Typographic Design I - Kathy Do

Art has always been an escape for me. My teen years were marred by events that at the time I thought I wouldn’t survive. Art class became a second home for me. As the years pass by, I grow more interested in the technical, functional aspects of art. How it shapes a space. The way it creates a memory. When it persuades. When it misses the mark. I’m now more interested in visualizing ideas, in communicating what words can’t do alone. I am less of a vessel, self-contained with my work, and more of a windpipe, acting as a channel — a way through. I feel like I’ve grown a lot over this year, both internally and with my work. I owe it to this class and all the ones before it for instilling in me a steady stream of hope that art persists. I tried and failed and tried again. I found new ways of working. I discovered methods to avoid. I felt sometimes my sanity was slipping. I bit off more than I could chew and rearranged it into something I could be proud of. There is still good in the world, and brushes to be washed.

(Changed to Campbell Coyotes)

Campbell University is a private, Christian liberal arts college in Buies Creek, North Carolina. The origin of the camel mascot is shrouded in mystery. Some say it is due to a memorable word of encouragement from the founder’s architect friend, when he misheard him saying camel instead of Campbell. Others say it is based on a saying made up by students in the 1930s, “I’d walk a mile for a camel.” Nonetheless, the camel has become an unusual but integral part of the small town in which the campus resides, whose population is about 3,300. For the students and staff, the camel is a symbol of resilience and fighting spirit. However, there are some problems with the camel logo for the university’s varied sports teams. First, there may be racist connotations associated with the Middle East. In addition, a known rumor is that the university had ties to the Camel cigarette brand. Finally, the camel itself is not an animal native to North Carolina, and has little ties to the geographical area otherwise.

My group had the pleasure of synthesizing information about the Campbell University Fighting Camels. The origin story for the camels is shrouded in mystery, nothing but dubious theories, and they are based in a small town, so this unique mascot might be their only claim to fame in the world’s eye. We almost unanimously agreed to change the animal. Nothing against the camel, but it just is difficult to stylize it in any way that looks serious. Sometimes it skews into horse or kangaroo likeness territory. There is also the racist connotations with the Middle East, which we all want to fully avoid.

I have removed the black lines completely for my spreads that feature Futura since they were too visually heavy and instead, leaned more into incorporating my letterform into a city scene. Pictured below is a very simplified plan for the spread (I will illustrate it myself). An idea I’m toying with is the thought of keeping the pages with Futura in digital form, but creating all the pages featuring Garamond by hand to have that organic hand drawn quality that Garamond has. I plan to scan and photograph those pages and overlay with the text in InDesign. Additionally, I want to push that contrast further with using primary colors for Futura and neutrals for Garamond.

(pgs 34-58)

Futura has always been my favorite sans-serif font. There is something appealing about how bold it is. It has a very modern, clean look that makes it versatile for a wide range of applications. In this project I particularly focused on the capital letters H and T. Combined, they form a shape that looks sturdy, reminiscent of buildings, with sleek sharp edges.

I drew out as many combinations as possible with the two letters. Early on, I was aware of the possibility of creating a certain well known hate symbol. Every iteration is an avoidance of that.

I chose the letter H because of its negative space, mirrored at the top and bottom. I knew that would lend well to being altered to fit a flower form. This letter also marks the beginning of several flower names, so it gave me options.

A new perspective offered in this chapter is that “…writing occupies space as well as time” (68). This made me think about how important it is to consider the amount of time it would take to read a chunk of text, along with the context. If for a billboard, people are only looking at that for seconds, so I think it is better to be concise. If for an infograph, maybe paragraphs would be more acceptable but still limited, because people passing by tend to be more drawn to pictures — think graphs — than large bodies of text. So, the visuals could draw them in first then maybe their eyes will wander to the paragraphs too. This also ties back to how internet users tend to want shorter, straight-to-the-point text, so physical print mediums (ex. books) reign in “extended reading”.

This section further elaborates on the use of grids. There is a brief part about the golden section, similar to the golden ratio, which has been a constant in all my time of being an art student. Like in illustration, it is not set in stone as the ultimate guide to follow — some people choose to opt out of using it completely — but it is a helpful tool for visual interest. I have never thought of it in a design context before, it is definitely something I want to utilize in a future project.

We learned in class this week about the levels of comfort when it comes to a block of body copy, where “9-11 words per line” is best. I think keeping that in mind when setting up a grid would lead to the most intuitive design for the average reader. Previously, when I read magazines I thought the way the copy was formatted was some magical property coded into the program they used. After this chapter, I realized how human the process is — all the thought put into exactly where the negative space is, the readability, and where to arrange the images. Something key to keep in mind is:

I have a fondness for Julieta Ulanovsky’s font Montserrat, since it is the sole font used in my portfolio book to apply to the GD+I program.

Ulanovsky was inspired by the street signs and architecture in Monserrat, which is in the center of Buenos Aires and a part of larger Argentina. As urban development progresses, the city changes as well and she wanted to preserve some of the old charm by creating this font

For the experimental type, I began by making a digital collage of the streets in Montserrat. Then, I found and cropped photos that specifically featured some sort of signage, since Ulanovsky drew direct inspiration from these.

Using the collage of the streets, I made several abstract images by putting it though the xerox machine. It gave this warped, marbling effect after moving the sheet around rapidly in the copying process. On top of that, I inked the letter m with india ink (for a flat, opaque look).

I cut up the street signs into individual letters and sections to collage on top of the letter, as if they were bursting out of it, like how change tends to happen whether we want it to or not. After, I layered on more ink to obscure some parts and add more contrast. Visually, I wanted it to reference the bustling city.

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For the experimental image, I knew that I wanted to play with the idea of arches due to the curves in the lowercase m. Monserrat is where the presidential palace, Casa Rosada, is located. Making my iPad into a makeshift lightbox, I traced over several photos of the arches in the building with tracing paper. My inspiration for the looser style of these sketches is Teoh Yi Chie, an urban plein air artist I’ve been following for a long time. His whole modus operandi is to not be too concerned with precision but to draw as it is.

After copying, the layers of tracing paper are more visible and converted to grayscale. I took a photo of the most interesting part for the final — again, emphasis on the arches.

I have this habit of jumping the gun, thinking it would help future me by reducing the amount of work on her plate, only to have to circle back because I misinterpreted the prompt or used the wrong method. In this case, I overshot it with the line-work. What is required is just contour lines and simple hatching, no need for blocks of shading. You live and you learn. I know now to wait for a demo in class before starting. As for the negative space drawing, I could have done it by digitally altering the original picture and printing that out. Instead, I had outlined the spaces over a lightbox with micron pens. It is a simple fix; I will scan it, solidify the blacks, and print on copy paper. I have not yet done the paper cutouts but I had previously completed a similar project that involved a lot of papercutting back in 2D Design at Midlands so it is not something new to me.