Here's a Treat You All Might Enjoy

One thing I've been curious about over the last few months is seeing what out VisCom instructors' own portfolios contain; what do our teachers do as designers themselves outside of the educational field. What first began as a harmless Google search led me to find the personal designer site of none other than our good pal, Johnny Gialanella, founder of Machine Shop Design Co.

At first I thought it might be kind of fun to explore the site, but as I explored, I started to find some really pretty neat stuff. Turns out, Johnny from the Midwest does fidel around with projects similar to the ones we do in class. For example, here is an example of an infographic demonstrating the proper technique when it comes to making Beer Mac & Cheese.








Now something I've noticed about Mr. G's portfolio is that the majority of his work utilizes subtle textures and pastel/desaturated color palettes.  This poster above is a great example of these traits, as well as the combination of multiple typefaces. If you'll notice, the "Pasta" section uses the same blue texture in the background as the fill of the pot below it. The whole thing had a good, unified feel to it and there's nothing visibly out of place.


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As for his presentation, G uses a cement kind of background for multiple pieces, something we haven't seen much of, but an interesting and creative way of personalizing and connecting a variety of different subjects. The drop shadow helps make the logo pop, adding to the presentation.

I think that looking at John's work helps give us a sense of what to aim for, and it tells us a little bit about our professor. In my opinion, it's a great resource for brainstorming and designer's block.

NOTE:

All in favor of John making some Beer Macaroni and Cheese, please comment "Aye" below, in addition to your response!

Hand Lettering and Modern Day Typography

This semester of classes as recently opened my eyes in the world of typography. There is a whole new world of typography in hand lettering. I have gained a new respect for typography and hand lettering. I feel that each type has its own mood and personality. Any advertisement can be drastically changed with the type that is put in it.

I decided to share hand lettering as my post this week because I feel that it is important to have an understanding and appreciation for typography. It can make or break a piece. I shared a pinterest link to inspire and promote hand letter. It can be incorporated into shapes, on top of pictures, or even stand on its own. There is something so personal and homemade about hand lettering, I think that is why it has become more appealing among our generation of designers and marketers.

So just take a few minutes and enjoy this art placed before you. Each one tells a story and has a personality of its own.
In addition each "hand lettering" word has a different link to other get hand lettering websites.


http://www.pinterest.com/poppytalk/typography-hand-lettering/

Jan Tschichold - sweet design

Jan Tschichold

   Jan Tschichold (1902-1974) was a book designer, teacher and writer and most importantly, in our case, a typographer.  During the first stages of his life he believed and embraced Modernism and even created a book Die neue Typographie.  Although, later on in his life he reverted back to more Classism and even went so far as to condemn Modernism and his book for being too authoritarian and inherently fascistic.  

   During the years 1947-1949 Tschichold lived in England, which is where he oversaw the redesign of 500 paperbacks published by Penguin Books.  By doing so he left them with a standardized set of typographic rules, the Penguin Composition Rules. Even though he gave the books a more unified look and enforced a lot of the typographic practices the are mostly taken for granted today, he also allowed for the character of each work to take charge of its own look, with varying covers and title pages.  

  His pieces, even though done a while ago, are designs that are very visually engaging and impactful.  His use of grid and color create a design that is very much a part of today's own design. His design inspires my own to take a step out of the box and use more complex grid systems.

Check out a biography here: retinart.net

Fonts In Use

FONTSINUSE

So I wasn't really sure what I would focus my blog posts on but I figured the best thing to do for me and my fellow designers was to try and find helpful sites that could assist us in making some of the best work we can come up with. Sometimes you just don't have those creative juices flowing or maybe are just unsure about what to do in certain design situations and you need a little push or inspiration.

This site is called Fonts in Use

                                                                                Fonts In Use helps designers like us choose the right typeface and what it would and could look like in certain designs. You can search a certain typeface or just go through the images until you find a typeface you like. It even shows other typefaces that were used in that design so you know what typefaces work well with each other. This site includes a lot of the most well known typefaces like Arial and Helvetica but also a few not so well known. However, The more common, the more images. You can also search based upon the type of design you are creating and what it will be used for. You can search by industries (like fashion or architecture) or even formats (like posters or magazines) to get a clear cut idea of what typefaces to use or ideas on how to use it. 

Another cool feature is that if a design particularly interests you you can click on the image and it will give you a brief description of the image, maybe the designer and even a location of where they found the work.

