justforartstuff

[justforartstuff]

The 1st blog - BA Graphic design

The anticipation of the last year of college is exciting and worrying at the same time. Goals and aims of this year is going to greatly influence how my future is going to be shaped because internship opportunities and the advantage of being a student is very comfortable but this is going to taken away from me in a year. Change is inevitable and it is a good thing. What I write today is important for this school year and it will motivate me or discourage me. The shape and size of the goals that I was recommended to make for myself is a ultimate battle in self control and that battle has been lost way to many times and I have come to be comfortable about the situation. I have been awakened and poked by the school and my surrounding this year that I know that I cannot fail anymore and only failure from challenging myself if acceptable. So therefore here I am challenging myself so that all the failure in the future will have some excuse that will only make me stronger hopefully for the better. 

1. Include 2 client brand identity that I will do in my portfolio.

2. Create my own branding for my imaginary studio.

3. Make a separate research class for myself about graphic designers and create a blog post. 

4. Make my own website featuring my works. (Coded myself)

5. Include 1 well produced video in my portfolio that is about my journey throughout BA.

The goal that is listed here is something that I am going to attempt and really try my damndest to achieve because it is just barely out of my reach but if I put proper practice and mind into it I know it is possible. 

The 2 brand identity is something that I wanted to always include because those are real works and I can bring physical works to my show that brings a different dynamic to my identity. 

The second goal is there so that I will prepare myself for the freelance work that I am going to do in the future and have a solid image and portfolio to convince the customers to give me money. 

Third goal is something that I wished to do but never got to it so my goal will be to create a class for myself to be sensitive to the design trends of the current generation. 

I have never like coding to I will force myself to code. 

Video creation is one of the most important thing to do in the generation because of youtube and how powerful it can be. I have never included a well produced video or a commercial that I was proud of so this will be the most difficult but rewarding if I pull it off. 

[justforartstuff]

“All the typefaces”

So far the blogs have been showing that bad timing and the lack of understanding of the purpose can lead to a typeface to be disliked among the design community. The design community is generally the ones that decides what needs to be hated or not for the general public. Most of them have valid reasons but few are just because the typeface became too cliche. 

Jacob Cass. 2017. Designer’s Most Hated & Loved Fonts. [ONLINE] Available at: http://justcreative.com/2017/03/29/designers-most-hated-loved-fonts/. [Accessed 30 November 2017].

The list of hated typefaces by designers: Papyrus, BlackOak, Triple Condensed Gothic, Monotype Corsiva and Brush Script, Gotham, Bleeding Cowboys, Times New Roman, Arial

Surprisingly the most hated typeface ‘Comic Sans’ was not chosen by the designers because they all already hated the font. Some of the typefaces that the designers hated were actually not bad to my eyes such as the typeface ‘Gotham’ and ‘Monotype Corsiva’. Obviously it all comes down to opinions but there were something similar in all of the reasoning behind the hate and that the typeface was overused and that there are so many other good options in the world of typeface. What designers hate is when a typeface becomes associated with boring, old, and lazy.

Bogdan. 2017. Top 10 Most Notoriously Hated Fonts. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.topdesignmag.com/top-10-most-notoriously-hated-fonts/. [Accessed 30 November 2017].

“Comic Sans is the most hated font ever. I think this is the only font who has a dedicated website against it. Despite the fact that a lot of people say that they hate everything related to this font, many of them don’t have an argument why. Maybe the association with the AOL Company or with all those unwanted emails with little hearts and fluffy bunnies that you constantly receive from a colleague and you have to pass it on to 10 other people to show them your love made all of us font-killers when it comes to Comic Sans.”

Just shows that the hate was building up when the font was shoved down through our throat. 

The list of the hated typefaces: Comic Sans, Bradley Hand, Viner Hand, Papyrus, Lucida Handwriting, Courier, Gill Sans, Brush Script, Algerian, Monotype Corsiva.

Dainius. 2015. 11 Fonts That Designers Love To Hate. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.boredpanda.com/typefaces-worst-fonts-ever-creative-market/. [Accessed 30 November 2017].

The list of hated typefaces: Comic Sans, Arial, Lobster, Trajan, Zapfino, Helvetica, Bank Gothic, Bleeding Cowboys, Papyrus, Hobo, Times New Roman. 

WebdesignerDepot Staff. 2011. 10 Iconic Fonts and Why You Should Never Use Them. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/02/10-iconic-fonts-and-why-you-should-never-use-them/. [Accessed 30 November 2017].

