Margin:space around text and columns and in between pages.
Column:area or field the text in a project is flowed to present in an organized fashion.
Alley:space between two columns of set type.
Module:spatial areas that support the textual and visual contents of a design
Gutter:inside margins (space between two pages)
Folio:page numbers
What are the advantages of a multiple column grid?
They allow for multiple compositional options and it's flexible for other visual elements. It creates a rhythm and movement and allows you to in an organized fashion.
Why is there only one space after a period?
Characters each take up a proportional amount of space.
What is a character in typography?
a symbol in writing such as a letter, punctuation, or figure
How many characters are optimal for line length? Words per line?
40 characters per line, 70 is max and 24 is the min, or 6 words of 6 characters.
Why is the baseline grid used in designing?
maintains cleanliness, lines up text, continutiy
What is a typographic river?
A series of inconsistent word spaces that create distracting open lines running vertically through the justified paragraph.
What does clotheslining, flow line, and hangline mean?
Flow lines support vertical columns by dividing a page into horizontal sections to provide additional alignment points in a grid.
How can you incorporate white spaces into your design?
create negative space and movement
What does type color/texture mean?
Type color - refers to the density of typographic elements and their perceived gray value -- the overall feel of light and dark on a page.
What is x-height and how does it effect text color?
The height of the lowercase letters without ascenders and descenders. Type color is affected by the thickness of the lines or leading.
What is tracking?
The typographic technique used to adjust the overall spacing of words, lines, and paragraphs to improve the readable appearance of text.
What is kerning? Why do characters need to be kerned? What are the most frequently kerned character combos?
kerning is removing the space between letters in words to make them appear visually consistent. this is important because it keeps words visually consistent, easy to read, and looks more professional. combinations that need to be kerned are letters that have a lot of white space between them. characters with curves tend to be able to get closer than other combinations such as characters with verticals that need to have more white space.
In justification or H&J terms what do the numbers: minimum, optimum, maximum mean?
h&j means hyphenatioin and justification. min., opt., and max. stand for minimum, optimum, and maximum concerning the minimum number of words before or after a hyphen, the optimum number of spaces and how you can adjust up or down, and the max number of words before and after a hyphen.
What is the optimum space between words?
en dash
What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?
ways to show paragraphs include lines between paragraphs or indentation. Always use one never use both.
What are the rules associated with hyphenation?
only for words and line breaks. only used for hyphenated words. no more than 3 times in a row, or six of the eight lines in a paragraph. never hyphenate a word in a headline
What is a ligature?
a ligature is a combination of two glyphs or characters such as "fl"
What does CMYK and RGB mean?
CMYK is subtractive and it stands for cyan magenta yellow and key (black); RGB is additive and stands for red, green and blue
What does hanging punctuation mean?
It is a slight indent that is visually distracting. It applies to asterisks, apostrophes, commas, en dashes, hyphens, periods, and quotation marks.
What is the difference between a foot mark and an apostrophe? What is the difference between an inch mark and a quote mark (smart quote)?
Apostrophes and quote marks are curved and either open or closed, inch and foot marks are straight up.
What is a hyphen, en dash and em dashes, what are the differences and when are they used?
a hyphen is a punctuation mark used to separate words and line breaks, en dashes are dashes the size of a capital N or one half an em size and are used to punctuate duration and compound adjectives, and em dashes are punctuation marks the size of a capital M used to show changes of thought
What is a widow and an orphan?
