Typography I: Typographer of Week 5 – Paula Scher

TYPOGRAPHER: PAULA SCHER

Paula Scher is a graphic designer based in New York. She is revolutionary, being the first woman to receive the Type Directors Club Medal, first female principal of Pentagram and also for working on branding projects for big companies. Well-known examples of such includes Windows 8, Tiffany & Co. and Citibank.

Liquid Identities

Scher names a successful brand identity as one that is liquid and fluid, rather than rigid, as information exists across different mediums and platforms. If the information and piece has to last long, then flexibility should be key to a successful brand identity.

Scher’s processes are extremely rational and her works are definitely alot more relatable compared to the past few typographers we’ve been looking at. Her identities are lodged deep into our subconscious. If you would just walk at a mall today, say Jurong Point or JEM, you would already see Citibank’s iconic logo. It’s not something we consciously think about, but definitely something that has wormed its way to the back of our head and can never forget.

She works with a very different platform for type. Designing for brands work extremely differently as compared to things like maps for train lines or magazines. The goal of crafting a brand identity is to burn the values and image of the company into the minds of a consumer. It is incredible how she is involved in the development for so for so many big brands.

Speaking for your work

One thing I found interesting is the section where Scher is quoted briefly about defending your work in the article ‘Get to know Paula Scher, titan of postmodern design’. Here is the quote:

“I think it’s very important for young designers to do two things. One: spend the first one to five years learning how to design and present design from somebody who is terrific at it. Having that basic understanding will carry you through the rest of their career. The second is this: develop the ability to explain, defend, and promote your work. Those are the two most important things.”

This hit a little hard considering this week in Typography class, we just went through how we should give and receive design critique. Being able to explain and sell your idea and concept is most definitely a major part of design. I find it hard to learn when to step in to defend my works as well, as it’s definitely just much easier to smile, nod and accept whatever that comes this way.

It may not be as applicable for now since lecturers and fellow classmates tend to suggest things that mean well for you and even sometimes ways for you to improve your work, but I do see the need to justify and defend our works in the future when there is a need to get your works seen (and where necessary), especially so in early stages of conceptualization where it’s still difficult to visualize an end product but you have to convince them to give you the funds to make it work.

An inspiration

Scher is definitely an inspiration as well for being one of the few female designers and leader in a male-dominated industry as well. Rather than letting herself be defined by gender, she identifies as a designer. Personally, I find the way she commits herself to her work extremely admirable!

Typography I: The Crystal Goblet by Beatrice Warde

The Crystal Goblet (or, Printing Should Be Invisible)

To me, the transparent page is a negotiated page. A middle-ground that typographers and designers have poured their lives into achieving. It’s a page that prioritizes the derivation of maximum information with minimal effort to dig into on the readers’ part.

My Opinion

While I do agree to some extent with Beatrice Warde that “there is nothing simple or dull in achieving the transparent page”, I do have my differences regarding how Warde weighs typography and printed matter.

In particular, I would like to pick at these two particular sentences:

“That is why it is mischievous to call any printed piece a work of art, especially fine art: because that would imply that its first purpose was to exist as an expression of beauty for its own sake and for the delectation of the senses. Calligraphy can almost be considered a fine art nowadays, because its primary economic and educational purpose has been taken away; but printing in English will not qualify as an art until the present English language no longer conveys ideas to future generations, and until printing itself hands its usefulness to some yet unimagined successor.”

From these lines, I would claim that Warde’s take on printing matter is rather singular. It places typography and printed matter on a meter, with purpose and economy on one end and with art and beauty on the other.

My personal take on this is that the intent of the piece has to be taken into consideration, whether the piece was raised as an artistic piece or a functional piece first. I agree that not any printed piece can be called a work of art, but I would disagree that “printing in English will not qualify as an art until the present English language no longer conveys ideas to future generations”. If the intent of the creator was for the piece of printed type to serve as both a functional piece and artistic piece, it could very well serve both.

Fairy tale retellings could work as an example. I have read alot of them as a kid myself as I’ve had a keen interest in myths and tales. It is functional in how the piece intends to translate and pass on old tales and lores collected from different parts of the world. Over time, however, fairy tale compilations have be repurposed into something borderline frivolous (even disregarding the illustration heavy ones just to look at the types used).

And also, from Book of Beasties by Larry MacDougall:

“It is concerned with the creatures and legends of old Scotland. Giants, Faeries, Goblins and Witches.”