The list of hated typefaces: Impact, TheSans Basic, Trajan, Arial, Comic Sans, Franklin Gothic, Helvetica, Bradley Hand, Courier, Papyrus.

Neeru Bhangu. 2015. A Guide to the Most Loved and Hated Fonts. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vandelaydesign.com/most-loved-and-hated-fonts/. [Accessed 30 November 2017].

Most loved fonts: Helvetica, Garamond, Frutiger, Bodoni, Futura.

Most hated fonts: Impact, Comic Sans, Souvenir, 2012 Headline.

I have collected the lists of hated typefaces so that I can wrap my head around the concept of why and what makes the typeface hateful. 

[justforartstuff]

Now lets learn how to use a typeface!

Janie Kliever. 2015. 10 Ways to Improve Typography In Your Designs. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.canva.com/learn/typography-design/. [Accessed 23 November 2017].

“Typography is more than just picking a font and a point size from some drop-down menus on your computer.” Kliever says at the very beginning of the article. This means that when it comes to using a typeface it is important to know how to use it. People think that typeface is just there to communicate words but they overlook the fact that each typeface always conveys a curtain meaning or feeling and when it is not properly utilised both the word and the meaning will be distorted. When people suddenly was given the chance to explore the world of typeface through the technology of computer they immediately gravitated to something that was different because they have seen other typefaces but they haven’t seen or used typefaces such as Comic Sans and Papyrus. Like what Kliever said people overlooked the context and the results made the designers of the world suffer in pain. Through the suffering the designers started a bandwagon of hating on those typefaces because the didn’t want people to use it. It went to the point where it became a trend to hate on those typefaces.

Propor way to use the typefaces comes from the context where it is used. Kliever puts it simply as “Match the Mood to the Message, Match the Mood to Your Audience, Match the Font’s Point Size to the Design Context, Set Up a Hierarchy, Don’t Neglect Spacing and Alignment, Learn to Kern, Limit Your Number of Typefaces & Weights / Styles, Avoid Common “Type Crimes”, Check for Clashing Colors or Backgrounds, Observe & Practice”. So it is not so simple after all. Computers made so that it is easy to just ignore all of these steps, so to give a parable to this situation, it is like everyone started to run before learning how to walk. Computing was so new that no one could teach how to properly use typeface because they were already busy enough learning how to compute. But in this modern age computing should be second nature to the young generations. So there is no reason to use these outdated and ugly typefaces but it is still continued to be used and can’t be erased because it is part of the history, but what we can do is to focus on how far we have come as a general public of using more clean and beautiful typeface.

Tommy Walker. 2017. The Effect of Typography on User Experience & Conversions. [ONLINE] Available at: https://conversionxl.com/blog/the-effects-of-typography-on-user-experience-conversions/. [Accessed 23 November 2017].

There are science behind the way perceive the meaning of the text depending on the typeface. In his research he compared few different typefaces with the same text to 45,000 people. Baskerville came out to bring out 1.5 percent more positive response to the answer.

“It’s small, but it’s about a 1% to 2% difference — 1.5% to be exact, which may seem small but to me is rather large. You are collecting these data in an uncontrolled environment[…]to see any difference is impressive. Many online marketers would kill for a 2% advantage either in more clicks or more clicks leading to sales”

Through this I am not saying that Baskerville is better than the other typefaces but the fact that people do respond differently to different typefaces is what is shown in this research. Typeface do matter and 1 or 2 percent becomes exponential in the time frame of a decade.

There is a saying called “Don’t judge the book by its covers and don’t judge a person by their look” but we subconsciously do it anyway. I think we subconsciously know when a typeface is bad or out of place but we can’t grasp the reality of it. Now is the time to recognise why a typeface deserves hate and when typeface is incorrectly used by those who try to be ‘clever’. 

[justforartstuff]

What are the basics of Typeface?

I have been babbling about the typefaces that are hated because of bad design but also bad usage by the general public. I didn’t exactly explain what it means to make a typeface good or bad in specifics. In this blog I will give you some examples of the basics of typeface and explain what it means to use a typeface.

Joshua Johnson. 2017. 8 Rules for Creating Effective Typography. [ONLINE] Available at: https://designshack.net/articles/graphics/8-rules-for-creating-effective-typography/. [Accessed 16 November 2017].