a widow is the last line on a paragraph with less than seven characters
an orphan is the remaining remnants of a paragraph ended on the top of a new column
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Reflections: Helvetica the Film
After viewing the movie Helvetica I was astounded to see how the world today relies on type designers such as Max Miedinger and others. I did my research paper on Max Miedinger so I know a good deal about how Helvetica came to be a staple in the world today, but the movie delved deeper than my research proded and revealed some interesting things to me. I knew that Helvetica was the most famous typeface the world has ever seen, but its applications in wayfinding and signage are astounding. The fact that so many governments rely on Helvetica to transport people, objects, and ideas is beyond the capacity I knew. Helvetica is truly a type that has broken down barriers of state and unified the world with its simplistic and awe-inspiring attributes. Helvetica is the means to spread ideas, and without knowing its scope before creation, Max Miedinger and Edouard Hoffman created something that would long outlive them. Helvetica the movie was interesting and informative enough to also capure my attention for an hour and a half. Seeing the mixed reviews of Helvetica in the gestures of designers of this era was also interesting. Some believe it is a design god send while others scornfully dilute the image of it in a sense of overuse. I found the designers, whether for or against Helvetica, to be fun to watch and explore thiere positions concerning the world around them. Designers seem to be a different breed of people. To reiterate, Helvetica was a great and very informational movie, to me, about the hard work and effects of a typeface created many years ago.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Max Miedinger
Online Sources
http://fontfeed.com/archives/helvetica-and-alternatives-to-helvetica/
http://www.helveticafilm.com/about.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica
http://www.rvreeland.net/design/helvetica/project2/theman.html
http://www.linotype.com/522/maxmiedinger.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/helvetica-1
Print Sources
Helvetica: Homage to a typeface, Lars Muller
How Magazine, "Beyond Helvetica", Stephen Coles
Quotes...
"Helvetica is the jeans, and Univers the dinner jacket. Helvetica is here to stay."- Adrian Frutiger
"Helvetica is essentially good at functional tasks like road signs, way finding signs around buildings, directions and information," -Richard Ford "This is where those typefaces really score because they're easy to read, easy to use, and be can read at a great distance." -Richard Ford
Max Miedinger: The World's Typographer
Max Miedinger, above all else, was an innovative Swiss designer with work in typography that has and will outlive him. Miedinger was born in Zurich on the 24 of December 1910 and died on the eighth day of March 1980 in the same city as his birth.
Brief Overview
He began his career in visual design at the age of 16 as an apprentice typesetter for Jacques Bollman, a Swiss book printer. From 1926 to 1930 Miedinger trained as a typographer in Zurich and attended night classes at Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. From 1936 to 46 Miedinger was a typographer for Globus department store’s advertising studio in Zurich. From 1947 to 56 he was a customer counselor and typeface sales representative for the Haas’sche Schriftgießerei in Münchenstein. After 1956 he was a freelance graphic artist in Zurich with a fair amount of success. In 1957 Miedinger was prompted by Edouard Hoffman from the Swiss type Type Foundry Hass to a new font to represent the company in all their advertisements. Under Edouard Hoffman’s Miedinger made the Haas Grotesk typeface that would later be renamed Helvetica.
Later Career (Helvetica and its Development)
Helvetica is a Latin word meaning Switzerland that was used to employ a more "global" appeal and professional name. After developing the famous font Helvetica, Miedinger continued his freelance career as I stated. No work after Helvetica either by Miedinger or another estranged typographer up until the present has had a greater influence on mass media and been as legible to be used in posters and body text. Though Miedinger never really ventured from Zurich to live, he seemed to gather a strong understanding of international appeal and style. Max Miedinger lived a modest life in Zurich and never received worldwide acclaim like other typographers. He often is not thought of when Helvetica is brought up, and is more often than not put in a light that is not famous or important. Especially during his life Miedinger was not famous or reverred because of his design qualities. He was respected, but never able to gain pop
ularity from Helvetica like the typeface gained for itself.In 1957 Miedinger was asked by Edouard Hoffman from the Swiss type Type Foundry Hass to make a new typeface that would be used by the company in all their advertisements and visually printed brochures and such. Under Hoffman’s supervision Miedinger created a type called Haas Grotesk typeface, later called Helvetica because it means “Switzerland” in Latin. Miedinger worked alone after his association with the Haas Type Foundry, but none of his work was ever as important or widely accepted by his typeface called Helvetica. Helvetica was the most used Sans Serif typeface throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. It was used in areas and designs such as Tokyo, Moscow, and New York subways and transit departments. It was also used in by Toyota car company exclusively. They bought the rights to use it in making an international identity for the company and its partners. The trend might have continued into the 1990s if the computer did not start to take precedence.
