Journal 7: Observed Typography

Journal 6: Thirty Conversations on Design

For me the most inspirational design is probably album covers. Good album covers are able to sustain time with moving artwork. They also speak to the personality of the musicians in a way that defines the aesthetic of their musical culture in a way that has largely shaped personalities of listeners.

The problem design would need to solve is idea development. For some it takes a large volume of exploration to get the right idea, and for others good ideas come almost immediately. If there were someway ideas could be generated more efficiently that didn't entirely exhaust creativity, that would be swell.


K. Kirk & N. Strandberg:
Kirk and Strandberg find the iPhone to be the most influential design. Its interface is convenient and practical, allowing for mobile possibilities in business and leisure. Its changed business and social practices. For them, design needs to improve compatibility and universal accessibility in smart-phones. With the growth of social networking, connection is at high demand, and communities need to develop ways of allowing the rapidly growing ways of staying connected with individuals. I would agree with Kirk and Strandbergs points. The iPhone has most certainly changed communication for the better, because it gives us what we want faster. As a society, are patience is lessening, and the iPhone improves this to a degree. I feel that people would most certainly benefit if communities were able to increase electronic accessibility.




Jake McCabe:
McCabe finds paper to be the most influential design. Its creation is strenuous in coming up with the correct colors and textures, but the blankness leaves for much opportunity creatively. For McCabe, design needs to solve sustainability. Designers need to ask the questions no one has asked, for the solutions to those questions can make revolutionary design. I thought McCabe's view on paper was interesting, because I never view paper as an opportunity, but rather as a means of starting something. For sustainability, I felt he made a good point, because solutions to new problems are fresh and eye-catching.


Jessica Helfand: 
For Jessica Helfand, students are the most influential part of design. This is because Helfand feels because students thought processes and imagination are ever-changing and growing, that she herself is learning from them. For Helfand, the problem design needs to solve next is problem solving itself. She feels that solutions need to be solved with the long-term in mind, rather than the immediate. I would agree with both of Helfand's points, for I have yet to stick with any one design mindset or philosophy, and though I currently think with immediacy in design, I should probably start to broaden the thought process when it comes to solutions.


Kit Hinrichs:
Hinrichs finds that the most influential design is typography. For him typography expresses emotional value through its letterforms and its versatility allows for usage on infinite applications. What Hinrichs feels needs redesigning are airports. He states that much of the technology within seems to be outdated, as well as the methods of security checks. As far as the relevance of typography goes, I would obviously agree with Hinrichs. There is so much personality in the typefaces I've come to know and appreciate, and I think that it is one the most important aspects of visual communication as a whole. As for the airport redesign, I wouldn't necessarily say it needs revamping just yet. Airports seem to do a good job with crowd control and security measures anyway, so don't fix it if it isn't broken.


Tony Hawk:
A professional skateboarder and owner of several skateboard companies and foundations. Tony Hawk finds the most inspirational design for him comes from Apple products. By developing visually appealing electronics and simplified operating systems, Apple has strived to create products that are more accessible to the general public. I myself agree with Hawk's praise for Apple products because as an owner of a Macbook and iPod, I found that initial use was easily done and the overall look Apple has created really speaks to me. Apple has created a near-minimalist aesthetic that reflects a sense of cleanliness, concision, and simplistic beauty.

Journal 5: AIGA Gain Conference, Jonathan Harris

Summary:
- Jonathan Harris is a computer programmer and web developer whose goals center on bringing humanity back into the digital age. Initially, Harris was an extremely hands-on person when it came to art and design, filling sketchbooks with elaborate thoughts, paintings, photos, objects, and more. But after losing 8 months of work in a mugging, he heavily reconsidered how he should develop his ideas, so he turned to computers and the web as a means of creating. Subsequently, in his numerous projects and extensive coding and isolation, he became increasingly separated and depressed. Harris's lecture was a summation and address of how technology is shaping how humans socialize and interact, and while technology may make things efficient, humanity is changing in way Harris fears isn't beneficial. So he resolved to create digital applications for the rapidly growing digital society that reinforce human interaction while keeping up with the times.

Reflection:
- Harris brought up many issues I myself am having this semester in terms of design. I understand that it is necessary to step away from my computer once in a while, but I often feel I work so slow and meticulously that often I fear that I don't have time to step away from my homework. Sure I'm sleep deprived, often giving up social time for homework, plus a lot of computer work involved, but that's the major. I understood and agreed full-heartedly in Harris points, and from this I will attempt to balance humanity and graphic design.

