Type II
Journal Whitney
Engelmann
Designed By
Whitney Engelmann ART 338
Winter 2017 Fonts Used
Avenir Next + Shrikhand 2
Type II
Journal Whitney
Engelmann
Intro
4
ART 338
Typography II Journal Typography is arguably one of the most overlooked things around us. There is a designer behind every character placed on every
surface, object or screen. Typography is a delicate skill that can be practiced and refined
indefinitely and once noticed, can’t be ignored. Throughout this quarter, I’ve practiced and
refined my own typography skills through trial
and error, realizing rules of usage, and designing with type in the context of three projects. This journal is a compilation of notes, read-
ings, guides and projects throughout the entire quarter from the Typography II course.
5
One Week
1.13
Lecture
Typographic Refinement: The Details Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Typography in Ten Minutes Summary of Key Rules Forward Exercise
Legibility and Readability Study File
6
Lecture
Typographic Refinement: The Details There are 12 points in 1 pica, and 6 picas in 1 inch. (1p6 1pica 6 points)
Picking a typeface and size: • Proportion and weight • Length of text • Format for viewing • Audience/Reader • Content (screen or print) Workforce Typeface: • A good regular weight, bold and italic • Robust proprtions • Legible numerals • Spacial economy Make Type Look Better • Metrics vs. Optical (designer vs. Adobe) • Line length (8–13 words per line) 7
• No fake small caps • No less than -10 tracking • Use smart quotes • Spell Check: command + i
or turn on dynamic spelling
• Customize Hyphenation:
8
Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Typography in Ten Minutes Start every project by styling the body text
FIRST— it makes up the majority of your doc-
ument. What your body text ends up looking like is based heavily on the following rules:
Point size. 10-12 point is best for print. 15-25 pixels is best for web. Pay attention to the
default size of the font and adjust accordingly as each one is different.
Line spacing should be 120–145% of the point size.
Line length should be about 45–90 characters
per line. This generally means larger (greater than 1 inch) margins.
Font choice. Avoid system fonts that came with your computer and invest in really
well-designed fonts. If you do use system fonts, choose wisely.
9
Summary of Key Rules Top 5 Rules listed on previous page 1. Avoid goofy fonts, monospaced fonts, and
system fonts (Esp. Times new roman, Arial).
2. Use curly quotation marks, not straight ones
3. Put only one space between sentences. 4. Don’t use multiple word spaces or other white-space characters in a row.
5. Never use underlining, unless it’s a hyperlink.
6. Use centered text sparingly. 7. Use bold or italic as little as possible. 8. all caps are fine for less than one line of text.
9. Only use real small caps. 10. Use 5–12% extra letterspacing with all caps and small caps.
11. kerning should always be turned on. 10
12. Use first-line indents that are one to four
times the point size of the text OR use 4–10 points of space between paragraphs.
13. turn on hyphenation with justified text. 14. Use the correct hypens, en, and em dashes 15. Use ampersands sparingly, unless included in a proper name.
16. In a document longer than three pages, one exclamation point is plenty.
17. Use proper trademark and copyright sym bols—not alphabetic approximations.
18. Put a nonbreaking space after paragraph and section marks.
19. Make ellipses using the proper character, not periods and spaces.
20. Make sure apostrophes point downward. 21. Make sure foot and inch marks are straight, and not curly.
11
Forward Some quotes from Erik Spiekermann’s Letter: Type is visible language. Type is “mechanized” writing—as opposed to
writing by hand. One could argue that even a
handwritten shopping list uses some arrange ment on the page, but I wouldn’t go as far as calling that typography.
This is what I call typography: the arrangement
of prefabricated elements on a page. These el ements may include images, words, sentences and—above all—the space between those ele
ments. Ideally, this arrangement visualizes and thus reinforces the hierarchy of the message. That’s one thing us mere designers can learn
from a designer who is also a lawyer, like Mat
thew: if your argument is easy to follow, it will
be a winning one.
12
Exercise
Legibility and Readability Study This exercise revealed the appropriate line
spacing by appearance rather than a specific rule, helping to develop a visual recognition for what is most legible when styling type.
Serif
Sans Serif
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received.
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received.
ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 9/13
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received.
BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 9/13
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received.
ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 9/12
BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 9/12
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg-
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you
ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
message may be received.
message may be received.
ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 9/14
BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 9/14
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg-
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you
ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
message may be received.
message may be received.
ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 9/15
BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 9/15
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible,
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but
heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful.
alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s
but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a
if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of
13
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received. ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 9/12
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received. BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 9/12
For both serif and sans serif fonts, the 9/13 Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg-
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be
ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply point-size to line spacing ratio appeared towouldbe display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration
legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you the most successful in“onethis context.
be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you
be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—
fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
message may be received.
message may be received.
ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 9/14
BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 9/14
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be leg-
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would
legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you
ible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your
message may be received.
message may be received.
ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 9/15
BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 9/15
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible,
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but
heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful.
alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s
but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a
if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of
Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not
first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communicate”—puts it
of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate
recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how
ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 8/13
BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 8/13
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible,but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication— “one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the efect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received.
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received.
communicate”—puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect that you do not care how your message may be received.
ADOBE CASLON PRO REGULAR, 10,13
very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the your message may be received.
BRANDON GROTESQUE MEDIUM, 10/13
Whitney Engelmann
14
Two Week
1.18
Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Why Typography Matters
1.20
Assignment
Typesetting: Rules of Typography
15
Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Why Typography Matters “Typography isn’t just the frosting on the
doughnut that is your text. Typography has consequences.”
The butterfly ballot is an example of how bad
typography can have bad consequences with a confusing alignment associated with each candidate and where to punch.
It goes both ways, however. “Typography can help you engage readers, guide them, and
ultimately persuade them. The more you ap
preciate what typography can do, the better a typographer you can become.” 16
Assignment
Typesetting: Rules of Typography
17
Process I really wanted to create a dynamic layout that
didn’t necessarily abide by the expected rules of alignment—using the text itself to create
rhythm and contrast. However, in my first rendition, much of the hierarchy was sacrificed.
18
Critique Notes Pay special attention to hierarchy—am I emphasizing what is most important? WhenI squint
my eyes, what stands out most prominently vs. what is important? I really saw this once it was pinned up on the wall and the numbers were
what was pulling me into the composition initually, not the title.
I focused on trying something different by
using a diagonal cross section of blue and
white, but it ended up limiting me in a lot of
ways especially with the title. I changed this so that it was a blue and white cross section with
1/3 of the bottom half as blue and a large title with boxes of text that adhered to a grid. This
appeared much more organized and hierarchically successful.
19
Three Week
1.25
Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Type Composition
1.20
Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Text Formatting Lecture
Choosing Typefaces, Installing Fonts and Managing Fonts
20
Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Type Composition “A text is a sequence of characters. Every char acter is a tool. Your goal: to always use the right tool for the job.”
The computer is capable of producing a lot
more characters than immediately visible and
it is important to recognize and introduce
many of these into existing type habits in order
to produce good typography.
Parentheses and Brackets should not adopt the
formatting of the surrounded material.
White space characters are important for
control and predictability. There are six major
characters: the word space, the nonbreaking
space, the tab, the hard line break, the carriage
return, and the hard page break. Always use real math symbols.
21
Unless characters are colliding, keep ligatures turned off.
Proper quotation marks • opening single quote: option + ] • closing single quote: option + [ • opening double quote: option + shift + [ • closing double quote: option + shift + ] Proper ellipsis: option + semicolon
22
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Text Formatting Text formatting goes much beyond just choosing a font and calling it good. A good idea for
how to properly format text is developed over
time, but there are some things to pay special attention to and avoid.
Never underline unless a hyperlink. Don’t use goofy fonts. Avoid monospaced fonts for body text. System fonts: Most are not actually that great, a lot are optimized for screen, not print, and all of them are overexposed.
Some acceptable system fonts: Athelas, Avenir, Bell MT, Book Antiqua, Californian FB, Calisto MT, Century Schoolbook, Charter, Franklin Gothic, Garamond, Gill Sans, Goudy Old Style, Hel vetica (Neue), Hoefler Text, Iowan Old Style, Optima, Palatino, Seravek, Sitka, Calibri, Futura, High Tower Text, Perpetua, Segoe UI, Tw Cen MT
23
Lecture
Choosing Typefaces, Installing Fonts, and Managing Fonts Choosing Typefaces • Consider: content, audience, format/context • Technical: full character set? OpenType
fonts are cross-platform, includes full set of glyphs, marks, etc.