I would classify them as both transparent and artistic. It delivers the correct look and feel for the reader’s journey through the stories, but if one would just look at it from an artist’s take, they work as a good piece to break down as well. They don’t lose value as a functional piece even if they are made for avid collectors.

Warde’s piece had been a very interesting insight as to why the ultimate piece should one that is transparent, humble and isolated from the idea of fine art. To that, I had agreed to an extent. However, as the needs of the society and perceptions of reading continues shifting with digital innovations, technology and culture, I would believe that the transparent page will now recede to becoming only a fraction of a series of what would be considered the ‘perfect print’.

(Word Count: 548)

A Little Extra: On Ostentatious Fonts

As designers, we do not design with the intent on making consuming information deliberately painful for a consumer, unless making it hard to read it is in line with what the piece intends to deliver. Most typography and graphics are created with the intent to inform, educate and entertain.

From this, I would also want to claim that ostentatious fonts serve a purpose as well. If there are no ostentatious fonts, we would also lose the ability to compare them with our more ‘transparent pages’. I do not believe that one should only spend all our time devising the crystal goblet, but should also seek to knowingly indulge in the occasional solid gold one as well. After all, they both are goblets, made for one to consume liquids from. The only difference is that goblets are not that great of a comparison for how important typography is today.

The two transparent and ostentatious are important in their own right, only that the flashier fonts tend to be more misunderstood than the other for how much more it is misused. Everyone wants their message to communicate and most of the time, this is done incorrectly when the creator chooses a font without looking into the effect of the particular font on consumers of the outcome.

In this case, I might even it resemble the news. Barely anyone remembers the good, ethical news articles, but everyone remembers the bad scandals, crimes and flashy events. They learn from the latter because it’s so much more memorable (or criminal). If the transparent page is not going to stay in our mind, the ostentatious ones will burn messages in their stead. We can’t have one without the other, however, since they keep each other in check.

We still discover new things about ostentatious fonts as well – like how some create emphasis and ease of reading as it allows the readers’ eyes to home in on particular words.

Reference

Feature image taken from The Page Boy and the Silver Goblet, Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Scotland, retold by Virginia Haviland, illustrated by Adrienne Adams.

Typography I: In Class Activity 4 – Expressive words, Opposing Pairs

IN CLASS ACTIVITY 4

I picked Smooth/Rough as my word pair for the activity.

My selected work for the class activity!

I sketched three different ideas for this activity but only placed one up for critique. Here are the others:

Feedback received for the selected piece

Make ‘ROUGH’ even rougher, by making it jagged or older instead of a new-looking rope.
Instead of incorporating transitions at the end of ‘SMOOTH’, put the transitions in the connecting strings.
Concept is there but needs to be pushed/explored further.

Reflection

The first half of today was alot about giving and receiving feedback during a critique today. I thought the bit about framing the mind and framing the feedback was interesting as well, such as thinking about what sort of feedback do you want to receive and being more cautious about how you make sure that your feedback is directed at the design and not personally.

Typography I: Thinking with Type (Letter)

THINKING WITH TYPE: LETTER

The article on typographic practice, “Thinking with Type – Letter”, was definitely a very informative expansion to the handout given a couple of weeks before. In addition to type anatomy and classification, it talks about punctuation, font formats and even programs and applications that could be used in designing fonts. It also gives examples on type applications, such as a specific font that would work well in a calendar, and would not work in modern financial data.

On top of that, the article also prompts insight into multiple fonts – such as a brief description of the fonts Mrs and Mr Eaves. It breaks down how the fonts work in detail, chalking it down to the very proportions of a font’s anatomy, such as how the size of the x-height would play a role in the visual impression and impact that a font gives off.

This makes for a very interesting read as it goes beyond just what is practiced, but the idea behind why certain traditions in typography is practiced and why certain terminologies are used as well.

It also gives character and breathes personality to the system and functions of the letter and type, in order to justify the role they play when putting together different fonts and sizes.

Type crimes are also highlighted and they’re always interesting to know about/look at.

Crime regarding scale

Crime regarding italics

I admit, I’ve definitely guilty of committing type crimes. One of which I can recall is the the incorrect use of hyphens back in Year 1 as I’ve never given it much thought until I was corrected. I think I’ve just never quite realized that a keen eye could definitely tell that I used the incorrect dash (but now I know better).

Overall, the document had been an extremely concise yet interesting read that very effectively summarizes the fundamentals of type. Like mentioned previously, I’ll be likely to revisit this article often in the upcoming weeks as it seems to be a really good basic guiding tool. The type crime notes and typeface mixing sections would definitely be the sections I’ll revisit often!

