klicker project 1 & 2

type2012spring

Table of Contents

Type JournalAn ongoing exploration and documentation of letterforms and typogra-phy encountered in every day life.

5 Vehicle Identities9 Business Card Hierarchy13 O�ce Supplies17 Magazine Advertisements21 Body Wash and Lotion25 Gra�ti29 Hair Dye33 Type Crimes and Bad Design37 Window Displays41 Gendered Logotypes45 Bad Packaging49 Good Packaging

Reading ResponsesGraphical responses to a series of videos and readings about accom-plished graphic designers and the history of typography. �e layouts are generally my visual representation of my emotional response or ideation about the videos.

53 Doyald Young57 Helvetica61 Artist Series65 Marian Bantjes69 Margo Chase73 Kit Hinrichs77 Stefan G. Bucher

Vehicle Identities

Car identities are designed to show the personality of the car and usually the names of the vehicle model are found on the back of the car near the rear bumper. What was interesting to me in these cars was that the higher the luxury, the more bevel and edge accents were in the typeface.

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Business Card Hierarchy

Business cards have always been of particular interest to me, because they are essentially the business in the palm of your hand. These cards I thought were fairly well executed in their typographic hierarchy and I was also amazed at the vast differences among them in style, color, and texture.

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Office Supplies

Many stores carry school supplies, however not many carry well designed school supply packaging. After examining various pens and pencils among other office supplies I determined that there is a formula for design. A basic black or white sans serif font, bolded and maybe make it a different size. If the companies are feeling edgy, they might even throw in some color highlights.

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Magazine Advertisements

Advertisements are designed to be eye catching, particularly in magazines. There is so much competition that companies are always trying to find new ways to express their brand, and many turn to typography. This series explores the many unique and out of the box ideas that these advertisements have incorporated typography to improve their advertisements.

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Body Wash and Lotion

In lotion and body wash I was interested in the utilization of multiple typefaces. Some lotions are trying to show cleansing and protection, while others are trying to emphasize that they are cleansing and robust. However all of these packages turn to using multiple typefaces, to show that their product does multiple things.

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Graffiti

This graffiti series I found particularly interesting, because all of the writing is predominantly free-handed and is very expressive. Sometimes the lettering is so expressive that it is in fact unreadable. I wanted to explore this particular, and abundant form of typography.

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Hair Dye

Hair care products appeal to a wide range of people. However, hair dye in particular seems to focus itself on women. Their typefaces are usually wavy, organic, or thin and are used to communicate a fresh and healthy feel, despite the fact that the product actually harms your hair. The typography certainly allows for these packages to be successful.

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Type Crimes and Bad Design

This series of photographs deals with the prevalence of type crimes and poor information design throughout the school setting. The most notable examples are the lack of hierarchy in the all bold image, as well as the poor design of the calendar dates.

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Window Displays

In retail stores, window displays are the first thing that the consumer sees before entering the store. Therefore they have to be eye catching, and appealing to the audi-ence of the store. Particularly I was interested in the dif-ferent styles of typography utilized, bold, hand drawn, gothic, all in such short distance of one another.

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Gendered Logotypes

Each store has their own way of appealing to customers, and every store has a different target group of consum-ers. Therefore their logos must appeal to their target group, but I was amazed at how obviously gendered these logotypes were. Even within one store, there were two different logotypes; one for men, and one for women.

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Bad Packaging

The title speaks for itself. These are perfect examples of how not to communicate information and incorporate typography. These designs are riddled with type crimes, lack of hierarchy, and poor color schemes, which con-tribute to their poor status.

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Good Packaging

On the contrary to the bad packaging, this packaging shows consistency, attention to detail, and a sophisti-cated use of typefaces, illustrations, as well as a cohesive color scheme.

