around uncomfortable topics. Art wields a really big part of conversations that I really admire her work! COMMENTARY ON WIP This wip is definitely been a lot of fun to work on. I love combining the stats, hand drawn illustrations, and pictures. I still have some work to do in terms of adding in some info graphics, but I am excited to see where this goes! I think that I will keep it as black and white with very minor shades of colors to complement and highlight certain points. I think that I’d like to work on some of the hierarchy of the text so that it is more appealing to look at. I’d like to also play around with different formats of how I do my page layouts -- I feel like I have been doing very similar layouts and want to challenge myself to think outside of what I am usually used to.

Post Nine. Week 9: Chapter 9 [03.19.2021] The whole time I was reading this chapter I was laughing and shaking my head. Typography in time & sequence .... after I took the class last semester with you LOL. I now see that it was slightly out of the norm to go completely out of order when I was taking my art classes, but it has been extremely satisfying to see work that I have learned here, in time and sequence, and beyond in my other classes collide. Still type is important, but especially with the digitalization of so many things, it is important to learn how to create more engaging and value adding work. Through the different movements and angles, you are able to create impactful motions and meanings to drive home the word. I love how there were also film ideas integrated into the chapter, it really allowed me to think more about how everything in visual communications collides together!

Reflection of Zine, Project 3. This was a really fun zine to make! I really enjoyed the process of being able to combine pictures of my friends and reaching out to them to be apart of my project and just letting them come into the process of my work! I think that spaces are always more fun when you are creating social impact and including the people you love and are close with in it. I think that it allowed me to be more analytical while designing and I just really appreciated the space to do so in this last project. Above is my favorite spread in the project!

PROJECT FOUR Post Ten. Week 10: Chapter 10 [03.26.2021]

Looking at all of the typographic designs and spreads from other designers were really inspiring -- I think I will try and include some of the ideas mentioned in the text to try and step out of my usual format of design. Some of the design systems I really admired was the one that Massimo Vignelli created: the Unigrid system. It just seems to be a layout that is able to condense a lot of information while balancing it out with pictures. I think that this will be a great addition to play around with in my final project. I also really liked the example of the typographical (analog) structures of a book which consisted of five vertical hairlines. I want to continue to integrate designs that create a clean and modern look. PROGRESS I am really excited to see how my final project turns out! It has been a whole year since I have done a final project book, so I am interested in seeing how it

turns out in comparison to my final project a year ago. I want to continue to grow and push myself to refine my design style so that I continue to build on my brand. I am currently finding archives of my work and things that inspired me along the way and integrating it into my final project. I can’t wait to show you!

Post Eleven. Week 11: Chapter 12 [04.02.2021] Wow I really enjoyed looking at the grids and thought processes that go behind creating the typefaces. I think that it is really cool how much thought and precision goes into making each letter. It was also nice to see the various iterations and thought processes that other designers had to go through to reach the final product that we see in real life. So much of design thinking is in every aspect of our world from the money that we handle to landscape design. This chapter was pretty useful as we begin our 5th project. I’m pretty excited to see what type of designs we end up creating as a group. I’ve never really formally worked together with other students on a design project so I am looking forward to see how that goes. Response (Noah Scalin talk) Noah Scalin coming to talk to us this past week was really inspirational. As as student who was lucky enough to be able to also be able to hear

him speak three days in a row between his talk on Tuesday and also in Prof. Khalili’s class and for a workshop as well, I feel as though I was able to really be challenged in the way that I think and work through my designs. He spoke a lot on finding our inner child again and not being limited by our surroundings in the art that we make. Noah also spoke about dreaming small -- this is another topic that really resonated with me. By challenging ourselves to be able to work under constraints, it allows us to thrive. I was also challenged by him telling us to work with more physical things rather than just jumping straight into the computer. By working with different mediums, it will help stimulate our brains into thinking with different perspectives.

Commentary I was really inspired by Noah this past week so I have been trying to think of more ways that I can show case my work and my thought processes in my final project. I think that it has really pushed me into looking playing around with different things around my house that I have that will allow for me to think more outside of the usual box that I do my work in. Thus far, my work on the InDesign files still look pretty standard to my usual work, but I have been working on some sketches and thoughts outside on a separate notebook and will transfer some ideas over soon!

PROJECT FIVE Final Extra Credit Blog [04.23.2021] Wow -- this past semester has really flown by. It has been incredibly hectic and fulfilling as I finish out my final two classes for my art studio minor, but I am incredibly happy that I was able to do this! In this class, I have learned so much about type and various rules that I knew of vaguely, but not in depth. It has been really nice to learn about and get feedback to further refine my skills in design and I am really happy to have gotten to take your class. Hopefully, my work has been a reflection of how much I have gained in the last three semesters of your class! Despite it being completely online, I have made use of the online resources and have met some new people through the breakout chats. Hopefully everything will return back to normal soon and we can have in person classes again so that I can stop by the offices! Thank you for the great opportunity to still pursue something that I didn’t think I could continue in college. Thank you!

COLOPHON: Header: Century Gothic Bold, 50pt Subheader: Century Gothic Italic, 18pt Body: Century Gothic Regular, 12pt Works Cited

ARTS 246 Book. Carter, Meggs, Day, et. al. Typographic Design: Form and Communication. 6th Edition. 2015 Print.

To Prof. Chi! Thank you for the past three semesters in the GD+I program! I have truly enjoyed being in your classes and learning from you. I wouldn’t have imagined doing all that I have done the past year and half were it not for your art class back in SP 20. I’m grateful for all that you have taught me and I hope that I will continue to create work and become better, even as I finish my time as an art minor -- It was well worth taking extra courses for. Thank you for your constant support! I’m going to miss taking classes in McMaster, but I hope to still see you around campus! Best, Karen Wong 04.27.2021