Friday, 30 October 2009
The Non-designer's Design Book by Robin Williams
Everywhere I tend to look I find the rules for using type and how page layouts should be designed.
When at the beginning of this project I was finding it hard to come across them, they now find me!!
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Peter Bilak - Illegibility
"Right and wrong do not exist in graphic design. There is only effective and non-effective communication."
10 Web Type Rules
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/02/10-web-typography-rules-every-designer-should-know-2/
1. Read through the text yourself
2. Dump Lorem ipsum as soon as possible
3. Show a clear hierarchy
4. Pay attention to both macro and micro typography
5. Take care with type colors
6. Get serious about your CSS
7. Ditch the centered text
8. Deal with smart quotes and other symbols
9. Plan for your text to get larger
10. Show a preference for sans serif
1. Read through the text yourself
2. Dump Lorem ipsum as soon as possible
3. Show a clear hierarchy
4. Pay attention to both macro and micro typography
5. Take care with type colors
6. Get serious about your CSS
7. Ditch the centered text
8. Deal with smart quotes and other symbols
9. Plan for your text to get larger
10. Show a preference for sans serif
Typography Rules | Typesetting Guidelines
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/typerules/Typography_Rules_Typesetting_Guidelines.htm
1. Use Only One Space After Punctuation
Stop using your computer like a typewriter.
2. Don't Use Double-Hard Returns After Paragraphs
Let your software do the spacing.
3. Use Fewer Fonts
Tone down the type and improve readability.
4. Use Ragged-Right or Fully Justified Appropriately
Find out how to choose your alignment.
5. Use Centered Text Sparingly
There are only a few instances where centering works well.
6. Balance Line Length with Type Size
Make sure you don't have too many or too few word on each line.
7. Use All Caps with the Right Fonts
Stop shouting and use capitals properly.
8. Use Proper Typographical Punctuation
Finetune quotes, apostrophes, and other punctuation.
1. Use Only One Space After Punctuation
Stop using your computer like a typewriter.
2. Don't Use Double-Hard Returns After Paragraphs
Let your software do the spacing.
3. Use Fewer Fonts
Tone down the type and improve readability.
4. Use Ragged-Right or Fully Justified Appropriately
Find out how to choose your alignment.
5. Use Centered Text Sparingly
There are only a few instances where centering works well.
6. Balance Line Length with Type Size
Make sure you don't have too many or too few word on each line.
7. Use All Caps with the Right Fonts
Stop shouting and use capitals properly.
8. Use Proper Typographical Punctuation
Finetune quotes, apostrophes, and other punctuation.
Matthew Carter on typography from an email to Paul Felton.
Book: The Ten Commandments of Typography by Paul Felton. New York, 2006, Merrell Publishers Limited.
How important do you think the main typographic 'rules' are, and should they always be followed?
The advantage of rules is that they can prevent mistakes; the disadvantage is that they can prevent discoveries. When I started work in a type foundry fifty years ago my efforts as a learner consisted entirely of mistakes. This was pretty discouraging, but an experienced workman told me, "Always look carefully at a mistake before you discard it - it might be better than what you intended". I think there's more to the design process than simple trail and error, but errors are often the price paid for successful trails, and rules learned by rote are valuable only if they are constantly questioned.
How important do you think the main typographic 'rules' are, and should they always be followed?
The advantage of rules is that they can prevent mistakes; the disadvantage is that they can prevent discoveries. When I started work in a type foundry fifty years ago my efforts as a learner consisted entirely of mistakes. This was pretty discouraging, but an experienced workman told me, "Always look carefully at a mistake before you discard it - it might be better than what you intended". I think there's more to the design process than simple trail and error, but errors are often the price paid for successful trails, and rules learned by rote are valuable only if they are constantly questioned.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Typophile
This was a great video from Handcrafted with love by BYU design students and faculty, for the 5th Typophile Film Festival. A visual typographic feast about the five senses, and how they contribute to and enhance our creativity. Everything in the film is real—no CG effects!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2t4hz_uaHI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2t4hz_uaHI
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Tutors Guidance
Dear Yessica
How are you going to do this – is it a subjective appraisal of some faces? Make sure that the project has a bit of depth - that obviously that depends on exactly how you do it. Are you analysing what certain shapes mean to a western person’s emotions? This is getting into psychology!
What are you aiming to end up with or what do you want to say or prove or comment on? Maybe that ‘Stop stealing sheep’ book would have something on this area – I remember some pastiche examples within it.
It is interesting that maybe certain businesses use similar typefaces – eg Bodoni for Italian wine labels. This, I suppose, is a result of a perception of what the typeface represents.
Massimo Vignelli has often said that he only uses five typefaces: Garamond, Bodoni, Helvetica, Futura, Century (I think). I think he would argue that you can elicit any emotion by careful use of one of these.
Think about the fact that many typefaces were designed for a particular use – Bell for telephone directories; Times for newspaper production; Frutiger for signage (I think); etc. So the form and character is a result of technicalities amongst other things.
