Final Ed.

Math?

I am not attempting to give anyone a math lesson, so don't click away and fight that eight grade panic that we all get before a geometry test. I wanted to post this geometry sketch and calculations on here because I wanted to recognize the design that this image portrays. Its unusual for me to think that math can have any appealing values to it at all, but when researching geometry (because futura is a geometric typeface) I came across this simple yet defined calculation. Much of the work done in the era of Edward Johnson and Herbert Bayer looked very similar to this one and I thought that was very interesting. Maybe, just maybe, math isn't the terror that I thought it to be.

Project 3 Trials: Pt II

Adding to the last post, I have made this layout in order to break away from the usual text on a spread. However, the challenge I face is designing a spread where the design doesn't take away from the typographic aspects of my assigned typeface (futura). In other words, I don't want to take the spotlight away from the type. For this project, this may be the hardest challenge for me. Finding the balance between design and focus on type is crucial, and this factor can either make or break any advertisement.

Project 3 Trials

In regards to project three, I find myself in a rut of sorts. For me, its kinda hard to design a full layout just using the type and letting that dictate the entire mood for the project. I feel that if I try and combine words and numbers together, I'll just be mirroring our project 2 layouts. I made this layout in attempts to move away from the redundancy, I am still in the process for designing a more unique layout.

Evolution of Ads

Watching Mad Men and coming across a website that compiled some advertisements from the era of which Mad Men is set (1960s), got me thinking about how our advertisements really reflect the social atmosphere of that time. This ad, clearly showing the perceived male dominance of that era, would never have passed in today. Its interesting to know that from looking at an ad, we can identify what the living conditions of that time may be like. Now looking at the layout from a strictly artistic standpoint, I feel that the use of a black and white image rather than color adds to the seductiveness that the woman is trying to portray. I feel that with color, the image would reveal to much to the audience, and what I mean by this is that taking away a sensory object such as color enables the audience to almost "fill in the blanks". In this case, we can imagine her to have a certain shade of hair or tone of skin. To me, this makes the ad more appealing. Adding to this, the font seems to push the sexuality. The text seems to invite while at the same time being assertive. Artistically, this layout is appealing. Morally, not so much.

Gill Sans

Looking at this type specimen featured in the rare book room, my first impression was how simple it was compared to the Helvetica type specimen that we were shown in our project three brief. Upon further looking into it though, I realized that with simplicity, the specimen also has a range of small technical values that make it interesting. I like the fact that the bordering sentences on the edge of the layout is not what attracts your attention first, even though its in red. In addition, I like the contrast of font size as the text in the middle goes down. This layout is something I look at as using the core principles of type to predict its design. Its not too complex which is refreshing in todays world, where more is not enough.

Layouts

For project three, this is one of my layouts. I intend to add some color to it, but for now its in black and white so I can see if it still looks good. As we were talking in class, a piece should look good in both color and black and white because the color shouldn't make the design, rather it should rely on the core elements of the shapes and lines that you combine to make the piece. With this layout, I tried to make a design that had geometric units because that reflected my typeface(futura) which also uses geometric elements.