A labor of Love
MORGAN BROWN
A LABOR OF LOVE MORGAN BROWN
BABYFACE
First edition published by Babyface Publishing, October 2013 Copyright Š A Labor of Love, 2013 Morgan Brown has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by Babyface Publishing Pty Ltd 23-25 Wemyss Street, Enmore, NSW 2042 www.babyfacepublishing.com.au All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or retrieval, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia.
Brown, Morgan A Labor of Love ISBN 987-0-9868934-4-3 Author & Creative Director: Morgan Brown Photographer: Morgan Brown www.morganbrowndesigns.com.au info@morganbrowndesigns.com.au Printed and bound in Sydney Australia, October 2013
FOR GRANDMA JUST BECAUSE
AcknowledgEments
First and foremost, I’d like the take the opportunity to thank my lecturers Gaye and Nathan for revealing that type can be both ‘sexy’ and ‘CRAP’. Thank you for instilling the rules of typography, which I know will be extremely valuable to my studies and future career. Thank you for providing a professionally structured course. Your feedback and support was of the highest standard and always constructive. This semester has been emotionally tough and I’ve had to face many unexpected hurdles along the way. I’d like to thank Gaye, Nathan, my family and fellow students for their support and understanding.
“Typography needs to be audible. Typography needs to be felt. Typography needs to be experienced.” Helmut Schmid
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0 1 Logo Design & T ypog r aphic Self Portr aits p. 14–17 Abstract Shapes & Letterforms p. 18–19 Publisher Logos p. 20–21 Self Portrait p. 22–23 Reflection
02 GIANTS OF T YPOG R APHY p. 26–27 E-publication, Erik Spiekermann p. 26–27 Hierarchy p. 26–27 Page Composition p. 34–41 Rules of Typography p. 42–43 Reflection
Contents
03 LET TERS IN THE ENVIRONM ENT
p. 46–49 Croppings p. 50–55 MCA Poster p. 54–57 Reflection
04 PROCESS BOOK DEVELOPMENT p. 60–65 Book Development p. 66–67 Final Reflection p. 68–69 Reference
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CHAPTER ONE LOGO DESIGN & TYPOGRAPHIC SELF PORTRAITS
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ABSTRACT SHAPES
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Getting to know you A logo is a unique character to represent or communicate a brand, it can be pictorial, incorporate text, or be a single character or emblem. Its characteristics and personality should reflect the values and traits of the brand or organisation. During the course of the semester, we learnt how to craft an abstract logo, create a letterform logo and design a wordmark for our very own publishing company. Letters take the characteristics of basic geometric shapes. Before we dig deep into the soul of the letter, firstly we need to look at its shell. Is it a square, circle or triangle? Before crafting letters, we went back to basics and explored the fundamental elements of shape. By combining, isolating, cutting and merging geometric shapes, we are able to compose a number of unique and interesting abstract shapes, ideal for a company logo. A seemingly simple exercise, however there are many considerations to take into account when creating an abstract shape. Abstract logos are intentionally vague and often ambiguous when communicating big ideas. When crafting, it is important to consider proportions. Is it pleasing and balanced? Consider the relationship between thick and thin, remembering white space dictates! Ensure each line and shape has a purpose, be bold, confident and decisive.
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LETTERFORMS
Letters are beautiful things – love and appreciate their form. Is she round and curvaceous or does he stand tall and proud? Is she soft and delicate or is he sharp and stern? Does she have that va va voom, or does he fade into the room? Really take the time to get to know each letter, dig deep into their soul, there is more to a letter than meets the eye. Explore their inner beauty, you will be amazed, its what’s on the inside that really counts! Experimenting with a range of different letters, my focus was directed to the composition of each character. Reversing the counterform of a letter provides the ability to find unique ways to represent the letter. When executed correctly, the Gestalt Theory of Perception comes into force and we are able to express meaning through new and interesting ways. Initially I struggled to look beyond a letters outline and found it difficult to visualize that inner beauty. Creating aesthetically pleasing letterforms whilst still maintaining the original form and integrity also proved a challenge.
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PUBLISHER LOGOS
FINAL LOGOS Having recently received some news that I will soon become an Aunty, I used this as a source of inspiration for my publishing company — with tender loving care, careful consideration and attention to detail, Baby Face Publishing was born. I decided to use the abstract logo mark as my final logo for all collateral, as it’s symbolic simplicity is visually pleasing. There is a nice balance between form and negative space. I particularly liked the simplistic elegance of my word mark, however felt it may lack visual interest. After receiving feedback from Assessment Task One, I reworked the logos to adjust the kerning and simplify the detail. In my first submission I was aiming to adopt the human characteristic of a face into my letterform, however there was an unwelcomed awkwardness. By stripping back and redeveloping, I created a simple and clean B and F. This new letterform was solid in design and provided depth and interest.
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P U B L I S H I N G
Assessment Task: Create a publication brand using the word Face.
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Assessment Task: Typographical Self Portrait using Gill Sans. A neutral and angry representation.
