What are you trying to accomplish, what is the style of the design, where will it be used?
What I am trying to accomplish is to bring a “new style”, I want it to be different than other fonts that are online, a type with my style would be great.v The style I want is flat, but elegant-ish in a way. I want my type to be used in titles, probably a logo.
Illustrator
-Describe the fonts in aesthetic terms
-List the rules that govern the design of each
Summary/Response:
Basic of Composition: “structure and organization of elements within a design”
Theories of compositions: balance, consistency/ harmony, contrast, proximity, repetition/ variation. These theories help us construct a pleasant design that works and has a purpose, different compositions have different purposes and feelings/movements.
Straight, thick, thin, curved, diagonal, horizontal, jagged or broken lines can imply motions.
Sharp lines: tension
Soft lines: tranquility and harmony
Converging lines: suggest 3D dimension in a 2D space
Lines also can establish visual hierarchy.
Law of Closure and The Rule of Thirds
The law of closure argues that us humans tend to complete lines or objects that aren’t complete and this can be a fun and very interesting tool in design
The rule of thirds helps compose designs: finds focus, leads the eye, hierarchy, balances elements.
Symmetry/Asymmetry:
With asymmetry the elements aren’t centered and creates a sense of movement, in contrast to symmetrical design which is more “calmed”, this sense can be achieved by arranging the typography and designs in a “mirror” way.
Layouts:
Grids are used everywhere from: books, magazines and websites.
When using a grid (for business reports/ novels) “is that of a single column. The width should relate to legibility, 8 to 10 words or 60 to 72 characters per line I usually considered optimum”
A grid shock have vertical controls and structure to provide a good overall design. this said grid should have: a heading, captions, and subheadings, page numbers, and have a continuity. This grid might feel restrictive but they shouldn’t be, it helps give structure to a design and you can use the same grid and come up with different variations.
Identity and Extended System:
Flexibility is key for this system, because the identity should have some variation for different purposes for business cards, packing, magazines, books, merchandise, etc.
For this work, the designer has to know the content of the product/brand/ company, but when designing the designer also has to know their limits (the companies budget), which after I read this part of the chapter, I realized that I never though of the money and how it affects the designs we make, but having this limitations is a little tricky since you have to think about costs, but also how far you can take thing, but the most important part is how the viewer is going to see/ feel the end results whether is a box/ magazines/ packing, even after picking the cheapest product/ material, the price of sending the product can be expensive as well.
Historical Research:
This program was recreated in response to a growing awareness that design could be an effective tool for achieving objectives. This initiated was coordinated by the Architectural and Environmental Arts Program (later names the Design Arts Program) of the National Endowment of the Arts, all federal design including architecture, interior space, planning, landscaping, and graphic design were under this program.
The main goal of this program was supposed to improve the quality of visual communications and the ability of government agencies to communicate effectively to citizens.
One of the most successful visual identification that came out of this program was the the Unigrid system, developed in 1977 for the United States National Park Service by Vignelli Associates in collaboration with the Park Service Division of Publications, headed by Vincent Gleason
The Unigrid, unified the hundreds of informational folders used at around 350 national park locations. The Unigrid was based on basic elements:
Current Research:
Years later due to tax cuts, the federal design improvement program came to an end. Now we only have National Endowment for the Arts. “Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America”.
The NEA has invested more than $10 million in the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design.
NEA has funded and/or helped manage design competitions including Rebuild by Design following Hurricane Sandy and the WWII National Memorial Design Competition.The NEA funds many design disciplines including, but not limited to, architecture and landscape architecture; graphic, fashion, industrial, and interior design; and universal and social impact design.
Between 2007 and 2016, the NEA awarded almost $14 million to support new work in design.
The NEA awarded a 1981 grant to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund for their design competition that resulted in the selection of Maya Lin’s iconic design. Located on the National Mall, the memorial is visited by millions of people.
