ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHY - PROJECT 1B

07/10/2020 - 21/10/2020 (Week 07 - Week 09)
Rifath Ali (0335738)
Advanced Typography
Project 1B

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LECTURE NOTES

- No Lecture - 

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INSTRUCTIONS

Project 1B: Collateral

Week 07 – 07/10/2020

For the Part B, we were tasked with designing collaterals for the open public lecture of our choice, based on the Key Artwork we designed in Project 1A. We were to design a poster, an animated invite and couple of other collaterals of our choice. 

I stared off with designing the poster as instructed. I first imported my Key Artwork and measured the line spacing and drew guides based on the key artwork. These guides worked as a grid for me to make placement of other elements easier. 

Fig. 1.01: Collateral, Poster 01; Process 01

While keeping the body text point size in mind, I placed the lecture details along the grid. Instead of placing the text in a regular horizontal manner, I decided to have it more in rhythm with the key artwork. I had to draw a few more guides to make sure everything was placed orderly.

Fig. 1.02: Collateral, Poster 01; Process 02

Once all the textual details were placed, I decided to explore further on my idea of hallway for the key artwork. To develop the poster around the key artwork, I used a few rectangles over the edges to extend some of the letters. This gives a bit of a 3D effect to the design as well. 

Fig. 1.03: Collateral, Poster 01; Process 03

As a final touch, I decided to change the background color from white to eggshell/cream. 

Fig. 1.04: Collateral, Poster 01; Final

Although I was satisfied with the first design, I wanted to explore more on the constructivism style of posters. I started off with placing the key artwork on a 45o angle. I placed the details of the lecture also in the same angle. To highlight the key information, I made use of a few rectangles. 

Fig. 1.05: Collateral, Poster 02; Process 01

During my analysis of constructivism posters, one thing I noticed was the extensive use of lines. I wanted to incorporate this by using them on opposite corners of the page. 

Fig. 1.06: Collateral, Poster 02; Process 02

Before finishing up, I decided to add a shadow to the lover right side. 

Fig. 1.07: Collateral, Poster 02; Final

After consulting with Mr. Vinod, I chose Poster 01 as my final design. With the poster finalized, I moved on to design the interactive invite (evite). 

Week 08 – 14/10/2020

For the animated invite, we were asked to work on an artboard of 1000px x 1000px as it needs to be animated as well. Mr. Vinod suggested that we use a minimum point size of 24pt for the body text as it needs to be legible.

I placed my key artwork on the artboard and started creating different variations of the invite.

Fig. 1.08: Collateral, Invite; Design 01

Fig. 1.09: Collateral, Invite; Design 02

Fig. 1.10: Collateral, Invite; Design 03

Fig. 1.11: Collateral, Invite; Design 04

As I liked the Design 04 the most, I started to animate the invite. I wanted the body text to appear with a wipe effect and for the key artwork to depict handwriting style. I mainly relied on the stroke effect for the animation. I started by drawing the paths for the stroke.

Fig. 1.12: Collateral, Invite; Animation (Draw Path)

Fig. 1.13: Collateral, Invite; Animation (Stroke Effect)

Fig. 1.14: Collateral, Animated Invite; Initial Animation

Next, I moved on to the remaining collaterals. I decided to do mock-ups of things that will be included in the welcome/gift bags at the lecture. So, I downloaded mock-ups of a bag, t-shirt, sticker, pin, and given our situation right now, face mask.

I came up with different designs incorporating the key artwork according to the collaterals.

Fig. 1.15: Collateral, Sticker; Initial Attempt

Fig. 1.16: Collateral, Goodie Bag; Initial Attempt

Fig. 1.17: Collateral, T-Shirt; Initial Attempt

Fig. 1.18: Collateral, Face Mask; Initial Attempt 

While commenting on my progression, Mr. Vinod mentioned that the animated invite is fine but application on key artwork on collateral lacks imagination. First, I started to make my animated invitation better. I changed the layout of the existing invite as I wanted to give the effect of zooming through a tunnel effect. 

Fig. 1.19: Collateral, Invite; Design 05 (Progress 01)

Fig. 1.20: Collateral, Invite; Design 05 (Progress 02)

Once the new design was ready, I prepared all the layers to be imported into After Effects. 