Typography I: Typographer of Week 4 – Neville Brody

TYPOGRAPHER: NEVILLE BRODY

I find it interesting that we’re progressing into younger typographers for typographer of the week so far.

Neville Brody is a typographer, graphic designer as well as an art director from London. His works consists of record covers, magazine art and typography.

Fonts by Neville Brody

Some of the fonts he designed includes:

Arcadia
Industria
Insignia
FF Pop

I personally found Arcadia quite interesting and went to do a little bit more research on it. It turns out that the font borrows some elements from the Art Deco style and elegance. It also features high contrast lines – such as the A’s hair-thin crossbar on its much thicker body. On FontShop where Brody was one of the founders, the font is described to be well-suited for advertisements and invitations.

Looking up fonts by Brody seemed like a good start to understanding more about him. Soon I found Fuse, a “fontzine” by Neville Brody and Jon Wozencroft that launched in 1991. Fuse was to “challenge conventional thinking about the form and function of typography” and consisted of four experimental fonts designed to a theme and showcased through A2 posters.

At this point, I’ve gone through a couple of articles and each one described Brody, and his works, as experimental. This was certainly very refreshing compared to the two other typographers I’ve looked at previously (Tschihold and Vignelli).

Brody’s Works

Brody’s first record cover

In OFFSET 2014, Brody also mentions the idea of the ‘third mind’ where one needs to “find a device to put together incongruous elements and something new comes out of that”. The idea is to deliver something unexpected and taking the plunge to be pushing the boundaries of understanding. Between this and the ideology behind Fuse, Brody explores a very different face of design as compared to designers from the previous weeks.

While all of them understand to communicate with design, Brody seems to have a less traditional approach to it. He designs to challenge and not just to communicate. This can also be chalked up to the fact that Brody works with designing very different items and assets as compared to Tschihold and Massimo, and therefore his designs seek a very different purpose as well.

I feel that Brody, for his time, had been very forward-looking and an innovator. While he was criticized many times for his differences in approach and his products, alot of designers have now adopted a similar attitude in the treatment of everything as a design problem, regardless of disciplines (visuals, sound, installations, etc), as well as taking risks. There’s alot to be learnt from not just from his designs but from the “third mind” as well.

Typography I: Type Speaks (1948)

Type Speaks is a 1948 film featuring a story of printing types – what they are, how they are made and the ways in which they can be used. The film emphasizes type as a medium with a mission to improve the world and showcases how they used to be made.

After watching the film, I realized how differently a designer is defined now, and how a designer was defined then. The responsibilities and duties of a ‘designer’ had been quite different. While design and the creation of letters were left to the punch cutter/’designer’ as well in the past, the duties of the designer and cutter now have since grown to be quite separate and defined from each other. Today, the modern designer grows more important for type than the cutter due to better technology and digital platforms.

That aside, the art of cutting and designing type in the past was intriguing. I still can’t wrap my mind around how each type is actually cut differently to account for their visibility due to changes in size – as I’ve grown so used to using digital platforms/programs and am still pretty blind to the nuances of creating type.

To me, scaling it bigger or smaller seem like it wouldn’t be much of an issue, but the video speaks another very tedious and meticulous tale – where type needs to be cut individually to account for visibility when they change in size, meaning that they are not exactly the same if you were to use modern day methods to scale them to the same size.

I can’t believe the incredibly tedious production process!

The amount of work to get the single letter is crazy and I’ve never been so glad to be born as a modern day designer where I only have to worry about the look and feel of the product on the surface, rather than the product down to a single letter.

However, after watching the video, I did have alot of newfound appreciation for the art of type and it definitely changed my mind a little on how I should be looking at type to develop a sensitivity.

Typography I: Typographer of Week 3 – Massimo Vignelli

TYPOGRAPHER: MASSIMO VIGNELLI

Massimo Vignelli was an Italian designer – modernist designer and founder of Vignelli Associates. He was born and raised in Milan, started off in architecture and design, and later fell in love with graphic design.

He had an opinion – that a designer only needs about 6 typefaces. For him, the 6 are:

Some things that Vignelli did:

Popularized Helvetica
Under his direction, a redesign of 1972 New York City subway map
1968’s format for The Herald

Redesign of 1972 New York City subway map

2018 NYC Subway Map, as of February 2018

Vignelli’s NYC subway map

In 1972, the subway map was changed to Vignelli’s design. It was one that was modeled after Harry Beck’s simplified London Underground map, but was rejected by commuters who felt that Vignelli’s design and approach had been too abstract.

