Ø Å Æ

Last summer right after my car broke, I started taking a class about typography. Letterforms and kerning and leading, oh my! I had never in my entire life thought about type-faces in such a complex way. I had never even considered that someone spent months if not years creating fonts as a career.

What is so important about different fonts? Many people take for granted that before computers had thousands of different vector based fonts to choose from, printers [yes the human kind] used varying sized metal letters to manually create sentences which were then stamped onto paper. This process of "typing" took skilled type-setters [yes people again - with their hands] a lot of time to set.

I recently downloaded some new fonts from dafont.com, a website full of type-faces which are free to download and use for personal use. One font I particularly like (above) is called "Wired". It is a simple sans serif font which has been transformed into a sans serif wired font. It's as if the font was sculpted from barbed wires.

Although the font is new and interesting, it comes with certain downfalls, for example, the character choices are very limited. It hinders me from using some of my favorite letters like æ, å, and ø, and makes it impossible to write anything that has any—special grammar markings.

Word & Image

In the exhibition setting the relationship between words & images is extremely important for relaying information. My DES 185 partner and I are designing an exhibition about breakfast foods from around the world. We have been working on rendering what the interior of the space will look like, and we have been trying to pay special attention to where the written information should go, in order to best tell the story we are trying to tell.

You can see in my rendering (left) I created a white information banner that is hung on the right wall of the area in our exhibition exhibiting Swedish breakfast traditions. This info-graphic will have enough information to cater to those who simply glance and walk by and a bit more in depth for those who wish to stand and read on.

If there were no words to go along with the images and artifacts within our exhibition, it would be exponentially harder to comprehend the context from which they come. The words, interlaced with the images create an understandable staged environment as a point of learning. Visitors can choose to spend more time to read and examine images more closely to understand at a higher level, but all who come through the exhibition should connect what they see with what they read.

Granatæble

Language & visual representation have a very close relationship with one another. In acquiring a language, one must use visual cues to understand the spoken representation of the thing cued. When learning the Danish word "granatæble" - one should be looking at this image (right) for the memorization of the visual cue.

Similarly with design - and more specifically communication design or visual communication, the words that follow the images should have a similar relationship. Words should be carefully chosen for their literal meaning, for the way they stand alone on the page, and for the meaning they have when coupled with a graphic.

Brian Fies does a superb job of incorporating both words and images in a harmonious balance within his comics. It takes much restraint and sculpting to create a piece of literature that can compliment and accentuate the images which it supports. In "Mom's Cancer", Fies often purposely creates a kind of tension between the images of his ever-fading mother and a humorous text that tries to lighten the experience the reader has. He challenges the reader to feel uneasy about the whole graphic novel because it is about a topic - his mother's dying battle with cancer - which is in itself and uneasy topic.

Narrative Environments

I have been researching graduate programs in Design lately and have come to understand some distinctions between programs. There are those programs which are geared towards applied practice & taught design skills and there are those which implore participants to explore, research and test skills on their own.
I am particularly interested in the Design Master of Arts program at the University of California, Berkeley. This program asks applicants to write a proposal about a project that will conclude in both an exhibition of work and a written thesis.
Having some experience in both environmental design and graphic design, I am currently in the process of exploring some ideas for a proposal.
As a part of Design 185, Exhibition Design, I am learning about the impact that the narrative of an environment can have on patrons to that environment. Where people look, what people touch, hierarchy of text, image, decoration and information. All of these things must be accounted for and carefully planned.
A narrative environment tells a story, it is the 3-dimensionalization of the narrative of a book or idea in an interior space. This particular kind of design interests me because it is so versatile. Museums, Galleries, stores, display cases, trade-show booths, public information exhibits, graphic design, marketing, interior architecture, interior design, all of these use the resources that an exhibition designer, or more specifically, someone who is interested in narrating an environment, have.

Repetition

I just bought a new camera about two weeks ago. It's a Canon PowerShot S95 and it is probably the highest quality camera I have ever owned.

Although I don't have a photography class, I have been bringing my camera around with me and snapping photos of things I see that interest me.

The cases full of wrapping paper (left) caught my attention because of the pattern they made. Partially random & partially the same (maybe that is where the Gestalt principles are kicking in. I really wanted the wrapping paper to make a pattern, so in photographing it, I have documented the Gestalt thinking process.

Remembering back to my high school photography class has also been fun. Trying to remember all the rules my old photography teacher taught us about; rule of thirds, texture, framing, composition, etc. All things I remember learning about then, but not really fully comprehending until now.

This picture of a tree trunk (right) had a very interesting texture on its main trunk, after taking time to look at it, I decided to document it. This tree isn't designed in any way (unless the gardeners who prune it count?), but I designed this picture, borrowing the texture/ pattern from the tree and using my representation of it in digital form for whatever I may choose.

Interaction of Content & Form in OBJECTIFIED

Although I couldn't make it to our showing of Objectified, I have seen this documentary several times before. In the film, industrial designers and product designers explain how they perform the design process and give brief overviews of their designs. These include fairly basic everyday items which people take for granted, but in the film, each designer brings the viewer to the more complex conclusion that almost every thing in our everyday discourse is designed.

One particular item that especially makes an impact in the film is the re-design of the fruit/ vegetable peeler. The design group who re-made the peeler went through many iterations of the design; including different styles of handle, materials, proto-types, etc.

A common theme throughout the film is the notion that designers should always and are always asking questions, for example "why is it like that?". This big question is at the core of why innovative designers and design firms are able to create such powerful yet subtle modifications to items that consumers already use. To be able to recognize a market, or a product that isn't performing to a high enough standard, then to completely re-think that product to increase use and change how people live.

The film encourages people to think more often about everything they come in contact with on a daily basis, and how the design of these objects affect how we live our lives.

On Brand

I mentioned before that I worked at the Crocker Art Museum and with their recent renovation & expansion, they have re-invigorated their website as well. View it here. It's transformation is marked by several things, 1. new logo, 2. a beautifully designed header that is consistent throughout the whole site and 3. abounding interactivity. Arguably the thing most important to a company or entity is the way in which it is branded i.e. the logo, standard look & feel to all collateral pieces, the streamlined-ness to everything aesthetic about themselves.

The Crocker Art Museum has done a good job of "re-branding" - they have scrapped their busy logo for a more contemporary logotype. Their new identity is posted everywhere & was used as much as possible on all printed collateral at the opening day events & the "neo-crocker art party".

When an entity changes their identity too many times, the general public becomes increasingly confused and potentially skeptical of said entity. Consistency is the best thing a group can strive for. If Lady Gaga had changed her name 3-4 times she may never have been as successful as she became.