Saturday, January 20, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
Thursday, January 18, 2018
COP3 - Evaluation
The aims throughout this project have been to gain a wider understanding of what governs the creation of typography in light of cultural, social, and technological change, and if typefaces can subsequently be subcategorised based on the place or region of their design. Through the research and writing of the essay it was made apparent that typefaces don't often carry these definitive characteristics. Although certain typefaces can have a large impact in defining a ethos or be a signification of a cultural change. It is clear that any artwork must be considered with the era it is designed and this connection is unavoidable. Though what was made clear is that these associations are much more susceptive to change compared to other arts. Considering this, in the practical it proved very difficult to create a physical embodiment of type’s cultural subgroups, even though this idea was explored in many different practical ideas the final outcome highlighted more technological connections rather than cultural. The project overall was an exploration of type from a more outside perspective, as I have little experience in creating type and and not prolific in type design it was important to look at type from a more analytical and theoretical perspective. Therefore within the practical this more theoretical view on type was important to highlight. The practical as previously explained aimed to do what the essay couldn't demonstrate an understanding of the connections and influences of type in the history of modern typography. The aim for the practical from the start was to create something interesting and show some information that would be new and communicate it in a direct and information based format. The idea for the practical didn't take fruition until research into 'Alfred Barr’s cover of the book Cubism and Abstract Art.' this was hugely influential and acted as a great inspiration to the practical work. Overall the practical communicated what was originally intended. The direct nature of the poster and high level of typographic information would make it a desirable poster for any type fanatic. Relating to the target audience outlined early on.
In terms of the essay's overall argument an aim from the outset was to learn some new things about typography's meaning, this has most definitely been achieved, the semiotic theory explored not only was a real test of writing and understanding the complex language, but through these semiotic explorations a much more developed understanding of what governs typography's meaning and how this can be associated to culture. A great strength of this project has been the exploration of a large number of themes, not only looking into the cultural impacts but much wider, and subsequently how these themes come to be embedded in typography.
In terms of what could have been improved on or explored further throughout this project, it would have been interesting to ask some type designers their own views if type can be culturally categorised and when designing if there is an acknowledgment of the impacts and associations of culture build into the typography. Furthermore in the practical an exploration of type’s use and how this effects the context it is read and associated. This might allow for a deeper understanding of what really defines type to feel 'British' or 'German' etc. The practical project can be seen as the physical embodiment of knowledge developed throughout this project and reflects an understanding of the influence of type can play in shaping the visual language of an era or cultural ethos.
All in all this project has really pushed skills in analysis, writing and the ability to create a practical piece that fits with a fairly complex written piece. The overall content has been researched, developed and carried out to a high standard and with constant feedback from tutors and peers to ensure the project is interesting and intriguing. Creating a high quality final outcome supported by a extensive body of research and development that builds upon the theoretical explorations of the written piece.
COP3 - Practical Project Final Outcome Photography
In response to the photographic research of how design studios photograph their poster these images have been taken. Experimenting with background colours, close ups and different compositions, these images now can be taken forward for further exposer in the project and display the poster in the best light possible.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
COP 3 Synthisis
In terms of a relationship between the practical piece and the essay, the practical is in many ways a physical embodiment of the knowledge developed in typography over the project. Drawing connections between typefaces is a great way of understanding their meaning, why it has been designed in a certain way and what has influenced it. Within the poster these connections are clear, though each has taken lots of time to get right. For example the work of Wim Crowel from an outside perspective may not have had a massive influence on Susan Kare's work for Apple typography. However in the poster. Through the connection of 'Digital Geometric' there is a link created with the grid limitations Wim Crowel worked to in his designs for 'New Alphabet' (a typeface designed to respond to the new technology of the screen) and Susan Kare's typeface Chicago, (a typeface designed to work in pixels for the Apple Ipod). These connections within typography are an area that seems to not be discussed particularly often therefore a interesting subject to research into. Another example is the typeface BIFUR designed by A.m Cassandre in 1929 and Milton Glaser's Baby Teeth. Both typefaces are fairly unorthodox in their design yet have a similarity between them. This can be seen as a direct or an a indirect influence, but is a influence none the less. Therefore form this further connections can be made between other decorative type.
In terms of further connections to theory in the essay and the practical, another important part of the essay is about who can create type, the computer opening up many more possibilities to who can design type. This is reflected in the poster's 30 years of type design between 1990 to the present. Since the new technologies have allowed for more typefaces to be created the radical nature of these typefaces have massively increased. The poster aims to illustrate this massive increase in typographic production. The final section has many more typefaces than the previous. The categorising of typefaces is another element of the poster that is interesting, drawing more links between type allows more subcategories to be formed.