This article tackles many basic aspects of typeface such as Kerning, font communication, alignment, secondary font, size, art and inspiration. 

“If you’re not used to looking for kerning issues, the problems may be subtle, but they’re there. Notice how the uppercase “D” in the example above stands out significantly from the rest of the word. By default, many typefaces, especially those with pronounced serifs, can possess inconsistent letter spacing. This is usually not a huge problem in a paragraph or sentence as the inconsistent spacing sort of blends out in blocks of smaller copy. However, when you’re dealing with only a few words, such as in a headline or logo, sloppy kerning issues can destroy the entire aesthetic.”

Kerning is different for each letter so it comes down to the details and how optically it looks. For example comic sans has a kerning (spacing between letters) problem when it comes to the letter ‘f’ so when viewed from afar the word with f looks more clumped up than others. This can lead to the disturbance of taking the reader out of the flow of reading the text and instead trying to figure out the word instead. It is different if the font is meant to be look clumped up meaning that consistency is the key to success in the world of typeface. 

Vladimir Gendelman. 2015. 13 Tips for Avoiding a Font Kerning Disaster. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.companyfolders.com/blog/13-tips-for-avoiding-a-font-kerning-disaster. [Accessed 16 November 2017].

Vladimir explains that kerning is a very important part of the typography and it has many steps to making the perfect kerning for each typeface. This was not possible for Comics Sans because it was developed in 3 weeks. That is one reason why it has inconsistent kerning. 

But this video explains why Comics sans was made this way. 

Great Big Story. (2017). Comic Sans: The Man Behind the World’s Most Contentious Font. [Online Video]. 19 January 2017. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=214&v=5l4sCaw71NE. [Accessed: 16 November 2017].

“The typeface was meant to be different and go against the rules of the basics of Typeface design that was established and therefore making people look at it then decide to use it or not but when they don’t look at it and ignore it then the typeface will cause disasters” said Vincent Connare. Comic Sans was used because there were no playful and ‘edgy�� typeface that people could use to differentiate themselves from other but instead everyone had the same idea making it counterintuitive. 

The age changed but the typefaces that continue to be used by people is timeless, in a sense that if its purpose is continuously fulfilled it is can continue to be ‘great’. 

Mathew Carpenter. 2011. 10 Iconic Fonts and Why You Should Never Use Them. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/02/10-iconic-fonts-and-why-you-should-never-use-them/. [Accessed 16 November 2017].

In this article Mathew says “As with Comic Sans, avoid this typeface if you want to be taken seriously. Unlike other reviled typefaces, though, Papyrus isn’t bad because it is overused: it’s bad because it just doesn’t look good. Kitschy, cheap and vile, Papyrus has no place in your designs.” and didn’t give specifics why it looks kitschy, cheap and vile. So I looked into other sources. 

David Lange. 2016. Fonts You Need to Stop Using. [ONLINE] Available at: http://bydavidlange.com/fonts-need-stop-using/. [Accessed 16 November 2017].

David says that the font has become edgy to those who don’t know anything about design and specifically pointing out some technical problems such as “ Lowercase letters have a nice uniformity but a compressed x height combined with elongated ascenders and descenders create a distracting flow. Uppercase letters on the other hand, are stingy and disproportionate, with unbalanced, angular bowls and pinched features”. 

As I am not too familiar with the terminology of typeface I don’t exactly know what he means by disproportionate and unbalanced but what I know is that because of these traits of the typeface and the availability made it so that those who were trying to be different in personal business all gravitated to this ‘edgy and disproportionate’ typeface making it not edgy but rather overused and ‘normal’ because of it. When the movie Avatar used similar type of typeface for their movie logo the backlash came from how a ‘revolutionary’ movie used such a generic and ugly typeface for their movie.  

So this teaches me that the basic of typeface is to retain its original purpose which in this case ‘Papyrus’ didn’t really have one causing even the designers not being able to give any excuses to this typeface. Without a clear theme or purpose the typeface is missing one of the main basic ingredient. 

Addition video that may peak your interest is that the ‘Comic Sans’ is hated because it is in the ‘Uncanny Valley’ in the world of typeface.

Vsauce. (2013). A Defense of Comic Sans. [Online Video]. 11 February 2013. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUCcObwIsOs. [Accessed: 16 November 2017].

This video shares a lot of the ideas I had about the hated typefaces are hated because of its availability and also because of the knowledge of a good typeface has been widely spread throughout the world. It is propelling the world toward better and more creative typeface because of the hate of these fonts. 