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Doyald Young

“Taste. Practicality. Formality. Understated prestige. The combination of those qualities forms as perfect a descriptor of Young’s work as any you are likely to find, both in the process and the result. Although he is widely known for his elegant curves and scripts, he has never been a showy designer—there’s not a trace of ego in his work. The range of letterforms able to flow at any time from his hand is great, and there is no way to particularly define Young’s mark un-less you have seen the hand-drawn comp. That is where his work is unmistakable: perfect let-terforms drawn in pencil at a surprisingly small size without so much as a mark of hesitation or awkwardness. The style varies but the fluidity and perfection do not.” – Marian Bantjes

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Doyald YoungRemarkable Logotype Designer

Upon the end of the documentary, I found myself wondering if Doyald Young was still working and actively teaching. Alas, I found that he has since passed away, which quickly diminished my plans to quit school and take pencil to paper and learn from him wherever and however I could. However, I can honestly say that I have never had a greater appreciation or awareness of words and their visual aesthetic prior to this documentary. He spoke with such passion and under standing that I am compelled to learn and understand the visual language that surrounds us. �e work that he has produced over the course of his life is simply phenomenal, and I hope to be as proli�c and relevant as he has been throughout his career. But more than anything, I hope to �nd my niche in the design world and strive to perfect and love it as he has.

Helvetica

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which recently celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.

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gothelvetica?

Prior to taking this typography class, I was unaware of most typefaces, how they were created, or their significance in society. In crude terms, I only knew that there were some ornamental typefaces, some plain typefaces, and some antique looking ones Watching the documentary Helvetica, was really eye opening to see just what went into making the unique and history making typeface.

Before helvetica many typefaces were unclear, and typically there was always some form of intrinsic meaning in them. Developed by the Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffman, the goal was to create a neutral typeface; one communicated it’s information cleanly and effectively without any subverted meaning. With the release of Helvetica in 1960, they achieved just that.

Shortly after, the typeface became an international sensation, utilized in event posters, rebranded companies, billboards, street signs, and anything else designers felt needed a modern era face lift. It has remained popular even until today. However all of this hype about Helvetica has become a blessing and a curse. Although the typeface is easy to read and unbiased which makes it great for signage in a city, it’s blase characteristics are unable to communicate the overarching message in some design work.

I think Helvetica can be a wonderful way to communicate basic everyday information. However I think the differentiation between proper use and abuse comes when it is used to communicate a lot of information without hieratic distinction of importance. If it is used in combination with a different and distinctive typeface I believe it can be a very interesting visual experience But, if it is being used by itself to try to tell me something important, it has become so common in contemporary times, that I’m afraid I wouldn’t pay it any mind. It could be telling me that I must move to the right in five seconds or I might die, and I am really unsure whether or not I would understand the importance of that message until it was too late.

“The meaning is in the content of the text and

not in the typeface.”

-Wim Crouwel

Everything in moderation is the theory that I live by, so its not surprising that this idea carries over into my design work. I think that Helvetica most certainly does have its place in society, however, my biggest gripe with it currently is that it is everywhere. If it were to be synonymous with a word in the dictionary, I would describe it as ubiquitous. I think it is a brilliant typeface, but I think it is simply used too much. When it is used sparingly and for appropriate applications, I think it is it’s most attractive, and that is when I intend to use it as a designer.

Everyone ElseDOES

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Artist Series

Artist Series is a series of videos, created by Hillman Curtis, that showcases leading designers and design firms. The series takes an in-depth look at the work and processes of the design firm Pentagram and the designers David Carson, Milton Glaser, Paula Scher, Stefan Sagmeister, and James Victore.

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After watching all of the videos in this Artist Series by Hillman Curtis, I found that I needed to rematch them and take notes. There are so many talented

artists that were featured, but the one's that stuck out to me were David Carson, Milton Glaser, Paula Scher, and Stefan Sagmeister. If I had to pick

a favorite between them I would have to say that I personally like David Carson's cavalier attitude, as well as his focus on personality and style

in his work, and the work of his employees. The idea of self indul-gence is usually a taboo one in graphic design, because you are

typically designing for a client with specific ideas and needs. However Carson manages to bring his own personal style and

still manage to solve the problem that he is working on. To me his work is so expressive and appealing.

Milton Glaser I found to be more down to earth and practical, however, his approach to art is something

that really resounded with me. He emphasized the importance of the balance between being a business

man and a designer. I also liked his idea that art unifies people, and that it gives everyone something in

common. Paula Scher's work was also equally inspiring to me, simply because of her process, or lack thereof. It's

almost magical hearing her talk about her work because she so effortlessly finds beautiful solutions to complex problems and

that is something I aspire to do.