Where to Get Fonts • Buy a nice font • Google Fonts • Lost Type co-op • Font Squirrel • Font Spring • My Fonts • Fonts.com Fonts live on your computer .../library/fonts/
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Managing Fonts • Font Book: create font sets, resolves font conflicts, can deactivate fonts
• DEACTIVATE fonts that you aren’t going to use—they slow down your programs
• Use font sets to keep fonts organized • Other managers: FontExplorer X Pro, Suitcase Fusion 6
• Create a stysrem/folder to organize fonts
25
Four Week
2.1
Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Page Layout
Assignment
A Dialogue
2.3
Reading
“Family planning, or how type families work” by Peter Bil’ak Lecture
Typesetting in InDesign: Tools and Techniques
26
Reading
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Page Layout Main things to remember with page layout • Decide first how the body text will look. • Divide the page into foreground (most important elements, i.e. body text) and back ground.
• Adjust using the smallest visible increments. • Make variations and compare them. • Be consistent. • Relate each new element to existing ele ments.
• Keep it simple. • Imitate what you like. • Don’t fear white space (larger margins based on line length of body text).
27
Assignment
A Dialogue
28
29
Process I didn’t have as much time for this project, and generally lean towards creating a graphic to
accompany text and create another layer of
interest. I decided to experiment with using
photography in this context and get a feel
for how to create a dynamic relationship
between text and image. I hadn’t completely
committted to simply using just a photograph
initially, and all the elements on the page
became too busy, but it felt good to ideate and experiment before simplifying.
30
Critique Notes I had some printing difficulty with matching
the black from the photo to the background
black, which is something to pay attention to in
future projects. I felt like I learned a lot about
the relationship between text and image with
this project, but really adhered to the grid with
this layout. Revisions may include breaking the grid with pull quotes, etc. to add more interest
and attention.
31
Reading
“Family planning, or how type families work” by Peter Bil’ak A type family is often not as closely related
as one might think—different generations of
typefaces developed over time can be entirely different in form and function.
Each individual glyph must be distinguished
within styles of the type families—once again, each character can be entirely unique and
function depends on careful relationships and principles that create a consistency within a
family. This includes optical size, weight, width, stylistic differences (serif, sans serif), construc-
tion differences (formal and informal), x-height, ascenders and descenders, etc.
Typographic innovation and design is a con-
tinous work in progress that spans across many generations.
32
Lecture
Typesetting in InDesign: Tools and Techniques Styles: help to save time and be consistent. • Character styles: bold, italic, run-in sub-
heads, bullets, numbers, etc. Must highlight text to style it.
• name styles VERY specifically • Paragraph styles cover 80% of elements • Table styles and cell styles • Object styles To hang a list: left indent entire paragraph and set negative first line indent at the same value. Span Columns: single or multiple text boxes within the same one.
GREP: globally search a regular expression and print
OpenType: special characters Export tagging for online and HTML styles
33
Five Week
2.8
Reading
Using Layout Grids Effectively,
Designers Insights
“Typographica Mea Culpa, Unethical Downloading” by Steven Heller
2.10
Reading
“My Type Design Philosophy” by Martin Majoor
Assignment
Elements of Style Pamphlet
Version 1
34
Reading
Using Layout Grids Effectively, Designers Insights Always use a grid for design projects. This is crucial in order to create consistency,
visual harmony, a structure and a strong foun-
dation. A grid makes it much easier to produce stronger work.
The rule of thirds and the golden ratio are
great tools to use to create dynamic compositions and interesting designs.
Rule of thirds
3 column grid
Golden Ratio 35
“Typographica Mea Culpa, Unethical Downloading” by Steven Heller “Perhaps because type is the most common
means of written communication we assume the license to usurp it at will and without
ramification as though it were decoupage.” “All typefaces, from almost every foundry (from Adobe to House), are automatically licensed for a specific number of output devices and
CPUs at one location. It is an industry standard” It’s not only illegal to download fonts without a license or to share them, but it disregards the
work put into designing them. As a designer it
is a moral duty to respect fellow designers.
36
“My Type Design Philosophy” by Martin Majoor “You cannot be a good type designer if you are not a book typographer.”
