Date post: | 12-Mar-2016 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | rachel-digerness |
View: | 217 times |
Download: | 0 times |
compositionsrachel yoo digerness
fall 2010rachel digernessprofessor tom dolle
table of contentsneighborhoods of type
compositionsletterforms+ words+ text+ texture+ image
times squarecentral parksohowilliamsburg
As part of the Pratt Institute Graduate Communications Design program, this Typography I class was an introduction to the concrete and conceptual aspects of typography as a visual medium.
The first half of the semester was a review of the technical requirements of typography. The second half was an exploration of the abstract composi-tional uses for typography, integrating hand skills and the computer as a way to render type. Historical and current forms of alphabetic communications were also explored, along with the relationship to modern image-based com-munications.
This book was the final assignment, and incorporates the steps taken in the process of composition exploration, while the book format functions as an introduction to the complexities of editorial design.
introduction
The neighborhoods of New York are diverse and rich with character. This character can be seen in the buildings, the shops and restaurants, the public space and the people who make the neighborhood what it is. In this assign-ment, I explored four neighborhoods: Times Square, Central Park, Soho and Williamsburg (Brooklyn). I made observations about the mood, pulse, visual attributes and overall impressions of each area.
Once the essence of the neighborhood was captured, I looked through mag-azines to find examples of common typographic letterforms that represent the qualities of that neighborhood. The typography was limited to several letters and cut out, scanned and/or copied from magazine covers, ads or layouts. The letterforms convey the aspects I have identified through their visual attributes alone−this isn’t about words, but merely letterforms and the feelings they evoke.
neighborhoods of type
times square
times square central park
soho
soho williamsburg
Composition is the organization or grouping of the different parts of a work of art so as to achieve a unified whole.
Although typographic composition utilizes the same basic compositional concepts that are part of all visual arts, there are unique ways that typog-raphy relates to each of these concepts. By forming relationships between the elements, and incorporating visual concepts in abstract ways, a new and more open relationship with typography is achieved.
Shown on the following pages, the exploration of typographic composition started with simple elements−three letterforms−and became a process of identifying abstract concepts as they became visualized. Additional elements were added each week, and new relationships evolved as we explored posi-tive/negative, texture and image use.
composition
CO
NC
EP
TS O
F C
OM
PO
SIT
ION
Composition 1
These compositions feature three letters from the alphabet, set in any of the following typefaces: Helvetica, Univers, Futura, Garamond, Times Roman, Century, Baskerville and/or Bodoni. By using size, scale, spacial relation-ships, bleeds and positioning as the variables, I created six compositions using only the three letterforms. Displayed on the following page are the let-terforms I chose and their corresponding typefaces. The final compositions are 8.5"x 8.5" (standard format throughout).
letterform
Futura Bodoni Baskerville
k r Q
Composition 2
Keeping the three letters from the previous assignment, I have now included three words. The words do not have to have any particular meaning or as-sociation with each other. Each letter and word is set in one of the following typefaces: Helvetica, Univers, Futura, Garamond, Times Roman, Century, and/or Bodoni. Using only the three letters and three words, I created the following compositions. The additional three words are shown on the follow-ing page in their corresponding typefaces.
wordsletterform +
Univers Baskerville Baskerville
misanthrope Quick satisfaction
nthro
peQuicksa t i s f a c t i o n
m
s a t i s f a c t i o nmisanQuick
sat i s
f act i o
n
misa
nthrop
e
Quick ati
s
a
t
i
s
f
a
c
t
i
o
mi
sa
nt
hr
opQuic
sat i s
f act i o
n
misa
nthrop
e
Quick ati
Composition 3
Starting with the same three letters and three words from the previous as-signments, I am now adding some text and a graphic element. I am setting the text in one of the approved typefaces from before, adjusting the leading, column width, type size, etc. to achieve different results. As abstract com-positions, it is not necessary that the text or other typographic elements be readable. I also included graphic elements: lines or circles, in any size or configuration, either solid or outlined. Screens of black could be employed, white type could be used, and structure was to be considered. I chose a text from a technical paper that is one of my husband's favorites. The text is set in Baskerville and shown in the following page.
text orletterform + words +
graphic elements
Baskerville
When you take a photograph with a digital camera, the sensor behind the lens has just a few milliseconds to gather in a huge array of data. A 10-megapixel camera captures some 30 megabytes—one byte each for the red, green and blue channels in each of the 10 million pixels. Yet the image you download from the camera is often only about 3 megabytes. A compression algorithm based on the JPEG standard squeezes the file down to a tenth of its original size. This saving of storage space is welcome, but it provokes a question: Why go to the trouble of capturing 30 megabytes of data if you’re going to throw away 90 percent of it before anyone even sees the picture? Why not design the sensor to select and retain just the 3 megabytes that are worth keeping?
