Type is everywhere. You can’t escape it – on your cereal box in the morning, receipts from meals out, building signs, newspapers (who reads them?), magazines, signs that may or may not help guide you through the labyrinthine halls of Newhouse.
You’re surrounded. Sorry, guys, if I’m just now breaking this to you, but this message is also type. (Anyone remember the old elementary school gag about telling someone they’re epidermis is showing? Well, it’s kind of like that).
While you probably all knew that type is everywhere, now it’s time to start thinking about the back end of these everyday assaults from type. Designers carefully (for the most part) choose these typefaces after a great deal of consideration about for what appropriately conveys the message desired by a client.
For this assignment you will be responding to the chapter entitled "Letter" from Ellen Lupton's Thinking with Type.
She discusses how typography derived from handwriting and evolved over the years. Through the evolution of type during the Renaissance, Baroque, and the Enlightenment periods up to present day, the preservation of type heritage became very important in the classification and identification of typefaces.
In graphic design, it is through these classifications (humanist, transitional, modern, etc.) that you will be able to express certain moods and emotions by selecting an appropriate typeface(s) to accomplish the message you are trying to send to your audience (and don’t forget to document these reasons in your written rationale!).
This is crucial legwork, in addition to sketching, for your wordmark/resume project currently underway.
From page 30 of Thinking with Type:
"There is no playbook that assigns a fixed meaning or function to every typeface; each designer must confront the library of possibilities in light of a project's unique circumstances."
For this assignment, analyze and evaluate the uses of type in your life – whether signs you see walking around or type choices in print and online media you consume. Find, post, and discuss these examples of type in design used appropriately, or even inappropriately, and the message the designer is trying to send to his/her audience. What about the choice helps the message and works? Keep in mind the discussions we've had in class.
For example, it drives me NUTS to see the sign at the Bleu Monkey Bistro on Marshall Street. It’s totally an example, in my opinion, of type used poorly. Not only is the novelty typeface Papyrus used, but it has absolutely no communicative value. Based on the name and typeface, you’d NEVER know this was a sushi place. And the name Bleu Monkey makes no sense! To this day, I’ve never gone in there (yes, like Prof. Taylor I’m a type nerd), and I don’t plan on it, either. I urge you to seek sushi at other places (like Sakana-ya in Armory Square or Metro on Westcott).
So, that’s the starter post. As always, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you have any questions or have trouble getting screen shots or want other great restaurant suggestions. Also, please don't hesitate to come by office hours just to chat. Otherwise I'll just sit in there, awkwardly, and look like I have no friends.
Happy blogging!
pb
One font that I always remember is font of the New York Times. I think it perfectly fits the magazine's idea of itself: quality reporting, traditional, nothing frivolous.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like an older font, or if it is new then it is based off an older font. It is calligraphic, very similar to Old English.
A font that has made a reoccurring appearance throughout the past decade of my life has been the 'Catul' font. This is the type that Google uses for their logo. It is a serif font, but subtle enough that it is modern, clean and edgy at the same time.
ReplyDeleteAs Public Relations Director for "What The Health" magazine, a student-run publication, I regularly meet with my editor and graphic designer to go over flier ideas, upcoming events and how to effectively spread the word about these events. When sitting down with the team one day, we were looking at typefaces that would appeal to our readers and to different students on campus. This font is one of the first that jumped into my mind, because so many students see this logo numerous times a day and many even have it as a default window on their computer.
It was important to look at this, since using the font would allow our fliers and advertisements for events appeal to a broad audience, who might associate our magazine with positivity, intelligence and modernism.
This relates to the first reading in Lupton's "Thinking With Type," as she often discusses different fonts and their relation to a specific time period and demographic of people. On page 27, Lupton tells that "Zuzana Licko" began designing typefaces in the 1980's that were associated with the 'new technology' era. This is similar to what the editor, graphic designer and myself were doing with the magazine, as we felt association through type would be an optimum way to grab the attention of both veteran readers and potential readers.
I really enjoyed this reading and thought all of the examples of the various texts and their meanings were really thought-provoking! :)
~Claire
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