Project 4 Q & A

1. What are the advantages of a multiple column grid?

Multiple column grids provides the designer with a lot of flexibility. There are more corners and more variations in distance when using a grid with multiple columns. Modular grid helps line things up. Create asymmetry. Gives a lot of room to be less rigid. Use different column widths, narrow and wide columns.

2. How many characters is optimal for a line length? words per line?

45-75 characters per line which provides a wide range. 66 is considered the median. Change type size to get optimal characters per line.

3. Why is the baseline grid used in design?

Baseline grids are used to align type. The baseline grid makes the designers job easier and when things are lined up it is easy to achieve continuity.

4. What is a typographic river?

Rivers are visually unattractive gaps appearing to run down a paragraph of text. They can occur with any spacing, though they are most noticeable with wide inter-word spaces caused by either full text justification ormonospaced fonts.

5. From the readings what does clothesline or flow line mean?

A flow line is the horizontal line that appears on a layout within the text; so your eye goes through the page.

6. How can you incorporate white space into your designs?

You can do this by by not filling the entire page with text or images and utilizing the white space. You can also adjust margins and gutters. Keep white spaces to the outside.

7. What is type color/texture mean?

The density of text. This is the non-white space in the design. The choice of typeface, type size, leading, word spacing and line measure affect the texture and tonal value of the text. They create varying degrees of heaviness and lightness in a text block, also known as color. Contrast between strokes also affects the richness of the texture.

8. What is x-height, how does it effect type color?

The height of a lowercase x of a given typeface. The larger the x-height, the darker the color the letter seems.

9. In justification or H&J terms what do the numbers: minimum, optimum, maximum mean?

The specific amount of space between words, the minimum being at the least possible, the optimum just right and the maximum being more than what is needed.

10. What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?

Create a first line indent, a hanging indent, tracking, running indent and create a rule under the first word.

11. What are some things to look out for when hyphenating text?

Hyphenation doesn’t improve text legibility, so other things being equal, you should turn it off. Generally, hyphenation is necessary for justified text but not for left-aligned text, because left-aligned text will have an irregular rag no matter what.

Hyphenation is also less necessary for wider text blocks, because awkward line breaks are less likely. (Newspapers have to take hyphenation seriously because most newspaper text is set in narrow columns and justified.) Hyphenation doesn’t improve text legibility, so other things being equal, you should turn it off. Generally, hyphenation is necessary for justified text but not for left-aligned text, because left-aligned text will have an irregular rag no matter what. Hyphenation is also less necessary for wider text blocks, because awkward line breaks are less likely.

12. What is a literature?

The entire body of writings of a specific language, period, people.

13. What does CMYK and RGB mean?

C- Cyan, M- Magenta, Y- Yellow, K- Black. R- Red, G- Green, B- Blue.

14. What does hanging punctuation mean?

It is a way of typesetting punctuation marks and bullet points, most commonly quotation marks and hyphens, so that they do not disrupt the ‘flow’ of a body of text or ‘break’ the margin of alignment. It is so called because the punctuation appears to ‘hang’ in the margin of the text, and is not incorporated into the block or column of text. It is commonly used when text is fully justified.

15. 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)?

"Foot marks and inch marks are generic symbols that look like this ' (inch) " (foot). An apostrophe and quote mark have a small circle and curve that make it present the quote or word, such as “” ‘’. The default for a foot mark and inch mark is that on the computer keyboard. To make the apostrophes and smart quotes you hit option+[ (left bracket is quote, right bracket is apostrophe). To make them go the other direction add shift."

16. What is a hyphen, en dash and em dashes, what are the differences and when are they used?

"Hyphens are used strictly for hyphenating words or line breaks. En dashes are for amounts of time such as hourly, days or years. Em dashes are abrupt changes in thought or where a period is too strong and a comma too weak."

17. What are ligatures, why are they used, when are they not used, what are common ligatures?

"Ligatures prevent the collision or interference of characters, particularly the extended finial of the ‘f’. and the dot of the ‘i’" The 5 basic ligatures that are normally included in typefaces are: ff, fi, fl, ffi, and ffl. Some typefaces have been designed to minimize those problems and don't require the use of ligatures at all.

Type Project 4 Article

Experimental Typography. Whatever That Means.

Peter Bil'ak

2005

This article is interesting in the fact that it provides different definitions of experimental typography and pushes the reader to decide which form they believe is best. The article states that the best examples of experimental design combine different kinds of experimental methods. It seems that every designer has their own take on experimental design with ideas ranging from 'experimental typography does not exist, nor ever has' to 'every type job is experiment'. Although there are many different methods, the article believes that no matter how you go about it, the end result is no longer an experiment. "As soon as the experiment achieves its final form it can be named, categorized and analyzed according to any conventional system of classification and referencing."

