Typography - Final Project

31/10/18 - 14/11/18  (Week 10 - 12)
Azmina Fathima Haris (0337113)
Typography 
Final Project 

LECTURE NOTES

Lecture 10
Week 10 (31/10/18)

We didn't have a lecture this week, instead we were briefed about the final project and started working on that.

Lecture 11
Week 11 (7/11/18)

No class this week as it was e-learning week.

Lecture 12
Week 12 (14/11/18)

We didn't have a lecture, we worked on our final projects instead as many of us were still in the initial stages.


INSTRUCTIONS 



Final Project: Expression, Hierarchy & Composition

For this project, I had some trouble finding a social cause but I decided on racism or suicide - I came up with a few sketches for both. However, after redoing my poster on racism several times, I felt like I wasn't expressing well enough and felt like I make a better one on suicide instead. I was inspired by this artwork I saw on Pinterest and felt like I could relate it to the subject I had chosen.
(Link to my older designs for racism - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ruAd-q8y7uxjH50KhntW5odwf55T3V2c?usp=sharing)

Fig. 1.1 First attempt at the poster

I also tried playing around with the colours and switching just to see how it turn out.

 

Mr. Vinod said I should make a few changes to it composition-wise and told me to bring up what I had done at the bottom (with the fallen letters) to a higher level. He also told me to adjust the text on the size so it would work with the other text.

Fig. 1.2 Final outcome of the poster

Next step was to animate the certain elements of the poster; I already knew what to do when I was sketching the layout and felt like it was something that was fairly simple.

Fig. 1. 3 Artboards for the animation done in illustrator (24 frames)

Fig. 1.4 Final outcome of animated gif of the poster

Embedded pdf version of the poster

FEEDBACK

Week 10: I showed Mr. Shamsul my work from last week as I hadn't received any feedback for it.

Week 11: No feedback as it was e-learning week. 

Week 12: General feedback: Mr. Vinod said we should work in a more orderly manner, referring to examples we were given on Pinterest for inspiration, working on sketches for the design and only then trying to do it digitally.

Specific feedback: In class Mr. Vinod and Mr. Shamsul both said I need to start with concept sketches first before proceeding to do it on Illustrator. As for the poster I was working on, he said I should minimise the use of visuals and rely on type alone. Later, after doing two versions of the poster, Mr. Vinod said that the wordings are better in the first one and the composition with the punctuation looks better. Only problem is, I see no connection between the punctuation and the text message.

Week 13: Mr. Vinod said that I should make sure that there is a clearer connection between the white text and the black text and show the transition. Mr. Shamsul suggested changing the alignment of the column of text on the right

REFLECTIONS

EXPERIENCES

Week 10 - I felt like this class was much more relaxed compared to the past few weeks.

Week 11 - No lecture due to e-learning week.

Week 12 - Even though I didn't feel like I did much in class, it was exhausting as everyone was just catching up with work that was yet to be completed.


OBSERVATIONS

Week 10 - I knew I had to produce something that was good enough for the final as its worth 40% of our grade.

Week 11 - No lecture due to e-learning week.

Week 12 - It was clear that everyone was struggling with completing all the final projects at once.


FINDINGS

Week 10 - I couldn't think of a social issue that was relevant to students at Taylor's or one that was serious enough.

Week 11 - No lecture due to e-learning week.

Week 12 - I realised it was important to work in an orderly manner in a process and not just delve in straight to the final stages.


FURTHER READING

Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton 

Book cover

I read multiple sections from this book - whatever I felt like was relevant and could give me more insight into the current project.
Grids establish a system for arranging content within the space of page or screen and have evolved across centuries of typographic development. Until the 20th century, grids served as frames for fields of text, with the margins creating solid barriers around a solid block of text. In addition to this single-column page system, various alternative layouts existed during the first centuries of printing too. Gutenberg's two-column grid bible and the more elaborate layouts derived from medieval scribes.
"Designers focus much of their energy on margins, edges and empty spaces, elements that oscillate between present and absent, visible and invisible".
The book also talks about different ways to make grids. While single-column grids work well for simple documents, multi-column grids provide a more flexible format for publications that have a complex hierarchy.
I also found these photos of posters that I felt I could use as references showing vertical arrangement of type.