Helvetica and Max
Helvetica is a sans serif meaning it has no extra adornment at the ends of letters. Sans is a French word meaning "without". Though Miedinger created many versions of Helvetica with varying weights he also created a font called Miedinger in his later years. Along with Miedinger, he also created Swiss 921, Monospace 821, and Swiss 721. Helvetica in fact is not the only font he created, but it is his lasting trademark and only font really associated with his name if any text does this.
Applications
Helvetica is well known for its clean legible apperance and strong verical or horizontal lines. It is one of the most popular types the world has ever known. Designed in 1957 for the Haas foundry of Switzerland. Helvetica is based on grotesques of the late nineteenth century like “Akzidenz” that was made in the late 1800s by foundries like Berthold Type foundry in Germany. The font was made because Akzidenz Grotesk was growing outdated and something needed to take its place as the sans serif font of its time. In 1961 Helvetica's original name Neue Haas Grotesk was switched to the name Helvetica by Stempel, a side company of Haas. After purchasing and changing Helvetica's name, Stempel foundry made a full series of weights. In the 1960s Helvetica came to the United States, where alignment standards differed. Mergenthaler Linotype copied the Stempel and added many new versions of the font. Helvetica is a universal type design that can give any message clearly and efficiently.The condensed designs are perfect for newspapers or newsletter headlines, billboards, and advertising. Helvetica Rounded made in 1980, the year of Max Miedinger's death, is the same as the original Helvetica typefaces but has different stroke endings, which are rounded instead of squared off. The overall effect is more fun and less business like than traditional Helvetica.
One of the reasons Helvetica is so widely used is its modern look. Sans serifs appear modern, ditching serifs for more geometric shapes that classify this new type field. Helvetica is often cool and docile. It is not very ornate, and uses line expertly to communicate content without distraction. It is very clear and subtle without instrinsic meaning. Some experts refer to Helvetica as a neo-grotesque font, but it is more easily classified as a grotesque font. Grotesque fonts were coined in this term because they were "unsightly" compared to original serif fonts. Created in 1957, it has kept a modern feel surrounding it, and this modern appeal has warranted many companies to use it as their personal type style. Just a few of the companies worldwide who employ Helvetica are Conair, Dole, digital, Bell South, Eagle, Amtrak, Bayer, intel, Jockey, Kappa, and Nestle. Most typographers agree that serifed fonts are easier to pick up on and use in body texts, such as newspapers or books, but Helvetica is an exception to the rule. It has such strong lines that are crisp enough to make it a possible body text font even though it is expertly used in many titles. One of the reasons this font is used so often in logo design is its uncanny nature to be very legible and convey strength while not distracting from an actual logo or the purpose for the mark. This is one of the reasons the United States government uses it for their postal service. A font that perhaps uses cursive is only applicable in certain instances; whereas, Helvetica can be read and enjoyed in any circumstance because of its simplistic design. Companies that want to reach the masses look for a font that conveys without distracting.
