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?

Illustrative & Vintage Fonts

Hey guys,
I thought I'd share with you this project that a designer named Teagan White did. She took a quote and illustrated each word to correspond with it's meaning. I think the coolest part of this is the fact that it still seems unified even though each word is different. To be honest, this really inspires me to be more illustrative and creative with my typography.

Also, Can we talk about how awesome it is to use vintage typefaces when it pertains to the content it's being used for?

My favorite example is The Great Gatsby. The Roaring 20's art deco style is basically the only choice for this movie because it only makes sense. But the fact that they made a new, modern art deco font specifically for the movie is incredible. The fact that that is what this movie literally is, a remake of a classic story set in another decade with the edition of modern elements, makes having a new type face more than necessary. Its called Deco Pinstripe and it can be seen on all the new Great Gatsby posters, ect. It was even used at Tiffany's for their Gatsby collection. Its so classic but definitely not boring. I can't tell you guys how much I love it. Any thoughts? Also do you guys have any vintage-inspired modern typography designs that you love?

Love, Cancer.

This is part of a series of poems written from the point of view of cancer. This piece caught me a little by surprise just because i've become used to seeing a poster being expressive, not body copy. This makes me want to start looking at body copy as part of the piece, not just something you need to use.

When you see it...

When you see it...

So this week when I was surfing through the internet and I came across these awesome yet comical  simplistic typography posters. What they did was "express" what the word is in the most simplest way by either manipulating the type/adding or taking away. I think that they're quite fascinating and I love that they didn't add too much. They kept the typeface in black which I think works because it goes with the whole "simple" theme. So I only picked out my favorite ones but here is the link to see the rest of them. When you see it What do you guys think??

Here are some inspirational type posters for climate change. What do you think about them!
I personally love the colors, matched with that type it really brings the message across without screaming at you.

So... Have you seen Comic Sans new look?

It is ironic that we've been stabbing at Comic Sans for practically the entire quarter with no actual reason why we hate it besides the fact that it's unique (and rather obnoxious to the eye) style wards us off from ever believing in it to be a true professional typeface like Helvetica. Coni has asked us why helvetica, which is practically used everywhere and no one ever tires from it is so much greater than comic sans, which never gets any positive spotlight? Obviously its the construction of the type and its usability reasons that make helvetica top notch and comic sans laughable... But has anyone seen the new typeface comic sans has been evolved into?? I honestly think this typeface is giving comic sans a standing chance at being a usable, fun typeface, what do you guys think??

Wanted to share with you guys my logo.

First let me give you some background on what I doing my project on. I recently found an article on how CO2 disrupts plants and causes them to pollinate faster. This is the reason why there are more people that develop asthma every year. I wanted to do this subject because I recently found out that I have developed asthma after being in Massachusetts for a year. The doctor said it is because in Boston their is a lot of CO2 and disrupted plant life...

Now for the logo... I wanted to create something that was...

• Simple yet original
• Worked in Black and White
• Represented the Letters CCI

Because cars and factories are the number one producer of CO2 I also wanted to incorporate that into the logo as well. The two "c's" are the CO2/chemicals that come from vehicles/factories. The "i" is the chemicals/CO2 and the exhaust/factory chimney. I wanted to make the chemicals/CO2 coming from the exhaust/factory chimney more prominent than the letters cci.  

I posted this up here because I really wanted to see your thoughts! Thanks guys! 

Decided to change the bubbles to a more dominant color;)

Went back to the first logo.. after hearing peoples feedback I started to feel the same way. I also think that you can see the c's a little easier too.

Inspirational Brochures

Here are some inspirational brochures! I thought the first on was very unique with the holes cut out of it. I would have never thought of that and it gave me a few new ideas. Also, the second one has many colors that all compliment each other, which is always hard to do and the constant design they have on every other page is really creative and works great with that style brochure. Hope this gave everyone some inspiration :)

Fun with Classic Fonts

In my search for something to post to the blog i actually found  these classic fonts posters that are very amusing. They were made by Gary Nicholson. I certainly got a chuckle out of them, but that aside, i like how simple they are, which is probably the reasons why they are so successful, puns aside. What do you guys think? 

The History of Typography - Animated Short

I stumbled upon this looking for what to blog about this week and this is just such a cute and creative way to talk about the history of type. I think he does really well explaining the differences between modern style old style and traditional style and all his other quirky explanations were enjoyable to listen to as well! Enjoy!

Music Poster

So I didn't have my music poster back for the final critique. So I wanted to use it for the blog this week to see what you all think. I figured I can use the criticism and build, its always good. The song is a powerful one to me, both the artist being two faves of many I am moved by the message in it. Not only that but it was actually performed live for a studio audience on the Dave Chappelle show. BlackStar:Mos Def/Talib Kweli, Audio of Chappelle Show Appearance. I hope you all like it but don't hold back either!!