Stefan Sagmeister is more of an enigma to me than anyone else. He certainly has a unique style and a high level of success, however his

work is not always the normative conception of graphic design. More often than not, he takes his work from the computer to sculpture or a site

specific area, creates typography or an image, and then brings it back to the computer. I find that it is an interesting way of working, however I am not

sure that I would be his biggest fan in the whole world. Although the poster that he carved into his skin was extremely moving and interesting and I deeply appre-

ciate his need to show the process behind his work.

the faces of design

c a r S o n

GLASER

sagm eister

scher

Marian Bantjes

Organic, logical, complex, beautiful: Marian Bantjes’ illustrations draw on her deep relationship with letterforms (she was a typesetter for ten years). With flowing lines, filigree and generosity, she plays in the space between a and b and c. Her illustration work has appeared in Wired, Wallpaper, the Walrus and many other magazines and newspapers worldwide, and once took over Saks Fifth Avenue top to bottom. She’s also a blunt and funny writer on design and other matters, an advocate for self-reinvention, self-education (and formal education) and continuous self-appraisal. She works from her home on an island near Vancouver and sends legendary Valentine’s Day cards.

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Margo Chase

Recognized worldwide for her skill with custom typography and identity development, Margo’s creative vision provides the fuel for Chase Design Group’s growth and achievement. Since founding Chase Design Group in 1986, Margo has consistently produced and led award-winning work in many areas of design. Margo is dedicated to creating client success through high-quality, intelligent creative. On weekends you’ll find her getting a new perspective on life, flying upside down in her Extra 300 aerobatic airplane.

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Margo chase is a designer who really understands the process of design and how that impacts the companies that she’s working for. I think that I learned the most from Margo, because the way that her company put together style sheets is something that I have never been exposed to before. I never been exposed to before. I appreciate all of the research and forethought that goes into each idea before it is even realized.

Kit Hinrichs

Hinrichs is an avid collector, with many of his collections feeding his work. For most of his professional life he has been fascinated by the multitudinous ways in which the American people have graphically interpreted red and white stripes and a blue field with white stars. His 3,000-piece-strong collection of American flags and American flag memorabilia has formed the basis of several exhibitions and the books Stars & Stripes: Ninety-Six Top Designers and Graphic Artists Offer Their Personal Interpretations of Old Glory, (1987, Chronicle Books,) and Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag (2001, Ten Speed Press.)

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Kit HinrichsThe thing that struck me the most about Kit Hinrich's interview was his attitude. He has a very grounded perspective about design and life in general. He takes real world observations and finds ways to make them useful, interesting and innovative. Something that I really related too, and was the inspiration for this layout is the quote in which he said, people love faces. He went on to elaborate that if people did not love faces, then we would not have nearly as many faces on magazines and news stands or the news, etc. His logical practice in combination with news stands or the news, etc. His logical practice in combination with his warm nature shine through in most of his work, and I find the way he runs his design firm attractive.

Stefan G. Bucher

The man behind 344 Design and the online drawing and storytelling experiment dailymonster.com. His monsters have invaded computer screens all over the world and their savage adolescence is chronicled in the book 100 Days of Monsters. He is also the author of All Access: The Making of Thirty Extraordinary Graphic Designers and The Graphic Eye: Photographs by International Graphic Designers. He has created gratuitously ambitious designs for Sting, David Hockney and The New York Times. His time-lapse drawings currently appear on the rebooted TV classic The Electric Company on PBS, and he is, as always, working late into the night preparing the next phase of the 344 invasion.

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For me, Stefan G Bucher was the most inspiring artist of them all. He has had a very unique relation-ship with type and illustration, and has a very interesting background. However, I what I appreciate the most about him is his dedication to himself. In all of his work, he can only be true to his style, and interests. I aspire to have that kind of knowledge of myself one

day, so that I can make work that completely and wholly reflects me all the way through, and be suc-

cessful with it as well.

STEFAN G. BUCHER