#l.saul

Cyanotype, this blue toned image is a very early photographic process and something that I have been influenced by in my current project, using images with a cyanotype effect as it is much more interesting than black and white. I did quite a few of these back in photography last year and sadly, I am realising now it's too late, that my front cover could have been made using a traditional cyanotype.

All in all, there isn't much to change, but I do have sketchbook work to attend to, as its lacking in annotation. No rest for the wicked.

Beautiful example of french folds used, but also how intriguing is the cross stitch used to explore typography? Definitely some experimentation to look into in the future?

Here are examples of what a grid layout system is and how it can be applied to practically anything when designing (see apple Logo). There are many different types of grid systems, such as the most commonly used column system, where you have the choice of how many columns you'd like across your page and images and text are placed within these. This is one way of improving legibility. Also there is the golden ratio shown above, which is often applied in art and within architecture, it is more complicated than using the column grid system. On one of the examples you can see baseline grid, this can help sit the text on a line and will help with aligning. For this assignment I will use a grid system for both my website and booklet and for my booklet I will use the same layout for each page so that it keeps it simpler but also coherent throughout.

Bauhaus. Perhaps my least favourite of the avant garde typographers, I found much of his work lacked a strong grid system, and in comparison to other works i've seen his work was uninteresting and very much a repetition with a change of imagery. I did like however the way he used borders around his images (see above) this is just a style I personally really like, its clean, has a rigid form and I like the way a border draws you into the image more than full bleed. Again clear use of minimal colours seems to be the way to go about producing better design.

Artist turned typographer, Schwitters is best known from a graphic design aspect for his work on the publication Merz, a magazine that talked about advertising, new typography, poetry, culture and art. You can see how he has used a grid system in producing this and what I like is the coherent design between the different issues. Again I see similarities between the work of Schwitters and Lissitsky, perhaps this is a reflection upon the period and how many artist were becoming part of the Avant Garde movement (many different movement happened during this period so as a whole is known as this) - becoming contemporary in their design. To produce good design it is becoming apparent that a grid system needs to be in place before one can break it up, and has been something graphic designers have always considered essential in their work. Guess you could call it working methodically?

I found the typographic work of Lissitzky interesting, although the period of Russian Constructivism does not appeal to me as a whole. It was interesting to see the similar us of a grid system to that of Josef Muller-Brockmann and its clear you can see how he was influenced by the work of Lissitzky and the like. The use of Red, Black and White seems to be an occuring theme within his work and was a popular part of the demographics of constructivism. Using minimal colour does work well and I feel can give more of an impact to an audience than many different colours. In particular his colour choices are strong and bold and work well with his use of typography, the combination of pointsizes all within a tight grid system.