Furthermore this poster highlights some of the influences that are discussed in the essay, Pastiche as explained in the essay is central to the work of Jonathan Barnbrook, in the poster the connection between his typeface Bastard and the classical Blackletter typefaces of Germany have been made. In contrast to this, the inclusion of the New Rail Alphabet from 2009 is completely different to a typeface like Bastard, illustrating how type can vary, and it is difficult to pin point accurate influences with type being so different and diverse.
The aim for the project is to understand more about what influences and changes typography. The practical poster is an expression of the amount of research untaken in this project. The essay explains the effects of postmodern and multicultural culture on typography though in the practical it is difficult to identify what typefaces are effected by this and what are not. Throughout the ideas stage there was experimentation with type as a historically signifying medium, trying to display the connections with type to a specific culture, this however proves very difficult as these are in many cases subconscious and knowledge of typography is usually limited.
In terms of further connections to theory in the essay and the practical, another important part of the essay is about who can create type, the computer opening up many more possibilities to who can design type. This is reflected in the poster's 30 years of type design between 1990 to the present. Since the new technologies have allowed for more typefaces to be created the radical nature of these typefaces have massively increased. The poster aims to illustrate this massive increase in typographic production. The final section has many more typefaces than the previous. The categorising of typefaces is another element of the poster that is interesting, drawing more links between type allows more subcategories to be formed.
Furthermore this poster highlights some of the influences that are discussed in the essay, Pastiche as explained in the essay is central to the work of Jonathan Barnbrook, in the poster the connection between his typeface Bastard and the classical Blackletter typefaces of Germany have been made. In contrast to this, the inclusion of the New Rail Alphabet from 2009 is completely different to a typeface like Bastard, illustrating how type can vary, and it is difficult to pin point accurate influences with type being so different and diverse.
The aim for the project is to understand more about what influences and changes typography. The practical poster is an expression of the amount of research untaken in this project. The essay explains the effects of postmodern and multicultural culture on typography though in the practical it is difficult to identify what typefaces are effected by this and what are not. Throughout the ideas stage there was experimentation with type as a historically signifying medium, trying to display the connections with type to a specific culture, this however proves very difficult as these are in many cases subconscious and knowledge of typography is usually limited.
COP3 - Poster Photography research & inspiration
Photographing work can be make or break in terms of how it is distributed, displayed and highlighting the print quality. These examples range from a number of great design studio's - Build, OKRM, Hey and Sagmeister & Walsh. They implement a range of techniques to ensure the poster is displayed in its best light.
Repeating the poster is often a technique used by Hey Studio to display the poster more interestingly, however this used often more than one colour as the poster is singular this doesn't really apply.
Another technique is using software like cinema 4d to display the poster floating though this again is not appropriate to the projects target audience of the design community.
Other posters feature both a overall view and a close up detail to give a further context to the posters quality. Using these images as inspiration hopefully the photographs I take will replicate the same level of quality as shown above.
Friday, January 12, 2018
COP 3 Final tutorial
In the final tutorial we discussed the essay and some small improvements to be made to make sure the argument is as strong as it could be.
Initially the idea of both type being able to enrich culture as well as be a reflection of culture needs to be explored, as these two are slightly different and the enrich is possibly more appropriate. (To reflect culture and create culture)
Another point was that con-density is probably not a word. and this could be changed, something like - Narrow
When speaking about Helvetica's connection to NY look at Paula Scher's quotes on Helvetica how it signifies the Vietnam war and almost a bad consumerism of America.
Furthermore than when you speak of connotational signs some idea of the structures that govern this.
Also speak about the denotational and connotational not really being reflective of type it is less of an obvious sign.
In the analysis of Johnston it was pointed out that an analysis of Gill Sans would be more effective and then subsequently Johnston from this, as well as Reith the new typeface for the BBC.
In terms of the conclusion speaking about neutrality of typefaces mention the fact they are Sans Serif.
Finally when talking about the semiotics of type look at idea of typefaces being more susceptible to re-positioning, colour for example is much less deceptive to change in terms of meaning, though type can change much more freely.
Initially the idea of both type being able to enrich culture as well as be a reflection of culture needs to be explored, as these two are slightly different and the enrich is possibly more appropriate. (To reflect culture and create culture)
Another point was that con-density is probably not a word. and this could be changed, something like - Narrow
When speaking about Helvetica's connection to NY look at Paula Scher's quotes on Helvetica how it signifies the Vietnam war and almost a bad consumerism of America.