It’s the same story with audio recording. Music is usually digitized at a rate that works out to roughly 32 megabytes for a three-minute song. But the MP3 file on your iPod is probably only 3 megabytes. Again, 90 percent of the data has been discarded in a compression step. Wouldn’t it make more sense to record only the parts of the signal that will eventually reach the ear?
Until a few years ago, these questions had a simple answer, backed up both by common sense and by theoretical precept. Sifting out the best bits without first recording the whole signal was deemed impossible because you couldn’t know which bits to keep until you’d seen them all. That conclusion now seems unduly pessimistic. A suite of new signal-processing methods known as compressed or compressive sensing can extract the most essential elements “on the fly,” without even bothering to store the rest. It’s like a magical diet: You get to eat the whole meal, but you only digest the nutritious parts.
A one-dimensional signal, such as a sound, is easy to visualize as a wiggly line, representing amplitude as a function of time. You can digitize this waveform by measuring the amplitude at frequent intervals. How frequent? The answer comes from the Nyquist-Shannon sampling criterion, named for Harry Nyquist and Claude Shannon (who both did their work at Bell Laboratories, though 30 years apart). A rough-and-ready version of the rule says: “Always take samples at more than twice the highest frequency present in the signal.”
graphic elements
mis
anth
rope
ti
sf
ac
ti
onQ
ui
cW
hen
you
take
a p
hoto
grap
h wi
th a
dig
ital
cam
era,
the s
enso
r beh
ind
the l
ens h
as ju
st a
few
mill
iseco
nds t
o ga
ther
in a
hug
e arr
ay o
f
data
. A 1
0-m
egap
ixel
cam
era
capt
ures
som
e
30 m
egab
ytes
—on
e byt
e eac
h fo
r the
red,
gree
n an
d bl
ue ch
anne
ls in
each
of t
he 1
0
mill
ion
pixe
ls. Y
et th
e im
age y
ou d
ownl
oad
from
the c
amer
a is
ofte
n on
ly ab
out 3
m
egab
ytes
. A co
mpr
essio
n al
gorit
hm b
ased
on th
e JPE
G st
anda
rd sq
ueez
es th
e file
dow
n
to a
tent
h of
its o
rigin
al si
ze. T
his s
avin
g of
pa
ce is
welc
ome,
but i
t pro
voke
s a
roub
le of
capt
urin
g
hen
you
take
a
phot
ogra
ph w
ith a
digi
tal c
amer
a, th
e
sens
or b
ehin
d th
e
lens h
as ju
st a
few
mill
iseco
nds t
o
gath
er in
a h
uge
arra
y of
dat
a. A
10-m
egap
ixel
cam
era
capt
ures
t
Quick
sf
ac
ti
o
gital camera, the sensor behind the lens has
array of data. A 10-megapixel camera
r the red, green and blue channels in
ownload from the camera is often
based on the JPEG standard
saving of storage space is
of capturing 30 mega-
ore anyone even sees 3 megabytes that
mi
sa
nt
hr
op
e
s
misan
thropeQ u i c k
Whe
n yo
u ta
ke a
pho
togr
aph
with
a d
igita
l cam
era,
the
sens
or b
ehin
d th
e len
s has
just
a fe
w m
illise
cond
s to
gath
er in
a h
uge
arra
y of
data
. A 1
0-m
egap
ixel
cam
era
capt
ures
som
e 30
meg
abyt
es—
one
byte
eac
h fo
r the
red,
gre
en a
nd b
lue
chan
nels
in e
ach
of th
e 10
mill
ion
pixe
ls. Y
et th
e im
age
you
dow
nloa
d fro
m th
e ca
mer
a is
ofte
n on
ly a
bout
3 m
egab
ytes
. A co
mpr
essio
n al
gorit
hm b
ased
on
the
JPEG
stan
dard
sque
ezes
the
file
down
to a
tent
h of
its o
rigin
al si
ze. T
his s
avin
g of
stor
age
spac
e is
welco
me,
but i
t pro
voke
s a q
uesti
on:
Why
go
to th
e tro
uble
of ca
ptur
ing
30 m
egab
ytes
of d
ata
if yo
u’re
goi
ng to
thro
w aw
ay 9
0 pe
rcen
t of
it be
fore
any
one e
ven
sees
the
pict
ure?
Why
not
des
ign
the
sens
or to
selec
t and
reta
in ju
st th
e 3
meg
abyt
es th
at a
re w
orth
kee
ping
?