Where Vignelli’s map had emphasized readability and clarity, the commuters felt that it was geographically inaccurate and did not accurately represent the cities and subway routes.

THE HERALD

Vignelli’s 1968 format for The Herald revolutionized newspaper formats.

The Herald in 1968

His redesign had a strong impact – it had a modular layout, using limited color palettes and typefaces, creating a clean look for the paper. It looked modern and made The Herald stand out from the other papers.

Personally, what he had done for the paper was an extremely important step. Newspapers were to be read daily for the latest news and usually featured a congested page. By introducing a better spaced layout and minimizing the amount of elements, while still retaining the core of the purpose it should serve, his redesign showed ways to make newspapers even more effective. This especially applied with what he had planned for advertisements, even though The Herald did not accept advertisements. Advertisements were necessary for many papers, but usually are obstructive.

The work he has done in redesigning the papers would finally be acknowledged later on when other papers start adopting similar modular designs.

Other Looks

In one of the articles provided as a reference for Vignelli (as a fearless critic of junk), it is mentioned that the people who criticized Vignelli’s works commented that his designs were always the same:

“-the heavy black rules, the red, black and yellow, the large Garamond Italic or Bodoni type going over the gutter-“

I find it interesting that Vignelli’s explanation for that is that he’s interested in achieving a certain effect. I feel that he most certainly achieved it. In most projects he has done, it usually gives the design and content a lookover that focuses on clarity.

Comparing what I’ve read of Jan Tschihold, clarity seems to be a focal point for these designers especially since they are working on designs and with type to create assets that would help people to navigate their daily lives. They both stand strongly by limited types of font and design as well and apply these similar styles to most of the work they do even for different companies.

Vignelli’s work is recognizable even as he does work for different companies and from that I can see that design is a voice – it’s essentially a core set of beliefs and I believe as well that it’s irreplicable.

References:

Image of The Herald Papers: http://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/massimos-heraldic-newspaper/

Typography I: Typographer of Week 2 – Jan Tschichold

TYPOGRAPHER: JAN TSCHICHOLD

One of the first things I read up on Jan Tschichold was a short blurb somewhere about his contributions to Penguin Books. Immediately after, I did a quick search to find out how he looked like and I really hope I’m not the one who thinks that he bears a little bit of resemblance to a penguin. It might be the suit.

A side by side image comparison

That aside, it was really cool to learn what made him one of the biggest typographers of 20th Century.

Some things that I’ve learnt that could have contributed to his role as an important typographer:

Creation of Sabon (as well as a few other fonts such as Saskia, Transit and Zeus)
Die neue Typographie, meaning ‘New Typography’
Briefly the head of Penguin Books’ typography and production, standardizing the look of all Penguin books.

Who is Tschichold?

First a calligrapher, then later developing into a typographer and book designer as well. He was passionate about black letters and script but later moved on to simple, geometric letters, likely influenced by a Bauhaus exhibition in 1924. He later developed an extreme belief in every other typeface, other than sans-serif, and also wrote about Modernist typography.

Later on, however, Tschichold did admit that the book was too extreme and rigid and returned to Classicism in print design.

His stint at Penguin Books

I focused on first finding out what exactly was so incredible about his stint at Penguin Books.

The final logo chosen in 2003 is based on the 1946 version by Tschihold, and is still used today with the occasional minor alteration to the penguin (such as giving it a hat). I’ve read lots of Penguin Books myself, so it feels like it would be very relevant information.

I’ve seen a couple of different covers:

The Great Gatsby cover is an example of one that is standardized by Tschichold. It is highly similar to the middle one. An article from The Writers Academy points out that the font was changed to Gill Sans, the middle white space was enhanced and the logo updated.

From what I can see, the penguin logo was simplified to elegant curves. No longer was there a heavy ‘Penguin Books’ looming over the cover as well, instead replaced by the skinny Gill Sans, reducing the competition to the middle section of the page where the book title was written.

The more I looked at it, the more I thought about how intelligent this minute change was – it immediately directed my eyes to where information needed to be conveyed. It didn’t feel clunky and chunky as well, and this might be abit of a stretch, but I actually felt refreshed and ready to read more as the layout of the cover felt lighter instantly.

Just from this, I definitely feel that Tschichold’s works focus on communication. I felt a sense of focus and a strong, singular voice. His works are crisp and broken up beautifully, with precise control and never chaotic.

