Type Project 3

The past week

It didn't seem too busy until the end of the week. In my final productions of my extruded letterform, I managed to break it several times. I do enjoy constructing things but perhaps my foresight in materials was misled. I had gotten balsa wood because its soft, and thus easy to cut. I didnt factor in however that the glue I used would be stronger than the surface of the balsa wood. Any time too much pressure was applied, the top 'skin' of the wood would peel off. Fun times. A tactic I did manage to employ rather successfully was the "measure once, cut twice" philosophy. I had learned that lesson in previous projects and it saved me by not wasting my materials. I ended up having just the right amount. Anyway, its been fun for sure.

Revision of Juxtapositions

My favorite ones revised.

These uploaded kinda odd looking. The top is combined progressive, middle is curved progressive, and bottom is curved balance. The photo for the top one could use contrast so that the darks met up better I think, but otherwise I think its really cool.

These are my straight-line pairs. The top one is random, middle is progression, and the bottom one is balance. All these pictures were taken on the outskirts of the power and light district. Random is the supports of a billboard I believe, and I was hoping to establish a mirroring of the top to bottom posts with my lines. Progression is a picture of a air conditioning unit, from the side, pretty obvious comparison. Balance also is fairly obvious, the lines in the sheet metal siding complements the lines in the study.

NY Times

This article makes me want to get ahold of the New York Times every day. Its fascinting to me that these would be unplanned juxtapositions. At first I didn't see the similarities too well, they seemed like a stretch, and even if they were, I started to catch on by the 20th pairing or so. This article gives me an idea for approaching my own juxtapositions differently now. I was at first looking at a line study or picture and then trying to find a counterpart that had similarities. However and interesting way to try now will be to randomly select pictures and line studies and put them next to eachother until something fits. I feel silly for not thinking of this before. There are plenty of studies I have yet to look too closely at because I had thought they were so different, but obviously I can be missing may possible pairings.

Week 5

Another busy week. Still getting used to the amount of time homework consumes. The projects, however, are quite diverse now and perhaps that makes them more engaging, but its easier to focus on them now. I am quite excited to start construction on a 3D letter form. Constructing 3D forms is one of my more favorite things to do. It combines my penchant for physical labor and thoughtful design. You cant just jump into a construction, it takes forethought.

Word List

eggs
eggplant
eagle
eel
electricity
earth
ear
earmuffs
earphones
earrings
easel
eclipse
elephant
elk
embryo
echidna
elevator
escalator

Final Statement

Human Conflict. My book shows the cycle of human conflict, as it recurs throughout history. I tried, perhaps too hard at times, to make the entire document angled at that theme, with the type and dots working together. However, in the final representations i managed to bring more variety to the work. The dots still have similarities throughout the pages, so that you can tell the subject being depicted is the same. The dots form lines that interact and unravel and disperse. Alternate "zoom" techniques are used in each dot frame to personalize, or amass them.
The type slides also have a similar theme throughout. The text is massed into a square, and the square is manipulated from word to word. The square changes to rectangles that splits and interacts against and with.
I realized while completing this project that time management is key. Everything concerned with cutting and gluing seemed to take three times as long as I had originally planned. I will have to learn to factor that in from now on (if i want to get more that a few hours of sleep in a weekend).

week 3

i slept a lot at the beginning of the week to ward of illness. way too much sleep. And by the end of the week, no sleep was had at all. About 3 hours over the weekend. But anyway, this week has all been about the booklets for vis and type. its been tough. All the work takes about three times longer than you think it might.

Project One Reading Response

Contrast. Everyone knows what contrast is. When two things are different from each other, they contrast. That's easy enough to understand. What people may not realize, however, is how important and broad contrast is. It is everywhere, and it has nearly endless ways of utility. Knowing when, why and how to use contrast is also very important. Because contrast is everywhere, you don't want to accidentally use it, or use it incorrectly. If something is different from the rest but is not meant to be, obviously people will give meaning to it that isn't intended. Haha, just typing that sentence makes me feel silly because its an obvious statement. Even still, its helpful to be mindful of such things at all times. Especially on this project. Contrast should be handy in our tool box. The contrast of the opposite will help accent the word we want to portray.
As Meggs emphasizes, similarity is just as important as opposites. Similar objects still contrast each other by position or with the back-round. Techniques for Design are basically on a spectrum. Symmetry and Asymmetry are counterparts, as are regularity and irregularity, simplicity and complexity, etc. Its interesting to me because it seemed, in the earlier steps of this project, that when I would be trying to portray a certain word, and it wasn't working out, if I tried doing it the opposite way, then it worked. So, good stuff to keep in mind.

End Week Two

Week two was great, but very hectic. So many different projects going on at once, Its going to be interesting getting used to it. I do enjoy, however, that the projects are so different because when one is getting tiresome I can break by working on another. I'm also excited to be using Illustrator, Its so fun to learn. Thats mainly what I've been working on at the end of this second week. The orthographic layouts are so cool-looking, and easy to make on the computer. Best of all, my worst enemy; smudges, aren't a problem.

Words Revamp

Equilibrium

Expand

Tempted

Degrade

Strife

Clash

Ruin

Reconcile

Peace

Words and Themes

I wanted to play with the undulation of human conflict. History has a pattern of up and down, war and peace, and I want to convey that.

words:

innocence

youth

equality

expansion

discovery

temptation

weakness

greed

degradation

oppression

abuse

confrontation

enslavement

conflict

revolt

rejection

desolation

remorse

atonement

peace

Reading Response

These first two readings, although short, expand much on what i had discovered Graphic design to be. The second reading especially expands on graphic design as a communication device. All art is communication in some way, but with Graphic Design, that communication is even more important. It's not a one way communication. Its not only about broadcasting what you, the artist, wants to say. It is quite reliant on the audience as well. The viewer needs to buy into, and/or understand what the artist is depicting. That is something I hadn't quite thought about before. It makes sense with this in mind, that collaboration and research are musts for a Graphic Designer.

Why Graphic Design?

It's funny, this may be the first time I've asked myself this question. For as long as I can remember I've been told that I was to be an artist. I always accepted it because I liked drawing and did it often. Then High School came around and it was time to discern my career. 'Drawer' wasn't one of the vocation titles so I was directed to Graphic Design. At that time I understood it to be drawing via computer. I had no problem with that, but it wasn't until my second year at Missouri Western State University that I realized what Graphic Design actually was. It was everything. It was so very vast. So limitless. Graphic Design really pulls from all other departments. Looking back now I can see even before I knew what graphic Design was, it was my interest. Everything has design to it, including things I didn't realize were part of an artistic career; creating letters and fonts, devising logos, organizing information and objects, manipulating pictures. I choose Graphic Design because it excites me, intrigues me and its so fun. It doesn't feel like work, even when it's difficult.