Skip to main content

Designing with Type

The most important thing, above color and size, is placement. No matter what the object is, where it's placed is the key to good design. Whether you follow the rule of thirds, golden ratio, balance, or the visual triangle...you're contemplating placement!

It's interesting to realize that sometimes type is all you need to get a message across. That doesn't mean to say it'll literally spell out the message, but the placement, font, and other features are what tells the story. Think about a blank paper with "Dead." written in tiny black, bold font in the middle of the page. Weird, right? What if we take the last letter and turn it on its side? A little curious, perhaps? A multitude of possibilities.

My objective was to portray randomness and organized chaos. The business I chose to represent is one of my own concepts. It's called "Life Poorly Explained" where millennials discuss the wrongs of the world. This poster was specifically inspired by the upcoming presidential debates. However, my original plan was met with unskilled hands, and I was forced to use the concept in another way. 



I was really grateful my charger broke, because it gave me the forced break I needed to think about how I wanted to convey my message. Finally, after another five hour drive through nothing but dry fields...it came to me like a mirage. Perhaps it was the billboard screaming "Where's the Water?" or maybe my mom's nagging to watch the debate when I got home. 






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Final Project: Mailer for MOCA

Our final project in Graphic Design class was to draft, design, and finalize a postcard call to action for MOCA's virtual hangout sessions.  As easy as the task may sound, I was hit by roadblocks so simple, I'm not even sure how I finished. Stuck at the drawing board, I took the instructions too literally. Trying to fit all the text in, not realizing I could omit what I wanted... it was a busy mess! Thankfully, a class and a bit later, I decide to go back to what I know about design, what we've been taught, and find a middle ground between those and my artistic flair..... It came out pretty sucky. I think if I had the same amount of time with the knowledge that I didn't have to think as much as I did, I would have been much more successful. One challenge I faced was not so much in the technicalities of design (of while I'm sure I also need work on,) but rather, in my skills of the app. InDesign is much unlike Illustrator. Though they may have similar features, it...

What's Your Type?

    Typography is a vital part of graphic design. Graphic design is everywhere. It's the cover of your book, it's the meme your friends are laughing at, it's the label on your dad's daily socks. Without graphics, your dad might not be able to decide which sock to wear on Tuesdays! Thanks to to graphics, and especially to typography, your dad can not only find socks that go with his fluffy pajamas, but also match the day with the aptly labelled socks.  Wait, what?      Type is another way of describing the words you're reading. More so, it also describes the font, or appearance. For example, my favorite font is Times New Roman. Most known for its role in essay building, Times New Roman is a classic serif font. Its simplistic design makes it desirable for both serif and sans serif fans. Although I'm sure its thanks to brainwashing from countless hours of essay writing, Times New Roman has always been a favorite of mine. The features as I describe them ar...

VISCOM 115: What DID I Know, What DO I Know, & HOW Do I Know It?

I think the most challenging part of creating the monograms was mimicking the tools between InDesign & Illustrator's similar keyboard dance, and Photoshop's nostalgic command-T resizing tool. (Sent chills up my spine!) If I'm honest, I think that was one of my biggest struggles, finding the resizing tool in the former, and replicating the overlapping effect tools. Before this class, I understood print ready to mean getting copy squished between bleed margins. My experience with this is from printing magazines. I was not well-versed in things like color, vector v. rasterized... I knew these features existed, and I understood little things like pixels, but now I understand a bit more about the needs of print.  We're creating PDFs, which is why talking about how to print is so important. What will it be? A form, a document, brochure, or book? All of these encompass everything PDFs can become, and they are EVERYWHERE. In education, adverts, doctor's office, art room...