This time I had 2 major animations, stoke effect and scale. Scaling everything from the same anchor point was a bit challenging as there were many layers involved and all of them needed to be scaled the same way to maintain the perspective. 

Fig. 1.21: Collateral, Invite; Animation (Progress 01)

Fig. 1.22: Collateral, Invite; Animation (Progress 02)

After multiple challenges I was finally able to achieve what I had anticipated for my animation. 

Week 09 – 21/10/2020

Before proceeding to edit the collaterals, Mr. Vinod gave his feedback. The animated invite was approved, and he gave feedback on ways to improve the collaterals. Suggestions were given to incorporate the lines more into the collaterals same way how it was used in the poster. 

So, I started to redesign the collaterals. I brought major changes to all of the designs. For the bag, I added more lines and included more information and moved and reduced the size of the key artwork. 

Fig. 1.23: Collateral, Goodie Bag; Amendments

For the mask, I decided to use a more diagonal lines instead of horizontal lines. I also increased the size of the key artwork a bit more.

Fig. 1.24: Collateral, Face Mask; Amendments

The same diagonal lines were used for the T-Shirt as well. I also created a design for the back of the T-Shirt. I made multiple changes before finalizing it.

Fig. 1.25: Collateral, T-Shirt; Amendments

Instead of the sticker, I tried to make a refrigerator magnet. However, I was unable to find a good reference for it, so I decided to go for more of an enamel pin effect. I designed the mock-up from scratch to meet what I had anticipated. It was heavily relying on Bevel & Emboss effect. Also, a lot of texture and blending had to be done in order to complete the design. 

Fig. 1.26: Collateral, Magnetic Pin; Progress 01

Fig. 1.27: Collateral, Magnetic Pin; Progress 02

Final Submissions for Project 1B

Fig. 1.28: Collateral, Poster; Final Design (JPEG)

Fig. 1.29: Collateral, Poster; Final Design (PDF)

Fig. 1.30: Collateral, Animated Invite; Final Design (GIF)

Fig. 1.31: Collateral, Final Design Flat Lay (JPEG)

Fig. 1.32: Collateral, Goodie Bag V1; Final Design (JPEG)

Fig. 1.33: Collateral, Goodie Bag V2; Final Design (JPEG)

Fig. 1.34: Collateral, T-Shirt V1; Final Design (JPEG)

Fig. 1.35: Collateral, T-Shirt V2; Final Design (JPEG)

Fig. 1.36: Collateral, Face Mask; Final Design (JPEG)

Fig. 1.37: Collateral, Magnetic Pin V1, V2, & V3; Final Design (JPEG)

Fig. 1.38: Collaterals, Final Design Compilations (PDF)

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FEEDBACK

Week 07 – 07/10/2020

General Feedback: Text size to be between 8pt – 12pt. For the evite the text size should be minimum 24pt.

Specific Feedback: First artwork is excellent. Can add an element to the empty space. Second design also workable. 

Week 08 – 14/10/2020

General Feedback: Poster layout needs to be aligned and in line with the style of the key artwork. The key artwork needs to be used imaginatively when designing collaterals rather than slapping it on. Animate invite before proceeding with collaterals. The textual information on the invite needs to be legible. The animation should represent the mood/style or layout of the key artwork.

Specific Feedback: Animated invite is fine but application of key artwork on collateral lacks imagination. 

Week 09 – 21/10/2020

General Feedback:

Specific Feedback: Poster is excellent. Mask is a good idea to have. Collateral needs to be a little bit more exciting. Maybe good to have a fridge magnet. Try reversing the colors as it will make a good variation. For the T-shirt use the lines. Same for the mask and the bag as well. The animated invite is excellent work, very exciting to look at. 

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REFLECTIONS

Week 07 – 07/10/2020

Experience: Having a concept and knowledge of the content that you want to design helps to speed up the process and it reduced designers’ block.

Observations: Placing the textual information on different axis makes the design more interesting instead of having them simply groups in a regular manner.

Findings: When expanding a key artwork on to a poster it is important to think of a grid or a system. This helps in placing the different textual information in a more exciting way.