Laster Der Menschheit, poster by Tschihold for Phoebus Palast (1927)

When I look at more examples of his works such as his poster designs, it’s almost as if someone slipped a lead around my neck and is guiding me clearly through different sections of the graphic. The clarity in the way he conveys information never fails to startle me as my eyes know exactly where to go every time.

Page Canons, Page Harmony

Convenient gif from the Retinart article that shows how text blocks are determined

I’m (honestly) not much of a reader and a very visual person. Going through this article definitely drove me a little crazy until I saw the gif.

Then it suddenly clicked.

I saw the magic in it.

The text block had the same 2:3 page size ratio, the height of the textblock is equal to the width of the page, and I kept scrolling back to pick up everything. It reminds me of the math behind drawing perspective and products in drawing classes – mathematical perfections! It really reminds me of how much math, design and drawing are intertwined.

Then comes Tschihold – a man who’s able to play with the minds of people through his understanding and application of math in his design. He improves on what seems to already be considered perfection – a canon, a sacred rule. He creates his own, new canon that works beautifully.

There’s so much more to it than just ‘an eye pleasing book’. It’s definitely something I’d like to try out myself sometime!

A Wrap

Essentially, I feel that Jan Tschichold is an extremely meticulous and calculative man – I could feel it from his works! I could feel that every part was deliberated. However, I was pleasantly surprised a man who sees things in such detail was able to pull himself out of his phase of extremity in the middle. His achievements were amazing and extremely admirable as well.

From him, I definitely could learn to cultivate more interest in the formula and math of successful book designs and typography. I’d definitely like to learn and shape my view of what would be considered beautiful books and beautiful texts. It’s already beginning to shift slightly after reading and learning from his canons, works and experiences.

He especially makes for a really great start to understanding more about the printing world and industry.

References:

The Writer’s Academy article: https://thewritersacademy.co.uk/blog/book-cover-design/

Typographica: https://typographica.org/typography-books/jan-tschichold-master-typographer/

Page Canons (GIF): http://retinart.net/graphic-design/secret-law-of-page-harmony/

Typography I: Type in the Wild

TYPE IN THE WILD

Some really wild type, used for really wild things.

I attended a party with my sister and a couple of other friends when one of them suddenly whipped out a card game called “What do you meme?” I can’t think of another game that yells ‘MILLENNIAL’ more than this one. My brain honestly still can’t wrap about the fact that this exists and it was a ton of fun too!

The header looks to be in a Geometric Sans Serif type, perhaps the Impact typeface?

The logline is in Humanist Sans Serif, in italics. The header seems to be based on very geometric shapes, and the one-liner has very uniform curves from what I can see of the ‘e’.

Overall, just teeny bit 1% disappointed that they didn’t use Comic Sans!

I’ve also seen some amazing signages/information panels at the zoo as well!

They both seem to use Display & Decorative types for their headers! The content of the Galapagos marine iguana one seems to use a Humanist Sans Serif, since it has asymmetrical curves and open apertures, from what I can see on the ‘a’, ‘e’ and ‘g’. The Zebra sign seems to use a Grotesk Sans Serif, as the content text has uniform, symmetrical curves.

Also the most amazing shirt I’ve seen in awhile:

I think that this one looks like some kind of embossed Cursive typeface. They’re not quite uniform and ‘c’ and ‘u’ looks a little strange and written. They’re not connected (unlike Script) as well.

I think I’m still pretty terrible at identifying and classifying fonts but it was really good practice, as well as a really fun homework.

And that’s all for my type in the wild venture for now!

Typography I: First Impressions of the Course and Group Allocations

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE COURSE

First things first — I love morning classes!

To be honest, I’ve always been too intimidated by type to start any kind of proper learning. The way I’ve tried to apply text in my art and designs were assets for work in the past, and learning Chinese calligraphy to understand more about what would be considered good spacing and strokes. Strangely enough, it’s still less scary than working with English text and type. (since it’s easier to excuse myself if I make mistakes in Chinese :’) )

Coming into Typography I, fortunately, felt like a push in the right direction as I’ve always wanted to grasp type fundamentals and be less of a chicken. I think I’m definitely alot less scared now and I’m really glad to have made the decision to join the Viscomm curriculum so that I would be able to take Typography (and Visual Communcations I!).

The content seems to be pretty reasonable so far as well and I’ve learnt alot over the past couple of lessons.

GROUP ALLOCATION

Spaghetti Italy, because everyone in the group plans to go to Italy to eat spaghetti at some point of our lives.

We also picked to do research on Comic Sans for our group presentation on type!