[justforartstuff]

Reinforce!!!

When it comes to finding articles that support my thesis I thought there wouldn’t be many articles that will support my idea that many typeface are misused therefore being disliked by many also that typeface in itself is expression. 

Lets first look at the most obvious typeface that is hated that is ‘comic sans’. 

Kadavy. 2017. Why You Hate Comic Sans. [ONLINE] Available at: https://designforhackers.com/blog/comic-sans-hate/. [Accessed 9 November 2017].

This article is a article that states both the flaw of the design of comic sans but also why it became hated because of its misusage making it very similar to the thesis I have which is “Typefaces are hated and overused because people don’t understand the purpose of the typeface or it is available everywhere but it doesn’t mean the typeface is bad inherently. 

In the beginning there is this quote “Everyone loves to hate Comic Sans. The child-like handwriting font is so infamous, there is a movement to try to ban it. Mention its name to the common layman (aside from a preschool teacher), and you will likely get a chuckle, mention it to a trained designer, and you’ll get a look of disgust. In my free design course, I teach you how to battle font anxiety, but I can tell you right now Comic Sans is usually not a good choice. “ this quote both describes both what type of typeface it is and also how it is perceived in the world of typeface. It is easy so see how much of a problem this typeface has with people but what are the details. 

Kadavy compares Comic sans with Helvetica and also shows many examples why it has problems with legibility and readability. Throughout the typeface the letters also don’t always have a similar negative space and kerning is not consistent because of some letters such as f. But after all this he puts into context and shows that timing of the availability and popularity of usage of this typeface promoted everyone to use it on everything, literally everything. So basically saying the general public don’t care how it looks but will use it because it is available therefore attracting the army of hater (Designers) to attack the typeface. 

Without the right timing or wrong understanding of the typeface ‘Comic Sans’ the font wouldn’t have faced such hate around the world. Typefaces that are hated are hated because series of unfortunate event. 

Now lets look at the next most hated typeface ‘Papyrus’. 

Alex Bigman. 2012. The best and worst typefaces (and here is why). [ONLINE] Available at: https://99designs.com/blog/creative-inspiration/the-best-and-worst-typefaces-and-why/ [Accessed 9 November 2017].

This article shows one designers ideas behind what makes a typeface beautiful or ugly and everything in between and this is relevant to my topic because knowing the standard of beauty of the modern designers helps me understand why curtain typefaces are hated by them. 

Alex has many examples of typefaces that are hated such as brush scripts that was over used for a period of time making it impossible to use it now but also “Designs like Papyrus and Neuland Inline clearly try to mimic or evoke particular “exotic” cultures or regions; Papyrus goes for ancient Egypt and Neuland Inline — some sort of African tribal situation. This sort of contrived exoticism rings awfully false and is frowned upon with good reason.”

Overall the article explains why and how typefaces can be perceives as less beautiful because some are too focused on the graphic design element and some are too overused to be used again. Some fonts such as Helvetica still hold up to this day but because it is overused it is more wise to something else. Many factors can affect the perception of the typeface despite its purpose, some can be revitalised and some will be hated. Papyrus just happened to be overused just like Comic Sans and was hated even though it doesn’t have a glaringly obvious flaw in the design. 

[justforartstuff]

Does this font fit your ‘ideology’?

The main thing that pops into my mind when it comes to ideology is aim, goal or desire in general. We can’t function without desire because desire give us motivation to move forward and explore the possibilities of life. Ideology makes so that when there is problem we can find some ideas that can maybe solve the problem in a ‘ideal way’. Then lets explore some typeface examples that explain some ideologies.

Peter K. 2015. Apple rumored to be changing fonts in iOS 9, OS X 10.11; goodbye, Helvetica Neue?. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.phonearena.com/news/Apple-rumored-to-be-changing-fonts-in-iOS-9-OS-X-10.11-goodbye-Helvetica-Neue_id69513. [Accessed 2 November 2017].

This is an image of two typefaces and at first glance there is not a huge difference but this image is taken from a article that declares that Apple company is going to switch the font to San Francisco from Neue Helvetica. This may seem very minor but this is Apple considered one of the most important company of this age making a change that is subtle but very impactful in the user experience in all their devices. 