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TYPOGRAPHIC SELF PORTRAITS Create a typographic self-portrait to capture the essence and features of your face, using the qualities of the typeface to enhance the final form. Deciding to use my eyes and glasses as the focal point for my self-portrait was the strongest approach to ensure my portrait had a strong likeness. Crafting the design required particular attention to detail and careful consideration of design principals, including scale, contrast, shape, tension, balance and harmony. I quickly established, in most instances, less is more. Stripping back the detail was imperative to the success of the final form.
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Reflection
Initially I struggled to visualize and depict letterforms and the shapes found within the negative space. This was most challenging when creating my publisher logos, I was losing the legibility of the letter. White space really does dictate the composition and I quickly learnt how important it is to consider and use that space purposely and effectively. I realised black elements shouldn’t always be the primary focus. Counter form and negative space is just as important. One must always consider the relationship between thick and thin and ensure each line, shape and object has purpose. Don’t be afraid, be bold, decisive and confident when making choices. One significant change this semester has been an improvement in my ‘eye for detail’. Once you learn how to place, align, space or proportion objects or text, it becomes clearly obvious when something just looks wrong. I now enjoy scanning over books or magazines to see how good, or indeed bad, the layout actually is. With this new found knowledge comes the responsibility of ensuring everything I do is created with great care and exacting standards.
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CHAPTER TWO GIANTS OF TYPOGRAPHY
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HIERARCHY This assessment provided the opportunity to research (and honor) one of the most influential type designers of our time. I, like the majority of my peers, chose Erik Spiekermann, with a particular focus on his typeface Officina San Serif. Whilst composing this publication, the importance of hierarchy became evident. With limited space, hierarchy is an essential tool to help the reader make sense of the content and assist with navigation. Hierarchy doesn’t always refer to text in visual layouts; the image or photographic element can take hero presence. When more than one element is present it’s imperative to consider how all the elements relate to each other, and how you want to guide your reader. Hierarchy can be achieved by changing the size, weight, position, form, typeface and colour.
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PAGE COMPOSITION Giants of Typography was the first ePublication I created. I quickly realised working from screen as opposed to print is quite different. To create a successful publication one must consider space. Avoid crowding and do not use all four corners, breathing space is imperative to the success of a good design. Maintain consistency throughout the publication, and pay particular attention to detail when crafting type, headings, and column sizes. Include folio marks and page numbers to create continuity and integrate bullet points or sub-headings to guide the reader.
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ADDING SOME OOMPH! Creating interactivity was a painstaking task, strong attention to detail was required to ensure all the files interacted and flowed correctly. Once I got my head around the process and naming conventions, I found a new appreciation for Oomph and was successfully able to bring my publication to life.
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Assessment Task: Create an ePublication with a series of interactive pages featuring the work of one influential type designer
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RULES OF TYPOGRAPHY
One fine Tuesday, Nathan said ‘Today is the most important class in your degree. Everything you learn today will be applied in everything you do, in college and in your career’ Up until that day, kerning, En Dash, Em Dash, leading and hung punctuation were foreign terms and DaFont was the ‘go to source’ for choosing a typeface.
What da font? Font choice is a primary consideration when designing a publication. Choose wisely, cheap fonts have limitations. At first glance they may look pretty, intriguing or unique, however with closer examination the flaws become evident. Cheap fonts generally have bad kerning, do not belong to a ‘font family’ and have limited glyphs and punctuation.
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“Today is the most important class in your degree. Everything you learn today will be applied in everything you do, in college and in your career� Nathan Scoular
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Yes we kern! Kerning is the relationship between the space and the letter. Like any relationship or great love, letters need special attention and must be treated with tender loving care. For optimal enhancement kern everything! Like us humans, letters often need breathing space, and at times need to come closer together. Manually adjust the over spacing with attention and consideration.
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WIDOWS AND ORPHANS Don’t leave a lonely Widow on a line of its own, similarly, avoid a single line at the top of a new column.
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Hyphens Finally some clarification! I often wondered why Microsoft Word would automatically change a hyphen to a dash, and a dash to a hyphen. Now it makes sense! I was totally oblivious to the fact that there were so many different types of dashes! - Use dashes (hyphens) correctly - Hyphens only to be used to join words - Hyphens in justified text only, however try to limit the number of time it occurs - Use En Dash (dates, to and from) use a thin space - Em Dash (use like a bracket) use thin space or up flush.
Can’t touch this Consider how to separate paragraphs. Use a consistent space between paragraphs or indent, but never both. If indenting, restrict the indentation to 4-5 characters deep, however always leave the first line of the paragraph untouched. Manually create paragraph and character styles to ensure consistency and never (I repeat), never, use the space bar to indent or the return key to create paragraphs!
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I’m hanging for you! For the purpose of pull quotes always hang the punctuation by optically aligning the characters, not the punctuation. Similarly, if creating Drop Caps, align the text to the dominant shape, not the serifs. Create an ‘implied’ line via alignment.
