Your objective for this project is to create a compelling, powerful, visually magnetic poster on the theme of anti-gun violence and/or a reaction against hate and violence in general, utilizing expressive hand-lettering and to be exhibited Dec 12, 2016 – Feb 12, 2017 in the Studio Gallery.
PROJECT DETAILS:
20″ x 30″
It should feature hand-lettering
It should be a poster “against guns, hate, and violence in youth culture”
PROJECT TIMELINE:
Mon Oct 24: Begin / Research / Sketch
Wed Oct 26: Refine sketches
Mon Oct 31: Move into Illustrator
Wed Nov 02: Work
Mon Nov 07: Group Critique
Wed Nov 09: Work
Mon Nov 14: Work Wed Nov 16: Project Due
Sometimes, a great typeface can convey great power and even emotional content. But there are times when a conventional font just won’t do.
As far as content goes, we can all agree that gun violence sucks. We can all agree that racism sucks, hate in any form is not welcome in our society. But how can you find a new and compelling way of making that clear?
A few designers always spring to mind when I think about hand-lettering: James Victore, Paula Scher, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (The Four), and a handful of others.
Your objective for this project is to design a creative and expressive typeface from three basic shapes. Of course, all letterform design is modular, in a way. Once you have a stem, curves, transitions, and the like, you can use those parts and pieces to create an entire typeface. That’s exactly what you are going to do, but with just a few shapes. Often, we think of the bauhaus and their heavily geometric and modular ideas. Here’s a link to a great looking workshop on modular type.
You will begin by drawing your modules on graph paper. Try out a few different combinations of shapes. Try a circle, square, and quarter-circle. That would yield a typeface like Josef Albers’s Kombination Schrift above. Then maybe try some less geometric, more organic shapes. Then mix the two styles together to get something new and interesting.
Then test your design by designing a series of letters and numbers with those modules. You might instinctively start out with A, B, C, etc. But that isn’t really the best way to go. Instead, start out with A, E, N, S, G, and 2.
Next, transfer your final selection of modules to clean, white paper and carefully cut them out. Use the cut out shapes to create upper-case A through Z, and 0 through 9. Trace the shapes with pencil and fill in with marker on white paper.
Scan the results of your tracing and markering and digitize in Illustrator.
Design something (not a poster) with your new typeface. Of course, this typeface will function as a display typeface, rather than something like body copy. And you will not be able to install a font file and type with it. BUT, you can still set headlines or a logotype with it by dragging letterforms around in Illustrator.
When that is finished, you will print and mount two sheets of paper on two 15″ x 20″ boards. One will be your new typeface: A-Z, 0-9, the name of the typeface, and your name set in that typeface. The other is the thing that you designed with that typeface. (Put you name and class on the back of the boards) See below…
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Design with your hands
Design a typographic system
Implement a creative typographic solution
Analyze typographic design processes
PROJECT TIMELINE
Mon Oct 03 Draw shapes (modules) on graph paper Test by designing characters with those modules on graph paper Wed Oct 05 Guest speakers! Mon Oct 10 1. Transfer and cut out graph paper character drawings from white paper 2. Create A-Z and 0-1 from modules by tracing with pencil and filing in with sharpie on white paper Wed Oct 12 Scan results to digitize and redraw in illustrator Mon Oct 17 Set type with vectorized letterforms (Not a poster?) Wed Oct 19 Continue designing with new typeface Mon Oct 24 Turn in 15”x20” black mat boards: One with A-Z, 0-9. One with the thing you’ve designed.
PROJECT COMPONENTS
• 15” x 20” board with A-Z, 0-9, name of typeface, and your name
• 15” x 20” board with example of design with your typeface
• Project Notebook
In this day of high speed internet and instant information, do we still take time to appreciate the classics. Is information like classic literature, art, poetry still pertinent and vital? How would you encourage a 17 year old to put down the phone and pick up a book? Perhaps that book just needs to be presented in a new and interesting way?
Your problem for this assignment is to re-package a familiar piece of literature in a way that is appealing to younger readers (16-29). Your task is two-fold. First, you must redesign the book cover. It should stand out amongst the overcrowded shelves, AND it should represent the story in an honest way.