Furthermore than when you speak of connotational signs some idea of the structures that govern this.
Also speak about the denotational and connotational not really being reflective of type it is less of an obvious sign.
In the analysis of Johnston it was pointed out that an analysis of Gill Sans would be more effective and then subsequently Johnston from this, as well as Reith the new typeface for the BBC.
In terms of the conclusion speaking about neutrality of typefaces mention the fact they are Sans Serif.
Finally when talking about the semiotics of type look at idea of typefaces being more susceptible to re-positioning, colour for example is much less deceptive to change in terms of meaning, though type can change much more freely.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
COP3 - Practical Research - 6 Typefaces that changed the world
The CNN article refers to the book by Paul Mcneil, The visual history of typefaces explaining how they can in their own right 'change the world'. The article refers to 6 typefaces that have done this.
http://edition.cnn.com/style/article/visual-history-of-typefaces/index.html
Pail Mcneil explains that he find type so interesting because of ' because of the exceptional richness of its historical connections to technologies, to the aesthetic milieu of different eras and to social and ideological evolution. Type is a microcosmic representation of culture.' This theme of type as a suggestion of an era or reflection of culture is not far from the ideas in my essay.
The article explains how each typeface has been excepted and in some cases rejected by the culture of the era and has gone on to define how type is represented in years to come. The use of Chicago for example has inspired many on screen typefaces, with its design based in pixels it is perfect for on screen use.
This typeface has been chosen for inclusion in the final poster design. As it reflects a new need for typography in response to the computer screen.
Overall this article is refreshing to see a similar topic being published on a large media outlet like CNN.
Monday, January 8, 2018
COP 3 - Practical Developments
To begin with the practical piece, it is important to outline the typeface's that will make up the poster. The previous poster shows a large number of typefaces that reflect all the diversity on show in san serif type in particular. From this using the standard structure of the original poster, with the time frame down the side and a large number of arrows and connections throughout.
As outlined there is a need for some older typefaces, for example the Tajan typeface from the Tajan Column this typeface was extremely influential on the work of Johnston Sans and Gill Sans afterwards.
At this point in the project i was able to receive feedback on my practical and ask some questions about what I can do to take it further. Using a A3 printed example of the poster asking what the groups thoughts were.
What can be done to push the poster further?
- Use more of the information in your essay to set more of a context to each typeface.
- Include technological developments e.g invention of the Mac computer.
- Show some kind of multinational figures to show how cultural diversity could have impacted the typography.
- Experiment with some different colour combinations?
Does the poster communicate something you didn't know previous to viewing it?
- Yes, the level of detail is clear and there is a lot of research evident in the content.
- Yes for the most part, the information about each sub category of type e.g - Grotesk, Humanist.
- Yes it shows the connections between typefaces really clearly as well as an impression of how many typefaces have been created in the respected times.
- It shows a full development of typography.
How can the poster be closer aligned to my essay connecting to multiculturalism and cultural diversity?
Using different colours or different sections for each country of origin to see if there is any correlation.
Including typefaces from more ethnic minority's designers?
Changing the bottom part of the poster to reflect more radical and expressive design?
Overall this feedback has been extremely useful and will allow me to make changes to try and improve the posters design as much as possible.
The work displayed above, both Type Trumps and Just my type are examples of work that has been designed for type enthusiasts and the typographic language and imagery that have been designed specifically for the target audience. The use of blue colour has also been inspirational to the poster design bellow using similar colour schemes. Overall the communication was interesting yet not direct enough for the final design.
The black on white presented itself as a more impacting and contrasting poster, the white of the type stood out even more with the black background. Impact has been highlighted as something really important within the posters communication. At this point this white on black is the most appropriate.
The two images above show the differences in colour, and how it effects the communication. The grey is a nice medium that shows the black type and the intricate details within each typeface.
The image at the top left is an actual image from the Trajan column, this shows the influences of the humanist typefaces. Overall the type option is more consistent to the rest of the communication.
This image shows coloured arrows, this gives a little more clarity in what influences what within the poster. The structure of the poster shows how as the technology changes as does the typefaces, furthermore the number of typefaces shown reflects how many more typefaces have been created especially since to late 90's.
As outlined there is a need for some older typefaces, for example the Tajan typeface from the Tajan Column this typeface was extremely influential on the work of Johnston Sans and Gill Sans afterwards.
