Life sucks a little less when somebody gives a shit.

Shawn Wil ls

Anatomy of a Letter 1-2

Typographic Pallette 3-4Typographic

Sign 5-6

Typographic

Contrast 7-8

Grid Layout 11-12

Visual Verbal

Equation 9-10

Promotional Piece 13-14

Poster Design 15-16

Book Jacket Design 17-18

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Anatomy of a Letter

Project 1 assigned both a Serif and Sans Serif typeface, such as Cambria and Franklin Gothic, to create an balanced, cohesive, visually interesting, and instructive composition for each of their identities, including their history, specific usage, and anatomical characters. For each typeface we were to compose and kern* the letters: RTWhaego, which would allow for one to see the typefaces most obvious unique typographic features. Through these examples of both a serif and sans serif typeface, we were able to lable the anatomy of fonts.*

* To Kern: To achieve pleasant and readable text by distributing the space between letters and words visually equally.

*Typeface Vs. Font: Typefaces describe the overall look of the characters contained within a font, the style. The collection of typefaces various characters, or their families is a “font.”

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Project 2 was to study the various serif classifications, Modern, Transitional, Old style, Egyptian, and Sans and pick a favorite typeface from each. For each typeface an example was shown in a pangram* to best see all of their characteristics. We were asked to try to use these typefaces consistently throughout semester projects in attempt to form a unified portfolio of typography.

Typographic Palette

3*Pangram: A phrase that contains all of the letters of the English alphabet

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Typographic Sign

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Project 3 was to design a unique typographic signature out of one

dynamic, coherent, and clever shape made from only the letters

of your initials. After thumb nailing some ideas I decided on two that I found most suitable to my style, and visually interesting. The first

design I found typefaces that were similar to the letters of my sketches, Baskerville for the M, and Engravers

MT for the S, two serif typefaces that also shared similar qualities. I

then modified their shapes to create one connecting shape that met my visual sketch. The second design I

was not as fortunate to find a similar typeface and instead had to custom

create each of the letters out of rectangular and elliptical shapes in

illustrator.

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Typohgraphic Contrast

Project 4 required a 10-20 word quote in order to experiment with the various types of typographic contrasts used in composition to develop the best possible design, such as contrast of size, weight, form, and structure. These typographic contrasts are supposed to help balance and break up the bulk of information into a more digestible stimulating composition relevant to it’s content, one that draws in attention and has a sense of rhythm. I chose to use the thickness of Impact in both the contrast of weight and size compositions to best exaggerate them against smaller serif fonts, like Calibri or Century Gothic. I used both Century Gothic and Century Schoolbook in the compositions for contrast of form and structure because of their modern styles and their thin complimentary qualities.

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Visual Verbal Equation

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Project 5 was to pick three verbs and illustrate their meaning through only type. For my verb “carry” I wanted to use a typeface that seemed extra smooth and rounded

such as the embrace of arms hugging or carrying something. Century Gothic proved perfect since it was a

sans serif and for it’s curved qualities, I then modified it’s shape structure as interactive type, using contrast

of size keeping the first and last letter large to be mimic shoulders and upper arms. For “drown,” The middle “O”

automatically was reminiscent of air bubbles and was easily able to replicate the loss of air underwater without much modification of the simple sans serif I chose to use

Myriad pro- that I thought would not take away from its action because of its lack of ornamentation. For “breathe”

I chose to compose lungs with the thickness of Impact typeface and used contrast of size to mimic air inflating

the lungs.

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Grid Layout Project 6 assigned an article with very basic design applied to it. We were asked to enhance its design using a systematic grid and the various elements of designs, contrasts, and hierarchy, to most effectively and appealingly communicate it’s information to readers. I designed 2-3 alternative options of communicating the article efficiently through the accuracy and organization of a grid. For both redesigns I used BlairMdITC TT Medium because I found its geometric structure to enhance to a formal serious vibe irony I wanted to continue to depict to add to the comedic element of the article.

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Self Promotional Piece

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Project 7 was to design an interactive real world self-promotion piece such as a business card, invitations, or post cards,

using visual hierarchy to best convey the order of information by importance. The piece requires utilizing typographic contrasts, visual hierarchy, and content

equivalency and images together to form a seamless, dynamic, cohesive,

professional design. I chose to create a business card that also serves as a small

portfolio and can hold invitations within it’s cover. I used Optima throughout the

elements of my piece for its dynamic weight in both its numbers and letters

that seemed appropriate along side pencil drawing.

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Invitation examples

Inside Outside

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Poster DesignSocial Issue

Project 8 assigned to design a real world educational poster for current social issue. The poster was suppose to be effective from a distance as well as visually interesting enough to draw people in and read more. It was required that the poster advocated an action from it’s audience to further push and inspire change. I chose to recognize the intolerable raising price of higher education and a college degree. I used photography to best set up a visual and provide an initial mood for the audience with hand written sign in it as well to capture the audience initially where they are then led to a radically true fact in precise digital print in Optima and the main point contrasting in structure, size, weight and color in Helvetica Neue. My poster calls to action general awareness in current day outrageous facts by citing, truthinadvertising.org

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Book Jacket DesignProject 9 was to design or redesign a professional book jacket incorporating text and image to create a dynamic eye-catching

composition that conveys the message or mystery of the book accurately. This project requires a three-dimensional visual design including cover, spine, back cover, and inner flaps in one unified composition. To amplify the satiric religious comedy of the book I chose, Salvation Boulevard by Larry Beinhart, I made the book jacket the cracked leather texture of a Bible using the common gold page texture as the title color with Trajan

Pro text cut out for its serifs and historic qualities that I felt fitting to the Bible theme. I also felt the lack of lowercase letters of Trajan Pro pushes

it’s text to the forefront of importance above other typefaces, so I used it for both the title and the author. For the majority of body copy I chose

Perpetua for its professional vibe and legibility in small print. For the inner of the author description flap, I chose Bookman Old Style to convey the

life of an author, the typeface most reminiscent of a typewriter because of its slab-serifs. Contrastingly For the reviews I used Cambria and Microsoft

Sans Serif to pull the audience out of this old timey feel and show modern reviews of the book. The image of the prayer hands I made from a collage

of versus from the bible that ironically contradict with the morals of the characters that are found in the book.

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