Typography Seminar

In this seminar we were given the three letters that we could design using six post it notes. This could either be Uppercase or Lowercase. We did this exercise to create new typefaces. The 3 letters that I were given were K, L, M. I was quite excited when I got these letters because I had already thought about, which few letters that would have liked to have be given and letter M was one of them.  I knew that this task would be very creative and exciting because I do like typography, when it comes to graphic design. It is one of my favourite part to do in projects to chose to a typeface that will be perfect for my design work. When choosing a font style, I always make sure that the font is very professional, bold and stands out well, so that the target audience will have no trouble reading the writing that I have chosen to use.

In this seminar I decided to look at different styles that I could use to create the three letters. The three main styles that I tried to focus on were the Cut out method, 3D design, Calligraphy and I also decided to fold and tear one of the post it notes to create part of the letter.

The first letter that I had was the Letter K, for this design I decided to try the cut out method that would allow me to see through the letter, however I found this design quite difficult to do because I didn't have a scalpel to cut out the letter perfectly, I only had a set of scissors to use. When using the scissors, I found it quite difficult to cut, as the scissor weren't the best, which made the letter k, that I was trying to create really messy. Overall I was still happy with this letter because it still looked like a letter K. After I had cut out the letter on the post it note, I then decided to place a blank post it note underneath the design to create an effective design. To improve this design, I feel that I could add a pattern to the bottom post it notes to create a creative design that would stand out to the target audience very well.

The next letter that I designed was the letter L, for this design I used the 3D style because I want to try something new to create this letter. I decided to use this style because I thought that the style was very effective and had lots of depth added to the design to create a creative piece that the target audience would understand by the target audience. For this design, I decided to use a pencil, as I didn't really want to use pen in case the design went wrong. However to improve this design even further, I would use different materials to make this design even better.

My final Letter was the letter M, for this design I decided to use two separate post it notes to create one letter. However I did this so I could use two separate styles for both halves of the post it notes. With the first post it note, I decided to fold and tear the paper into the shape of the first half of the letter. However to get the perfect shape for the design I used a pencil and ruler to mark out the exact place that I needed to tear for the design. This then create a bold letter that does stand out very well to the target audience. For the second half of the letter I decided to use a calligraphy style because this is one of my favourite styles to use that is related to typography. I finally stuck both of the post it notes together to create one big letter. To improve this design I think that I should maybe add some colour or a pattern to the bold post it notes to make it stand out even more.

Below are the three Letters that I created:

Overall I am quite happy with how all three of my letters turned out in the end because I thought that the styles that I had chosen worked very well together. 

After we had created are three letter in any way that we wanted, then all placed our letters in alphabetical order to create a Pangram, that would allow the whole class to see how all the designs that had been created looked when they were all put together to create one big piece of artwork. We this by going at a few tables at a time to place our letters at the front of the classroom onto a 2 long tables to create the Pangram

To show the finishing piece for the design I decided to take a panorama shot to show the final Pangram, however whilst trying to take this photograph I found it quite hard to hold my phone steady to create a perfect panoramic shot of the entire thing. Overall I think that the Pangram was really good.

Overall I really liked this seminar because it was really productive and I found the task really fun, as we got to create new typography fonts. In the future I am going to task inspiration from this task because it will allow me to look into create my own font styles for my own art and design work.

Typography - Lecture

Typography
                 

‘Font is what we use, 

Typeface is what you see’

In this lesson we looked at Typography, we did this to understand the basic meaning of what typography means, how do we know the different between Serif and Sans Serif. I found that this lesson was quite useful, as it allowed me to understand how typography works, is so important to us as designers when choosing font styles for my design.

I think that the part that went well in this Lecture was being able to understand what typography means and which is font style is the best to use for my designs. I found that the best font style that I could use for my design is bold, which stands out.

Reference: http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/images/4Sculptures/Type2.4.gif

We then looked at how words are made to reflect, express and perform content for - how is the signifier made to be related to the signified. I think that this is an important point because it means that the some people believe that the typography should be related to the topic and style that is used. After this we watched a documentary called Helvetica that featured Massimo Vignelli telling us about the work that he has created over the years including the design that he created for the New York Subway Map.