I think this is actually a decent site, even though pretty new, seems to have a lot of potential. I think it also could help come up with an idea or a better way of using any typeface and give you creative strategies. I've already started looking into fonts for some of my projects! You can visit the site at www.fontsinuse.com

Impressive Typography

Although not quite the same as our upcoming Type2 Project 3 of creating digital typography, I thought this article could be useful for some inspiration.  This article came from Smashing Magazine displaying examples of intricate typography all with the topic of nature for the subject matter.  Although these examples appear strictly or at least the majority created digitally, each image is still very interesting with its interesting way of visual displaying not only words, but creating those words out of powerful images to create a message.  I hope this is helpful in sparking some ideas for our next typography project! Although pretty simple, this is a great example of what we are doing for this project.

I love Typography

   I stumbled upon this website a while ago when researching some sign design stuff I was working on and this site has tons of amazing resources for typography.  The site has basically all the answers you would ever need for any typography type questions.  There are an endless amount of interviews posted with famous type designers and how to go about using the right typeface for certain jobs and even breakdowns of how to go about creating your own typeface from scratch.  The site also has a link to Codex Mag which is another awesome journal for typography.  I would definitely recommend this site if you come across any typography/design problems.

I Love Typography

Codex Magazine  

Comic Sans: Misunderstood or Just Plain Tacky?

      If you were to name one font that you absolutely detest and makes you cringe when you see it used in a public space, what would it be? If you are like most of the designers (or just people with taste in general) I know, your answer would be Comic Sans. I know that personally, Comic Sans is on my definitely-never-ever-use-this-typeface list. But how many people have actually stopped and thought about why we hate this typeface so much? Sure - it's poorly kerned, unprofessional and looks tacky. But why did anyone ever design it in the first place? Did it ever have a purpose? I stumbled upon this video a few weeks ago and thought that I would share: 

   
     Now if you're like me, this video still did not change my opinion on the tackiness of Comic Sans at all. I did however, gain a little bit of respect for it than before. Now that I know where it came for and what it's original purpose was, I'm feeling a little less disdain towards it than before. Plus what this guy said was true, people who know absolutely nothing about design using creative fonts like Comic Sans is a step in the right direction towards design literacy. It's a small step, but a step none the less. 

The Infamous Third Dimension

 Can a graphic designer be a sculptor?

  This is a bit more of something I'd like to open up to debate rather than a commentary on a particular style. Everybody loves good design and everybody loves good typography but something that I feel is somehow inherently implied with both of these is that there are only two dimensions to them. Typography is almost always done on simply an x and y axis much in the same way a graphic image is. I've seen examples of people like Stefan Sagmeister do astounding things with three dimensional design but other than him I'm afraid I don't have many popular examples. The images I provided are ones I had to go and find but I'm afraid I don't know the artists.
  I suppose what I'd like to know is, at what point is a sculpture a design? At what level does the classical "art" of paintings, statues, and the like become simply design? Does the old Italian argument of "Colorito vs. Designo" come into play? Is Graphic Design exclusively limited to graphics? I'd like to think not and I'd also like to think that they can be concurrent on a great many levels. I'm not the most skilled artist nor the most talented with computers but sculpting and working with a z axis is something I truly love doing. I can't seem to find many places that find that kind of design anything other than experimental though. I would love to be proved wrong on that.
  You could say I have a bit of an old fashioned mind on this subject thinking that sculpture lasts longer than painting but to be honest, they add a sort of flair and intrigue that out cities and citizens need more of. Can a graphic designer work exclusively in 3d and still be called so? Let's start and argument in the comments–all technicalities are considered.

Typography Usage

I feel like my blog this week is posted for more of my own benefit, but I do think it could be helpful to all designers to at least check out the designs on this site here. I am currently in a design lab class with Patricia Murphy and we are working on a book that is to be published by the end of the semester! As designers, it is our job to help the author use creative typography like Toby & Pete's that is seen at the top here, to illustrate 100 plus ways to save the planet. I have been a big typography fan ever since I started doing graphic design and therefore, to be a part of this book project is super exciting to me! I have been researching several different type blogs and pages on the web to help me out on a few pages so if any of you have any cool websites to suggest, I would love the help since there are a lot of pages in this book! Enjoy!

Ebon Heath Inspiration

I found this website while looking for examples of graphic installations for another class. I think that the installation designs of Ebon Heath are outstanding. On the website are many images and examples of his work, including other media than the typographic installation shown here. I think his work on the Stereo.type pieces really makes us aware about how the medium and presentation of our creations effect how the viewer “sees” or “hears” what we have to say.

