Miaaa Poh

Seeing all the interesting works done by others, I thought I would also share what I did for my zine.

“I was fortunate. Early in life, I understood that my world was a two-dimensional one. At sixteen I knew that my work would be in black and white.”

I made my zine in relation to Adrian Frutiger’s aesthetic, I didn’t put any pictures for the zine (only a picture of Mr. Frutiger himself ) to keep the focus on the typefaces. I played with page space, font size, and typography while designing this, with each page using the typeface that is being interviewed for the texts. (The Univers page would be using the Univers typeface for all texts... etc.)

Some likes and dislikes: I really like my cover page, which is inspired by the negative space typography technique. The font used for the cover page is Frutiger, I felt like it was the best option to represent him. It became challenging in the end to come up with new layout choices with the same black and white aesthetics, but I think I pulled through! Each section of the interview gives a different vibe, they aren’t repitive when it comes to arrangement but still had harmony throughout. I still wish I had more creative ways to deliver this, however.

ZINE UPDATE

Finally starting to progress with my zine, and by that I mean I’ve done the introductory page… I’m just absolutely hating everything I make at the moment and am really stuck in a rut, but it’s due THIS WEEK so I’ll have to work past the creative block and suck it up. I’m not really happy with the layout at the moment but I figured if I just get something down i can go back later to fix it up. 

You can see better now how I’m gonna try incorporate my magazine collage / photo collages in with the zine. The talkshow host is made up of photos from unsplash.com (all free to use! no copyright!) and I’ll also include some of my own collage later in the zine.

you are very chill with your page space, you put minimal graphic and small text, which is the complete opposite of what I do! I always feel like spaces should be filled so they look “full” and “sophisticated”, and I really should tell my brain to stop thinking like that.

Colors Magazine

The Colors Magazine was established in 1991 by designers Oliviero Toscani and Tibor Kalman. The concept of the magazine was to challenge serious issues in the world. For example, the fight against aids, climate change, cultural appropriation to lighter topics such as toys, fashion and shopping. Keep in mind that it is always viewed with a non-conventional eye. 

Below are some images of my favourite Cover art done by Colors Magazine

Other Mediums…

Interesting outtake of selling a perfume brand with the idea of using diversity in our community. Commercial (United Colors of Benetton): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odkGhyNvgk0

Short clips on a “Survival Guides” - especially enjoyed the sound that accompanied the animation. Will use this outcome for my Colour course during the making of our GIF. COLORS The survival guides (Happiness): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65kPGhsH-2Q

References:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/may/27/mondaymediasection4

http://www.benettongroup.com/the-group/comunication/colors-magazine/

Shapeshifters

Just of few of my thoughts… who knew there was such a controversial backstory to a typeface? After spending an hour and a half intrigued by the crazy world of type design I have mixed feelings about the typeface Helvetica. A part of me loves the modern approach and the fact that it cannot be faulted, another part of me hates the fact that it is possibly the most approachable safety net of a type face ever known. I was unaware that Helvetica surrounds us daily, morphing itself into brand after brand, every street sign, every restaurant you walk by, every shopping bag you see, it is everywhere! Something that stood out to me was the fact that we are surrounded by this type face that is over 50 years old, yet it is transformed slightly with the switch of colour or space and you wouldn’t even realise the two brands were using an identical font, you could almost call it the chameleon face of type design. Helvetica itself is remarkable (the Swiss know their type!) however it’s impact has almost put type design to a halt as it cannot be improved or beaten, the font will forever be modern!

It was intriguing to see the mixed bag of opinions from all different designers over the world and at different stages in their careers, all of them holding strong feelings towards the type face. Some loving it, some loathing it, admiring it and challenging it.

Another fact I did find interesting was the statement “It’s a faceless font” in the sense it is often used non commercially and so widely it has become a socialist default typeface. It is not associated with a brand or product but socialism and day to day living. Everything we know and are told, we are told in Helvetica.