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[joseph-apostrphe-s]

Blog Post #5

Om This week we were assigned to find inspiration for our type specimens and seek out inspiration for possible creative directions in our own design. I scoured Behance and Pinterest to find the posters I found inspirational. 

1. Arctic Monkeys: I found that even though this isn't a type specimen, it showed off a lot of different weights the typeface had to offer—essecially acting as a type specimen. I found the amount of movement and contrast this had inspirational. There's a lot of contrast in the poster but there is a definitive hierarchy, design decisions I’d like to carry out on my own poster.

1. 404 East: This poster extremely bold, a ton of contrast. Almost a bit too much at a larger scale. But it was extremely eye-catching on Pinterest, which is, in fact, part of our challenge—to create a poster that is engaging, dynamic and eye-catching. Similar to the arctic monkey's poster, I felt as though this poster also had a lot of movement as well. Your eye continues throughout the poster. There's a lot of contrast in the hierarchy but through reading the content I feel as though the name of the typeface should come first, not a pangram. 

3. Programacion 2018: This might be personal preference but I always feel drawn to type that has been cut off. I think it pushes the eye to understand what type truly is—and that's form and shapes that come together in a visually interesting way. So I think what this poster does with type in terms of cutting the type off and using the type as a pattern on the top left just creates beautiful forms or exemplifies the expression in the typeface, for example, sharp serifs may create the feeling of tension. The designers uses a simple complimentary colour palette in this posters. There's not as much contrast in this poster but I don't think there needs to be that much contrast, the poster says what it needs to say. 

Take Aways: This was distracting for me...as I tend to spend way too much on behance looking through work. This just gave me an excuse to look through behance longer. Overall this was very inspiring, to really investigate the designers mindset and understand their thinking. I’m really excited to apply these decisions to my own poster.

[joseph-apostrphe-s]

Assignment A

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Assignment D

This week we were assigned to create a table for BC Transit’s bus schedules. My goal with this assignment was legibility and consistency to BC Transits identity. 

Challenge: We were given a lot of information and restricted to a small amount of realistic. On top of that, we had to make sure everything was readable and the information was clear. So that was a big challenge. My main tactic was to get rid of as much unnecessary information as possible while creating a strong hierarchy between the information that's most important and not important. For me, it was very satisfying to set the type, make sure all the alignment looks good. I kinda felt like Massimo Vignelli, setting up transit information using Helvetica. 

Take Aways: Tables are surprisingly fun. It was really fun to set type with a bunch of restrictions. I thought tables would be very technical and I wouldn't enjoy it as much but they were surprisingly very satisfying. Just the act of meticulously finessing the type. Sloth Zone!

[joseph-apostrphe-s]

Assignment C

This week we were assigned with recreating a page in a magazine, meticulously replicating the font, line length and leading point size recipe.

Challenge: For the headers, the designer chose to use the Bodoni typeface “Bodoni SH Roman”. But instead, I used the typeface “Didot” as Bodoni costs $30. The recipe for the body copy was 9 to 11, with the body copy using “Abhaya Libre”. An annoying aspect of this assignment for me was the alignment of description blurbs. I’m sure the designer has some reasoning for having the blurbs as align right rag left, but it was extremely tempting to change the alignment.

Take Aways: I think overall this assignment has taught me how meticulous and intertwined typography is in editorial design. All the details matter and how you bring everything together really makes a big impact on your design. I also learned that right align rag left is extremely hard to read.

[joseph-apostrphe-s]

Assignment B

Looking around Nanaimo, My partner and I discovered four very different signs. Two of which were well design, while the others were—bad. Simply by the choice of typeface and the types composition, the sign can communicate clearly or hurt the eyes of those unfortunate enough to see the sign. 

Sign 1: I Care Physical Wellness

Comic Sans is notorious for being the most overused typeface in history. Used in the wrong context, the typeface has been seen on cars, marriage invitations, and even gravestones. The unique typeface stands out from any free font while scrolling on any word processing software so it’s a fan favourite. But this makes it overused, especially when seen in the wrong context. “I care physical health” is the perfect example. A company involved in the medical and health industry does not need a playful typeface like comic sans. “I care” needs a typeface that shows professionalism, trust. Instead of comic sans makes, I care Physical wellness feel like a preschool. Not only that but the types composition on the sign is awful. The hierarchy of the text is hard to understand. Is “I Care” the name or “I Care Physical Wellness”. Within the small sign, the point size for the text doesn't change much or the weight. Leading to a sign that is difficult to navigate and uses an overused typeface that doesn't communicate what “I Care Physical Wellness” believes in.

Sign 2: Port of Nanaimo

In contrast to the bold dynamic “N” icon (of which was probably designed by an amazing designer), the typeface set beside the icon is (probably wrong) is Gotham light. A professional and contemporary grotesque typeface, Gotham light’s weight contrasts nicely with the heavy port of Nanaimo Icon. From there “Boat Basin” is set at a nice point size that its hierarchy comes above the icon and where the sign is very legible from a distance. Creating a very legible sign that serves it’s job very effectively.

Redesign

This was more of a challenge then I thought it would be. If a designer were to rebrand the company, I couldn't recommend enough changing the name. Originally I played with having a larger “I Care” but the weight of the “I” was so different in comparison to the weight of “Care” so I realised I had no choice but to have the entire line “I Care Physical Wellness”.  For the wordmark I used, montserrat, a friendlier more contemporary typeface that is professional. Because of its gentle feel, I feel as though this would be better suited for a medical/fitness business. One of the first things I noticed was that I had a widow, but I was thinking if the word is long enough that it feels balanced regardless if that's still a type crime? If so I’m sorry I let you down.