Project 1

Finally got my presentation for project 1 done. Whew! Between my project and the one that followed I've noticed the history of type is a very interesting in relation to the influences of the times and the evolution of type in general. Especially pertaining to the influences of different eras and what not. Just from our presentation alone, the religious aspect was very influential. I'm interested to see where that leads to when we get to the modern presentation and see if there is still religious influence when it comes to type. I'll presume at this point that there will be since there still is religious influence in other aspects of the world outside of religion.

Handwriting

There's no real way to put handwriting into a typeface. I guess that's why handwriting is unique. Even though we all learn the same way to print letters with those two lines and the little dash along the middle to differ upper and lower case letters. Just this past week I was helping my step-niece print her letters that way. However, when I was at work this weekend I had four different people writing ticket orders and all of their handwriting was different. Some added extra loops to their letters, others were very straight forward. One was such chicken scratch that it looked like they were writing during an earthquake. I guess what I'm saying it that it's weird how we all learn the same but turn out writing differently.

Ben Frank

I few weeks ago I was in North Beach and one of the parks there has a statue of Benjamin Franklin. I know, it's weird already. But that's beside the point. I was looking at the inscription of the statue. I noticed a sanserif type. Which I think it might have to do with it being chiseled into the granite base. It would be harder to use a chisel and add serifs. It made be think about what materials you're working with when working on a typeface. That can play a big role. It also makes it easier to read without the serifs since the kerning would be different with serifs.

Hella Big Type

Working on exercise 2 was an interesting process in discovering how fonts and their pieces and layouts can be visually pleasing. I had about 5 different types and letter layouts when I first started part 2 of the assignment. That expanded to about 10 because I kept changing the placement on the page. On Monday when I left class I had it narrowed back down to about 5. I took them home and laid them all out, alone then all together to try and see what stood out to me. I had one design that I was leaning towards but I felt strongly connected towards the others because I knew what I liked about those types as well. Whether it was the shape of the serifs or because I felt the two letters were complimentary. I asked a few people what they thought. The consensus was the layout which I had been leaning towards all along. I asked why they liked it, receiving a simple response of "it looks good". For me though I loved the way the spine of the S curves so elegantly. As for the J, I loved the stroke weight and the serifs. It reminded me of something written long ago. Also the way they connected, together but separate which is why I didn't overlap them. Overall I was pleased and will probably blow something up that big again. It helps me appreciate the little details. Prolly won't be at kinkos since that guy was kinda a douche.

Overwhelming

I've been having trouble posting pictures on this. It's been hella annoying but I figure I'll just write and come back to add pictures later for context.

Going through the library looking for research has been interesting. Especially when it's for a typography class when type stands out more and more. Just looking at a small section of books and trying to pick books out where the type face stood out to me was overwhelming. I had to go in one by one and check each book row by row, rather than try to take it all in and see what stood out to me. I'm happy with my choices for books and had some great finds. It's interesting to study the book before I start really going through it. Just noticing the outside type compared to the inside. The way it fills the page. I've even started to do that with some of my old and new books.

College Gameday

I've really began to notice type this week. Specifically when I was watching ESPN the other day. They have this show called: ESPN College Gameday. While I've watched the show numerous times, I've always hated the logo but could never really place my finger on it. Until I looked at the type. The way it's laid out is so damn ugly. The way the words 'college' and 'gameday' are curved is my first pet peeve. It's set against this shield which I feel should remain perfectly horizontal. But my disgust doesn't end there. The way 'college' is set in bold compared to 'gameday'. It doesn't look uniform and makes the entire logo fall apart rather than come together. The only saving grace I find is 'ESPN' in gold, very simple and classic which keeps the platform it's set on (in this case the shield). I'd love the chance to design something better.