Wow the Typo. by Parag Chitale

Wow did I learn the Basics of

Typo. by Parag Chitale

Parag Ajit Chitale S1401104 Graphic Design PG 2014 National Institue of Design

Contents Assignment 0 . . . . Assignment 1 . . . Assignment 2a Assignment 2b . Assignment 3 . . Letterpress 1 Letterpress 2 . . A very small thing

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We had a very intense module of fundamentals of visual design for 6 weeks and this was the very first course of Typography. Everyone was quite excited to start with typography as Tarun Deep Girdhar himself was going to be our teaching faculty. And on a super Saturday before the course started, we got a mail from Tarun; . . . . He had a surprize for us! . .

Assignment 0.

. . . . This is what the mail said, ÂŞOn an A4 sheet of paper, please write some basic information about yourself which you would use to introduce yourself. yes. That's it. remember, it has to be one A4 sheet, and hand written in a manner which reflects your understanding of typographic principles. you are free to use the writing tools/colour etc.Âş

I was very excited to do this! Express your Ě&#x2019;self' on a piece of paper with typography alone! I started with putting down the points which I wanted to tell people about me. Everyone loves to talk about themselves. On the very first day of our Typo class, We were going to get to know each other and reconnect. I decided to take the self-portrait literally, and started laying out the my information in a way that it would suggest a silhouette of my face. I tried this approach digitally, and it turned out good. I was happy! Then I had a reality check and had to take a rain check on that idea. I had to show the portrait the next morning and the layout I had in mind required me to write 41 lines each within the height below 5 mm. Not possible on a short notice! I understood the real meaning of the one thing everyone kept telling us during foundation time, Going digital is never the answer. It was painful to let go that idea so I decided to keep the silhouette theme and add different things inside the outline. Now when I look at it, I try to like it the way I loved it that time and it makes me a little happy, seriously! Its crazy how two weeks can change your life!

On the Monday morning, we displayed our assignments on the soft board and there were all possible try outs to capture the sense of a Typographic self-portrait. Mine was almost an illustration rather than a typographic layout. Some of us had written things in a very letter-type way and some had done it point-wise.

Every work was different in its own way, just like its maker. As everyone presented their creation, we discussed the way the layout was done, the choice of colours and their placements and many more details. Without our knowledge, we make so many decisions and they matter, that's what I learned that morning.

We had discussions through presentation about classification and history of Typefaces. What is a font and how it is different from a type. I got to know about a lot of terminologies.

serifs, sans serifs, type-heights, cap-heights, x-heights, leading, descenders, ascenders, counter-forms We examined the changes that took place in the very concept of a character through its form and shape and how it makes difference in a communication strategy. The weight, the size, the style, the orientation, everything matters. I felt like I have been an ignorant person till that day. I never used to notice those small differences in the font families before that day. I am not saying that I know everything about types and fonts now but I can at least tell which one belongs where! That's an achievement for me, in a way.

Ascender x-height Descender

Hqbxh

Capline Capheight Baseline

I've observed one thing, the very enthusiasm Tarun caries transcends through the class, and he makes the work more interesting than it actually is. We started with our . .

Assignment 1.

. . . . . . We circulated a sheet of paper, with the names of everyone in our class and every other person had to attach an adjective to that. After getting the final list, we finalised on

One adjective for each person. We ahd to follow some rules thugh, Draw a square of 12 x 12 cm on an A5 sheet. Make your layout inside that square. You are not allowed to use colours (ofcourse) You can repeat the text. Everyone was given with someone else's name and the adjective. Now the remaining task was simple, I just had to express the adjective or the characteristic of that person using that person's name as text.

I had ̒Ayushi Medatwal' and her ̒ T alkativeness' as my task. Now I had to write ̒Ayushi Medatwal' in such a way that it will project talkativeness. I had to choose a typeface which would have a talkativeness of its own. I started looking for such a typeface and along the way I realised that,

Each and every typeface has its own character and you just can not use any typeface anywhere. I searched and searched but could not find any typeface which was fitting the description. I searched online and found one called Head Case, the alphabets of which had many dangling ends. I wanted this sort of typeface with which I can portray the intermingling nature of Ayushi's talks. I started exploring various compositions with that and came up with one in which the each repetition of the text was interconnected with the other.