The most successful book covers are those that give a hint of the story inside, without revealing all the details.
Design the front, back, spine, and flaps of the book.
The book cover must include, the title and author. The Penguin logo must be on the spine and back. Download it here.
Make your book as much as possible like a “real” book. Add an ISBN number, reviews, price, and other details.
There are no color or typographic limitations on this assignment.
OBJECTIVES
Increase your ability as a planner and form giver
Develop an awareness of the relationship between design and meaning
Increase and improve the quality idea generation (quality & quantity)
Understand and identify a “target” audience
Increase conceptual skills through research
PROCESS
You will be required to maintain thorough documentation of your process throughout this and all assignments in this class. Keep a collection of everything pertaining to this project (project sheet, research, sketches, thumbnails, copies, etc.) and bring it to each class meeting. This collection will be turned in at the completion of this assignment and will be part of your final grade.
PROJECT COMPONENTS & PRESENTATION
One book cover mounted on 15″ x 20″ black mat board
One book cover attached to an actual book
One process notebook
DEADLINES
Mon Sept 19 – Introduce Project/ Research / Begin thumbnails sketches
Wed Sept 21 – 3 full-color (8.5”x11”) computer comps due for book cover
Mon Sept 26 – revisions due for book covers / 1 full-color comp (cover, back cover, spine, flaps)
Just as music has rhythm, so to does typography. Good type has soul, feeling, emotion, beat, tempo. Type can be happy or sad, meaningful or silly, disturbing or inspirational. A good song effects you in some way, so should good typography. It can be fast paced or slow paced, upbeat or melancholy. Learning to understand the rhythm of type is essential to a graphic designer.
You will each be given a song. There are many styles available. Listen to the lyrics.
Your task is to interpret the feel of the song using ONLY typography. It can have visual meaning, but this must be accomplished with type. Using only lyrics from the song, typeset and choose typefaces that seem fitting. Use as much of the lyrics as is necessary to achieve the feeling you wish to convey. You may use no more than two (2) typefaces. You may use multiple weights and variations of the same typeface, i.e. italics, small caps, etc. Use letterspacing, leading, point size freely to help convey the message. The basic rules of typography such as horizontal scale, baseline, alignment, etc. are of no concern for this assignment. BE CREATIVE. Think of yourself as a visual conductor.
There are no color limitations on this assignment.
OBJECTIVES
• to increase your ability as a planner and form giver
• to develop an awareness of the relationship between design and meaning
• to increase and improve the quality idea generation (quality & quantity)
• to increase conceptual skills
• to increase your understanding and appreciation for the subtleties of typography
PROCESS
You will be required to maintain thorough documentation of your process throughout this and all assignments in this class. Keep a collection of everything pertaining to this project (project sheet, research, sketches, thumbnails, copies, etc.) and bring it to each class meeting. This collection will be turned in at the completion of this assignment and will be part of your final grade.
PROJECT COMPONENTS • one 15″ x 20″ print • one process notebook PRESENTATION • The finished print will be an unmounted 15″ x 20″ print
Project Timeline
8/31 Begin Project. Listen to songs. Research. Start sketching.
9/05 No class meeting. Work independently.
9/07 Bring 4 or 5 typeface possibilities, 6 to 8 loose sketches. 9/12 Critique digital comp
9/14 Review changes ✭ 9/19 Project Due – 15″ x 20″ FLUSH MOUNTED ON FOAM CORE ✭
Type is everywhere. And the more obsessed you become with typography, the more you start to see it all around you. The pair of concrete posts with an iron crossbar in the photo above may not look much like a lower-case U, but it’s there if you look for it. And so the more you look, the more you will find.
Your assignment is to photograph objects that could be said to look like letterforms, one for each letter of the alphabet.
Then print and bind them as a 8.5″ x 5.5″ booklet. The interior should be fairly straight-forward, but you should design a creative cover. Make sure your name and class section are on the inside back cover.
The finished booklet is due Wed, October 19 at the beginning of class.
There will be a lot of trees with Ys and telephone poles as Ts, but try to look for more obscure or interesting options.
The shadows on the Art building make a kind-of-a W…
It’s a bit of a stretch, but it could work in context.
