AVT215: Typography 1

Type Design/er Poster

Anne — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:26:51 +0000

The project sheets for #5 are in the Box. Please be sure to read it through, as we glossed over some of the details in class Monday. Please pick your topic by Wednesday’s class.

Project 3 Setup

Anne — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:36:13 +0000

I had an email question about how to setup Project 3 regarding sizing and spacing. First and foremost, you need to do what’s right for your particular project, in order to highlight the forms you’ve created for the project. Presentation is part of the job!

However, I prepared this diagram to assist those that may be somewhat mathematically challenged or otherwise unsure.

Project 3 setup diagram

The black area is your presentation matboard. The white area is your trimmed page printout. The small squares represent where you might place your “type things” on your 8×8-inch page. You should make this layout in Illustrator so that your arrangement can be printed all in one (then trimmed and mounted).

Be sure to use your palettes! Especially the Align palette and the Info palette. You can (and should) space and align objects perfectly.

Align palette

Info palette

Required Reading

Anne — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 23:32:34 +0000

There are several great sites for current, relevant posts about type and typography. I specifically recommend signing up for the email lists to get notified of updates, or to receive the HTML emails directly to your inbox.

Quote Exercise

Anne — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:32:05 +0000

Please be sure to bring these items to class today:

your textbook
tracing paper
sharp pencils
ruler
a 10-word quote, or thereabouts; include author

Need help with a quote? Try these:

Learning and Looking

Anne — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:13:14 +0000

Sometimes resources on the web are incomplete, unattractive, or just plain wrong. You have to be careful of whose virtual word you take as truth. This site is not only legit, but has wonderful sketches to illustrate the concepts: learn or review type basics here.

LetterCult is a site that showcases custom letters. Their most recent series, AlphaBattle, shows some remarkably inventive and beautiful letters, as well as at least one sample that directly relates to your Project #3, Letter Thing: Tonya Doughty’s B.

Pixel Perfect

Anne — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:23:56 +0000

Just a reminder to make sure your pixel letter exercise makes its way into your sketchbook. If you want to do more/extras… great! If you need more graph paper, check this out. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, make sure you get the printed assignment from me at the next class. The exercise is from Ellen Lupton’s Thinking With Type, shown on this page.

Pixels and type structures go way back. Jonathan Hoefler wrote about a bitmap alphabet from 1567. And the avant garde movements of the early 20th century used blocks and perpendicular elements in some of their type as shown in these examples. In the mid 1980s Zuzana Licko designed pixel-based fonts that corresponded to the lo resolution output devices of the time, and ones that evoked type of the Constructivist period*. Even today pixel fonts are used for Flash designs and onscreen applications.

Want to experiment more with pixels and modular elements? Build, share, and download fonts (free) at FontStruct. It’s fun!

*P22 is a font foundry that specializes in type that references periods and artists. Their Constructivist Set also has a square (or pixel-based) style. As does their DeStijl Set.

Illustrator Exercise

Anne — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:45:13 +0000

You should all have the prerequisite AVT180 (computers in the arts, I think it’s called) or a very familiar working knowledge of programs used for design… specifically Adobe® Illustrator.

The exercise we did in class last Wednesday is posted to the Box, in case you want to have another go at it. This exercise uses some of the fundamental actions you need to create clean, efficient files. Get used to making things precise: use the info palette; enter in precise numbers for measuring and aligning; make it perfect.

For Project 3, I will want to see your outline mode as well as your final preview mode in your sketchbook (make a printout at the end).

Speaking of Project 3, the objectives of this project are also relevant to memorable logo design. Click the links below for a few examples.

Hartford Whalers designed by Cummings & Good
Rivet designed by Doug Fuller
Egg n Spoon designed by Thoughtful

Projects in the Box

Anne — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:13:56 +0000

The PDFs of the project sheets for #1, #2, and #6 are in the Box.

Welcome to Summer Type

Anne — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:52:48 +0000

Classes start today for Summer B, and that means AVT 215. The syllabus, some notes, and the first two project sheets are in the “Box” to the right. It’s a little app to download PDFs which I post. Have at it, but know that I will have printouts for you as well. The syllabus contains the materials list, which we will go over in class, in case you have questions.

See you later!

New Book

Anne — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:12:52 +0000

I’ve decided to use a different book for AVT 215 Summer 2010: Typographic Design: Form and Communication, Fourth Edition, by Rob Carter, Ben Day, and Philip Meggs. The bookstore has the order and will hopefully have them in by the time summer school (Session B) starts on June 7. The companion website has information worth exploring. If you can get past the annoying animation and actually click on one of the sections to get into the website, that is.