First exploration

During the discussion with Tarun about this composition, he pointed out that it was looking very un-welcoming and pointy, harsh which was not my intension. I realised that, Unless you know what can go wrong, you believe that everything is fine. So I started again. I started to look for a typeface which had the feel of interconnectedness without harshness. Finally I found a contemporary typeface named Ě&#x2019;La Chatte ďż˝ maman'. It was happy looking typeface.

I explored various layouts, with repetition, without repetition. But still It was not convincing enough, I had to work more. This kind on dissatisfaction is helpful and inspiring when you accept that you can do better.

I finalised the one which had the text at various positions parallel to the horizontal base of the given area in varying sizes, indicating the continuity and randomness of a talkative person. The whole composition has a feel of rhythmic movement. The roundness of the font helped me to portray the welcoming nature of humble Ayushi and so it was done.

finalised layout

We played around with words in the first assignment and we learned how to select at a typeface for a specific purpose. Then there was . .

2a.

Assignment 2a.

. . . . . . The second assignment was something different. The task was to create a layout on an A4 sheet inside a 18 x 18 cm square. We were given the text in three weights of the Khonoor Devnagari typeface. We were not supposed to change the physical hierarchy of the given text but

create a logical hierarchy through typography which will impart the meaning of the text.

My Text was in Devnagari script. I chose devnagari because I had no idea how can one create a layout with words as a unit and not separate alphabet. In devnagari script, if you separate out the characters from a word, it looks wrong and distracting at times. Devnagari scrip and Hindi language, a good combination indeed.

My text said,

ªJaati na poochho sadhu ki, poochh lijiye gyan, mol karo talwar ka, padi rahan do myan.º The literal meaning of the text is,

ªDo not ask about the caste of the saint, ask about his wisdom, Value the sword, leave the sheath aside.º

I truly believe in this thought. I support this notion by all my heart. When I got this text as my assignment, I felt really happy that I would get to project my views this subject. I detest any kind of discrimination. Someone's caste can never be a point to judge them. The whole point of putting someone down based on their background he has is ridiculous. Denying someone the opportunity he deserves on the basis of something on which he has no control is unacceptable for me.

It does not matter from where a person is, the only thing that matters is how honest and just he is. I wanted to convey this message and I was try the same through my layouts.

The first thing I did was reading the text over and over to get different interpretations from within. I started putting them down on paper and I found out that re-emphasizing the words in different manner will enhance the impact on the reader. The layout and the hierarchy of the text should be designed in a way that the viewer will be interested to come closer to read. Reading the text with interest understands the message to be conveyed. We were not allowed to change the physical hierarchy but we can change the way the viewer will be reading it. I came up with some good explorations which had different meanings on first level. I tried some formal layouts where the lines were parallel to each other and the orientation of all the lines was the same. In informal layouts I tried to explore the possibilities of placement of the text in such a way that it reflects on the thought it was trying to project.

ÂŞPut down the sword of casteÂş

ªDon't ask about the caste, Leave it.º

ªTake this valuable knowledge, Leave it sheathed.º

ªAsk about the caste, you'll be woundedº

While reading the text and relating to it, I thought about the other side of the discrimination. Using your caste as a shield to bypass the hardships and not using the mighty sword of knowledge to conquer the difficulties. I tried contradicting the real meaning of the text by changing the hierarchy. This kind of provocative sentence will surely attract the attention of any viewer and once he reads the whole sentence, the intended meaning will be conveyed in more effective way. This process of meaning making through a single text was very exciting. We had a lot of constraints about the typeface, and so I was taking each decision very carefully. All the layouting was done with cut and paste method by enlarging and reducing the size of the photocopies of the original text. The very idea of having a different logical hierarchy than the physical hierarchy taught me a lot about human perception, cultural aspects behind human thinking and most importantly how can one change level of impact with the help of sizes alone, without changing the typeface.

ÂŞAsk for the caste, forget wisdom (knowledge)Âş

ªPut down the sword of caste.º Finalised formal layout

ÂŞAsk for the caste, forget wisdom (knowledge)Âş Finalised informal layout

The next level of the on-going assignment reduced some constraints and added some more difficulties. That became our . .

2b.

Assignment 2b.

. . . . . . . We were given one more typeface with three different weights. We were supposed to create a similar layout as the one from the last part but

change the hierarchy. This was difficult to do than I thought it would be because more options you get, more confused you get while taking a decision. The new typefaces had some thick and thin strokes which were lacking from the previous one. I examined all the samples thoroughly before actually starting the work. Each typeface was giving a different level of impact or force to the text.

