Circle Exercise

 

Circle Disection

Here is my circle, I started it with the idea of going around the whole circle. I than changed it so the reader stays consistent and follows the dots with the idea that they will follow the typefaces which are the same for each sentence but different for the whole paragraph. I want to draw the eye into the circle and back out or from the outside in. I choose the CMYK colors as an accent to the type because I felt that the paragraph, being about designers and inspiration, I thought the CMYK color palate would relate to the audience.

Dissection of a Circle

Another attempt on this exercise I have done takes advantage of the circular motion after replicating the original grid followed by the process of taking it apart. Part of my idea was to create actual dots that would follow along the path of the circle, and have the smaller ones be located in the middle of the design to create a little bit of visual depth. There are three fonts being used, including a few of their families, that are all a light cream color. I also wanted to add a red hue into the background that wasn't too vibrant, but one that brings the composition just the right amount of value in order for contrast to still show. Compared to my attempt on the first day of class, I am proud to say that I have a much better understanding about working with grids as well as designing type. This course will help me overall with future projects, and it's making me consider redoing past work just to make them better at displaying the design principles with a more creative approach. For a lack of better terms, I got something out of doing the assignments without it just being tedious work, and I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way!

Circle dissection

Given the time frame I was still pleased with my final product for this exercise. I really liked the shapes that we started with so I didn't want to lose them by typing on their path. You need to look for a second to see the shapes, but I feel like it helps you slow down and really look at the piece.

Found this book while looking around for interesting type. I love when designers use big type to be expressive and create a beautiful bold design!

Times New Roman could also be in the same category as Comic Sans (at least in my opinion), with overuse and a clear connection to newspaper work (not usually a designer's dream job on an everyday basis). Do you love it, or hate it?

Today, a designer friend of mine just sent me this video about Times and it's clear that there is no consensus about how designers feel about it. I thought it might be a good way to end this semester - showing that once again, the design community seems to be at odds with itself!

Break the grid!

I don't know about the rest of you but I tend to break the grid too often to count in my designs, sometimes for the best and sometimes for the worst. I found this image and thought it was a really effective way of breaking the grid! Of course everything is array and you can't read most but all the vital points of the design you can read easily and I think that's what makes this effective. The design displays how breaking the grid can create some pretty disheveled and messy looking designs (which I'm assuming is intentional to relay the message of the design).. What do you guys think? Do you think keeping completely to a grid is more effective than straying away from it to make an original, unique piece?