Importance
One has to think about the gravity of a font that has changed how the world sees. Helvetica has been used in documents, papers, commercials, and every other type of media we as people see. Possibly Miedinger knew the extent of his impact before he died in 1980, but probably not during the type's creation and probably not now. Brought on by the Swiss design movement in the 1950s and 1960s and acquisition of the Haas Type Foundry by America in the form of the Adobe font book, Helvetica has been enormously popular during the last half century. Helvetica was the most used Sans Serif typeface throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and probably would have been the most popular font still if Microsoft had not come along. The release of the Windows 3.1 operating system pushed Microsoft to use a font technology that supported their software. Unfortunately, Adobe held tightly onto their Postscript Type 1 format and would not make a deal with Microsoft. Microsoft instead signed an agreement with Apple to share a new system called the TrueType format. Adobe tried to get back into the computer business by then releasing their fonts, but Microsoft never looked back. While all this is going on, replica or “clone” fonts were being created in the essence of Adobe fonts in order to compete with them. One example is Arial who competes iwth Helvetica in same weight and dimensions. In the end, Microsoft chose to go with Arial as their default font over Helvetica. Arial has been used with every big Microsoft operating system release since. This is why Arial has been the most popular font for the last fifteen years.
Criticism and Conclusion
Though Helvetica is very popular it does receive a lot of criticism as of late. People are upset that the font is overused and dominates the type industry. One designer, Stephen Banham of Melbourne, Australia believes that Helvetica is an “easy, lazy way to look cool”. He feels that no matter what industry the font is being used in, it always gives a “corporate feel” when perhaps it should not. Other people think that the font is so overused it is almost cancelling out its appeal in the first place. It is a well designed font, but it is said to make things that are not business oriented into associations that take on a corporate appeal. Put into context, Helvetica is very powerful and employs a well crafted arsenal of design. It is concise and delivers messages well. I believe the criticism it is now receiving is in part because it is so well designed and looks good. The only reason it has dominated the type field is because of its strong design in the first place. To conclude, a storied Swiss man created a font that would later be changed to Helvetica and affect the world of design/type long past his death in 1980.
In the World at 1957......
While Max Miedinger was creating Helvetica for Type Foundry Haas, the world of cinema was changing drastically. A future civil rights activist director and influence on the 21 century world of cinema was born. That man was Spike Lee. With the induction of Spike Lee to the world, another famous man in cinema was on his way out. Actor Humphrey Bogart died on January 14. Last but not least, Disney released the fourth highest grossing film for 1957 with their classic Old Yeller. In summation, the world of film was experiencing some monumental events while Miedinger was in Switzerland sitting at a desk creating Helvetica.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Misunderstanding... Grid Terms I Printed Out
Typography Questions...
9/1/08
Grid: A skeletal structure that does not bind. The structure helps to organize information and graphics in a logical, visually pleasing manner. This style of design helps to not bind a designer's perimeters but also help organize data and graphics.
http://wwwfac.worcester.edu/iad/design_grids.htm (simple 3x3 design grid)
margins: the areas around the internal grid structure. They come in lots of different styles depending on information, but help to fame the document.
Columns: vertical structures that interact with the horizontal rows. They also vary with content but are designed to locate information in an up and down format.
Grid modules: specific areas that text or graphics can be placed on a page. They help to logically frame information and create a dynamic, harmonious composition.
Flow lines: suggestive areas like margins, but on the interior of the document. These areas often separate modules and give a designer more areas of separation inside a composition and also organize the information in the comp.
Gutters: The area between two pages, including the right and left margins of two open pages. Basically, the area between two pages next to each other including the book binding.
A modular grid is a grid cut up into modules, or sections, that aid even further in the composition to help identify areas of possible text and graphics and to keep a composition more dynamic, depending on the information used.
X-height: area of main body of a lowercase letter of the letter x.
Baseline: most stable line for text, area where all the letters in text align at their bottom axis.
Cap height: distance from baseline to top of capital letter.
Points: a system to measure height of a letter and its leading.
Picas: based on points, twelve points equals one pica. More often than not used to measure column width.
Character Width: area of actual letter plus the space between it and the next letter. Helps to determine typefaces.
Line Weight: varying "thickness" of a letter. How the x-height competes with the width determines line weight. Line weight, when heavy, can develop into strong widths and bold text.
Proportion: tells the basic visual size and weight of type. Sometimes in comparison to other text typefaces.
