Theory to Practice//Final Crit

After the long time we had spent on this brief we had the final crit on Friday, this was quite a long process. The idea of it was that our work would be seen by the majority of the group and critted by numerous people.
There was a form to fill in, which had been collated from the workshop we had on good crit questions and the questions were from what we produced in them sessions.

Feedback (my comments in reply are in red):

What is the publication trying to communicate?
This publication is trying to communicate the history of typography and different elements to type.
Strengths:
all aspects of type and its history
clear info graphics
easy layout to follow information
short and easy breakdown with cards
Improvements:
make an attachment between the two e.g look at card no 5 for......

The intension of the publication is clearly stated right as they have said what it is for, which is correct. The strengths are good feedback which was the whole idea of the publication, as there was a lot of information to portray i wanted to keep it simple and straight to the point. The improvements is a good suggest, which i hadn't thought of to be honest. Although these two do relate to each other i wanted to keep them separate items too. The idea of the publication is to read it and learn it then use the cards to identify this, having that attachment between the two, would do this for them, instead of them working it out and identifying it themselves. Maybe i could of left room on the cards for them to write this themselves, this could have been a way they interacted with them, but then again they still can, as the cards are laminated on one side they can write on it.


How is the format of the publication relevant to the content?
Strengths:
Binding of publication is really nice. Timeline is cool works well, especially fold out pages, layout is simple.
Improvements:
Text colour on the front is too dark, readable but awkward. Its a good publication buts its not clear why the format has been influenced by the content.

The idea of the fold out pages was to add something different to the publication, instead of it being just an A4 publication is has some extra features within it and also to hold the amount of information on the timeline etc.
I don't agree with the format not influenced on the content. The format is that size because of the amount of information, i could of done it A5 so it could in bags and be easier to carry, but the information within it wouldn't have been as readable or fluent because it would have been spread over pages and pages. With it being A4 each section takes up a couple of pages, which to me as a graphic designer, makes it short and simple and straight to the point, you don't want it to waffle on and on. The timeline pages are influenced by the content, because there is so much information to fit on it, hence the fold out pages, it becomes a long thin page, like a line, like a timeline. 


Comment on the practical, conceptual and symbolic consideration of colour?
Strengths:
As its such a complex subject with a lot of info 2 colours and stock is very appropriate
nice and neutral
no too fussy
WE LOVE IT NATHAN WELL DONE

Improvements:
why are select few cards a certain colour
is there a reason, could colour coordinate the era?

The comment for the strength explains everything that i wanted it to be. It is such a big subject so keeping it neutral and simple makes  it easier to communicate the relevant information to the user.
The cards which are a certain colour was a printing error. For some reason on that document which was set our exactly the same as the rest of the cards, with the same colours etc came out a completely different colour, which i was disappointed in, but that was out of my hands.


What is the target audience?
Anyone interested in design. The tone means that it isn't just limited to graphic design students. Its easy to work and appeals to all.

Assuming the role of audience, what is the reaction to the publication?
It works really well and is useful. It informs people on type in a really concise yet engaging manor. You can defiantly see it being a viable publication. It would be useful as a constant point of reference to look up fonts and relevant information.

Considering it has such a wide target audience the colours an font used relate to each of the viewers. Its perfect to carry in folders/bags even though it has the added fold out timeline. it works really well. We love it.

Do you think this is the intended response?
Yes, it is a purposeful and a useful research tool that has clear, concise content with all of the necessary information.

This is really good feedback, it sums up everything that i wanted the publication to achieve. The fact that they think it is useful and would be useful to them and that basically it all works, with relevant information which they find interesting and usable, makes me think that it has worked. 


What context would the publication be appropriate for?
Waterstones
specialist design book shops
libraries
graphic design course hand outs

Would it be appropriate for this publication to be viewed worldwide?
typefaces are universal so relevant and useful all over the world.
graphic design - worldwide - helpful everywhere
all designers would benefit.


Overall i am really happy with the feedback in which i received. There are some point which i disagree with, but its all constructive criticism which i will take on board and consider in future projects. The major part so the feedback were all positive though and defiantly made me feel that i have produced something that graphic designer would find helpful and be a useful tool to them. I think it would be, i would use it personally!
Along with producing this publication for other the learn about typography, i have also learnt a lot myself from all the research and content i have included in this. It has taught me some new things and introduced me into a lot of new typefaces which i will defiantly use in the future. Again something i hope others that have looked at it will do.

Theory to Practice//Final Products

My final products for the theory to practice brief. My products are to inform and explain the history of typography.

