Probe
Prescribe
Brief Fine Art Yearbook
Progress
Present
Research Book Collaborators:
Joel Burden David Gaskell
Gallery Visits
To start the brief of I decided that it would be good to take a couple of trips to some local art galleries. This would allow me to fully understand the context of my work. I visited the two main art galleries in Leeds and the Hepworth in Wakefield. I wanted to get a good feel of the whole place, and pay particular attention to any printed media or graphic design that accompanied the setting.
The outside of the Henry Moore Institute had some very effective typogrpahy covering the outside. I think that the architecture has a particular impact, on how vibrant the typography has. The virbant colour on the gloss facade makes a strong statement and melds the traditional serif typeface with a more modern, condensed, bold typeface for the artists name. The type is clear of any extra embellishment and just relies on hierarchy.
The inside of the Henry Moore Institute carries the same theme as the outside. The sophisticated serif font is accompanied by a basic diagram. The diagram is basic but accomplishes a very important job. A refined and modest wayfinding system. This allows me to think about potential outcomes for the exhibition at fine art.
I found the shop at the Henry Moore institute and took some time to browse through the zines and the books about some of the artists, exhibitions that had been at the Henry Moore institute. In addition to this I was able to look at some contemporary art publications. The design of the pieces was very understated. I noticed that the design was either minimal and work focussed, or bold and imposing.
The design in the books varied greatly. Some of the design used abstract elements, to help give the book a more exclusive quality. Simple elements, like a diecut circle seemed to make more of an impact in a setting such as an artist book store. While a feature like that can be seen in the tackiest publications, or some shameful advertising. The stock choice and surrounding typography has the ability to give the die cut a high end feel.
I took a trip to the Leeds Art Gallery and found a similar style of typography was also in play. Very minimal serifs and sans serifs with muted colour palettes. The typography seems to reflect the gallery setting in the sense that everything is set in understated and almost invisible typography. In the same way that white walls in galleries remain invisible to highlight the artwork.
I visited the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and found that the typography and graphic design was very different in this setting. The whole vibe of the place seemed to be very design orientated and allowed for more flamboyant type and image.
The setting and ambience of the Hepworth is an entire world apart from the Henry Moore Institute. This experience has allowed me to think that graphic design for art can be dealt with from an entirely different angle.
The design of these publications and the design strategies employed have greater scope for a more forward thinking and progressive design aesthetic. The publication is colourful, and engaging, while maintaining a level of sophistication that is an identifier of the art scene.
The design of the Leeds College of Art exhibitions programme seems to be taking on the same visual traits of the Hepworth branding. This seems to be an affirmation of the success of the Hepworth branding, so much so that it is being imitated.
Book Influences
After looking at some of the problems set by the Fine Art students, we started looking at some strategies to put in place for the book itself.
This book in particular was for a photographer. The work had full bleed photographs to exhibit the work, and then a thumbnailed contents page to find further information about the work.
I think this is particularly interesting for an art book as it showcases the work with no interruption. This is something that is going to influence the design of the yearbook. Perhaps a concept that has not been tried yet, so may not be accepted.
Typeface Choices
Typeface choices had to made for the proposal to the fine art committee. We did not want to choose anything that was going to be too edgy, and we need to avoid using something that would be used by another yearbook team. We looked at a variety of font’s from various foundaries and narrowed down our potential decisions.
Fonts in use was used to look at a variety of different typefaces to see if any were appropriate. We set out looking for a modern looking Sans Serif. We did not want anything too traditional. Our priority was function, but we still wanted something with characterand distinction.
We also used the Font Bureau to look at a variety of different typefaces. Nothing particularly stood out, so we look at further ways finding new typefaces.
We decided to go straight to the foundaries themselves. We started with Colophon Foundry. They have a lot of type choices with new ones always being released. Colophon Foundry have garnered a lot of respect from the design community in the last 3 years or so. We thought that due to the popularity of the foundary, there maybe a danger of using something generic and obvious.
Some of the fonts design by colophon are perhaps too ubiquitous to include as options. The problem with this is that previous years have used these typefaces, in order to create something new and updated we need to choose a typeface that has been untouched by previous years. So that it gives us a blank canvas in terms of the visual style.
While some of the fontsare widely used. Some of the fonts such as Value are less widely used. This is because they are new to the type foundry. I do not think this typeface is quite right for what we need. I think moving away from the geometric sans needs to be made, toward a more functional typeface, something in a similar vein to DIN.
Another great resource for searching type is VILLAGE. VILLAGE is a collection of type foundries that collate all of their work on the one website. A particularly nice typeface that could be a possibly is Founders Grotesk. The typeface is not too dissimilar to something like Helevetica, however it has it’s own interesting characteristics that set it apart from Helvetica entirely. This is the type of thing that we need. Something that pays homage to a commonly used typeface, but has it’s own traits. I am unsure that something like Helvetica is quite right as it may come across too ‘designy’.
Final Type
After searching through various fonts we decided upon a font family that seemed to fit and be versatile enough for our needs.
Flama is a sans serif which seemed to work as a very functional piece of type, but also had the quirks that make it interesting unique in style. The typeface reminds me of DIN, in the way that it is tailored toward signage. I think this is important in the art book, as I would like the book to look like an exhibition in book format.
The font comes in a range of styles and weights. We will have to choose appropriately when making type choices as there are a lot of potential combinations for headers.
In addition Flama comes in a range of condensed typefaces that can be used for extra book elements such as a page numbers or headers.
I set the essay in the condensed Flama to see how it would work as a statement page. I like the way that it looks, however I am unsure whether it is appropriate for the Fine Art Book. The typography is going to take a series of development stages before coming final and one of the things we must worry about is the flow of the typography throughout the book as a whole.
3D Type Ideas
Looking into the further breadth of the brief. We want to create some abstraction based on the concept of SUM and the typography we have chosen. We want to create some form of dynamic visual scheme that stems from the letterforms, but contains the concept.
I looked at a variety of dynamic and 3D typography that had a range of visual appeals. Some looked incredibly lofi and edgy, some looked terribly contrived and over produced (6PX), where as some looked edgy and high end. The way that we execute this part of the brief is key to the success of the visual appeal and the overarching visual language of the exhibition.
When looking at these pieces for my research and development. I was looking for the ways in which type is broken apart and in some case reassembled. This was particular important for our concept that would be about parts that create a whole.
While looking at 3D type I was stuck between looking at Gallery branding. I periodically kept reminding myself of the task in hand.