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REFLECTION
Small details really do make a huge difference in the overall quality of a publication. It’s important to communicate the content and not the errors. Making type transparent is half the challenge. The Wall of Death was an integral part of my learning. There were many occasions when my heart would race as I sat in anticipation, waiting to be shot down, however as the weeks rolled on, I found this exercise very constructive. The feedback received from my peers, relevant to my work, was invaluable. I pity those who didn’t take advantage of this exercise.
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CHAPTER THREE LETTERS IN THE ENVIRONMENT
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CROPPING Serif, stroke, bar, counter, bowl, stem, ear, shoulder, decender, loop. Who knew a letter could have so many characteristics! This was an extremely valuable exercise as it reinforced there is so much more to a letter than meets the eye. I assumed an x was just an x, and comprised 2 diagonal lines intersecting at the mid point. I was surprised to find the diagonal lines are more than just lines — they have personality, well-crafted, angular lines with varying weights and form. I did not expect to find so much variation!
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Assessment Task: Create a sequence of interesting letter croppings.
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LETTERS IN THE ENVIRONMENT POSTER
The Letters in the Environment assessment was my favorite project in this course. I especially enjoyed the ‘hands on’ opportunity to get outside and let our creativity run wild. I returned with an abundance of fantastic images. Although there were a lot of great shots, there were only a few that had a strong enough composition to make a great poster for the MCA. The lighting had to be perfect as shadows caused issues and confused the clarity of the image. The letter had to be prominent, however not dominate the poster. I wanted to use an image that was texturally rich with loads of visual interest, without being over crowded. I particularly liked the photograph of the letter draped over a drainpipe, however I struggled to make this image work. Although there was an abundance of space to work the text, the lines in the brickwork were troublesome. I tried many different variations, yet the irregular lines brought a great deal of awkwardness to my composition. Sometimes you just have to let it go and move on.
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INSERT FINAL POSTER
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The image I chose was in fact the last image I took. We had called it a day and were making our way back to college when I stumbled across a construction site and saw an opportunity for an interesting shot. There is so much visual depth in this photograph. I particularly like the industrial textures and imperfections in the concrete. The juxtaposition of the torn hessian with the crisp white paper works beautifully. The letter is perfectly framed between the partitions and in the background, the construction workers go about their business. I purposely used black and white to represent the concrete jungle we inhabit. The orange adds a pop of colour and is symbolic to the construction workers hi-vis jackets and safety helmets.
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Reflection
Everyday I am blown away by the creativity of my peers. When looking around the classroom I see an abundance of beautifully crafted posters, stunning photographs and well considered typography — a testament to our teachers! This poster was a brilliant way to bring all the elements of design and typography into a visually intriguing advertisement. It was an opportunity to put our learning into practice. Hierarchy, composition, kerning, leading, punctuation, alignment, contrast, placement, and balance all played a vital role in the execution of this design. Overall, I am very pleased with the final artwork! It’s a shame this isn’t a real exhibition, I’d love to see these posters on display!
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CHAPTER FOUR PROCESS BOOK DEVELOPMENT
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PLANNING
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Planning this publication has been a mammoth task! From commencing this course I knew the workload would be epic. I therefore made a commitment to stay on top of my work and document my learning’s on a weekly basis — gee, I’ m glad that I did! I tossed around many ideas for a theme however struggled to settle on one notion. It wasn’t until the final stages of production that it occurred to me, the title of my book should be ‘A Labor of Love’.
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PAGE ARCHITECTURE
Page architecture was an imperative consideration during the planning stages. A publication must have structure, sequence and rhythm, providing a systematic way to guide the reader through the content. I’ve attempted to create a consistent look and feel throughout, by using black and white photography, adopting a minimalistic style and using a restricted colour palette. To create visual interest I explored the relationship between alignment and randomness, emptiness and fullness, flatness and angularity. I employed balance and contrast to emphasise key elements, introduced columns (ensuring they remained consistent and controlled).
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FINAL THOUGHTS It is true, the best type goes unnoticed. Typesetting is definitely an art, many hours of love and devotion have been invested into this book to ensure each letter, character and glyph has been given the love and attention it deserves. There have been a few bumps along the way, and in the early stages a love/hate relationship was beginning to develop. Designing and editing this book has been an ongoing saga, something I can only describe as ‘a labor of love’ From day one, I have been committed to succeeding in this course. I have absorbed every word, piece of advice and criticism like a sponge. The knowledge both Gaye and Nathan have provided has been instrumental to my studies and development, and I hope my appreciation is reflected in this journal. Thanks again Gaye and Nathan.
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REFERENCE
IMAGES Brown, M. 2013 Personal Images [Photographs]
BILLY BLUE Scoular, N. 2013. AD106 Typography and Content: Course content. [Lecture] (Personal communication, July – October 2013) Nielsen, G. 2013. AD106 Typography and Content: Course content. [Lecture] (Personal communication, July – October 2013)
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A Labor of Love A challenging journey through 14 weeks of highs, lows and somewhere in between, culminating in ‘A Labor of Love’
Assessment 4: Typography Process by Book Morgan Brown, Renwick © October 2013