“Type is a uniquely rich set of marks because it makes language visible.” — John Kane
Typography is the magical intersection of image and meaning. Letters are shapes that inherently contain meaning. They are also forms that literally shape the page. Often times, the message we’re asked to transmit is held in the written word. It’s important to know how to treat that text to amplify its communicative power. In this unit, students will observe, document, and translate type in their environment and explore the expressive power of typography.
Learning Objectives
— Understand the idea of visual hierarchy
— Explore the shift in meaning and impact of formal compositional changes
— Learn a design process of thorough exploration
— Learn basic terminology and anatomy of type
— Experiment with materials and their associated meanings
Part 01: Vernacular
Paul Elliman“Found Font”
Vernacular(adj): of, relating to, or characteristic of a period, place, or group
Using your cell phone camera or another camera from which you can print images, photograph street signage that catches your eye. Take as high resolution photographs as possible. From your collection of images, choose interesting examples of each letter of the alphabet. Uppercase and lowercase are both acceptable, but each letterform should be from a different sign—that way you will have a diverse sampling of typography to share.
Zoom into these letterforms and crop out any extraneous imagery. Using threshold in Photoshop or Image Trace in Illustrator, convert your letterform into pure black and white. The letter in the image should be scaled to roughly 3x3” on a 4x4” artboard.
Print your 26 letterforms on card stock using this template. Write your name and date on the back, bottom-left corner using a mechanical pencil.(Extra: Make an animated GIF in Photoshop with letters.)
Due Tuesday, April 09
Part 02: Expressive
Work of Herb Lubalin
“It is our responsibility as designers not only to make order out of the printed word, but to make it memorable as well, and thus better understood. This will help people to communicate. The better people communicate, the greater will be the need for better typographics—expressive typography.” — Herb Lubalin
You will be randomly assigned a word from the list below. Find a way to represent this word visually using expressive typography. The word can be hand drawn, painted, collaged, or created out of three-dimensional materials and then photographed.
The goal is to experiment, think creatively, and represent the meaning of the word. Be inventive with the materials you choose for the prompt. For example, if you chose the word“sticky,” you could make the letters out of bubblegum. If you chose“organic,” you could make the letters out of wood, leaves, flower petals, or blades of grass.
The final version of your word should be printed on nice 11x17” paper either in black and white or color.
Part 01: Vernacular
Part 02: Expressive