At this point in the project i was able to receive feedback on my practical and ask some questions about what I can do to take it further. Using a A3 printed example of the poster asking what the groups thoughts were.
What can be done to push the poster further?
- Use more of the information in your essay to set more of a context to each typeface.
- Include technological developments e.g invention of the Mac computer.
- Show some kind of multinational figures to show how cultural diversity could have impacted the typography.
- Experiment with some different colour combinations?
Does the poster communicate something you didn't know previous to viewing it?
- Yes, the level of detail is clear and there is a lot of research evident in the content.
- Yes for the most part, the information about each sub category of type e.g - Grotesk, Humanist.
- Yes it shows the connections between typefaces really clearly as well as an impression of how many typefaces have been created in the respected times.
- It shows a full development of typography.
How can the poster be closer aligned to my essay connecting to multiculturalism and cultural diversity?
Using different colours or different sections for each country of origin to see if there is any correlation.
Including typefaces from more ethnic minority's designers?
Changing the bottom part of the poster to reflect more radical and expressive design?
Overall this feedback has been extremely useful and will allow me to make changes to try and improve the posters design as much as possible.
The black on white presented itself as a more impacting and contrasting poster, the white of the type stood out even more with the black background. Impact has been highlighted as something really important within the posters communication. At this point this white on black is the most appropriate.
The two images above show the differences in colour, and how it effects the communication. The grey is a nice medium that shows the black type and the intricate details within each typeface.
The image at the top left is an actual image from the Trajan column, this shows the influences of the humanist typefaces. Overall the type option is more consistent to the rest of the communication.
This image shows coloured arrows, this gives a little more clarity in what influences what within the poster. The structure of the poster shows how as the technology changes as does the typefaces, furthermore the number of typefaces shown reflects how many more typefaces have been created especially since to late 90's.
This image shows some further tweaks in the posters design. A number of arrows have been included throughout linking the respective typefaces to their previous influences. The poster aims to illustrate the full breath of knowledge developed over this project. The idea is that the poster communicated on a number of levels, so with a quick read or a long read more and less information is clear.
From now there is an opportunity to gain feedback on this poster and contribute further to what is already a interesting and exciting poster in terms of typography.
Friday, January 5, 2018
COP3 - Practical - Typeface Research
TypeFace - Bifur
Year 1929
Paris France
A.m Cassandre
Trajan Pro Regular
Year 114 AD
Carol Twombly
Typeface - Architype catalogue solid.
Year 1970
Wim Crouwel
Amsterdam
Typeface Knockout
Year 1994
Hoefler & Frere-Jones
New York
Typeface - Futura Stencil
Year 1970
Milton Glaser
New York
Typeface - Beans
Year 2008
Charles Grant
Dieter Zempsch
Zürich – Switzerland
Typeface -Gridnik
Year 1976
Wim Crouwel
Amsterdam
Fette Fraktur
Year 1850
Johann Christian Bauer
Typeface - New Alphabet
Year - 1967
Wim Crouwel
Amsterdam
Typeface - Shatter
Year 1973
Vic Carless
Myriad Pro
Year 1992
C.Twombly
R.Slimbach
California
Bayer Universal
Year 1925
Herbert Bayer
Dessau
Univers
Year 1954
Adrian Frutiger
Zurich Switzerland
Avant Garde
Year 1978
Herb Lubalin
New York
Tschichold Architype
1929
Jan Tschichold
Futura
1927-1928
Paul Renner
New Rail Alphabet
Year 2009
Margaret Calvert
Jock Kinneir & Henrik Kubel
Zapf Dingbats
1978
Hermann Zapf
Van Der Leck
1941
Bart Van Der Leck
Tephra 0
2007
Hamish Muir
London
Transport
1963
Margaret Calvert
& Jock Kinneir
Bastard
1990
Jonathan Barnbrook
Typeface Six & Seven
1991
Neville Brody
Gill Sans
1927 - 1930
Eric Gill
Helvetica
1957
Max Miedinger
Zurich Switzerland
Baby Teeth
1968
Milton Glaser
New York
Johnston Underground
1916
Edward Johnston
London
Arete Mono
1999
Jim Marcus
Chicago
Akzidenz Grotesk
1896
Günter Gerhard Lange
Berlin
These typefaces formulate the main information of the poster, each will be ordered from it date and creation. Each has been selected for its modernity, inspiration in terms of the history of type as well as their ability to reflect an era or time. And their influence on culture.
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