I have to first explain the ‘ideology’ of Apple to explain this change. Apple is a company that is very clear that they want to provide the best user experience in the world. Their designs are deliberately ‘simple’ and ‘clear’ meaning that they make things and choose things that are iconic and typographically the most legible on their screen technology. So why San Francisco? It is because Neue Helvetica was not made for display and San Francisco is. Most importantly it comes down to the details when it comes to small sizes. The most ‘ideal’ typeface for Apple is something that is clean and highly legible at a small font at a display so they switched over from a beautiful typeface to a more simple but much more legible and adaptable typeface.

Dave Gaertner. 2008. The "Magical Power of Words”: Font and Ideology in Western Newspapers. [ONLINE] Available at: http://shiftjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/gaertner.pdf. [Accessed 2 November 2017].

In the article it has a quote “type face communicates an idea-- in this case “ravishing” or “penny-polishing”-- that exists independently from the content it is representing.” explaining that the typeface can be perceived differently from the actual content of the article. The typeface itself gives out the ideal idea of what the content it is going to be such as a typeface Times New Roman is most closely resembled to english essay. 

I do agree with this idea because when it comes to anything the first impression is one of the most important aspects of life. Without good impression it is hard to continue to go into more detail so that the person understands what the context it is placed in. If I chose a very ugly font for this blog it will be hard for you go read with ease. The ideology in this case would be a typeface that follows the standard of the pretty typeface of that time. 

LAMORNA ASH. 2016. Never mind the typography. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/never-mind-typography/. [Accessed 2 November 2017].

This is another article about going against the ideology of traditional way or making the typeface. The image is a representation that we are able to perceive and understand that typeface is not just for language itself but also as a art. Ideology is for the general population but when it is forced into the individuals life like to a artist it doesn’t work and will instead butcher the ideal way to use typeface to send a message. 

[justforartstuff]

What recipe was I made out off? Why does context matter for Typeface?

My name is Ci-on Kim and it is pronounced the same as ‘Sean’ but it is spelled  weirdly with the dash in the middle. The reason is because my name is pronounced in Korean ‘Ci-on’ and turning that sound to english sounds like ‘Sean’ so I prefer english speakers calling me ‘Sean’ not ‘Ci-on’ because that is how I was called since I was a child in English school. But when my name is translated literally to English it is ‘Zion’. 

Explaining why my name is weird needs lots of knowledge of my background and history. Now lets try to explain what cultural, political, economic, and social contexts that impact on my own practice and hated fonts through this blog post. 

When I see the world I have a curtain worldview and the worldview can change but I can’t view the world without a worldview. That is something that I am trying to understand the more I study art and graphic design because the more I know myself the more I can produce something that represents me the best. In the reading (p 56.) it says that “all images are subject to judgement about their qualities and their capacity to have an impact on viewers” I am designer so knowing what kind of judgement and impact I will have to the viewers are important. 

Cultural context of mine is complicating like my name because I lived in 3 countries and have attended 4 different kind of schools with a vastly different language and culture. Knowing a language is also learning the culture, I use to speak Russian because I grew up in Uzbekistan until I was 10 years old so I know the cultural context of how it is to live and act like a Russian. Then I lived in Korea for 3 years learning Korean culture and Korean language genuinely for the first time. After that I moved to Czech Republic and attended Czech speaking school and had to learn Czech but later moved to English school. So when I view a image I interpret it with a mixture of 3 different culture. Lets talk about an example. 

Pinterest. 2017. Good Font, Bad Font: 5 Simple Ways to Tell the Gems From the Junk. [ONLINE] Available at: https://cz.pinterest.com/pin/477944579176003052/. [Accessed 26 October 2017].

This is a example of using many typefaces to prove that it is bad when you use too many typefaces in a sentence. From my gut reaction is that it doesn’t look actually bad because the layout and the shape/spacing between the words have a rhythm like the Korean language. Also my works will at least have 3 or more typefaces that gives a good contrast to indicate what is important and what is not. The culture that I live in promotes and praises controlled chaos that proves a point or is a artwork so therefore I also accept this as a legit artwork. 

Political impact throughout my life was felt through my skin over my entire life because traveling and living abroad from your home country brings lots of challenges such as visa issues, law, and country relations. The same goes for when I view a political comic or video, the more the content is focused on the positive political news the more I become more invested and mindful. When I produce some work I tend to not focus on anything that is political because I have been stressed out my entire life about those things. 

