homework for 9-29

-old style…classification based on the types of fonts that are friendly 1.low contrast with diagonal stress 2. bracketed serifs 3. short x-height (Garamond, Bembo, Caslon, Jenson, Palatino)

-transitional…1. greater contrast of thick and thin strokes 2. wider than old style 3. uneven concave serifs (Apollo Std, Olympian Std, ITC Bookman, Gazette Std, Janson Text)

-modern… also knows as diode 1. hairline sarifs 2. no horizontal stress 3. no influence of handwriting (Bodoni, Bauer Bodoni, Walbaum

-slab serif…hallmark of the egyptian types 1.abrupt serif of the same thickness as main stroke 2. round characters have vertical axis 3. thin, flat and bracketed serifs (baskerville and perpetual, manicotti, city, lucida fax)

-sans serif…letterforms without serifs (humanist or grotesque) 1. straightforward 2.geometric 3. similar weight cross strokes (Futura, fruitier, )

-script…based on handwriting technique 1. 2. 3. (Brush Script, Florens, Freestyle script, Giddyup, Palace Script)

-blackletter…script style of calligraphy 1. vertical, curved and angled,broad-nibbed pen strokes 2.letters formed by sharp, straight, angular lines 3. ascenders are vertical and often end in (Fraktur, old english, rotunda, schwabacher, texture)sharp finals.

-grunge… aged and distressed 1. serif and sans serif 2. added graphics 3. (Ariana, Babalon, Bighead (™), cawing, doomsday)

-monospaced…all letterforms are same width 1. the usually wider letters like m & w are the same width as I 2. non-proportional 3. (Courier, Prestige Elite, Fixedsys, and Monaco)

bumble....

If i see another bumble bee... i will squish that sucker. no doubt.

look everybody! Vahalla Studios vs. Myspace Secret Shows

i thought this would interest some of you since this is our professor's studio... they are making posters. the video itself is really entertaining but you should also look at Vahalla's site. there are some great images of rows and rows of their posters. so check it out. ps. there's a random shot of an adorable dog in the video :)

http://www.vahallastudios.com/

Adrian Frutiger

"Legibility and beauty stand close together." -Adrian Frutiger


     Adrian Frutiger, Swiss born typeface designer, received his education from apprenticeship and at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts.  After graduating, he worked for a typeface design company in Paris, then started his own studio in Arcueil.  His work has earned many international awards, including; Gutenberg Prize of the City of Mainz, the Medal of the Type Directors Club of New York and the Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
     His work focused on creating font families and whole systems of typeface. Frutiger was the man guy who came up with the Univers family of fonts.  Other than designing other font families like Apollo and Avenir, Frutiger's impact on modern typography lends itself to recreating the feeling of old metal pressed letter and relief fonts. His goal to incorporate the previous ways of designing text have greatly improved the ways in which we learn and improve our type skills.


In the Univers chart, Frutiger's intentions were to eliminate confusion.  So the 1st number identifies weight while the second defines width and position.

type homework for 8.30.10

weight: The thickness of a character. Light/normal or Bold
width: the horizontal dimensions of a character. The set width is the body of the letter plus a sliver of space that protects it from other letters.
style: design variations of type.  Bold, italic, roman

Type can be measured in points, picas and inches. Picas measure width and points measure height.
point: a measurement roughly the size of a pixel
pica: 1/6 of and inch, also made up of 12 points.
x-height: the height of the main body of lowercase type, excluding ascenders and descenders
cap height: the distance from the top of a capital letter to the bottom
leading: the space between lines of type

type homework for 8.25.10

grid: a guide, aid, tool that designers use to solve both visual and organizational problems in communicating a coherent message

Designers use a grid to organize and lay out tons of information in a short amount of time. It allows multiple designers to work together while maintaining the precise guidelines.

margins: negative spaces between the content of the page and the edge, surrounding the images and type
columns: vertical lines that create horizontal dividers between margins
grid modules: rows and columns of individual units of space
flow lines: lines that break up space into horizontal bands
gutter: area on a spread where type and images could be interrupted

hierarchy: the order of importance of the information based on the style, size, color, rhythm and layout of the type and image
typographic color:  differences in weight, texture or value, and rhythm of type that aid in establishing hierarchy

To achieve a clear hierarchy, designers maintain organization in the spacial distinctions (grouping, shifting items)

here goes nothing...

Well this is the first of many new things i will encounter this year.  Blogging has never been my thing. But maybe that will change, now that it is required of me.  Who knows, maybe i'll enjoy it.