The font dictionary-

 The Type Handbook

More photos of both the products

I am really happy with the outcome of this brief. Apart from the slight blips on the printing everything has gone really well. I am especially happy with the publication.
The publication was a challenge for me as i was including the fold out pages, but these were to make it something different and i don't think anyone else has done this, so i am really pleased with that aspect of the publication. To print this i had to juggle the publication over two softwares, which was pretty tricky but still i managed it and i think it looks really good and i am very happy with it, defiantly one of my best pieces.
The font dictionary i am pleased with too, once i get it all printed to the same colour i will be a lot happier, but the actual design of it, i like, i think it works well for the scale and format of the cards. Alo laminating one side of them, makes them bit sturdier and also makes them waterproof.
Overall i am really happy with the layout of both the products, but my favourite by far is the publication, i just think that this works really well, all the content is cohesive and the layout and design of the publication really suits the content and puts across the history. I think it has all worked good and i am happy to hand it in.

Theory to Practice//Printing Mishaps

I printed my final products today ready for the crit tomorrow. As you do when you are printing there asre always things that go wrong. Today was pretty bad for me, for the font dictionary, the pages weren't set up right, which meant i couldn't print them in my print slot, so i had to go to drop in after eventually getting the documents set up right. I managed to get them all printed, but then when i came to cutting them out i saw that one of the pages were aligned right within the card itself, so this didn't look right. I decided to print it again, after adjusting the document and printed it, the alignment was fine and worked well, but even though the colour on the document was exactly the same as before and printed from the same printer, it printed a completely different colour. So this really annoyed me, but i suppose the printing quality isn't really down to me, but there is now about 6 cards that are a different colour within the font dictionary and it just ruins it, so i may print them again for the hand in date.

As you can see the information cards above are out of line.

The top line is the reprinted ones, the bottom is the original. Even after printing from the same document on the same printer there is a massive difference in colour of the front side of the cards.

The reprinted cards, which are in line, but now the wrong colour.

The other problem i had was the front cover, when i printed it and cut it into the two A4 pages, the writing on each page was aligned rubbish and i didn't like it, so i reprinted them again.

I have learnt from this that i need to make sure my documents are set up correctly and that i make sure i have checked over them thoroughly before printing. There isn't anything wrong with it, just costing me more money! If in industry though and i did this, there would be a lot on my case for it, which i just need to make sure that the finishing touches have as much attention as the rest.

Some things are out of your hand like the printing quality and you just have to run with it.

Theory to practice//Logo & header

For the front cover of the publication and the font dictionary i want a logo, which will also act as the header for the pages inside the publication.
I want something that i pretty simple put still ties in with idea of the history, so I'm thinking of something to do with either timeline's or the typography itself.

Initial digital version of the logo/heading

Adding colour into the heading makes it that bit more lively and ties in with the colour scheme.

How it would look on a page in the publication.

I think that this heading works well because it is simple but does what it needs to do. The logo ties in with the idea of history, because it is on a line and the first bit is meant to be like the beginning of the timeline. This sort of just happened when i was first planning out the publication and i liked it and thought it fit in with the publication and the font dictionary, so i kept it. 

Theory to Practice//packaging

For the font dictionary i want to package it in some way, so its not just the loose cards.
I have decided that i will either package it in a box or with a belly band, i haven't decided which one of these to do yet so i am going to print both and then decided when printed, to see which looks better in the physical object.

Theory to Practice//The history of type

Picture writing

The first type of messages that we find in the history records were a series of pictures that told a story known as pictographs.



From pictographs developed more sophisticated ways of communicating through ideographs. Ideographs substituted symbols and abstractions for pictures of events. A symbol of a star represented the heavens or a peace pipe represented peace. Native Americans and Egyptians are examples of some folks who used ideographs. Chinese alphabets are still based on ideographs.



From ideographs developed a system pioneered by the Egyptians known ashieroglyphics. The Egyptians still used drawings to represent objects or ideas, but were the first to use objects to represent sounds.
Letter Development

At around 1200 BC, the Phoenicians gained their independence from the Egyptians and developed their own alphabet that was the first to be composed exclusively of letters.



The Greeks adopted the Phoenician language and began to develop the true beginnings of our modern alphabet. The Greeks refined the Phoenician language by adding the first vowels (5 of them). Their language did not have punctuation, lowercase letters or spaces between words.


The Roman Revolution

The next great civilization, the Romans further developed the alphabet by using 23 letters from the Etruscans who based their language on the Greek. They took the letters ABEZHIKMNOTXY intact, they remodeled the CDGLPRSV and revived two Phoenicians letters discarded by the Greeks, the F and Q. The Z comes at the end of our alphabet because for a while the Romans discarded it, but then brought it back when they thought it was indispensable. The Romans contributed short finishing strokes at the end of letters known as serifs. Roman letters feature the first examples of thick and thin strokes.