All About the Grid, and other Typographic questions

What are the advantages of a multiple column grid? 
- A multiple column grid forces order onto a layout and acts as an orientating device for placing information by importance. It allows for complex information to be well-guided and seamless for linear reading and understanding. It also allows for good experimentation.


How many characters is optimal for a line length? words per line?
- 40-50 characters is the optimal amount for a line length. There should be anywhere from 6-8 words per line.


Why is the baseline grid used in design?
- It allows the bottom of every line of text to be set in uniform increments, allowing all lines to line up across the columns and creating good visual rhythm. Helps the structure.



What is a typographic river?
-  Gaps that appearing to run down a paragraph of text, due to a coincidental alignment of spaces. They can occur regardless of the spacing settings, but are most noticeable with wide inter-word spaces caused by full text justification or monospaced fonts.



From the readings what does clothesline or flow line mean?
- An imaginary line that aligns horizontally to text to allow for good readability and flow.

How can you incorporate white space into your designs?
- White or negative space can be incorporated into designs by grouping or breaking up text into sections. Also leaving margins blank and maintaining asymmetry in white space makes for an interesting composition. Adjusting justification/ragging, type size, and column size also helps.



What is type color/texture mean?
- Typographic color is determined by the typeface, weight, spacing, leading, line length and more. It can be used to create depth, contrast, and varying densities and values throughout the design.

What is x-height, how does it effect type color?
- X-height is the height from the baseline to usually the top of a lowercase letter in a typeface. It affects typographic color because it can give the copy varying values of color through its size differentiation.


In justification or H&J terms what do the numbers: minimum, optimum, maximum mean?
- Minimum refers to the least amount of words before and after a hyphen. Maximum refers to the space being manipulated so the right and left margins are straight. Optimum refers to fitting the most amount of words in a given space with consideration to page style. 

What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?
- There are many ways. It can be done through use of rules, color fields, dropcaps, different font-styles like bold or italic, weight, leading, size, indentation, highlights, spacing, and more. The only rule I know of is to not indent the first paragraph. Other rules include: size of indent (use equal to leading or slightly larger, but always less than 1/2"), if indenting do not add a space between paragraphs, 

What are some things to look out for when hyphenating text.
- Make sure there are no more than 2 consecutive hyphenated words. Avoid frequent hyphenating, and avoid hyphenating headings. Don't leave hyphenated widow (two letters before or after hyphenation). Don't hyphenate proper nouns or people's names. Callout's should have words like "the" or "and"  down the next line and not by themselves

What is a literature?
- What? I guess any body of work that incorporates language to relay information, non-fiction or otherwise.

What does CMYK and RGB mean?
- CMYK is the acronym for Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black and is commonly used in the color printing process. RGB means Red-Green-Blue and is an additive color spectrum that reproduces vast arrays of color in a similar way CMYK does, but is predominately used in electronic color display.

What does hanging punctuation mean?
- Hanging punctuation is when the first quotation hangs outside the line of copy.

What is the difference between a foot mark and an apostrophe?
- A foot mark is a straight line used for measurement, while an apostrophe is a single quotation mark used to close a word

What is the difference between an inch mark and a quote mark (smart quote)?
- Quote marks indicate dialogue or speech, inch marks represent measurement.

What is a hyphen, en dash and em dashes, what are the differences and when are they used.
- Hyphens are used to break words and lines. En dashes are used between words indicating duration of time. Em dashes are used for sudden changes in thought. Should not have three hyphens in a row.

What are ligatures, why are they used, when are they not used, what are common ligatures
- Ligatures are single forms incorporating two or more letters, parts that touch or overlap for instance fi and fl. S A set of standard ligatures would be- fi fl ff ffl or ffi. There are also special ligatures in which an extended set of many letters are combined for visual effect. The designer may choose when to use ligatures. Serifs are the typefaces that usually have ligatures.

Project Two Preliminaries: Open Letter to Design Students Everywhere

Article: Open Letter to Design Students Everywhere
Author: Jessica Helfand

Who is Jessica Helfand?
She is an author, columnist, and lecturer on graphic design. Helfand is also the partner of William Drenttel of Winterhouse Design Studios, Winterhouse Editions, and Winterhouse Institute in Falls Village, Connecticut. Winterhouse concentrates its work in editorial design and new design models for the changing media. She is also the founding writer for the Design Observer weblog and a critic in graphic design for Yale University.

Article Summary
Jessica wrote this article concerning students the design field. It covers many stages in a design student's life, from starting out in school to the first career interview, and offers helpful advice in every situation she describes. She answers some popular life questions that design students face throughout their career and provides tips to stimulating creativity and improving design method.