We were then told to think about questions like: Is reading a case of noticing or not noticing typography? Do visible words demand a different form of reading? I think that these questions are very important to think about when looking at typography because we need to look at the typography that will be easily displayed and read by the target audience. Also does the words that would be displayed in the typography mean different things to different people and could it be read different by many people.

I found that this lecture was very helpful and will help me a lot in the future to come, when I have to think about typography to use within my design work for the projects that I am given. I will always ask questions about whether this typography is best suited and what others may think of the typography and whether it could be displayed as different things to other people.

Harry Potter Book Advert

In this session I created a Book Advert for the book series Harry Potter, which included the Illustrations that had created previously using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. I am quite pleased with how this book advert has been created and how it looks after it has been completed. I think that the layout of the animation is very well structured, as I have kept the books in order of the series, which create a complimentary flow that the target audience will understand. I have tried kept the font styles simple but effective because I didn't want to use a font style that would be hard for the target audience that I am aiming for to read and understand. the colour scheme of this animation is very simple but could be brighter and more vibrant, however I wanted to keep within the theme of the books because the story starts from a dark point, which then becomes more cheerful and happy. Although it then becomes darker towards the end of the series, however my animation wants people watching to join the characters and houses at Hogwarts through this magical and magnificent journey that the series takes us on.          

                       
                                      Harry Potter Book Advert from Rebecca Thorp on Vimeo.

My least favourite part about this animation was creating the design, as it was quite difficult because the programme, which I had to use to create this design was in Adobe After Effects. I found this programme quite challenging because I hadn't used this before, which meant it was hard to learn the basics. However once I had started to use the programme more I found the programme a little easier to use. The music that I used within the animation fits very well within the design because I think that the Illustrations, which I created flow well alongside the music. In the future, I am going to take this into consideration, as improvement that I need to do to create professional and eye catching to the target audience that I am going to be aiming towards. I will also consider the time that need to put in to create a perfect Animation or advert that I am going to produce to advertise my object, that I have chosen. 

Film - Urbanized

Urbanized

In this lecture, we watched a film called Urbanized, which is a documentary film by Gary Hustwit. I liked this lecture because it was very productive, as the film was very informative and parts of the film were very interesting and related to my sense of place that I am focusing on. The part that was really helpful in this documentary was about New York, as my sense of place is about New York.
The part that I didn't like about this film was when the film didn't have any sound didn't play in some parts of the film didn't work.

The Documentary that I watched is about changing people’s idea about something, it also showed us how the architectural buildings have changed over time depending on the location that they are in. The documentary that was shown to me, explained what happened to the architectural buildings over time and have influenced the place that they are in, for example the High Line in New York used to be a train track that ran up until 1920, however this was then decided to be saved from being demolished and turned into an eco friendly and peaceful place known as the High Line.

The High Line was an extraordinary historical artefact that had been derelict from 1920 until 2002 when plans to create an open public space for people to walk was approved. The noises that can be heard from the High Line are natural, as the sounds that can be heard are sirens from the emergency services vehicles, people talking, planes flying over the city. 

Underneath the design that has been created for the High Line is the ‘passion and care’ that people have put into keeping this place a peaceful and respective place for people to come and spend there time in their everyday life. Its shows to me that the commitment to a project like the High Line is very important to keep the place very special. The work that has been produced for the High Line is so professional, that it is now one of the most popular places to go and visit in New York. 

As designer we can take away from this project that buildings that are derelict and abandoned can be saved and changed into something magnificent. The High Line can be viewed in different ways by the people living in New York and tourists because they have been through the changes whilst it has been constructed throughout the years.

Convergence

In this seminar, we recapped on the subject of Convergence. Convergence is two things that come together to create something new, for example changing something to make it look different. After we had recapped on what Convergence was we then had to tear pieces of newspaper by cutting or ripping the newspaper into halves, quarter or however you wanted to tear or cut them. Whilst tearing the newspaper we had to look at the words, sentences, paragraphs, letters or images. Once I had torn these pieces of newspaper, we then had to change the layout of the papers to create something new. This would then mean that the message wouldn't make sense.