Dominique Mosbergen. 2015. Times New Roman, Dubbed The ‘Sweatpants’ Of Fonts, Is A Bad Choice For Résumés: Typography Experts. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/28/times-new-roman-resume-best-worst-fonts_n_7167390.html. [Accessed 26 October 2017].

The article that has been linked is about how being generic in use of typeface in a Resume will affect your score negatively. Small aspects such as these are a very import part of ‘winning politically’ to have one edge over the competition through a perceived as minor detail such as a typeface on a Resume. My mom said that relationships between adult become like a small parliament and when there is no clear winning argument or point it comes down to detail. So being ‘politically correct’ in the world of typeface may not be the way to go when it comes to proving that you are not ‘bland’. 

Economically I am a student. Student that was born in a family that is very unique in the financial stability. Sometimes I may not have money for months and sometimes I will have enough to buy my friend a lunch. Dynamic in the lower end is how I would describe in one sentence my economical state. This really effects my work and thinking because I tend to think about how to make my artwork with the minimal amount of money and daily life becomes a calculation. Risk is something that is less common because there is no economical leisure leading to less mental leisure leading to less adventurous/out of the box ideas in my work. When I see an advertisement my first thought is how I can’t afford it and subconsciously without my control I don’t feel good. The consumerism of this age makes it so that my economic state is emphasised to the extent that affect my life negatively. Conservative approach towards design is not the what student should do so slowly I have been getting this out of my system. 

Nadja Popovich. 2014. Ask a designer: why switching fonts won’t save the US government millions. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/mar/31/ask-a-designer-switching-fonts-save-us-government-millions. [Accessed 26 October 2017].

When something seems to solve the issue on paper but in really it only makes it harder to execute a task it is not a solution. Typeface Times New Roman is the typeface that the US government uses for their documents and a 14 year old suggested to switch the typeface so that they use less paper and ink but when they actually looked into the details it only made hard to read. Until now I have been continuously talked about there needs to be diversity and uniqueness and proper use of the typeface but this example is the opposite. When a typeface does the work almost flawlessly there needs to be no changes. Perfect use of typeface needs to be praised and bad use of typeface needs to be critiqued. Economically it may benefit a little but practically it is better to keep it the same like the optical balance of the typeface. 

Social context that affects my perception and work the most is the fact that I am still young. Young has many connotation toward risk, adventure and experimental. In fact I don’t feel any of those things in me so I am trying to actually go out and risk and fail so that I grow and learn. I try to make things more up to date with my designs and also make the stride towards discovering my style. By following the trend of the world and my classmates designs I discovered that contrast and guiding the audience towards what I want them to see comes through clever layout and typeface choices. Good typeface choice already makes the presentation half successful. 

Conclusion I got from all this is that what I do and what I like and how I view things is all from a result of the culture, politics, finance, and social context that I grew up with. 

[justforartstuff]

What is the matter with this?

This week we are going through 3 new images that I thought was relevant to the topic of the most hated typeface and why. The images was chosen with care and subtle connotation to typefaces that are hated through my research. It is a part where I try to further my understanding how to interpret images with more skill. 

So I am going to analyse the what denotation it has and what connotation it has with the world and my subject. Furthermore what Iconic, indexical,and symbolic signs the image have that can further our understanding of the image. 

Know Your Meme. 2017. Grumpy Cat | Impact | Know Your Meme. [ONLINE] Available at: http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/997790-impact. [Accessed 19 October 2017].

First the reason why I chose this image is because when memes became the internet sensation people unanimously chose the font ‘Impact’ when in face through many research the font has been hated and not been used for many years. But suddenly it has been used for ‘meme’ and it became a quintessential font of meme in the internet. When it is used outside of the ‘meme’ context is very ugly and out of place in this modern age.  

Phil Edwards. 2015. The reason every meme uses that one font. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.vox.com/2015/7/26/9036993/meme-font-impact. [Accessed 19 October 2017].

The first impression of the image should be the face of the cat and the bold font on top and bottom. It resembles a grumpy face and through the history of memes in the internet you can know that this image is a meme. Grumpy cat is its name given from the internet has been a internet sensation from the moment the internet discovered its face because of its distinct and clear face of ‘grumpy’. 

Iconic signs from this image is that it is a picture of a cat and from our human understanding stern/serious face with a upside own smile also with old looking feature is resembled as grumpy because those who are historically usually been grumpy are old serious people. Also the font helps emphasis the strong and bold statement/voice of the image. 

