Notes for October 5

[Olivia Gulin]

The first book reviewed in class was Bordertown , which is a sort of portrait of a town along the US/Mexico border. The design of the book was made with particular attention and relation to the images and writing. Particular attention is paid to the use of repeated graphics (motifs) and unconventional (and sometimes times "bad") typography to reflect the town's rundown nature. Images are often layered on top of each other to create dense layers, surprising juxtapositions, and off-kilter compositions. Photos are often shown with rough edges. A majority of the spreads are composed asymmetrically. In one of the final spreads, a car is shown leaving the composition--we see only its tail end. Often times, a part can be used to describe a whole in a way that is inherently more interesting. Its similar to literary figures of speech such as metonymy and synecdoche, which are practices in which things are not called by their names but by things which are related to them (ex: "wheels" for "car").

The second book we reviewed was 8vo: On the Outside , a survey of 8vo's design work from 1984 - 2001. We stopped to review the Table of Contents, which was organized exclusively by spatial relationships. That is, all of the type was in the same face, weight, color, etc. and only its arrangement designated its heirarchy. Using too many elements can often be overwhelming; sometimes, simple restrictions can produce elegant solutions. Simpler can be better when simple is compelling!

We then stopped to look at 8vo's process for making their Hacienda 4 poster . Included in the book were photos of them working on the design (by hand) and all of the different iterations that lead up to the final design. Many many versions culminated in a sophisticated design. It is this idea that framed much of the discussion for many of the posters.

How many elements do you have? How many combinations can be made? There should be a lot of tweaking, and different ideas. Switch things around, rearrange constantly. Most of all, play with what you have.

Poster designs should operate on multiple levels of information-- a basic one of color and shape from a distance, more information as the viewer comes in close, and some smaller information to draw them up immediately in front of the piece.

We are starting a new project this week. We are to go to a neighborhood and photograph signage and collect images of vernacular typography. From these images, we are to pick two type styles. One should be done by hand, and the other should be typeset. The two type styles are to be combined into a word.

For next week:

Revised posters

Photographs of neighborhood

Chosen type specimens

Word design

Map of neighborhood we visited

We are having individual meetings next week. Also, we should hold onto the sketches from our visits to the MoMA for future use.

--
- OG
http://www.oliviagulin.com

[Kapono]

Wow Olivia,
Great Notes with links and everything!
Kapono

On Oct 6, 12:11 pm, Olivia Gulin <oligu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The first book reviewed in class was

> Bordertown<http://designarchives.aiga.org/entry.cfm/eid_1766> ,

> which is a sort of portrait of a town along the US/Mexico border. The design
> of the book was made with particular attention and relation to the images
> and writing. Particular attention is paid to the use of repeated graphics
> (motifs) and unconventional (and sometimes times "bad") typography to
> reflect the town's rundown nature. Images are often layered on top of each
> other to create dense layers, surprising juxtapositions, and off-kilter
> compositions. Photos are often shown with rough edges. A majority of the
> spreads are composed asymmetrically. In one of the final spreads, a car is
> shown leaving the composition--we see only its tail end. Often times, a part
> can be used to describe a whole in a way that is inherently more
> interesting. Its similar to literary figures of speech such as

> metonymy<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy>
>  and synecdoche <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche>, which are

> practices in which things are not called by their names but by things which
> are related to them (ex: "wheels" for "car").
> The second book we reviewed was 8vo: On the

> Outside<http://books.google.com/books?id=SrksgrpcUM4C&dq=8vo+on+the+outside&p...>

> ,
> a survey of 8vo's design work from 1984 - 2001. We stopped to review the
> Table of Contents, which was organized exclusively by spatial relationships.
> That is, all of the type was in the same face, weight, color, etc. and only
> its arrangement designated its heirarchy. Using too many elements can often
> be overwhelming; sometimes, simple restrictions can produce elegant
> solutions. Simpler can be better when simple is compelling!
>
> We then stopped to look at 8vo's process for making their Hacienda 4

> poster<http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/images/2007/07/12/hacienda_4_...>