9/1/08
Grid: A skeletal structure that does not bind. The structure helps to organize information and graphics in a logical, visually pleasing manner. This style of design helps to not bind a designer's perimeters but also help organize data and graphics.
http://wwwfac.worcester.edu/iad/design_grids.htm (simple 3x3 design grid)
margins: the areas around the internal grid structure. They come in lots of different styles depending on information, but help to fame the document.
Columns: vertical structures that interact with the horizontal rows. They also vary with content but are designed to locate information in an up and down format.
Grid modules: specific areas that text or graphics can be placed on a page. They help to logically frame information and create a dynamic, harmonious composition.
Flow lines: suggestive areas like margins, but on the interior of the document. These areas often separate modules and give a designer more areas of separation inside a composition and also organize the information in the comp.
Gutters: The area between two pages, including the right and left margins of two open pages. Basically, the area between two pages next to each other including the book binding.
A modular grid is a grid cut up into modules, or sections, that aid even further in the composition to help identify areas of possible text and graphics and to keep a composition more dynamic, depending on the information used.
X-height: area of main body of a lowercase letter of the letter x.
Baseline: most stable line for text, area where all the letters in text align at their bottom axis.
Cap height: distance from baseline to top of capital letter.
Points: a system to measure height of a letter and its leading.
Picas: based on points, twelve points equals one pica. More often than not used to measure column width.
Character Width: area of actual letter plus the space between it and the next letter. Helps to determine typefaces.
Line Weight: varying "thickness" of a letter. How the x-height competes with the width determines line weight. Line weight, when heavy, can develop into strong widths and bold text.
Proportion: tells the basic visual size and weight of type. Sometimes in comparison to other text typefaces.
Monday, September 22, 2008
1960's Pop Art Movement Coupled with Design (psychedelia)
Beginning in the late 1950's and spanning the years of the 60's, typography and design in the United States and abroad took an auspicious turn of originality. With the new set on popular culture movement affecting art and design around the world, typography began to transcend from legibility and known methods of designs. Many texts were created solely for an aesthetic purpose. The International Style did stay true to many strong held conventions that kept type abroad legible enough for body text use, but the standards for text began to get skewed.
Known as the popular culture age, the 60's embraced new mindsets and accepted new ways of doing things. From the hippies and flower power to the invention of new typefaces for design and computers, this era was a progressive change from the past heading into the new modern ages of the computer's dominance in the 80's and today. The 60's seemed to produce a wide range of new typefaces including typefaces based on computer grids like OCR-A to Eurostile, a text distorting a circular form into an original "tv set" design. Many of the typefaces designed in the 60's were solely created for a simple solution to a problem. Letraset, a type that could be rubbed off a sheet onto artwork or clothing, became popular for its ability to make the common person a designer. The need for applicable type to interact with images in art made letraset an issue that was solved in the popular culture age. Many American texts were invented to follow the hippie movement springing up around the country. Psychedelia, type designed to mimic illegibility and intense colors of drugs, became the staple of flower power and antigovernmental ideals. While many random typefaces sprang up, European typographers were sticking to legibility rules. Often legible fonts would be paired with pop culture fonts. Legible types would make up large sections of text while more illegible yet interestingly different types were used for titles and small text concentrations.
To conclude, the 1960's proved to be a new step in the modern era of typography. Artists and typographers used their personal skills to influence and perpetuate cultural movements. Texts were designed to appease the general "pop" ideals. Many applications of texts were finally designed to aid in specific areas of desperate innovation such as the computers of this time and legibility issues.