The cat and the image both exist in the real world and also grumpy face exist in all of us. Indexical signs point that you shouldn’t mess with this cat because it is serious and don’t like you. The words in this image seems to be more accepting because it is utilising a animal which softens and makes the criticism more palatable. 

Symbolically this cat is grumpy but in actuality it is not. Grumpy cat only exists in the internet because people only see the face the moment of this cat. Cat can be perceived as grumpy by people in general but mostly they are misunderstood and mistreated. Font implies that it is strong and bold but actual house cat don’t have that kind of characteristics. 

Overall the image utilises the font and the face of the cat effectively to communicate to the audience the meaning and the connotation that comes with it. 

mauvais-genres.com. 2017. TITANIC Movie Poster. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.mauvais-genres.com/en/archives/6606-titanic-french-movie-poster-47x63-97-james-cameron-leonardo-di-caprio-3700865416585.html. [Accessed 19 October 2017].

This is a titanic movie poster and you might be wondering why I chose this. It is because it uses the front ‘Trajan’ which is one of the most over used font in the world when this movie is considered one of the greatest of all great movies. I didn’t realise this when I saw this when I was young but the font and poster is so cliche or did this become cliche after the movie. Like the movie ‘Avatar’ which was directed by the same director I wonder why there is no creativity in typography in his movies. 

Denotation and connotation of this poster is clear. It is a story of 2 people and their pose says ‘lovers’ and the ship is called titanic and the story takes place in the ship. Looking at the history you can see that titanic was a disaster and that it sunk and one of the most news worthy tragedy during those times. So if the ship is going to sink and it is a love story is equals a tragic love story. Font doesn’t really tell you anything or support the story or the image, just serving as the title and I think that is very uncreative and sad. 

What is iconic about the poster and the placement of the title and the ship is that the ship is a big part of the story and that the lovers are not facing each other implying that they are going to separate. The font is iconic also because of the success of the movie but it is not something to be impressed. 

And as I said the history of the ship Titanic means that indexical sign says the story is going to involve the tragedy of the sinking ship. Both the movie and the real world event has a big story to tell. 

Symbolic sign that needs to be noted is that only the love story is in the movie Titanic and the posters. The tragedy of the event in real world focused on the event of sinking ship but the movie the focus is in the love story between the two. Also the font of the movie was not used for the actual titanic so that is just symbolic. 

Amber. 2012. Twilight and young adult cover trends. [ONLINE] Available at: http://adventureswithbookdesign.blogspot.cz/2012/04/twilight-and-young-adult-cover-trends.html. [Accessed 19 October 2017].

Twilight, yes Twilight I am actually including Twilight. The reason why I chose Twilight is because I don’t want to admit but it influenced the adult book covers to a very significant amount. Also the fact that the typeface such as these is hated because it has a connotation to the most hated/loved? novel of this age. Now this type of typeface has become cliche and hated by the people and graphic designers. 

On the surface you can see a hand and the apple and a lower case title ‘twilight’ with little bit of swirls. It uses a black background to set the dark tone of the story and use of the shape of the hand and location of the apple seems to offer the apple to the audience. Apple has been historically has connotation to temptation of forbidden or tragedy like the story of Genesis in the Bible and fairy tale sleeping beauty. The word twilight is also a stage between day and night so putting all things together you can see that it is a story about temptation towards bad but still in between good and bad with the choice to make. 

What makes this book cover iconic is because despite its shitty writing and story it was extremely popular and successful. The cover is not even good at conveying that it is a love story between human and a vampire but the apple does have connotations about temptation. Indexical signs such as apple don’t exist in the story but twilight is the day setting in the movie and books. Weird typeface that they used here is not used for the movie but when being generous the meaning of twilight matches the theme of having the L bigger than the rest of the letters. Symbolic sign that I found is the perfect apple and how it is perfect and delicious looking apple is dangerous and that connection came from the stories from the past. 

Conclusion I have about all this typefaces in different context is that in some context the typeface flourishes but even with a great context around it without actually putting thought and design into the typeface the typeface will not have any impact or the unique factor to differentiate from other works. 

[justforartstuff]

Comic Sans? Papyrus?

  You may ask why is the title 'Comic Sans, Papyrus' and there is a good reason behind it. Comic Sans and Papyrus was regarded as one of the most hated typeface in the word and that is what I heard. So I asked myself why is that so?

Through some research I realised that there are many fonts that are hated.