Mixing typefaces is a very delicate process and
can go horribly wrong if not executed correctly. After many movements in type history, it has only been until more recent times that sans
serif fonts (ex. Gill Sans) have been created to work in harmony with serif fonts. These sans
serifs were designed based on the serifed
fonts in order to work in harmony with them.
Martin Majoor designed “Scala” based on this
principle of basing one on the other.
37
Assignment
02
Elements of Style Pamphlet Version 1
The Elements of Style
38
Process For this project, I chose the typeface, Proxima Nova for both my body and display text. This font contains a very large family of weights.
With a large amount of text, my goal was to
create some visual interest through contrast
between weights and a sense of composition through the placement and hierarchy of each
of the elements. With so much text, it became difficult to distinguish a very large span of hierarchy and I quickly learned the importance of flowing all the text into one box as well as using paragraph styles.
Critique I was very focused on the design itself and
didn’t pay close enough attention to the spe-
cific guidelines, which are extremely important in any design project. I also ended up using
too many weights and sizes that much of the text became confusing—a reminder that it is
not just about the appearance of the composition, but more importantly, the functionality
and legibility of the text.
39
Six
Week
2.15
Reading
“A View of Latin Typography in Relationship to the World” by Peter Bil’ak
2.17
Assignment
Elements of Style Pamphlet
Team Version
40
Reading
“A View of Latin Typography in Relationship to the World” by Peter Bil’ak Movable type is generally attributed to Gutenberg with his invention in 1436 in Europe with
a central focus around Western history, however the first recorded movable type system was actually created in China around 1040 AD by
Bi Sheng based on woodblock printing. Not to mention, probably more advanced consider-
ing the complicated chinese character system. Advances in this system in other eastern countries occured even before it reached Europe. We place a lot of emphasis on Western type when a great amount of the technology and history stem from other influences.
41
Assignment
Elements of Style Pamphlet Team Version
42
Process This was a challenging exercise collaborating with other designers in our class on a single
project, but one that revealed a lot of skills
that are crucial in being a designer. There are
countless advantages to combining forces
in achieving a solution that has been filtered
through a creater number of creative minds—
all powers gombined. As there is a lot of personal preference involved in designing, this
forced each of us to separate ourselves from
the design and look at it through an objective
and solution-focused lens.
Critique After simplifying a lot of my different styles and
varying sizes and weights from my first booklet, the overall design was much more successful.
However, there were still existing styling errors
and inconsistencies that could be fixed with
another proofreading and scanning of the text.
43
Seven Week
2.22
2.25
Reading
“Lava —Voice of a Magazine” by Peter Bil’ak Reading
The First Thing I Ever Designed: Elena Schenker and
“Gratuitous Type” Magazine
44
Reading
“Lava—Voice of a Magazine” by Peter Bil’ak Peter Bil’ak talks about his process in creating
a font around his new magazine “Works that Work.” He talks about the creation of Lava, a
typeface designed to work for both the screen
and print versions of the magazine.
“Since the magazine would be read both in print and on screen, Lava was designed to
perform optimally in both high and low-res-
olution environments. Lava looks closely at
system fonts such as Times and Georgia and
aspires to work on screen as well as they do. In print, Lava delivers something that default UI
fonts usually lack: refined details, finely tuned
proportions and meticulous spacing that let
the reader forget about the typeface and pay
attention to the text.”
45
Reading
The First Thing I Ever Designed: Elena Schenker and “Gratuitous Type” Magazine In this article, Schenker discusses the upbring-
ing of her own independent magazine, “Gratuitous Type”. This was an opportunity for her to
create a design that was entirely hers and one
to evolve over time. She focused on having fun
with it and doing it out of enjoyment, which, to
me, is really inspiring considering that a lot of
design projects are very limiting in nature. This project has landed Schenker many opportunities and has helped launch her career.
“Issue no. 1 taught me how important it is to
trust in yourself and your abilities. You know
what’s in your mind, and it might take a while to realize it in precisely the way you’ve imag-
ined it, but trust in your instincts and give your-
self the time you need to get it right.”
This was an inspiring article to read in both the context of my personal relationship with design as well as project 3: type zine.
