#fundcom1

The idea of this project is to push the boundaries of how I use typography in my work. I’ve done quite a lot of research over the past six weeks, and attended many workshops designed to improve upon my existing type skills. This has helped a lot, as I now feel ready to begin the nitty gritty aspect of the project, actually designing my book.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, the book in which the chapter I will be using stems from is about French Polishing. In the briefing, it was mentioned that we do not need to reference the material at all in our books, it is merely to be used as ‘copy’. I of course heard the ‘do not need to’, and as such want to anyway. That’s when I decided to look into exactly what french polishing is.

I discovered it is a method of varnishing wood, to give it a reflective gloss-like shine. I’ve seen some examples of wood being used in book binding on Pinterest, and I’m intrigued to see how I can incorporate it into my own work. I have a laser-induction this coming Friday, hopefully I can get to grips with the machine and perhaps try out some designs on real pieces of wood. Again, I don’t know how or if I will even use this for my final piece, but it sounds very promising.

As for the inside of the book, I already know that I want to create a set of custom endpapers using typography found within the book. I hope to create typographic compositions, much like the ones I created earlier in the project. Hopefully these will give me inspiration for the design of the rest of book.

Mark Porter Associates

On the quest for great editorial design I came across Mark Porter Associates. They’re a UK-based design studio specialising in “Award-winning content-driven design” (what ever that means). What I do know is that they’ve produced some iconic pieces of work for brands including The Guardian, Internazionale and The Long+Short.

Their work, which is primarily magazine/newspaper layouts, has a beautiful sophistication about it. They have a way of working with typography that elevates a story and turns it into a piece of art. Similarly, their use of powerful photography creates drama and intrigue which ultimately adds to the overall appeal of their designs.

What I love about their technique is how they can determine what is right for their client and implement it through their design choices. You’ll notice that their work changes dramatically dependent on the medium and the actual content of a story/article. This demonstrates their ability to adapt and change to suit the clients needs.

Source(s):

Font Pairings

One of the hardest parts of editorial design is pairing the right fonts. It’s important that what ever display font you choose for a title or heading must complement the body font (and vice versa). I stumbled across Just My Type in my research, and I’m eternally grateful. The website hosts a wide selection of beautiful font pairings. The cherry on the cake? The vast majority of them are hosted on TypeKit, which is included in my Adobe Creative Cloud membership!

Whilst I may not use any of these specific examples, it has definitely inspired me to come up with more creative font pairings in the future.

Source(s):

http://justmytype.co/hfj/

Butterick’s Practical Typography

Disclaimer: I don’t understand how I have gone all my life without knowing this website existed.

Butterick’s Practical Typography guide is a treasure trove of typography wisdom. The guide, which takes the form of an online book, is supported through donations and downloads of the creators typefaces (which are available here).

It’s rather brilliant. The book discusses at length about all aspects of typography, from type composition to the very definition. I particularly enjoy the section dedicated to font recommendations. Here, there is a comprehensive list of alternatives to popular typefaces, such as Times New Roman and Georgia. 

I learnt a few new tricks reading this over, and I’m more than happy to say I supported the author by purchasing his beautiful serif font ‘Concourse’.

A must read for all aspiring designers (type or otherwise).

Source(s):

I’ve compiled a list of some tips and tricks for working with Adobe InDesign. These will come in handy when it comes to designing my publications, both for Fundamentals of Communication and Contemporary Contexts: Communication.

1. To make multiple objects the same size, first set the height and width of one object. Then select the remaining objects and choose Object> Transform Again> Transform Sequence Again Individually.

2. To live distribute, select multiple objects (frames or lines) that are in a row and then click and hold down a side handle of one of the outermost objects. Press the spacebar and then drag the side handle to increase/decrease space between objects vertically or horizontally. Try this with a corner handle to distribute the space between objects diagonally.

3. To create live corner effects, click the yellow square on the right side of any frame to activate Live Corners. Once activated, drag a yellow diamond to increase/decrease the corner effect. Opt/Alt-click the yellow diamond to cycle through the other corner styles. Opt/Alt-Shift-click to change just one corner.

4. To hide a selected object or objects, press Cmd-3 (Mac) or Ctrl-3 (PC). To show all hidden items, press Cmd-Opt-3 (Mac) or Ctrl-Alt-3 (PC).

5. To place multiple images on a grid, choose File>Place. Select as many images as you want to place. Choose Open. The cursor will show a thumbnail of the first image and the number of images loaded in the cursor.

6. To fit a frame to a graphic: Double-click a corner of an image frame. Or press Cmd-Opt-C (Mac).

7. To replace one image with another, choose File> Place to select an image. Then Option (Mac) or Alt (PC) click on an existing image on the layout you’d like to replace with the new one.

8. To apply an effect from one object to another, select the object that has the formatting you want. Then, drag the “FX” icon from the Effects panel onto the object that you want to format.

9. To apply the last color used on a new object, press comma (,).

10. To use the Photoshop colour picker, double-click the Fill or Stroke icon in the Swatches Panel (or on the Toolbar) to open the Color Picker.

11. To duplicate any page or spread, open the Pages Panel, and Option (Mac) or Alt (PC) drag the page. This works for document pages and master pages.

Source(s):

http://www.fluxconsulting.com/adobe-indesign-tips-tricks/

The Photography of Robert Frank

Whilst it may seem a little unusual to be looking into photography on a project that is text-based, I feel there are many connections between the two mediums.

“The kind of photography I did is gone. It’s old.”

Above are some photographs by iconic American photographer Robert Frank. His photos tell a story of what it was like to live in America during the 20th century. What I love about them is their sheer simplicity, and the idea that the subject of the photos would be considerably different had they been taken just a moment later.

In one photo, Frank was able to convey emotion and nostalgia. In a similar way, typography can be used to empower text and elevate its cause. The composition of text on a page can alter its meaning entirely. Frank’s photography is so iconic because of how well he portrayed his subjects, which is why I must take extra care in how I decide to use the copy I have been provided with.

Source(s):

Editorials are one of my favourite areas of design. Being a huge lover of both typography and photography, the creative combination of the two always pleases me. I’ve created a Pinterest board for my Editorial Design research, which I will be using to inform my designs for both Fundamentals of Communication and Creative Contexts: Communication. Both of these projects are geared around editorial design, so I figured finding some great examples of existing projects would be a good source of inspiration.