Question... Name the two main categories typefaces described in 1960's article above fall into and name and least two of the types created in the 1960's.
www.wikipedia.com (various searches)
Known as the popular culture age, the 60's embraced new mindsets and accepted new ways of doing things. From the hippies and flower power to the invention of new typefaces for design and computers, this era was a progressive change from the past heading into the new modern ages of the computer's dominance in the 80's and today. The 60's seemed to produce a wide range of new typefaces including typefaces based on computer grids like OCR-A to Eurostile, a text distorting a circular form into an original "tv set" design. Many of the typefaces designed in the 60's were solely created for a simple solution to a problem. Letraset, a type that could be rubbed off a sheet onto artwork or clothing, became popular for its ability to make the common person a designer. The need for applicable type to interact with images in art made letraset an issue that was solved in the popular culture age. Many American texts were invented to follow the hippie movement springing up around the country. Psychedelia, type designed to mimic illegibility and intense colors of drugs, became the staple of flower power and antigovernmental ideals. While many random typefaces sprang up, European typographers were sticking to legibility rules. Often legible fonts would be paired with pop culture fonts. Legible types would make up large sections of text while more illegible yet interestingly different types were used for titles and small text concentrations.
To conclude, the 1960's proved to be a new step in the modern era of typography. Artists and typographers used their personal skills to influence and perpetuate cultural movements. Texts were designed to appease the general "pop" ideals. Many applications of texts were finally designed to aid in specific areas of desperate innovation such as the computers of this time and legibility issues.
Question... Name the two main categories typefaces described in 1960's article above fall into and name and least two of the types created in the 1960's.
www.wikipedia.com (various searches)
Monday, September 15, 2008
Typographic Terms
Absolute measurements: measurements that are a definite number. Used to express exact points in typography that are fixed.
Relative measurements: measurements that are not quite exact and are not constant finite expressions. These measurements are usually linked to something and therefore increase at a different rates. This type of measurement is defined by a relationship not something absolute.
Points: measurement related to a type's size. This measurement is for the character block size and not the actual character.
Pica: used to measure lines of text, this measurement is six to an inch.
X-height: used as a designing guide, x-height is the height of a lower letter x.
Em: a unit of measure dependent on the typesize. Used to help build a text and determine spacing.
En: one half the size of an em. Used also as a size measurement for the symbol for "to" and for nested clauses.
Dashes...
Hyphens: 1/3 the size of an em, this dash is used to combine two words, break up syllables into specific blocks of text, and makes words easier to understand by separating them.
En Dash: 1/2 the size of an em, this dash is used to pages, dates, and to substitute "to" in phrases involving travel.
Em Dash: standard dash, em dashes come in two forms. Standard em dashes are used to make lines since they are long enough to connect with other characters, and punctuating em dashes are used to house nested clauses because they leave room to not touch surrounding characters.
Alignment: the positioning of text in a text block, in a vertical and horizontal fashion.
Justification: aligning text equally on all sides in relation to area left in the top, bottom, left, and right. Sometimes employing excessive use of the hyphen to keep text equal.
Flush Left: aligning words along the left margin of the page for easier reading and to follow handwriting patterns.
Flush Right: harder to read and function correctly, this alignment is used to line up on the right margin and lay ragged on the left. Drastically different to body copy and sometimes used with picture captions.
Letterspacing: Addition of space between characters so no collisions occur.
Kerning: Subtraction of space between characters to allow words to form from letters.
Tracking: adjusting the spacing between characters in words.
Word Spacing: spacing between words not between characters.
Widow: lone word at end of paragraph.
Orphan: last one or two lines of a paragraph cut off from main paragraph to start a new column.
Leading: space between lines of text in a text body. With too much a text is drawn out and looks awkward, while too little leading caused overlap and inability to read easily.
Indents: space put in between a text line and the margin. Used to organize text and determined by a grid or point size.
First Line Indent: usually not a real first line indent, this phrase refers to the space between the first line of new text from the margin. It is possible to do the very first paragraph, but often this is awkward to look at.
Hanging Indent: this type of indent refers to the opposite of a first line indent. Every line of text is indented except for the first line.
Relative measurements: measurements that are not quite exact and are not constant finite expressions. These measurements are usually linked to something and therefore increase at a different rates. This type of measurement is defined by a relationship not something absolute.