Artifact:
Historical Research:
“The impact of the poster as a means of communication was greater than at any other time during history. The ability of posters to inspire, inform, and persuade combined with vibrant design trends in many of the participating countries to produce thousands of interesting visual works. As a valuable historical research resource, the posters provide multiple points of view for understanding this global conflict. As artistic works, the posters range in style from graphically vibrant works by well-known designers to anonymous broadsides”
During the war, the government used posters to recruit armies and also to boost public morale, because they wanted to maintain popular support for the war.
Posters:
As mentioned before, the posters main purpose was recruitment, finance, and home issues. Although produced in different countries, many designs use symbols and messages that share a common purpose.
Enlistment/recruitment, war bonds/funds, food issues, and national symbols were some of the themes of these posters.
-Many posters asked men to do their duty and join the military forces.
-Women could serve through relief organizations: YWCA or the Red Cross, or through government jobs.
-In countries such as Germany, France, and Austria posters were aimed at raising money to finance the war. Those who did not enlist were asked to do their part by purchasing bonds or subscribing to war loans. Coins transform into bullets, crush the enemy, or become shields in the war effort.
-Food shortages were widespread in Europe during the war.
-Even before the US entered the war, the people was asked to adjust their eating habits in such a way as to conserve food that could then be sent abroad. Also they were asked to go meatless, to get more corn and fish and to plant gardens.
-For the National Symbols; America had Uncle Sam, for the United Kingdom was John Bull and Britannica, and for France Marianne
Current Research
For current research, I couldn’t really find anything when it came to posters and modern propaganda, but the only poster that was the most recent was the Barack Obama “Hope” poster is “very reminiscent of the Che Guevara poster which is a reflection of the revolution of the young generations who supported Obama’s campaign.” But while I was doing my research I did find political issues such as: Afghan war, Iraq war that were being “marketed” to people, but our way of communication has changed and now we have news and radio or podcasts, so we are not receiving that information in the same way and there is so many places were you can get informed that it is overwhelming and in a way you get to “pick” your truth and we are seeing that today.
Artifact:
CREATE YOUR OWN POSTER!
Cited Work:
“About This Collection | Posters: World War I Posters | Digital Collections | Library of Congress.” Planning D-Day (April 2003) – Library of Congress Information Bulletin, Victor, http://www.loc.gov/collections/world-war-i-posters/about-this-collection/.
“World War I Posters: The Graphic Art of Propaganda.” Time, Time, time.com/3881351/world-war-i-posters-the-graphic-art-of-propaganda/.
“50 Powerful Examples of Visual Propaganda and the Meanings behind Them – Learn.” About Canva, Canva, 4 Dec. 2018, http://www.canva.com/learn/examples-of-propaganda/.
Historical Research:
“Surrealism originated in the late 1910s and early ’20s as a literary movement that experimented with a new mode of expression called automatic writing, or automatism, which sought to release the unbridled imagination of the subconscious”.
Sigmund Freud’s work was deeply influential for surrealism. The Interpretation of Dreams”, In this book dreams were legitimized as being of importance, they were unconscious and valid revelations of our emotions and desires. “his exposure of the complex and repressed inner worlds of sexuality, desire, and violence provided a theoretical basis for much of Surrealism”.
The imagery used in this movement was very outlandish, perplexing, and even unnatural. Surrealism “was meant to jolt the viewer out of their comforting assumptions”. The goal of surrealism was to liberate language, and experiences that were oppressed by rationalism. Breton who studied both psychology and medicine was familiar with Freud’s writings and used this knowledge to revolutionize the movement and unleash the minds of the masses from the rational order of society.