46
47
Week
Eight 3.1
Reading
“Eric Gill got it wrong; a re-evaluation of Gill Sans” by Ben Archer Exercise
Grid Analysis Exercise
3.3
Reading
“Beauty and Ugliness in Type design” by Peter Bil’ak
48
Reading
“Eric Gill got it wrong: a re-evaluation of Gill Sans” by Ben Archer Archer remarks, “Gill Sans is the Helvetica of England; ubiquitous, utilitarian and yet also
quite specific in its ability to point to our notions of time and place.”
Gill Sans, since its creation, has been lost in a cloud of marketing schemes, redesigns,
bundling of variations, associations and mis-
attributions. Based on a humanist structure, its forms are actually not the most ideal and re-
fined. It should be used with caution as it has
a lot of historical significance and is difficult to pull off in many cases.
Many argue that Gill’s mentor, Edward
Johnston had created a superior typeface prior to the release and uprise of Gill Sans.
49
Exercise
Grid Analysis Exercise The grid is an element in design that underlies all the elements on the page and their rela-
tionship, yet it’s actual lines are invisible in the
final product. This exercise was helpful in cre-
ating that reminder and in creating a new lens through which to view layouts and design.
Both of these spreads work with the same under ly-ing grid that uses 3 columns and two .25 inch
gutters separating them. Each of the columns are
equal widths of 2.5 inches. Each spread uses some of the same owlines that align elements horizon tally across the page, however, the grid is based
on the three-column layout, not modules. Each of the images in this layout align with text elements
horizontally ( owlines), but break the grid vertically (columns). This also applies to the pull quotes on
the second layout. The images, pull quotes as well
as the large drop cap character on the second lay out break the grid slightly.
50
51
Reading
“Beauty and Ugliness in Type Design” by Peter Bil’ak In this article, Peter Bil’ak looks into what a con-
ceptual typeface actually might be and what melding the most beautiful and the ugliest typeface in history might entail.
Historically beautiful typefaces include Bodoni
and Didot with high stroke contrast. Ugly typfaces stemmed from italian movements with
reverse contrast. T”he difference between the
attractive and repulsive forms lies in a single
design parameter, the contrast between the
thick and the thin.” Combining these typfaces,
Bil’ak created “Karloff”.
52
Nine Week
3.8
Reading
7 Striking Design Pairings “An Idea of a typeface� by Kai Bernau A Typeface Designed to Revive the Endangered Cherokee Language Lecture
Typography for the Screen
53
Reading
7 Striking Design Pairings A condensed version of Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design, Graphic: 500 Designs that
matter features seven juxtapositions of designs from different places and times.
54
“An Idea of a typeface” by Kai Bernau Kai Bernau, for his graduation project, sought to create a typeface free of all stylistic distractions to direct the reader’s attention solely on the content.
“As the discussion with other designers unfold-
ed, I found neutrality to be an elusive, ambigu-
ous quality, one that I would have to explore in order to define for myself what it would mean for a typeface to be truly neutral.”
Bernau performed many mathematical calculations and thorough research to arrive at his
solution of “Neutral”.
55
A Typeface Designed to Revive the Endangered Cherokee Language Designer Mark Jamra created a typeface in
order to preserve the Cherokee language and culture. After studying the syllables for many
years, he created a family of letterforms including one inspired by handwriting.
The result is a beautiful set of shapes and an
inspiring story of studying and understanding
a foreign language and translating it visually.
56
Ten Week
3.8
Assignment
Type Zine
57
Assignment
Type Zine
58
59
Process I took a very simple approach to this project with the goal of using minimal graphics to
place more emphasis on the typography. I had
a pretty strong vision of the style I was going
for in my head the whole time and constantly
referenced my mood boards. I sought to make this an easy read for on the screen with less
“noise� and excessive graphics and jam-packed text. I noticed I have less patience on the
screen, so I tried to consolidate and simplify
the elements into legible and dynamic chunks
with clear hierarchy and large photographs.
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Critique The importance of proofreading cannot
be stressed enough. It’s important to allow
enough time in the design process to go
back and scan the text for small type mistakes
such as dashes and widows, especially with a lengthy project such as a magazine.
Keeping up with interim deadlines is crucial to not only time management, but allowing
enough time to properly design something
and provide enough thought and experimentation to the assigment.
In giving a presentation, revealing the “why”
and intention behind the work is the goal. The
audience already can see what is there, but the thought process behind it is what should be
presented and explained.
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