Points: measurement related to a type's size. This measurement is for the character block size and not the actual character.
Pica: used to measure lines of text, this measurement is six to an inch.
X-height: used as a designing guide, x-height is the height of a lower letter x.
Em: a unit of measure dependent on the typesize. Used to help build a text and determine spacing.
En: one half the size of an em. Used also as a size measurement for the symbol for "to" and for nested clauses.
Dashes...
Hyphens: 1/3 the size of an em, this dash is used to combine two words, break up syllables into specific blocks of text, and makes words easier to understand by separating them.
En Dash: 1/2 the size of an em, this dash is used to pages, dates, and to substitute "to" in phrases involving travel.
Em Dash: standard dash, em dashes come in two forms. Standard em dashes are used to make lines since they are long enough to connect with other characters, and punctuating em dashes are used to house nested clauses because they leave room to not touch surrounding characters.
Alignment: the positioning of text in a text block, in a vertical and horizontal fashion.
Justification: aligning text equally on all sides in relation to area left in the top, bottom, left, and right. Sometimes employing excessive use of the hyphen to keep text equal.
Flush Left: aligning words along the left margin of the page for easier reading and to follow handwriting patterns.
Flush Right: harder to read and function correctly, this alignment is used to line up on the right margin and lay ragged on the left. Drastically different to body copy and sometimes used with picture captions.
Letterspacing: Addition of space between characters so no collisions occur.
Kerning: Subtraction of space between characters to allow words to form from letters.
Tracking: adjusting the spacing between characters in words.
Word Spacing: spacing between words not between characters.
Widow: lone word at end of paragraph.
Orphan: last one or two lines of a paragraph cut off from main paragraph to start a new column.
Leading: space between lines of text in a text body. With too much a text is drawn out and looks awkward, while too little leading caused overlap and inability to read easily.
Indents: space put in between a text line and the margin. Used to organize text and determined by a grid or point size.
First Line Indent: usually not a real first line indent, this phrase refers to the space between the first line of new text from the margin. It is possible to do the very first paragraph, but often this is awkward to look at.
Hanging Indent: this type of indent refers to the opposite of a first line indent. Every line of text is indented except for the first line.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Adrian Frutiger
Among other things, Adrian Frutiger was a Swiss born typist torn away from his love of sculpture at an early age to become one of the most influential typographers still alive today. The use of sculpture in his type occupation has most definitely made his typefaces interesting and useful in interpretation today.
Frutiger was born in Switzerland near Interlaken. Early in his design career he was chosen to be an apprentice. At age sixteen he studied in Zurich and once done with that moved to France to study under Charles Peignot who was amazed with Frutiger's work on an illustrated essay on text in Europe.
Though Adrian Frutiger created many typefaces and still works to find more he is most famous for his neo-grotesque typeface called Univers. Univers is one of three sans-serif typefaces that is designed in the Swiss design style. It is easy to read even far away and is designed using numbers instead of names. The main reason this typeface is so unique is due to the numbering system. Basically the weight of a letter is increased heading toward the number ten, yet the width and position become increasingly condensed as they travel the number ten. Adrian Frutiger also used a grid system to design his texts. The grid is basically a set of different fonts focusing around Frutiger's original Univers typeface. The other typefaces vary in weight, width, and other attributes. To summarize, Adrian Frutiger was and is an influential typeface designer driven by his love of sculpture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=+frutiger+univers+grid&ns0=1&fulltext=Search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers
http://typophile.com/node/12118
http://www.identifont.com/show?110
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/univers/familytree.html
John Baskerville was a man of many talents including papier-mache, japanning, printing and type design. He lived in England from 1706-1775, and among his many talents made a unique typeface called Baskerville. This typestyle was unique to him and his interests. Baskerville, later in his life, owned a printing press and became successful in the United States when Benjamin Franklin introduced his work. After obtaining success, Baskerville had begun to influence many prominent people besides Benjamin Franklin, another printer, and Bodoni and Didot, European typographers who are considered the transitioned, modern typographers after Baskerville. John Baskerville is most known for his typography style, but the time spent at Cambridge University in his later life is what cemented Mr. Baskerville. His new use of fine inks and papers coupled with a "new" classical style helped draw attention to his inspiring work.
