started advanced typography.  so far it’s been a lot of research and thinking, but the last assignment was to take a well known document, tear it apart, and remake it.  I took the 2nd amendment and made this:

it’s really more or less a quick rough, but i like the idea of it.

i’m so super exhausted.  after 4 or 5 weeks of overtime (don’t even know how long) and not having a weekend off during that time has really just worn me down.  i was super excited about the checks… but taxes took out about $300+ of it, so it’s not that exciting.

i’m just so darn sleepy!

on the good side, i have my christmas tree setup, most of my presents wrapped, and some lights on the front of my house (even thought they don’t work.)

looking forward to the holiday season.  Christmas will be here, at the new house, and I want to make amazing food!  Anyone know of any AMAZING recipes?

Had to create a cube.

So I made TWO CUBES!

Assignment 3: Project 4: Personality – Final Version

Revisions and Your Final Version

Review your work to make sure it is clear and free of any interference. Again, remember to double check for mistakes before submission. The version you submit will be treated as if it were an approved proof version.

The professor brought up the fact that my first draft was very happy and didn’t really convery the reason for the phrase, “pushing up daisies.”  I couldn’t agree more!  I love it when people tell me things in such a nice way that I learn but don’t feel stupid. Haha!  I guess that’s why I love being in school, I’m always learning to think in different ways.

Here’s the final draft.  I tried to make it more morbid.  I’ve been learning a lot in illustrator just from messing around on these assignment, and my wonderful husband has saved me hours of researching how to do things.  I don’t know why he doesn’t do this stuff, he’s so good at it.  I guess that’s why we are a good team.

I didn’t like any of the concepts I had created in the thumbnails, so I went a different direction.  I limited the graphics and tried to use the font manipulation and colors more to create the parasignals.

Project 4 “Personality” and Pictographs

In the previous lecture, you discovered that a good piece of design work would contain a personality or mood. You found that the designer creates the mood of the piece by adding parasignals that support and magnify the primary message of the design. Then you used this knowledge as the basis for a new approach to critiquing work. For Project 4, you will use your knowledge of parasignals to consciously create a personality for a design piece.

You will use a quote or maxim as the copy for your design. From the copy, you will analyze the images and associations that the copy evokes. Then you will use thumbnails to explore ways that the type can suggest these images.

• Finding Quotes: You may use a quote or maxim of your own choice. Quotes or maxims may be found easily over the Internet, or you may refer to one of the many books or almanacs that contain such sayings. You probably even know a few favorites. However, not all quotes will lend themselves well to this treatment. Select at least two or three to start with, limiting the length of your copy to one sentence. As a general rule, the more brief the copy, the more powerful the message.
  
• Finding Images and Associations: Next, examine each quote individually. Say it to yourself, and notice any images or associations that come to mind. For example, “The grass is greener on the other side” may evoke images of being conflicted, having two sides, and of course the color green as well as the image of grass. Write down your discoveries, and repeat the process for each quote that you have collected. Parasignal options may include; typefaces, colors, size and positions.
  
• Creating Images with Type: Now is the time to begin using thumbnails to record and explore your ideas. You may work on the computer, by hand or use a combination of both techniques. A good technique is to explore several design solutions for each quote. Your thumbnails should contain enough detail to capture the essence of the idea and how your type choices enhance the meaning. Although you may include some element of graphics, they must be incorporated into your quote and the type selections. Do not rely on the graphic to send the parasignal. Create a minimum of six thumbnails. They may be any size and shape but no larger than 8 ½ by 11.

Honestly, I didn’t spend enough time on any of these and I don’t like a single one.  I love the quotes though, so I just need to spend a bit more time on concept and execution:

I tried to add a bit more texture in the words, but I kind of feel like I lost some of the flow of the overall piece.  Not a big fan of the final…

Assignment 2: Project 3: Collage – Full-Sized Rough Draft

Scan and post your full-sized rough by Tuesday, August 4, 2009, so that your facilitator and classmates can view your work in progress.

Using the suggestions given in the lecture, create a full-sized rough of your concept. Remember that the overall size must be at least 8½” x 11″ but no larger than 11″ x 14.” You may use a vertical or horizontal format. This is to be a one-color ink job, printed full black. Write your name on your rough version, then scan and post it to this Discussion Area by Tuesday, August 4, 2009.

Here is my rough draft. I decided to go with thumbnail #2. I edited to sentences a bit so that they made a little more sense and ended when they are supposed to. Let me know what you think, thanks!

PROJECT 3: CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

Research Piet Mondrian

In your third project, you will use a grid to organize a layout in which you will use various “colors” of the same typeface as design elements. You will need to research the artwork of the famous Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. This may be done easily over the Internet. Be sure that you look at his later, neoplastic works. Some examples are shown at the right.

Piet Mondrian used a grid to organize these paintings, and his art has been a source of inspiration for many successful designs. You will use his paintings as inspiration for the grid in your next project.

Research a Type designer

Another piece of this week’s assignment is to research a famous type designer. Please select someone not already written about in our text. The best way to go about doing this is to select the typeface that you would like to use for this project, find out who created it, and research the creator. You should be able to do this research fairly easily over the Internet as well as from books and magazine articles. From your research, generate copy about your type designer and the typeface(s) he or she created. A paragraph or two should be sufficient.

This assignment turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. Look up Mondrian’s work, pick a typography designer, and then just go with it. I included the font blocks with and without Mondrian’s work in the background. The designer I chose to go over is Jos Buivenga. He is a contemporary type designer. Here’s the info you will find in my font blocks:

Jos Buivenga lives in Arnhem (the Netherlands) and began studying typography at the Academy of Arts Arnhem. His first typeface, “Delicious,” was finished in 1996. After that, his fonts were listed on Vitaly Friedman’s 25 Best Free Quality Fonts. Now he is a type designer with a blog at http://exljbris.wordpress.com/ and a twitter at http://twitter.com/exljbris. The font I chose, Diavlo, contains 5 weights: Light, Book, SemiBold Medium, Bold and Black. The font supports these languages: Latin / Central European / Croatian / Romanian / Icelandic / Turkish / Esperanto.

The font used in all of the designs is his Diavlo. You can find more about this specific font as well as a free d/l at http://www.josbuivenga.demon.nl/diavlo.html.

THUMBNAILS:

Which ones are the most successful?

Today is a day of re-lax-ation! Finished my homework early, so here it is! The prof. sent a video comment giving a few tips, so I did a few adjustments.