The final one from the last assignment had the layout in which there were two levels, one reading ªPut down the sword of casteº and then on the next level, the complete text. I decided to simplify this point even more and came up with a layout reading ªSheathe your caste.º

ªSheathe your caste.º

Though a nice attempt (I guess), this layout was not on the same lines as its predecessor. It had more levels to it because of different fonts. I started working on next layout.

ªDo not ask about the caste, impart knowledgeº

The thick and thin strokes put the text at different place than the bold text. The forceful order of ªJaati na poochhoº forms a wonderful contrast with a sicere request of ªGyan do.º This layout was quite similar to the original one with respect to the placement but there were more levels to it, which was not expected. The addition of more than two fonts in the layout was changing the hierarchy. I tried another one almost similar to this one, but changed the hierarchy even more. I made it sound sarcastic, as it was making more sense as a composition and was catching attention. I finalised this layout which reads, ªAsk about the caste (and then) impart wisdom.º This contradictory hierarchy works very well with layouts of such contents.

ÂŞAsk about the caste (and then) impart wisdom.Âş Finalised formal layout

I observed that changing the font in the same layout changes the level of effectiveness of the layout. I was able to understand the importance of perfect selection of typeface, appropriate selection of the size and weight and need of creating a layout which serves the cause.

After completing the wod leven and sentence level assignments we moved on to paragraph level. The most exciting of them all, . . .

Assignment 3.

. . . . . . We were given a text about ÂŞWhat to do before and during an earthquakeÂş and we were supposed to do either a poster or a booklet. I opted to do a booklet. I had never done a booklet before so this was going to be something very new for me. We were given some guidelines for making the booklet. The folded size of the booklet should be 5 x 8 inches in portrait orientation. We can use colours in the layout. The booklet length should be maximum 12 pages. Changing the text for not preferable but you can change the sequence of points in the same section.

I first read the text thoroughly. I pointed out some important points that I thought were a little more important than the others. I categorised the text in different sections regarding the content. During this process I was simultaneously looking for a typeface which will be perfect for this situation. This was a safety hazard related booklet. The typeface had to be very crisp. It shouldn't have long ascenders and descenders and the x height must be good enough to be readable. The text must look clean and easy to read because this was a serious issue that was to be delivered through the booklet. I chose the typeface Folio which fulfilled all the conditions of mine. Now I was ready to make a booklet.

Oh WAIT! . . . . . . I don't know any!!

Which software to use??

ÂŞAdobe Indesign is a software which is good for layout and things.Âş I had heard this sentence a hundred times after coming to NID. I had no idea how does it work and how to use this tool to our favour. Tarun demonstrated and instructed us about the basics of this software before we would panic and I thank him for that. As a computer engineer, I kind of know where the required function must be placed. Finding my way through the interface of Indesign took me almost 2 days, but after that I was confident that I can use it as I wish. I planned to make a booklet with 8 pages including the front cover.

I showed my earlier attempts to Tarun and we discussed the mistakes and errors in the judgement that had occurred in that increment. The size of the font, the style of the font, the way you place your titles decide the reading sequence. Addition of colours makes it even more critical as conflicting decisions about the colour and the layout will distract the reader from the information, which is not expected. We should be able to create exact amount of contrast so that the reader will get the correct hierarchy and will not be overwhelmed.

As I understood the importance of contrast and how we can use it to direct a viewer to read in a certain sequence, I tried different layout altogether. This one had the most interesting and important instructions about the emergency on its back cover. The front cover and the back cover are the most easily visible pages of any publication. As this booklet is supposed to give needful information about the natural disaster, an earthquake; I decided to put an indication about the contents on the cover itself. The frequently asked questions are answered in this booklet, Go read it; the cover suggests.

The inside pages have some highlighted text which has the highest importance considering the situation. The eyes move directly to the text which is given a special treatment than the rest of the text. The list of instructions is writeen down with hanging indents, making each point easily readable. The colour that sooths you and keeps you calm should to be used for publications that are giving information and not any alarming news. The clean and clear spacing between sections makes it really easy to browse through the text. I had not thought of all these things before but now try to kepp these points in mind when I am trying any layout for any kind of text.

When we were working on our assignments, we started to learn how to put the thoughts we had on the paper, literally! We were starting with letterpress assignments. Let's call it, . . .

Letterpress 1.