Baskerville as a typeface is one that draws from more classical type. The difference between classical type and John Baskerville's new type was a few subtle points. Baskerville is a serif designed to improve readibility. It has almost horizontal lowercase letters and employs more a circular design. It is a type designed to show elegance and simplicity. One of the main attributes of the typeface is its strong contr
ast between thin and thick entities of letters. Among all else, Baskerville typeface is simple and strong with an easy readibility compared to other more complex or confusing typefaces.Images.....
http://www.rightreading.com/typehead/baskerville.htm
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Baskerville+typeface&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baskerville
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0806405.html
http://ilovetypography.com/2007/09/23/baskerville-john/
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0806405.html
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Why Designers Do What They Do
Question 1: Why do we as designers use a grid?
We as designers use a grid for clarity. A grid keeps all the information, including text and graphics, organized and visually pleasing. Monotony ruins design, unlike writing, but having a clear set image of where everything should lie in comparison to each other is crucial whether or not it is the same every time.
Question 2: What are the functions/benefits?
Grids keep design centered and are the best bet to have a pleasing composition. They help organize the viewer's sense of direction and importance in a composition. They tend to keep a composition more structured than random organic compositions.
Links...
http://wwwfac.worcester.edu/iad/design_grids.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_(typography)
We as designers use a grid for clarity. A grid keeps all the information, including text and graphics, organized and visually pleasing. Monotony ruins design, unlike writing, but having a clear set image of where everything should lie in comparison to each other is crucial whether or not it is the same every time.
Question 2: What are the functions/benefits?
Grids keep design centered and are the best bet to have a pleasing composition. They help organize the viewer's sense of direction and importance in a composition. They tend to keep a composition more structured than random organic compositions.
Links...
http://wwwfac.worcester.edu/iad/design_grids.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_(typography)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Paul Rand, Graphic Designer
In retrospect, Paul Rand influenced, in some form or another, his own generation of graphic designers and creative individuals as well as every generation after his tragic death. Mr. Rand, as formerly known as Peretz Rosenbaum, died in 1996 from cancer, but many of his designs took off in his own lifetime. One such design he created was the logo for ABC. Designs such as this help to illustrate power and point of view of big time businesses. Mr. Rand attended Pratt university and the Art Students League to hone his graphics skills that make himself an icon/design master before helping to develop a profound new design style called swiss style or international typographic style. This style employed a strong use of typography and pictures to illustrate important points. One fan of Paul Rand's work is Steve Jobs, head of Apple Computers, who said this about Rand: "the greatest living graphic designer." Paul Rand had just designed a new logo for Jobs' new computer educatioin program NEXT. Though UPS changed its logo recently and Enron was a comic failure, Mr. Rand also designed logos for them too. Using simplified techniques and unbounding creativity, Paul Rand made an illustrious career for himself. One of the reasons Rand is so successful in this modern age is because he employed modern techniques such as the modern art he adored so much. He enjoyed artists such as Paul Cezanne who took art to another level. The most famous and recognizable of all Paul Rand works is the IBM computer company logo. Mr. Rand simply took symbols of an eye and bee to form pictorial represe
ntations of the company's first two letters. This above all took his career to a new level. In summation, Peretz Rosenbaum, or Paul Rand as he is known to the design world, has influenced and continues to input on the graphic design community.
ntations of the company's first two letters. This above all took his career to a new level. In summation, Peretz Rosenbaum, or Paul Rand as he is known to the design world, has influenced and continues to input on the graphic design community.
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