When doing this task I decided to stick with text because the newspaper I was given didn't really feature many pictures apart from the one that is featured in the photograph below. For this piece below I decided to look at different stories that I could use to create something new, for this piece that I created below, I tried not to tear throw parts of the words on the newspaper, so that the words would be easy to see and read. 

For this next piece that I decided to create was based around Football because I wanted this piece to fit well with each other, as I wanted the piece to connect but in a new way, as the story that I tore would be mixed to create something new. This piece was my favourite one to do because football is very interesting and mixing the stories around made it better. Whilst I was creating this piece using the Newspaper I decided to tear through the words to make the convergence more interesting, as it would allow me to create something new and different, that wouldn't make any sense. 

After this I then did something very similar to the last example, but this time I used different pieces of text from different stories that were featured in the newspaper that I was given. However for this example I used stories that featured more text, were bold and stood out because I thought that this would make the convergence example more eye-catching. I also tried not to tear through any of the words so that it would be easy to read. Although it was quite hard not to, as we weren't given any scissors to use within this task.  

Before we started to do this task we looked at man called William Burroughs, who is mainly known for cut ups in the 1960's, however the style of his work originally came from Dada. Dada is type of Movement related to art from the early 20th century. The style that William Burroughs is known for allows us to cut up words, sentences, phrases and paragraphs to create something totally new that just doesn't make sense, that can be created into different images that people will then be able to look at from a different angle. 

I liked this seminar because it was very productive, as there was a lot to with this task, I felt that this task was open minded, as you could do absolutely anything with the newspaper to create convergence, something new that would be different than it was before and it wouldn't make very much sense. However I find that the hardest part about this task was tearing the pieces of newspaper because the paper was very delicate and really thin, so it was really hard to tear the newspaper. I thought that the style that we were using to create convergence is very creative and I think that I may look into this style more as it is nice style, which could be used as part of my project, as this artwork may work well with part of the styles that I am wanting to use within my design work. These are Illustration and Animation, because I may tear up pieces of the New Map and place them in different places for my animation. 

Principles of Graphic Design.

Principles of Graphic Design.

This seminar we looked into the principles of Graphic Design and Animation, what they mean and why are the so important to us as designers. We did this because we have a better understanding of the principles of design and why they’re very important when we use them to help make are design work better. I thought that this lesson was very useful, as wasn’t sure on the principles of Graphic Design and Animation at the start of the lesson, however once the principles were explained, it became clearer to me what the meant and why they’re so important. The part that I thought went well in the lesson was being taught something new, that I could now use to help me produce better work, which is more professional and presentable so that the target audience will understand my work more easily.

Principles of Graphic Design and Animation are:

• Alignment – Alignment is when all the objects or on the writing placed on your design is visually connected together. Alignment allows structured layout that is well presented and makes the design look professional.

• Contrast – When creating your design work, you need to have objects or a piece that will stand out from each other, this is known as contrast. As you will have range of object that are different sizes, fonts or even colours.

• Repetition – Repetition is when there is consistency of either a text or an object throughout several designs that you have created. For example, if you use a line down the side of you page, you have to use it for each design to create repetition and consistency.

• Proximity – This is where you have to move objects further apart or closer together to create an effect piece that will catch the attention of the target audience. When moving the object this will also allow the design to look more organised, presentable and well structured.

• Balance – Is a way that is used to create visual patterns using specific arrangements on your design work.

• White Space – This is the space between two objects on your design, for example the space between some text and a design object.

• Visibility – It Is very important to look at the visibility of the design, as you want the design that you have created to be easy to see by the target audience.

In this lesson I learnt a lot about the principles of Graphic Design and Animation. But the question is why are they so important to us as designer. The principles of Graphic Design and Animation are very important to us as designer because it allows us to produce professional and presentable work. Following the principles will allow your work to be consistent and easy to understand by the target audience that I will be aiming the design towards. 

In the future I think that these principles will allow me to produce presentable and more professional work, that will catch the attention of the target audience very easily.