Whe
n yo
u ta
ke a
pho
togr
aph
with
a d
igita
l cam
era,
the
sens
or b
ehin
d th
e le
ns h
as ju
st a
few
mill
iseco
nds t
o ga
ther
in a
hug
e ar
ray
of
data
. A 1
0-m
egap
ixel
cam
era
capt
ures
som
e 30
meg
abyt
es—
one
byte
eac
h fo
r the
red,
gre
en a
nd b
lue
chan
nels
in e
ach
of th
e 10
mill
ion
pixe
ls. Y
et th
e im
age
you
dow
nloa
d fro
m th
e ca
mer
a is
ofte
n on
ly a
bout
3 m
egab
ytes
. A c
ompr
essio
n al
gori
thm
bas
ed o
n th
e
JPE
G st
anda
rd sq
ueez
es th
e fil
e do
wn
to a
tent
h of
its o
rigi
nal s
ize.
Thi
s sav
ing
of st
orag
e sp
ace
is w
elco
me,
but
it p
rovo
kes a
que
stio
n:
Why
go
to th
e tr
oubl
e of
cap
turi
ng 3
0 m
egab
ytes
of
data
if y
ou’re
goi
ng to
thro
w a
way
90
perc
ent o
f it
befo
re a
nyon
e ev
en se
es th
e
pict
ure?
Why
not
des
ign
the
sens
or to
sele
ct a
nd r
etai
n ju
st th
e 3
meg
abyt
es th
at a
re w
orth
kee
ping
?
satisfact
o
Composition 4
Positive/negative is the relationship between figure and ground. Are there black elements on a white ground, or white elements on a black ground? Does the ground interchange from black to white? Just making a composi-tion negative does not deal with those issues.
Texture is the ability to render type in ways other than just hard edge black and white. Combining hand effects (drawing, painting), machined effects (photocopying, scanning), computer effects (Photoshop, Illustrator) and/or accidental effects (spills, crumples, rips) allows you to define type in unusual and unique ways−challenging you to see it differently.
Typography exists in our world in many forms−this was an opportunity to explore non-traditional representations of typographic form. Personally, this was one of the more challenging sets of compositions because it was diffi-cult to incorporate the texture in an organic way into the composition without simply using it as a background.
Starting with the same three letters, three words and text used in the last assignments, I incorporated positive/negative and texture as major design components. Graphic elements were optional.
textureletterform + words + text +
Sample Texture
mi
sa
nt
hr
o
s at is fac
QuickW
hen you take a photograph with a digital cam
era, the sensor behind
milliseconds to gather in a huge array of data. A 10-m
egapixel came
megabytes—
one byte each for the red, green and blue channels in eac
pixels. Yet the image you dow
nload from the cam
era is often only abou
Composition 5
The final addition to the compositional process was the incorporation of an image. With the same three levels of typography−letters, words and text−an image of a simple object was introduced to the mix. The image could be cropped, silhouetted, texturized or changed in other ways in the course of creating the compositions. Texture could now be a part of the image, or con-tinue as a separate element. Positive/negative, graphic elements and structure could be incorporated as needed.
The resulting compositions are still abstract, but hint at the richness that can be incorporated into even the simplest realistic project. The complex relationships between typographic elements and the concepts of scale, bal-ance, focus, etc. are all exhibited in these engaging works that become expressive works of art and communicate on multiple levels.
Choosing the right image that works well with the other elements was criti-cal. Unfortunately, I chose poor objects in my initial attempts at these com-positions: a whisk and a spoonrest. The whisk was too linear and broken up into lines. The spoonrest had an awkward texture and was not very interest-ing overall. My final compositions shown here were the most successful. A staple remover consisted of more interesting parts to give me areas of focus. It also had variances in textures and color offering more ways to interact with the other elements.
imageletterform + words + text + texture +
Object
I have been told more times than I can remember that understanding typog-raphy is essential to being a good designer. So it goes without saying, I was very excited to be in my first Typography class.
My main area of growth was learning to experiment with relationships be-tween the elements we composed. At the start of the semester I limited myself to what looked pretty and as a result, my compositions were boring and less dynamic. With each new set of compositions, I was challenged to have more fun and risk creating what felt like a “messy” piece but resulted in more interesting compositions.
Over the course of several months, I've strengthened my ability to utilize these design principles and apply them to my layouts. I now know to ask myself “Where does my eye focus?” and apply tools like scale, depth or movement.
However, I have just started to develop these typographic skills. I feel as though I could study typography forever and always learn something new. For now I look forward to my next semester of Type II.