. . . . . It is a relief printing process. We went to visit the Print Labs. Sachinbhai along with Tarun, introduced us to Types, and the Case. We observed the structure of a type and recalled the information about type-measures that we learned in the morning. We got to know some simple gimmicks put in the type to make the job of a typesetter easy, like the groove and specific arrangement of alphabets and other characters in the case. It was enchanting to imagine the hard work that designers and printers put in making a layout and printing it. It was just like getting to know our ancestors! I was thrilled. But that special day, I did not know then, had something more to it. We were told to come up with a tagline or a punch line that we were going to print on our own!

Our very first hand-composed letterpress printing!

After a lot of discussions, we decided to go forward with

ÂŞLet's do something.Âş We had two typefaces Bembo and Grotesque. One serif and one san serif. After finalising the layout, we started putting the types in the composition stick word by word and then transferring them into the tray. One has to be very careful while adjusting the leading by adding appropriate furniture. This is basically a type of padding that needs to be done so that the layout won't be disturbed while printing. As we were composing the types, we got to know the very important feature of letterpress. The layout has to be Wrong Reading! You have to keep in mind that as the types are wrong reading (mirrored), the layout is also going to be wrong reading! We finished the composition; actually Sachin Bhai only did it. We observed and assisted him. We had a small instruction session about the letterpress, how it works, what to do, and what not to. As a new comer to this part of the world, I felt like being in a wonderland. We decided to use Blue ink and applied it on the rollers of the letterpress. And Started to print under supervision of SachinBhai and the very helpful trainees.

Hand composed Wrong Reading Layout

This is what you do if you want to print something: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Finalise the layout. Compose it perfectly with the help of composition stick and tray (and mirror, if needed) Transfer it to the flatbet carefully. Apply ink to the roller of the letterpress. Perform inking by the roller. Place paper with the help of the grippers onto the blanket. Push the blanket down with the lever such that the paper is levelled with the type. Roll the paper over the type so that the ink is transferred to it. Pull up the lever to lift the blanket and take out the paper. Roll back the roller to its original place.

Final Print

Then we were divided into 3 groups of 5 and we were going to do the whole process of relief printing all by ourselves. Our very own . . .

Letterpress 2.

. . . . . There were five of us in the group. Ayushi, Surbhi, Me, Nagesh and Shashi. We had almost 2 hours per group to compose and print the composition. We were allowed to use single colour as cleaning the rollers of the machine is a time-consuming process and we had no time to spare for colour change. We came up with a line

ÂŞDon't be offset.Âş As it was going to be printed with a letterpress, it made a punny line and also it had a touch of optimism to it. But there was a little problem.

The layout which we were planning to finalise required two colours. The word OFFSET was supposed to be printed with two colours with a little offset of its own. We thought of an arrangement and discussed it with Tarun and Sachinbhai who thankfully appoved of it. The problem was time management. We solved it as follows. We had 2 hours and 3 activities for each group. We scheduled it as follows.

Compose

GROUP 1 RED COLOUR

Compose

Clean Compose

GROUP 3 GREEN COLOUR

Compose

GROUP 2 RED COLOUR AND GREEN COLOUR

Clean

We were going to use one colour from the group before us and second from the third group, so we would effectively save a lot of laborious work and time as well. As the group before us was using red ink we decided to incorporate that in our layout. The second group was using green and so the perfect combination was achieved. I had never thought that typography will teach us Management also!!

Printed copies in the Print Lab

Result of a good time management

Explorations and experimentation

Printing on paper of different quality

This module has literally changed the way I look at life. Earlier everything looked fine, felt OK, but now it has become much more than that. Now every decision I take, comes from a very different point of view which not only considers the impact, but the degree of impact as well. Whenever I look at a disproportionately stretched out font, I feel bad about the typeface. Now a days, I am excited to go to a new restaurant; not for food, but to see the layout of menu card. I do not just read the book I understand it because now I try to listen to what the layout is trying to say. . . .

smal

A very small thing

. . . . . can change the whole percpective. I am trying to open my eyes and pay attention to details.

The most important lesson that I've learned is,

making mistakes is OK. As a student you can not come up with a masterpiece every time you create something. You may go wrong, and that's fine. As long as you understand where you went wrong and improve yourself the next time, mistakes are welcome. I have made a lot of mistakes and I am glad to say that I have tried to learn from each of them. . . .

Typography itself has a `typo' in it!

. So I have decided to make many mistakes and learn from them. .

Yes. . .

Typo matters.

Parag Chitale GD PG2014