What about typefaces that are specially drawn for large company’s identity programmes? Now that IS manipulation of us! The idea is that they use a certain typographic form to get us to think of them as friendly, approachable, etc.
You could look at how typefaces have evolved over the years and why they have done so. What about the historical implications of a face?
You could speak to Dalton Maag (a type design studio) or get in touch with the Typographic Circle.
Maybe you should start with typeface classification as this is a basic way of describing faces. There are several methods of classification.
Good luck with this – I hope the above is food for thought and I look forward to seeing something. I am in on Thursdays but email is likely to be the best way of contacting me.
Kind regards
Ben
How are you going to do this – is it a subjective appraisal of some faces? Make sure that the project has a bit of depth - that obviously that depends on exactly how you do it. Are you analysing what certain shapes mean to a western person’s emotions? This is getting into psychology!
What are you aiming to end up with or what do you want to say or prove or comment on? Maybe that ‘Stop stealing sheep’ book would have something on this area – I remember some pastiche examples within it.
It is interesting that maybe certain businesses use similar typefaces – eg Bodoni for Italian wine labels. This, I suppose, is a result of a perception of what the typeface represents.
Massimo Vignelli has often said that he only uses five typefaces: Garamond, Bodoni, Helvetica, Futura, Century (I think). I think he would argue that you can elicit any emotion by careful use of one of these.
Think about the fact that many typefaces were designed for a particular use – Bell for telephone directories; Times for newspaper production; Frutiger for signage (I think); etc. So the form and character is a result of technicalities amongst other things.
What about typefaces that are specially drawn for large company’s identity programmes? Now that IS manipulation of us! The idea is that they use a certain typographic form to get us to think of them as friendly, approachable, etc.
You could look at how typefaces have evolved over the years and why they have done so. What about the historical implications of a face?
You could speak to Dalton Maag (a type design studio) or get in touch with the Typographic Circle.
Maybe you should start with typeface classification as this is a basic way of describing faces. There are several methods of classification.
Good luck with this – I hope the above is food for thought and I look forward to seeing something. I am in on Thursdays but email is likely to be the best way of contacting me.
Kind regards
Ben
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
David Carson/Jonathan Barnbrook
Comparing David and Jonathan's work to see what they have in common.
Rules of typography which have been broken:
- Elements on the page over lap
- Lots of different layers
- Hierarchy is confusing
Monday, 12 October 2009
Email to Jonathan Barnbrook
Today I was drafting together questions I want to as the designer Jonathan Barnbrook and preparing the email which is below:
Hello Jonathan,
I'm a third year student at London College of Communications, studying graphic
design and I'm currently doing research into typography taboos. I was inspired
to write about this subject thanks to your original style and expression for type.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could spare 5 minutes to answer the following
questions (I know you are very busy so this is asking a lot):
When is it acceptable to break typography rules?
What are your personal typography rules?
Do you have any advice for first year graphic design students learning about type
for the first time?
Thank you very much.
Yessica
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Printing.com
I found this guide on preparing files for print on printing.com. This gave some good advice on working with type and things which should be looked out for.
Type & Typography - Phil Baines & Andrew Haslam
Reading through type and typography for a grounding on type and to trigger any possible experiments which could be used for my visual research.
Helpful Notes
- Typography is concerned with the structuring and arranging of visual language.
- Type design is concerned with creation of the units to be arranged, the characters which make up a typeface.
- Typography appearance & style differs according to time and place, or designer and client: at times typography may play a secondary or even invisible role, at others it may dominate reflecting the inspiration of the designer and on occasion even laying claim to 'art'.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Survey Monkey
Today I finished writing my questionnaire and wrote it out on survey monkey. Now to get first years to fill it in and analyze the results.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=d1LqRq2f18QKT7NrIBTo7A_3d_3d
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=d1LqRq2f18QKT7NrIBTo7A_3d_3d
Friday, 9 October 2009
Six Thinking Men
Questions asked to make sure no obvious aspect was missed out whilst writing my brief:
What is type?
What does type involve?
What improves type?
What impact does type have?
What is the purpose?
What typefaces are there?
What good and bad typefaces are there?
Where did type start?
Where can you get type from?
Where do you find out about type?
Where can I see type?
Where is type used?
Where does type work?
Where does type change?
When is type used?
When is it not accepted?
When do we understand type?
When do we contribute?
When does type not communicate?
How do we react to type?
How does type work?
How do we set type?
How is type read?
How can type be improved?
How does it work in our environment?
Why is type important?
Why do we use it?
Why does it help?
Why does it have the shape it does?
Who started type?
Who contributes to type?
Who designs type?
Who set's type?
Writing The Brief
Yesterday I wrote my first draft of the brief. I started this by asking myself the most simplest of questions, to make sure I covered all aspects of typography taboo.
I gathered some feed back from my class colleagues, which helped considerably to know what I had missed out and in what direction to go next.
Strategies for Visual Research
During the next few weeks I will be keeping you up to date with my practical visual research on typography taboos.
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