Week 08 – 14/10/2020

Experience: As we did not have a live class, the progressions were posted on the Facebook group where Mr. Vinod commented his feedback. It was easier in one way as we did not have to wait in line to get feedback as we can just refer to the post later to check the feedback.

Observation: A lot of students did not consider the legibility of the textual information when designing the animated invite.

Findings: Displaying all the information on one slide is not necessary when creating an animated invite. The information can be viewed on multiple slides.

Week 09 – 21/10/2020

Experience: I had a difficult time attending class due to CMCO and lack of a WiFi connection at home. I was able to get feedback for my designs but there was a definite barrier of communication.

Observation: One general comment Mr. Vinod gave for almost every student is that the lack of imagination when incorporating key artwork on to the collaterals.

Findings: I was able to understand further on the purposes of collateral and how the key artwork can be translated on to them depending on the collateral itself. 

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FURTHER READING

Week 07 – 07/10/2020

Typographic Design: Form & Communication, by Rob Carter, Philip B. Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, Mark Sanders

Fig. 4.01: Typographic Design: Form & Communication, by Rob Carter, Philip B. Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, Mark Sanders

Case Study – The U.S. National Park Service Unigrid System (Page 176 – Page 178)

Fig. 4.02: Incorporation of the Unigrid System in the U.S. National Park Services Folders

The United States National Park Service (NPS) began developing the Unigrid system in 1976 as a design system to unify the design of hundreds of site folders, while bringing harmony and economy to its publications program. Having a standard format allows great production economy. A carefully measured rows and columns creates modules and spatial intervals that provide a structure for organizing type, illustrations, photographs and maps in an orderly manner.

Due to its crisp, clean details and legibility, Helvetica was chosen as the type family for their designs. In order to create horizontal movement along the lines, the text was justified, and columns were aligned top and bottom. Weight, posture and variations in the leading were used to create contras between typographical and pictorial elements.

The case study also mentions how having a standardized format and typographic specifications enable designers to focus on content and design rather than coming up with new formats and specifications for every project. 

Week 08 – 14/10/2020

Typographic Design: Form & Communication, by Rob Carter, Philip B. Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, Mark Sanders
Case Study – Typographic Film Titles (Page 183 – Page 185)

Fig. 4.03: Title Sequence for the Film “True Lies”, Designed by Richard Greenberg

This case study looks at the works of Richard Greenberg, a leading innovator in graphic design for film titles, movie previews and television commercials. He believed that the film titles set the tone for the movie. The first title dissected in the case study is the Warner Brothers film Superman. It is explained how through the use of specific colors, speed and movement, it evokes the powers of the fantasy superhero.

Another title looked into is the Twentieth Century Fox production Alien. As the movie itself is of suspense and mysteries, this is translated well into the title sequence. Small white rectangle that appear transforms into the title forming the name of the movie. For the movie True Lies, an elegant visual transformation of the two words create tension as both the words have the opposite meaning. This a perfect fit for the movie as it has incorporated the plot of the move.

What I understood from all these examples is that it is possible to translate a full feature fil into a title sequence through juxtaposition and careful planning. The case study made me go back and see if this concept is applied for other movies as well. It was very intriguing as at first glance one might not notice these details. 

Week 09 – 21/10/2020

Typographic Design: Form & Communication, by Rob Carter, Philip B. Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, Mark Sanders
Case Study – Typographic Film Titles (Page 183 – Page 185)

Fig. 4.04: Inventive use of Key Artwork by John Malinoski

This case study was very much relevant to what we were tasked for Project 1A & 1B. It focuses on the designs by John Malinoski for a street farmer’s market. Initially he designed a poster for one of their events, which became a huge success that the simplistic vector became the inspiration for the key artwork. This was a departure from the usual photographic and engravings laden with obvious period typography.

The silhouette of the tractor became the identity of the market. As a result, it was used on posters, postcards, bumper stickers and various collaterals. It was because of the striking simplicity and boldness that it attracted a lot of attention. We can often see the tractor being incorporated to other images and typography in relation to the farmer’s market.

This was one of the most interesting examples of incorporating the key artwork into different collaterals. It showed that it can be done in a simplistic manner without bulking up on the key artwork.