Typography Through Music

Even though this was one of our exercises a few weeks ago.. I just came across it! I really liked this design, however, once listening to the song it was very hard to follow. But that doesn't mean it's not an unbelievable design! The scattered letters make it a lot more confusing than it should be though. Here is the song.. Tool - Parabola. What do you guys think?!

 

Expressive Type

EXPRESSIVE TYPE

So this week I wanted to challenge myself and fine some really good expressive type. Type used without images. Just type itself.  And I came across these two examples. The first is honestly because I was literally laughing for five minutes. I thought it would be cool to share with you guys! I loved the way they did it with the S being really big in the center and showing the serif that got shot at the bottom. Looks pretty legit to me no?

The second one definitely got my attention. Its a typeface "Hoefler" Which this is a great example for Erica's post since its a Hoefler & Co typeface. This poster is awesome because they really knew how to express type here, By the use of textures and weights and scale. What do you guys think?

less is more

I wanted to find something to share this week that really proved that less is more. These are some of the best examples i've seen in a while, and the best ones that i could come across. This series was created for science day in India. I think it's really important to remind yourself that you don't always need a thousand layers, gradients, typefaces and anything else you can throw onto your document. I'm not saying these were easy to come up with, but if you strip down your thought process to "less is more" it may help to design something that's a bit more funny and clever.

Graphic designer Craig Rozynski developed the new, funkier take on Comic Sans. He describes the new font as aspiring "to be the casual script choice for everyone including the typographically savvy"; it looks like someone told Comic Sans to straighten up and put on a tie.

http://comicneue.com/

foolproof

I wasn't entirely sure what i was going to post today, until I came across these two posters. At first I thought it was just going to be another poster with overlaid text, which i'm seeing more and more. But even though these posters do have that, they are actually really well executed, in my opinion. The content is funny, the color choices are really well done and it just adds a sense of pride to how designers see some typefaces. These were made for april fool's day, so the designer is being a little overzealous about how "foolproof" these typefaces actually are, but i can find merit in some of the things she's written.

Enough Good Typography... what about the BAD?

Everyone keeps showing amazing examples of great typography and really effective info graphics.. but what about bad typography? Sometimes we need to look at the bad to realize the "what not to do" in typography.

I found this site stumbling around tying to find some terrible examples and this article made me laugh and cringe at the same time.

http://www.companyfolders.com/blog/worst-fonts-ever-11-examples-of-bad-typography-in-print

Everyone knows how deadly a typeface can be when used the wrong way, or just how using a bad typeface can destroy the whole message of the piece.

Oh... and if you ever thought Comic Sans might be a useable typeface for your next project (I really hope that thought has never been created in your mind) DONT.

If you need some more reassurance as to why not... please look at these iconic brands using Comic Sans and tell me how "iconic" they look after.

Aren't they lovely?! Hah...

Infographic that really sparked something in me!!

Just wanted to get my input of the info graphics in. I was torn between this and a poster that I stumbled across in search of fun album art done mostly with typography, as the John Mayer cover still resonates in my head as to how amazingly intricate the process was. This is however a poster on the negative effects of climate change, I found a bunch and thought I'd share one with the blog to get feedback. It speaks volumes about the smog effects. I love the birds and the feeling I get when I see a hawk circling or a robin on my fence. Although they aren't the only animals effected I'm convinced that they get it the worst.

http://good50x70.org/2011/2009-edition/climate-change/

Hoefler & Co is a type foundry in New York City run by Jonathan Hoefler. He achieved his greatest fame while working with Tobias Fere-Jones, under the name Hoefler & Frere-Jones from 2004 – 2014.

H&Co develops fonts for both the retail market and for individual clients. Clients include The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, Esquire and The Guardian.

In 2009, Hoefler and Frere-Jones became the first typeface designers to be recognized by the National Design Awards.

“For 25 years, we’ve helped the world’s foremost publications, corporations, and institutions develop unique voices through typography. Our body of work includes some of the world’s most famous designs, typefaces marked by both high performance and high style. We work with brand leaders in every sector, developing original typefaces for print, web, and mobile environments, and licensing fonts from our library of more than one thousand designs.”

Visit www.typography.com for fonts by Hoefler & Co.

Typography Murals

I found these while looking through the creative bloq site. They are beautiful murals and really opened my eyes to the different ways and emotions that you can convey with using type! Worth a look!

http://www.creativebloq.com/computer-arts/5-breathtaking-typography-murals-51411638

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