#herbertmatter

Following the week 7 lectures, I wanted to find how Herbert used grids or if he did in this particular design.

I took the pages into InDesign and placed grids over them like shown in class.

Unfortunately, I think the photos I downloaded are not the best quality and were possibly not scanned in straight, so the lines do not perfectly line up, but i think Herbert’s originals would have lined up with the correct proportions as my lines are just the slightest bit off on some of these. I also placed a bunch of rulers to see if there was anything that matched up across the pages or not but i think the pages might be slightly off on perspective as the lines are not straight on some of the coloured shapes and the images.

Following these pages I want to try use 4 columns as an experimentation of my 12 page summative project.

I did a print test of my poster on A4 paper to see how everything would come out.

My printer isn’t the best quality unfortunately, so there are some differences and incorrect colouring/lines that you’ll notice on Herbert's photo. Overall it did well enough for me to spot what needed fixing.

Looking at it like this instead of on illustrator helped me notice a few more things that needed editing. It was small things like text sizing, typos, or text that didn’t line up exactly. I also noticed a spot or two that needed to be removed.

After fixing these I’m happy with my final result, and I think I'm ready to submit my assignment.

I want to go to a print shop sometime and print it in full A3 size and higher quality.

I’ve decided this will be my final poster design.

It uses Arial Black as the header, Futura PT Medium as body text, and it matches Herbert’s posters and swiss posters to my liking.

The colours look quite vibrant here, but exported as a pdf and on Illustrator they are softer shades and more orange shades.

The mountain range behind is from Switzerland where he was born and lived half his life. The railroad image is his photograph for New Haven Railroads that i have edited and adjusted for my design. The Photograph is of Herbert Matter, i first turned it monochrome in a brown shade, but decided greyscale suited my design better, and because I couldn’t get it to match exactly Herbert’s Portrait shades from his posters. I used the indigo and orange shades that match Herbert’s Swiss tourism posters. I placed my timeline over the railroad tracks to give the idea that the track is his life and moving forward through time. When i first played around with this idea, the text was too hidden and camouflaged over the tracks, I tested between black, white, orange, and blue font colours within my colour palette and decided on white because most swiss posters I looked at either had black and white texts, and it stood out the best. I used grids to position my texts evenly and my images.

The text I want to include on my final poster.

Herbert Matter was a Swiss Graphic Designer, Photographer, and Filmmaker. He majorly did Photography, Typography, and Graphic design, but has also produced film and even tried his hand at architecture. His creations were captivating and had dramatic and effective compositions. They were the kind to lure you in and capture your attention, but without overwhelming you with crazy colours. His work is still showcased in some exhibitions in America and Europe.

1907 April 25th- Herbert Matter was born into the world in a small village in Switzerland called Engelberg

1925-1927 - He studied painting at École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva

1929 - Hired as a photographer and designer for the Deberny and Peignot concern

1930 – He designed the Tea Room in Engelberg, inspired by the Bauhaus

1932-1935 - Expelled from France due to incorrect papers and started work with the Swiss Tourist Office. Using his photomontage technique, he created some of his most famous works

1936 - Went to the United States to photograph a dance troupe tour and decided to stay in New York

1936-1938 – Freelance designed for Harper’s Bazaar magazine

1941-1942 - Married Mercedes Carles and had a son Alexander Matter

1944 - Became a design consultant at the furniture company Knoll which lasted for 20 years

1950-1955 - He directed and filmed a movie on Alexander Calder's work featuring his son Alexander Matter, and a few other films

1952 - Started teaching photography and design at Yale University

1954 – Created the corporate identity for New Haven Railroad

1960 - Work on the Alberto Giacometti book began that went on for 25 years

1976 – Herbert was appointed Professor Emeritus at Yale University for Graphic Design and Photography

1980 - Received the Guggenheim Fellowship for Photography award

1983 - Awarded a gold medal from the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) for Life Achievement  

1984 - The death of Herbert Matter

Following the topics in our lecture, i brainstormed Herbert Matter and Poster ideas. After coming up with a few thoughts and concepts, I roughly drew out a few layout ideas on paper, and a swiss poster layout inspired by Herbert Matters Engelberg Poster.

I edited a few more mountain range images to suit my ideas and the swiss theme, and a New York cityscape. All from Unsplash

Then i went into illustrator in the Project size file with bleed marks, and created a few very rough and untidy layout designs. All the imagery and illustrations above are what i’ve previously edited and adjusted. I would be adjusting some things further in photoshop, but for my rough layouts i used what i had. I tried to stick with what i’ve learned about Swiss poster designs, using only a few colours within the designs, but the imagery i’ve used doesn’t quite match it, so i will be editing those futher, and making the portrait images B&W and more clearly monochrome.

The font sketches were done last week but i never shared them. I looked into Herbert Matter’s well known font designs for New Haven Railroads and Knoll furniture, and then wrote them out as an alphabet.