Important Points
- Put yourself out there in any way possible. Use the web, it is growing as a useful tool for such the occasion.
- Network. Meet people, listen to their advice, learn about the interviewers choices and how they choose.
- Be prepared. Arrange interviews and confirm beforehand, and afterwards send a thank-you note.
- Travel and explore. Get outside the comfort zone and keep a notebook handy. Record thoughts or drawings, use observations as the basis for inspiration.
- Simplify. Try not to get complicated, strive for emphasis on the important material and keep it clarified. Less is more.
- Be free to think. You can be structured, but don't let structure stop you from thinking, asking questions, exploring new ideas. Don't be afraid to start small, because big results can come out of it.

Journal 4: Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

Mantra for the Week: Take Field Trips
The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.
- I really do need to step away from the computer. When designing, I often find myself grounded in searching for creativity through the single conduit that is my precious internet. What I need to do is step away, if only for a moment, to find inspiration on the outside.


Who is Bruce Mau?
- Simply, a designer. Specifically, a designer who is extremely concerned with the ever-changing design world, and has made efforts to help the transition.

What has he done?
- Aside from great designs, Mau has founded the Institute without Boundaries, a groundbreaking studio-based postgraduate program. This became the engine for Massive Change, an ambitious travelling exhibition, publication, and educational program series on the power and possibility of design.


Why is he interesting to us?
- His manifesto has reiterated so many little things that tend to be forgotten in the design process. From stepping away from the computer to forgetting about good and remembering growth.

Journal 3: TED Conference

Stefan Sagmeister:

After looking through the many forms of happiness that make up Stefan's life, he finds that most happiness stems from design-oriented subjects. He looks at it from two different standpoints, the consumer's and the designer's views. Aside from that, he also talks about abstraction to a degree, citing a Yves Kline painting, saying the theory was that if you abstract an image, you open as much room for the unrepresentable and, therefore are able to involve the viewer more. In viewing happiness, Sagmeister goes on to say that the visualization has become easy, even to the point where being authentic can be a difficulty. So the solution to this is to go in different directions, like playing on cynicism to evoke happiness through irony. The trick is to get people involved, allowing the public to express themselves. It is good to draw from personal experiences as well when designing, and work on things that matter to you. 


J.J. Abrams:


Abrams begins his presentation through a nostalgic dissection of one of his role models, his grandfather. He talks about their fascination with the inner workings of basic machinery to trades like silk-screen and letterpress. The idea of deconstructing to understand an object is something that Abrams seems to have done his entire life to appreciate the beauty and science of designing. An important point he brings up about design is the idea of representation, to design with representation is to design with potential. The number of infinite possibilities is a catalyst for imagination. He also mentions the embrace of new technologies and techniques in the creative process, which are good to open up even more ways to design and create well. 
Ultimately Abrams strategy lies in creating a good mystery box. To withhold information engages the viewer and leaves them wanting more. It is up to the designer to use this to full advantage and couple it with good design strategy when creating, no matter what resources are at hand.


Ken Robinson:


Ken Robinson begins his lecture with a look into the fascination with education. He feels that though we as a country are so well-invested in education that ultimately the results of it are unpredictable. Robinson states specifically that children have an amazing capacity for innovation and dedication, but to a degree the educational system seems to squander that. Children take chances, they don't prepare to do the wrong thing. Going through education seems to strengthen the fear of doing the wrong thing, therefore the chance at creativity is diminished. Robinson goes on to say that there is a hierarchy in school subjects, at the top math, then languages, then humanities, and at the bottom the arts. For public education, the peak of success seems to be producing men and women that are able to teach in universities, but Robinson affirms his belief that they should not be held on a higher level of human achievement, for they are human just like everyone else. Nowadays there seems to be an academic inflation anyways, where once a job that required a BA may now require a PhD, and that degrees in general seem to be losing their worth.
Because of the problems discussed by Robinson, intelligence should be understood as something quite diverse. People think visually, their minds are dynamic, and individually distinct. He states that the education system has mined the mind searching for commodity. So he feels that now the principles of public education need to be reassessed for a more stimulated creativity and to ultimately, educate the whole being.


How Good is Good?


While bad design can make the world a hard place to live in, good design for bad things is just as terrible. But bad design for good things can sometimes turn out good as well. So what makes good actually good? First the designer needs to assess all their values. Is doing good for one value good for the others? 
Importantly, to design well means doing a myriad of things. It unifies, helps us remember, simplifies, makes people feel better, makes the world safer, rallies for causes, teaches, raises money, and makes people more tolerant.