André Breton
Joan Miró
Salvador Dalí
René Magritte
Yves Tanguy
Frida Kahlo
Max Ernest
Meret Oppenheim
Current Research
“The Surrealism art movement had a great impact in art, literature, culture and even extending to politics. Surrealism is a creative act of effort towards liberating the imagination. It is as dynamic as it is subtle; Surrealism is still alive and growing until today”
it is easy for artist to use this style, since it doesn’t have an “specific set of rules”, this less to more freedom to project any ideas or feelings through a canvas or any other type of media. “Surrealist web design is just like opening a door and seeing a strange, new planet. You never know what to expect, it’s bizarre but familiar, just like our dreams. New techniques have now been adopted with the coming of the digital age. Photo manipulation is the favorite technique of this age when creating Surrealist art.”
Most Surrealist web design make use of realistic, three-dimensional images that are recomposed and rearranged instead of drawn illustrations. This is to create more realistic, magical and strange world.
“With Surrealist web design, Flash is also a popular tool to use, because it can incorporate dreamy effects, animation and music, making it all the more surreal and interesting”.
Artifact:
For my artifact, I have two “paintings” one of them is a combination between surrealism and abstract, but the second one is more surrealistic, is a snake on stairs but they are one, both the snake and the stairs are connected. I painted both with gouache, I tried to add more detail, but it’s really hard to not mess it up. I do like the results, but I would’ve picked different colors to make it look even more “weird” and less obvious.
Work Cited:
“Surrealism Movement Overview.” The Art Story, http://www.theartstory.org/movement-surrealism.htm.
Mann, Jon. “Surrealism.” 11 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, Artsy, 23 Sept. 2016, http://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-what-is-surrealism
“Modern Surrealism and How It Is Used in Design Today.” 1stWebDesigner, 31 May 2018, 1stwebdesigner.com/modern-surrealism/.
The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/surr/hd_surr.htm.
Historial Research:
A watermark is a “translucent emblem from a raised design on the mold and visible when the sheet of paper his held to the light”.
Back in the day, a watermark could only be found in paper. This marks were first used for religious purposes, but quickly moved from “religious purpose only” to a personal “signature”. “Watermarks were later used to identify sheet sizes, mill locations and paper furnish.” Also they help recognize or claim ownership of a certain piece. it served as a certification that a certain piece was made by a specific person.
The watermark (picture, the top right side) was created by bending wire which was attached to a mold used in making paper.
Watermarks like it was mentioned before were created by bending wire, this wire would be “tied onto the mesh of the paper molds, and impressing them into the paper pulp while it was still damp. The comparative thinness of the areas which were pressed under this wire formed an image which only revealed itself when the paper was held up to light”.
In 1826 John Marshall transformed the watermark making process, by inventing the “dandy roll”,this roll made watermarking easier than before.
This is how the roll works, “covered by material similar to window screen that is embossed with a pattern. Faint lines are made by laid wires that run parallel to the axis of the dandy roll, and the bold lines are made by chain wires that run around the circumference to secure the laid wires to the roll from the outside. Because the chain wires are located on the outside of the laid wires, they have a greater influence on the impression in the pulp, hence their bolder appearance than the laid wire lines”.
Current Research:
Watermarks have come a long way. Originally only having a religious purpose,but we moved from that to be able to identifying our work as our property, which we still do to this day. We use watermarks to protect our work, such as: photographs, digital work, we use them as stamps, and it is being used on currency and on important governmental documentation. By using watermarks (us and people handling important documents) can protect our and in some cases (with currency, we can protect them against fraud).
Artifact:
For my artifact, I chose a previous work of mine. I though it’d be a good idea to use my “Currency Project” for this piece of the blog, since watermarks can be found in both projects/digital work and currency. For my watermark, I used an animal (a dragon) like they used to do back in when it was watermarks were created (they majority of watermarks were animal figures).
Work Cited:
Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
“Watermarking – a Brief History.” Ivybridge Heritage, ivybridge-heritage.org/watermarking-a-brief-history/.
“Watermarks.” The Hundred-Handed Giants, thenonist.com/index.php/thenonist/permalink/watermarks/
“Watermark.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Dec. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermark.