Lingo. 2017. Comic Sans: The Innocence and Hijacking of a Much-Hated Type. [ONLINE] Available at: https://blog.lingoapp.com/comic-sans-the-innocence-and-hijacking-of-a-much-hated-type-1282b9f74d7f. [Accessed 12 October 2017]. - Blog about how comic sans was abused and because of it how it was hated.

Webdesigner Depot. 2017. 10 Iconic Fonts and Why You Should Never Use Them | Webdesigner Depot. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/02/10-iconic-fonts-and-why-you-should-never-use-them/. [Accessed 12 October 2017].- 10 typefaces that is used in many environments but have a bad stigma because it is boring and unoriginal anymore.

Co.Design. 2017. The 8 Worst Fonts In The World | Co.Design. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.fastcodesign.com/1665318/the-8-worst-fonts-in-the-world. [Accessed 12 October 2017]. - Why these fonts have been hated.

YouTube. 2017. Papyrus - SNL - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ. [Accessed 12 October 2017]. - Parody of Avatar typeface (Papyrus)

YouTube. 2017. A Defense of Comic Sans - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUCcObwIsOs. [Accessed 12 October 2017]. - Defence of Comic Sans (Vsause)

So why are these typefaces disliked?

Typefaces that are hated are hated because of its over saturation and miss usage of the typeface.

Lets look at some images that is related to this topics answering Gilda Williams' three jobs of communicative art writing questions.

CAFMP. 2017. Movie Poster »Avatar« on CAFMP. [ONLINE] Available at: http://cafmp.com/16898/avatar/. [Accessed 12 October 2017].

  What is it? It is a poster of the movie called ‘Avatar’ it is famous for pushing the movie industry into seeing the potential of good use of 3D movie experience. The image communicates directly to us that the left face and the right face is the same person. At the bottom it shows the difference of their setting/background, the left looks like jungle but the right is burned down. It has star like visuals and weird looking characters saying that its setting is in space and is science fiction movie.

  What might this mean? The movie title is what brings meaning into this image, without it the image will be very confusing and can be misleading. The meaning of avatar means that it is living in a different setting with different body but it is still the same person. The character doesn’t exist at the other half in the bottom right so it could mean that the character moved from right to left. The most similar poster that came before this is Spiderman 2 with is half face and half Spiderman poster with a similar message as Avatar.

  Why does this matter to the world at large? This poster signifies that the world is changing towards destruction so we need to advance towards the future of finding the new world and new self.

Lingo. 2017. Comic Sans: The Innocence and Hijacking of a Much-Hated Type. [ONLINE] Available at: https://blog.lingoapp.com/comic-sans-the-innocence-and-hijacking-of-a-much-hated-type-1282b9f74d7f [Accessed 12 October 2017].

   What is it? A series of logos that have been remade with the typeface called ‘Comic Sans’ considered one of the most hated typeface in the world. All of the logos are almost perfectly replicated but with Comic Sans typeface and with the correct color and balance of proportion

   What might this mean? It is showing how the typeface gives a different impression about the image of a company or log. It makes the overall image less serious and makes it comical. Through this typeface used in different global logos it may mean that this typeface was used abundantly throughout the world and it shouldn’t be used in all circumstances.

   Why does this matter to the world at Large? So typeface does its job as it name ‘Comic’ it makes the logo comical and I think that the world needs to correctly understand this typeface.

Josh Johnson. 2017. 10 Fonts That Designers Love To Hate. [ONLINE] Available at: https://creativemarket.com/blog/10-fonts-that-designers-love-to-hate. [Accessed 12 October 2017].

  What is it? Series of posters about typefaces that designers love to hate. Each of the posters have a formula of big typeface headline and their statement about the typeface and if they want to include a image it can be anywhere in the poster. The use of colour is very simple and dark.

  What might this mean? The meaning is very straight forward that they don’t like these fonts and why and through their simple statement and use of simple colour. Some of them included images and those indicate the over usage of the typeface and how cliche it has become.

  Why does this matter to the world at large? Designers want the world to be more original in the choice of typeface and don’t become lazy or cliche. Be more creative.

Conclusion - Why is this relevant to me?

The reason why the typeface is important to my work is because the typeface is most direct visual graphic design toward the user. It can ruin the feeling of the artwork or enhance it. Choosing a typeface also gives a good indication of what type of designer they are. Companies change their typeface to match closest to their corporate identity so what typeface I choose is part of my design identity.