Quotes I liked in the article

"As a verb, ‘to experiment’ is often synonymous with the design process itself, which may not exactly be helpful, considering that all design is a result of the design process. The term experiment can also have the connotation of an implicit disclaimer; it suggests not taking responsibility for the result."

"A scientific approach to experimentation, however, seems to be valid only in a situation where empirical knowledge is applicable, or in a situation where the outcome of the experiment can be reliably measured. What happens however when the outcome is ambiguous, non-objective, not based on pure reason?"

"This is directly opposed to the scientific usage of the word, where an experiment is designed to add to the accumulation of knowledge; in design, where results are measured subjectively, there is a tendency to go against the generally accepted base of knowledge."

"In science a single person can make valuable experiments, but a design experiment that is rooted in anti-conventionalism can only exist against the background of other — conventional — solutions. In this sense, it would be impossible to experiment if one were the only designer on earth, because there would be no standard for the experiment."

"As the profession develops and more people practice this subtle art, we continually redefine the purpose of experimentation and become aware of its moving boundaries."

clarendon flash video

Clarendon: As seen by a Superhero

p.s. the red g at the beginning of some of the final videos is a button.

flash

Basically flash makes websites awesome. Websites can incorporate flash to enhance their website with videos and animation. Flash can manipulate vector and raster graphics. Flash can be used to embed video in web pages, a feature available since Flash Player version 6. The technique is to create a flash file (.swf) that acts as a player for the video file. This is the basis for many popular video sites, including YouTube and Google Video. Designers can use flash to allow the user to have a more interactive experience with the website. Flash enables designers and developers to deliver rich content over the browsers, creating motion, interactivity and an impressive visual experience. Good Flash-sites do not require too much bandwidth, load fast and allow for a smooth interaction; besides, beautiful Flash-based sites are Photoshop masterpieces, transporting some kind of reality and fantasy to the Flash movie.

1.The Lamborghini site uses flash to bring the viewer in. At one prompt the user is asked whether they are ready to ride? If the user presses yes then they go on into the main website, if the user presses no then a picture of a back of a car is shown and then the website closes. I thought this was funny and now I want to buy a lamborghini except for i lack the funds.

2. The Sony site also uses flash wisely to bring the user in. It first shows the phrase "Believe that anything you can imagine, you can make real" as the site is loading. Although I find this kind of corny, it provides a positive atmosphere while the site is loading. Then flash is used really well to show the logo and then it goes to the main website.

3. Mauricio portfolio is a good example of creativity. Instead of the ordinary menu, he uses a kind of movieclip, where the user must interact with the stage to explore the site.

4. A site that has links to 50 Beautiful Flash Websites.

The point of this blog is that flash is awesome and I need to embrace it!

VisCon Reading: Data Flow

After looking at all the infographics I really enjoyed seeing how different projects tried to represent time. In the two projects shown here a full day of time is shown. My favorite part about 9/02/08 is that sleep is shown as the same color as the background and it shows that the designers day begins and ends in sleep. In the Typical Day Poster, the information conveyed is getting 8 hours of sleep in the day. I liked the fact that the clocks in the poster made a large T, but I wonder if it even needs the key at the bottom to show that black represents awake and red represents sleep. Also I thought it was great that the poster used military time to make the poster more clear.

Clarendon

Information kindly stolen from Melissa Foree's Blog

2) Robert Besley (1794–1876) & Hermann Eidenbenz (1902-1993)

3) Originally in 1845, redesigned in 1953

4) Slab serif

5) Linotype.com – Slab serifs

Many typeface catalogs, including our own, group all serif typefaces together under one umbrella-category. But in truth, there are many different kinds of serifs, e.g., Renaissance serifs, baroque serifs, unbracketed modern serifs, Latin serifs, wedge serifs, etc. One of the most popular styles of seriffed letter, especially for display type, remains the slab serif.

The slab serif is a genre of letterforms that has been in use for almost 200 years. Throughout this time, many different sub-styles and groups have come in and out of use. The following Font Feature discusses five categories of slab serifs that may be found in the Linotype library. For our sake, we will call these categories Clarendons, Contemporary Text Faces, Classic Text Faces, Standard-Bearers, and Massive Display Examples.

During the early 19th century, especially in Britain, letter drawers began creating thicker versions of letterforms common in European printing during the 18th century, e.g., the types of the Fourniers, Giambattista Bodoni, or the Didots. These new letter styles began to appear throughout British society. Artists, artisans, printers, and typefounders … they all would come to embrace these new ideas. In the realm of typefounding, these faces came to represent the age of industrialization, and also the beginnings of advertising. This also marked the birth hour for typefaces that would be marketed by their makers for “display” use. Quite common today!