Historical Research
Before the printing press was invented, everything was handwritten. In the case of Illuminated Manuscripts, they were handwritten and illuminated, hence the name, “The word manuscript is derived from the Latin words manus (hand) and scriptus, from scribere (to write)” . The pieces were mainly made by monks in monasteries, they were made on parchment which is the skin of an animal (a sheep or a goat) prepared specifically with the purpose of writing on it, but the most important manuscripts were written on vellum (it is basically the same as parchment but vellum as a higher quality.
Making the manuscript was a tedious job, it required a few people and every single one of then had an specific job to:
1- The parchment maker: The parchment would prepare the skin and when finished with the process, the skin would be cut to size and given to the scribe.
2- The scribe: A scribe then would write on the parchment with quills and ink
3- The illuminator: The illuminator at this point would add the decorations and any details to the manuscript and those were “painted with a variety of precious colors made from a wide range of sources, from vegetable and animal extracts to ground minerals from the earth”
4- The bookbinder: and last but not least, the bookbinder “affixed metal clasps or ties of leather or fabric to keep the manuscript tightly closed. Bindings were sometimes embellished with paint, enamel, or with designs stamped into leather with metal tools. The most precious bindings were adorned with metalwork and jewels, particularly in the early Middle Ages”
Manuscripts with religious purposes incorporated: the sacramentary, the gradual, and the missal.
-The sacramentary: was a liturgical book (public worship). This book had prayers that were quoted or sung in The Mass.
-Gradual: These are songs (or parts that can be actually sung) during the Mass.
-The Missal: this book had prayers and readings that help move forward the The Mass.
Another manuscript that had an important “mission” was The book of hours.
The book of hours contains prayers (those were supposed to private). The book of hours is “a church calendar and day planner of prayer, for it helps to organize time throughout the year and to structure daily devotion. The central text is the Hours of the Virgin, which includes Psalm verses, hymns, prayers, and readings to be recited during the eight canonical hours of the day. In addition, these manuscripts include a calendar of the major feast days and the tools used to calculate the date of Easter, the most important feast day of the Christian calendar”
This book was a guide to the people of the church and its followers. These were book were supposed to have the Glory of the Lord in them (having some scriptures and prayers). Some books had the apostles and images of God and Jesus.
Current Research
For current research I couldn’t find anything online that could tied our current visual forms and media or that I could quote form or pinpoint where this past invention lead us to where we are today. But with that said I will provide some information about “historical” reasons about why manuscripts were made what they way they look (how people are represented). I learned this class, last quarter in my The Western Visual Tradition I: Ancient and Medieval Art. We didn’t get to spend the much time discussion Illuminated Manuscripts, but we talked about religion and how it influenced the decoration of this manuscripts. Back with Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures we can see how they were capable of representing human beings in a very realistic way, but when Constantine accepted Christianity, they style of how people were portrayed changed completely because one of the 10 Commandments was to not create idols, so going back to the manuscripts since they didn’t want to go against the Laws God gave use, they decided to forget about realism and go with something more “abstract” and by doing that technically they aren’t disobeying God and can worship him in visual way as well.
I added that this little piece, because like I mentioned before I couldn’t find anything to connect the Illuminated Manuscript and modern time.
My artifact is an illuminated manuscript. I tried to do it by hand to make it look more “realist” and actually try and add some elements for the manuscripts, but if I were to do it again I would do it in a digital form like I initially wanted it. I think I had the right idea, but I didn’t as material and they were so many things that I wanted to do (add more details and actually make it look like a real manuscript or one that close pretty similar.
Sources:
“What Is an Illuminated Manuscript?” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, http://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/getty-museum/getty-manuscripts/a/what-is-an-illuminated-manuscript.
“Manuscripts for Devotion.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, http://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/getty-museum/getty-manuscripts/a/manuscripts-for-devotion.
I'm Curious 