Typography I

T Y PO G R APHY I

Y U H WA CHEN

1

YU HWA CHEN

Prof. EunSun Lee Spring 2012 M.S. Communications Design Pratt Institute

Typography I 4 Neighborhoods of Type 14 Composition 16 Letterforms 20 Words 24 Text/Graphic Elements 28 Texture & Positive/Negative 32 Image 36 Editorial Layout 46 Book Cover Design 58 Summary

If we see every typeface as a person, it owns its unique personality, style, and story. Typography is about utilizing the exact typeface to tell the story of our topic. Once we choose the accurate typeface, it will tell the story without any extra ornamentation. To choose right typefaces, we will start from a thorough research on our topic: knowing the context, feeling the mood, and observing elements in it.

Neighborhoods of Type The neighborhoods of New York are diverse and rich with character.

This character can be seen in the buildings, the shops and restaurants, the public space and the people who make the neighborhood what it is. Take time to explore four neighborhoods (or do research to get a feel for the character of each): Times Square, Central Park, Soho and Williamsburg(Brooklyn). Make note of your observations about the mood, pulse, visual attributes and overall impressions you get of each area.

TIMES SQUARE WILLIAMSBURG SOHO 6

CENTERAL PARK

7

TIMES SQUARE WILLIAMSBURG SOHO 8

CENTERAL PARK

9

TIMES SQUARE WILLIAMSBURG SOHO 10

CENTERAL PARK

11

TIMES SQUARE WILLIAMSBURG SOHO 12

CENTERAL PARK

13

Composition In this project, we practice how to organize different levels of information with carefully showing the beauty of typography. We will have 3 alphabets in different typefaces of our personal choice, and then adding different secondary elements week by week. We are not allow to place these elements arbitrary.We are suppose to learn how to blend these elements together considering their interplay within the canvas, and creating hierarchy, figure-ground relationship, contrast, eye movement and form and shape.

Concepts of Composition

Scale Size

Balance Tension/Harmony Contrast Context Meaning Focus Form Format Structure Grid Direction Rhythm Movement Color Tone Depth Positive/Negative Foreground/Background Detail Texture Smooth/Rough Computer/Hand Alters definition Drama Mystery/Surprise

16

Letterforms Use only black and white, choose 3 alphabets in combination of different typefaces and caps or lower case. I intend to have alphabets that have the most characters among others, and then choose the typefaces that best present the beauty of these alphabets. The common features of these alphabets I choose are curves and roundness, and I would like to create a composition with harmony form these similarities.

17

18

20 20

Words Keep the 3 letters we previously chose, and add 3 different words in different fonts as secondary information. The 3 letters of mine are names of existing typefaces from my typeface library.

Cheq

Times New Roman

Lynz Clarendon

Rhino Bembo

21

22

24

Text/Graphic Elements Choose a paragraph as a secondary elements in our composition, and add any graphic elements as complementary objects to our overall composition. My paragraph is extracted Science Magazine, discussing about a human disease. I intend to use circles in order to guide observers’ eye movement to the work, and balance the entire composition.

25

Exactly how isn’t clear, but Derecki and Kipnis think it has to do with introducing genetically normal microglia, the immune system’s cellular sentries in the brain. Microglia swallow dead cells and other debris in the brain. When the researchers injected transplanted mice with a drug that prevents microglia from engulfing cellular garbage, the benefits of the transplant disappeared.

26

28

Texture & Positive/Negative Apply a texture to our composition, and use different treatments on the elements we have to reveal the figure and ground in this composition. By destroying the figures of letters, using white knock off on the texture, and overlapping elements, I am revealing the transition between positive and negative space.

29

Exactly how isn’t clear, but Derecki and Kipnis think it has to do with introducing genetically normal microglia, the immune system’s cellular sentries in the brain. Microglia swallow dead cells and other debris in the brain. When the researchers injected transplanted mice with a drug that prevents microglia from engulfing cellular garbage, the benefits of the transplant disappeared.

30

32

Image Add an image to your composition, and have it interplay with the elements you already have. The relation between words and reading is just like music and listening, and I want to create the illusion that these elements in my composition can be heard, like notes on a staff. If we see the alphabets as graphics, they have many similarities with notes; by adding va headset I am implying this conception to observers, and turn this work into a piece of musial art.

33

Exactly how isn’t clear, but Derecki and Kipnis think it has to do with introducing genetically normal microglia, the immune system’s cellular sentries in the brain. Microglia swallow dead cells and other debris in the brain. When the researchers injected transplanted mice with a drug that prevents microglia from engulfing cellular garbage, the benefits of the transplant disappeared.

34

Editorial Layout Using the concepts which we have been practicing throughout the composition exercise, creating layout for an assigned piece of content. We look at our editorial piece as spreads rather than pages, and create the fluent flow for reading, from left to right. The usage of images is not only adding supplementary information, but also helping the eye movement on the spreads, reducing the pressure form heavy text, and attracting readers.

Assigned Content In this assigned content, there are many secondary information such as subhead, call-out, side bar, text and pictures. We learn how to make the content of these two pages connected, and have the page enough empty space to reduce the pressure from the information.

39

40

41

Free Topic I selected an article from Discovery News discussing organisms which generates lights in the dark. The awe-inspiring beautiful photos of fireflies are captured by a Japanese photographer, Tsuneaki Hiramatsu.

43

44

45

Book Cover Design The content of this project is to choose a published book in any category and create new book covers for it. We are only allowed to use type in black and white as our element in the first exercise of this project, but we can have more opportunities to explore more elements like color, texture, hand drawing and etc. as the project moves on. We can learn the process of creating a book cover that tells the story of the book. Choosing the right typeface will be on the first priority, and then exploring a variety of layouts with the most tension and expression that attracts viewers’ eyes. We are encouraged to create our original elements by hand drawing, photography, or the combination of any other objects. This project give me a opportunity to really immerse myself in the topic I am working on, and express it typographically. In this project, I experiment with different skills and materials to represent the story. For me, it is a practical way to know how to apply typography in real projects.

48

Texture & Helvetica In this design we are expect to create a book cover use only Helvetica as our typeface choice, and apply textures.

50

Bodoni Using Bodoni as our typeface choice. I use hand drawing as the treatment, and adjust the color into a skin tone.

52

Hand Drawn Type Using hand drawing to create a book cover with original elements.

54

Meterial: Acrylic We are allowed to use any element, color, typefac and image in our book cover.

56

Material: Acrylic & Metallic Paint We are allowed to use any element, color, typefac and image in our book cover.

Summary While visual elements are the appearance, typography is the soul of visual communication. By carefully looking at the deatails of typography, one can feel the mood and sentiment of the story it is telling.