As far as the typefaces go, the first examples seem to have been all-caps alphabets; faces with lowercase letters would come a bit later. In the UK, many of these early slab serifs were called “Egyptians,” even though they had very little to do with Egypt. Enthusiasm in Western Europe was quite high during this time period; Napoleon and his army had faced off against the British there, and hieroglyphics were in the process of decipherment. Perhaps the naming of typefaces as “Egyptian” had something to do with this popularity.

6) Belizio, Serifa, Figaro

7) The Raven by Poe published. Annexation of Texas. Rubberband invented. Naval Academy opens. Texas admitted into statehood. Great Irish Famine. Manifest Desitny first discussed. Florida becomes a state.

8) I couldn’t find any!

9)

“Clarendon is among the most evocative and colorful of the Victorian faces. The lighter weights are a later development that extends the functionality of the face, being more suitable for text setting than the bold form that is the basis of the genre. Although the broad width of the letters makes it a relatively uneconomical face for setting extended texts, the serifs are exceptionally durable and will retain their form under conditions for poor reproduction, surviving either low screen resolution or unsympathetic conditions of printing. Clarendon will hold its legibility fairly well when used as a screen font in web applications or when printed onto low-quality paper. It is also effective for architectural and environmental applications, because the strong serif forms can be easily cut out and reproduced in 3D media.”

-From The Complete Typographer by Will Hill

“Besley designed the original Clarendon in 1845 while working on the design staff of the Fann Street Foundry in London. Besley had joined Willian Thorowgood, owner of the firm, in 1838. After Thorowgood retired in 1849, Besley took over the firm and renamed it Besley & Co. Besley’s partner was the skilled punchcutter Benjamin Fox who had assisted him in creating Clarendon.

In 1845, Clarendon was the first typeface registered under a new English law that permitted type designs to be copyrighted for a three-year period. However, despite the legal protection, the face soon became one of the most plagiarized typefaces of the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

The name Clarendon came to not only refer to a specific face, but also to a subcategory of slab- or square-serif typefaces with bracketed serifs. Some of the later faces that belong to this subcategory include Consort, Egizio, Fortune, and Playbill. In England, Clarendon became synonymous with the term boldface as a description of weight, and the face is sill used in the Oxford English Dictionary to offset entries from their definitions.

The original Clarendon was modeled after the Egyptian faces, with bracketed serifs replacing the Egyptian square serifs. Unlike its progenitors, which were used only as display types, Clarendon was designed to serve as a condensed text type. Overall, Clarendons have the structure of romans, but lack the thin strokes typical of those faces. In fact, Clarendons often accompanied roman types, playing a role similar to contemporary boldface.(Type families containing both roman and boldface were not common until later in the century.) The bracketing of the serifs and an increased thick-and-thin stroke contrast allowed Clarendon to blend harmoniously with roman type. The intermixing of Clarendon with roman types represents one of the first instances when boldface was used instead of italics as a means of indicating emphasis – a practice that continues to this day.

Clarendons sit midway between the sever blockiness of the Egyptian slab serifs and later bracketed slab serifs such as Century Schoolbook. The serifs of19th-century Clarendons are not as thick as those of most Egyptians and the tapering provided by the brackets softens the harsh angularity typical of slab-serif faces.

The original Clarendon was a bold, condensed face, but Besley later released a slightly expanded version. This version became popular in the printing business as a display face and later its pleasing proportions made it the model for most Clarendon revivials.”

-From Revival of the Fittest edited by Philip B. Meggs & Roy McKelvey

“Clarendon is an English slab-serif typeface that was created in England by Robert Besley for the Fann Street Foundry in 1845. Besley went as far as trying to patent the typeface, and Clarendon is now known as the first registered typeface. However, the patents at the time lasted only three years; as soon as the typeface became popular, it was copied by other foundries. The original matrices and punches remained at Stephenson Blake and later resided at the Type Museum, London. They were marketed by Stephenson Blake as Consort, though some additional weights (a bold and italics) were cut in the 1950s.

It was named after the Clarendon Press in Oxford. The typeface was reworked by the Monotype foundry in 1935. It was revised by Hermann Eidenbenz in 1953.

The font was used extensively by the government of the German Empire for proclamations during World War I.

Clarendon was used by the United States National Park Service on traffic signs, but has been replaced by NPS Rawlinson Roadway. In 2008, the typeface was utilized extensively by the Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain in the re-launch of their corporate identity. “

-From the Clarendon Wikipedia page

Click below for...

A Long Essay about Clarendon

10)

“The most useful Founts that a Printer can have in his Office are Clarendons: make a striking Work of Line either in a Hand Bill or a Title Page, and do not overwhelm the other lines: they have been made with great care, so that while they are distinct and striking they possess a graceful outline, avoiding on the one hand, the clumsy inelegance of the Antique or Egyptian Character, and on the other, the appearance of an ordinary Roman Letter thickened by long use.”

-Robert Besley made the above statement in 1850, five years after his influential font was released and became a huge commercial success

Didot Final Posters