chadhappy2-blog

[chadhappy2-blog]

REFLECTION

Week one, I learnt the importance of typography and its use and relevance to today’s world.  Especially in graphic design and throughout our career when we have to use certain typeface to suit various types settings and situations. The purpose of typography is that it serves as an example for different font or typeface to express different emotions or modes of communication to the viewers who would view or read the letters, it all depends on the intention of the designer, for example my ransom note - a statement with a collage background.

The ransom note was designed to use a combination of found images and letters from a newspaper, book and magazine. The purpose was to create a statement or rather a meaning by using typography as a way to play with the letter form and its position and spacing to attract the readers and viewers either through its technique of luring our eyes to look at the words a certain way or by making the statement big to be captivating. In class we were introduced to certain skills, such as visual path, golden ratio and negative space as a way to draw in our viewers. In my opinion, I could of designed or add other components to make the collage more arty and professional by using more negative space.

Week two, we were presented with the setting of a body of text and the importance of expressing words and letters through typography through the use of composition and positioning. The images below are some of the examples, in these composition I learnt to be more considerate to the typeface, font size, weight, text placement, alignment, positioning of body text, and differentiating each composition from each other by modifying certain forms to make it more appealing. The difficulty of text settings is creating various version of it by changing its composition, which requires more sense of creativity so to overcome this I look for influences from modern magazine designs through websites or Pinterest blogs. This enabled me to create a more professional composition that is not too complicated, while keeping its simplicity. This helped support the reader's attention to the way they interact with texts through composition used. I also learnt different techniques to employ when designing variation between compositions of text layout, such as Drop capitals or highlighting a single word, it is simple, yet effective methods. Different typeface, placement of text, colour variation, layout and grid system play an important role when creating different compositions.

During week three, the final week of the workshop we were introduced to monogram and the printing process when printing out a booklet from Indesign. When designing the monogram I was careful with each detail as it is personal to my own design as we had to create a monogram using our initial, mine being the letter ‘C’ and ‘O’. I learnt that personal monograms are used to express who you are, basically the personality of that designer when read or viewed by the viewers. The problem I came across was not being able to decide on one design as I have created a series of draft sketch of the monogram on Illustrator. Also, I learnt the importance of test printing as the first print will not always end up perfect and it is through a couple of text print we can finalised our final print, something to consider with all works when creating as a graphic designer. Overall, I learnt a lot from this workshop which will further help improve my skills and technique used when creating new things in the future as a graphic designer, in relation to typography.

[chadhappy2-blog]

TYPEFACES

BODONI

Overview

The Bodoni typeface was designed by Italian type designer, Giambattista Bodoni. The Bodoni’s typeface is referred as Didone or modern serif typeface. The earlier design of this font had a bold look with contrasting strokes and an upper case that was condensed, inspired by the style of the Baskerville typeface. The Bodoni’s geometric styling suits every kind of typesetting, but it particularly is used well for title fonts and logos.

History

Giambattista Bodoni design Bodoni in 1798, the typeface is considered a ‘transitional font type. Bodoni was influenced by the style of John Baskerville’s typeface, Baskerville. The font is well-known for its centred ‘Q’ tail and hook in the ‘J’, which was widely accepted and recognised in a broad variety of publications and uses since 1700s. In 1909, American Type Founders developed a variant designed for the Bodoni typeface, in 1910 an italic and book version was released, in 1911 an italic, and bold and Italic version was released, and in 1912 a bold shaded version was also released with shaded initial releasing in 1914. These were later developed during 1915 through to 1926 to create a Bodoni family of fifteen font variations on Bodoni’s original font style.

Style

Giambattista Bodoni wanted the Bodoni typeface to have a contrast between thick and thin strokes, unbracketed hairline and thin serifs with vertical axis and horizontal stress with small aperture. The Bodoni typeface consist of varied stroke that has a modern feel to it.

Use

The Bodoni typeface has a unique style, a contrast between thin and thick strokes, which makes the typeface suitable for poster, headlines and logo displays. The book version is used for body text. It can also be used in neon signs. The Bodoni typeface can be used as a basic font for logo and titles.

Reference

·   Linotype, 2010, Bodoni, weblog post, viewed 30 September 2017, <https://www.fonts.com/font/linotype/bodoni/story>.

·   Ilovetypography, 2008, A BRIEF HISTORY OF TYPE, I love typography, weblog post, May 30, viewed 30 September 2017, <http://ilovetypography.com/2008/05/30/a-brief-history-of-type-part-4/>.

·   Prepressure, 2017, Bodoni, weblog post, May 12, viewed 30 September 2017, <https://www.prepressure.com/fonts/interesting/bodoni>.

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AVENIR

Overview

Avenir typeface was developed by a Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger. The design of this font is based on the classic style and sans serif typefaces of Futura (1927) and Erbar (1922), his aim was to reinterpret the geometric san serif design. Frutiger added an organic humanism to the design of the typeface by freeing Avenir from its rigid geometric overtones of its earlier designs. The Avenir family typeface consist of designs with gradual weight changes in order to suit specific text applications.

History

The typeface Avenir is the French translation from the word ‘future’. Adrian Frutiger design Avenir in 1988, the typeface was released with three weights, each with a roman and oblique version. The typeface family was later expanded to six weights, each with a roman and oblique version. In 2004, Frutiger and type designer Akira Kobayashi did a complete reworked on the Avenir family font to fix the digital display problems which later became known as Avenir Next.  The type family of Avenir Next had a total of 24 fonts, comprised of six different weights that had a roman and italic version, each with two different widths of normal and condensed. The light and thin weights were later added to the later version, called Avenir Next W1G which became part of the family, adding up to 28 fonts in total.

Style

Adrian Frutiger wanted the Avenir typeface to have a more organic feel and to be more humanised than its processors. The design of the font is inspired by the stylistic qualities of Futura with its thick and blocky letter forms, whereas Avenir typeface consist of varied stroke weights that has a modern and clean feel, acceptable for body type.

Use

The Avenir typeface can be used for headlines, display type and body type. It is often used as an accent font to other display fonts because of its stylistic and versatile design. The font is a neutral typeface, it is easy readable and has a modern feel. The Avenir is between the neutralism of Helvetica and the high modernism of Futura.

Reference

·   Murrayims, M 2014, Avenir, The History, Style and Use of Type, weblog post, 19 June, viewed 30 September 2017, <https://morganlmurrayims224researchtopic.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/avenir/>.

·   Christensen, T 1994, Avenir, The Typehead Chronicles, weblog post, viewed 30 September 2017, <http://www.rightreading.com/typehead/avenir.htm>.

·   Linotype, 2010, Avenir, weblog post, viewed 30 September 2017, <https://www.fonts.com/font/linotype/avenir/story#>.

·   Frutiger, A 1988, Type Gallery – Avenir, The Source of the Originals, weblog post, viewed 30 September 2017, <https://www.linotype.com/1116/avenir.html>.