He is a designer who received his BFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. He lives and works in several places: Brooklyn, Bali, and Berlin. When he graduated, he founded a design studio that focused mainly on music packaging, magazine layout, and fashion advertising. He called it (((stereotype))). He also co-founded Cell Out in 2003, which is a consultant group that develops media strategies for non-profit organizations, NGO’s, and brands. He has exhibited around the world. His exhibits include his stereo.type mobiles, installations, jewelry, and performance art focusing on type. He is also a visiting professor in Graphic Design at Lehman College and an Art Director for the Mindpirates Berlin.

The work that I liked the best and thought was the most unique was called Stereo.type. The website says it is a syntheses of our typographic language with the physical expression of our body language. It also claims that these installations make the viewer listen with their eyes, or how can we make sound and its symbols found in language able to be heard visibly.

I think that this designer does a great job of getting us to look at type as a tangible object, not just something on a page to arrange. He presents it in a way that makes us think about how we feel about type, and encourages designers to think outside of the box when creating something.

http://www.listeningwithmyeyes.com/

For the Love of Helvetica

Flipping through design blogs this week, I stumbled upon Goodbye Helvetica, and was instantly amused and curious.

Why are we saying goodbye?

Helvetica is a good font!

(Also you should know now that I thought it would be appropriate to write this blog post in Helvetica. You're welcome.)

Upon further reading of the site, I found that the "goodbye" to the typeface had come after a long, committed 1-year relationship.

Dominique Falla, the writer of the blog, used Helvetica in every design she made (minus client designs) for a whole year. 

As a designer, she thought that the challenge would push her. Helvetica is such a beautifully designed typeface, which brings it popularity. Falla says that her time spent with a single typeface refined her skills, and she enjoyed not having to pick and choose a typeface every time she started a new design. 

According to Dominique, the year was a success, and she thoroughly enjoyed proving, "... how beautiful this cold and emotionless typeface can be if it is treated with some love, care, and attention."

Domonique Falla is a very seasoned and talented designer. I encourage you to check out her website. 

Stereotypes in Design

I read an article on Design Shack written by designer and photographer, Joshua Johnson about how stereotyping could be helpful to design, the differences presented by masculine and feminine typography, and other important factors when determining a target audience. I was intrigued by his breakdown of type and design in terms of evaluation of patterns and characteristics. Johnson believes, “hitting a target audience often means leveraging some stereotypes.” He explains that , “colors, concepts, and typefaces all exist on a continuum. Often there is a clear masculine or feminine aspect to a design that defines its audience, although, there are many examples where a design lies somewhere in between the two.” Your job as a designer is to determine what you are trying to communicate and what elements you will include to influence your audience. A neutral state could possible be the best solution for the design you are creating so you can reach a larger, not gender specific audience, but appeal does not work in one finite way. Neutral is not always as strong of an appeal. 

Many times we begin our design process with stereotypes as observations so we can better understand what a client wants. I liked Joshua Johnson’s example as he compares his design for Cesar dog food and Pedigree, pointing out that the designer should consider the kind of people who will most likely buy this food. He states many implications about the consumers due to their interest in a product and possible reasons behind their choices. Stereotypes are not always correct, but today there are so many types of studies about trends through media use and this can create a more accurate view of what certain groups of people are attracted to aesthetically. 

We must define our purpose and then ask,  is the design meant to attract a specific group or resonate with a much larger audience?  Questions are key when talking to clients about who their message should target. The answers to these questions should affect your design before you begin to sketch out a single idea. It’s about achieving a set of goals and appealing to specific types of people. This should be reflected in your headline copy, typefaces, color schemes, imagery, etc.

Hand Drawn Type (and why it needs publicity)

   I've always been infinitely jealous of people who have this talent. To be able to render words with the clarity of a machine is a skill that I don't think is nearly publicized enough. When we are younger, good penmanship is always stressed but never for the right reasons. We have to lean cursive and honestly, how useful was it? Compare that to this for just a second and think, "That looks way cooler and could definitely be useful to me now." Hand typography and calligraphy are like lost arts in today's society and that just bothers me. I wish there was a class somewhere in this school where we could learn how to do this because it just blows me away with the level of detail. I'm assuming the key to it comes from lots and lots of practice along with having reasonable artistic skills.
   There are scores upon scores of blogs and such on Tumblr that can give you more examples of beautiful work like this. We as the next generation of designers should try and spread awareness of just how awesome this skill is and try to do it ourselves. Before this class I had no idea how much effort was put into the creation of words and letters. People outside of our field find this science and craft typically boring or confusing so it should become part of our responsibility to show just how awesome and important all of this is. If everyone in the world had just a little bit of this skill, we will have drastically reduced the number of chicken-scratch writers out there, myself included.