Lowercase letters developed because all type was hand copied by scribes who developed less ornate handwriting styles and started using quicker and smaller versions of the letters. The first system of lowercase letterforms was known as the semi-uncial.

The U and W were slowly added and based on the letter V by the year 1000 and the J, which was based on the I was added by 1500. Spacing between words was not generally adopted until the eleventh century. Punctuation marks developed in the 16th century when printing became prevalent.
Miniscules & Printing

Around 732 Charlemagne ordered a system of writing called the Caroline Miniscule which for the first time was the first lowercases that were more than just small versions of uppercase letters.

In the 1400's Guttenberg invented a system of moveable type that revolutionized the world and allowed for dramatic mass printing of materials.

In 1500, a printer by the name of Aldus Manutius for the first time invented the concept of pocket or portable books. He also developed the first italic typeface, one of the first typeface variations.
The Type Designers

Claude Garamond from France was the first that developed the first true printing typeface not designed to imitate handwriting, but designed on rigidGeometric principles. Garamond also began the tradition of naming the typeface after himself. Garamond became the dominant typeface for the next 200 years.



In 1557, Robert Granjon invented the first cursive typeface, which was built to simulate handwriting.

In 1734, William Caslon issued the typeface bearing his name which included straighter serifs and greater contrasts between major and minor strokes.

In 1757, John Baskerville introduced the first Transitional Roman which increased contrast between thick and thin strokes, had a nearly vertical stress in the counters and very sharp serifs.

in 1780 Firmin Didot and Giambattista Bodoni of Italy developed the first Modern Romans. The moderns carry the transitionals to the extreme. Thin strokes are hairlines, plus a full vertical stress.

In 1815 Vincent Figgins designed a face with square serifs for the first time and this became known as the Egyptians or more recently as the Slab Serifs.

In 1816 William Caslon IV produced the first typeface without serifs (sans serifs) of any kind, but it was ridiculed at the time.

In the 1920s, Frederic Goudy developed several innovative designs and became the world's first full time type designer. We owe the Broadway typeface to him.

In 1954, Max Miedinger, a Swiss artist created the most popular typeface of our time...Helvetica. The Swiss also championed the use of white space as a design element.
History of Computer Typefaces
The Macintosh

The Macintosh was the first commercially produced computer to showcase the concept of the Graphical User Interface (GUI). It also helped develop the concept of WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) printing. What you saw on the screen was similar to what you saw when you printed. The concept was developed at theXerox Parc research center and pioneered by John Warnock and Chuck Geske, the founders of Adobe, Inc.

Originally, the Macintosh came with ten bitmapped city-named fonts (New York, London, Monaco, Geneva, San Francisco, Venice, Chicago, Los Angeles, Athens, and Cairo). They were wonderful, but have not survived because they were only printable at one size.
Adobe

Adobe invented Postscript which used mathematical calculations to describe typefaces instead of relying on pixel by pixel definitions of fonts.

The original Laserwriter was developed by Adobe in 1985 and came with 13 fonts. It was developed in close association with Apple, and was in fact an Apple branded product, because the first Laserprinter worked only on Macintoshes.

The first 13 fonts were: four variations of Times, Helvetica, Courier and one variation of Symbol. Afterwards, the Laserwriter Plus added 22 fonts for a total of 35 fonts. They included four variations of Times, Avante Garde, Bookman, New Century Schoolbook, Palatino, Courier, Helvetica, and Helvetica Narow. Plus Zapf Chancery Medium, Symbol, and Zapf Dingbats. This was a great group of typefaces which dramatically affected typeface choices for years to come.

For years after that Adobe led the way in developing fonts for personal computers, but Adobe got too greedy. Adobe owned the PostScript language and therefore controlled the way that computers talked to most laserprinters.

The Postscript language supported two different types of fonts. Type 1 and Type 3 postscript fonts. Of the two formats, Type 1 was the more powerful. But Adobe prevented anyone else from developing fonts in the Type 1 format (other vendors were able to develop fonts in the less capable Type 3 format.
The Truetype Revolution

Adobe also developed a version of postscript that could run on personal computer screens called Display PostScript. Adobe offered PostScript to both Apple and Microsoft, but they rejected Adobe's proposal and decided to jointly develop their own font technology called Truetype.

The Truetype format is not as clean and reliable as the type 1 format, but it allowed for an explosion in font design.Unfortunately this explosion caused a large quantity of low quality or designer impostor fonts. Most professional print houses to this day refuse to support Truetype fonts because of their low quality.
The Online Solution

Because of the nature of the online world, you should only specify typefaces in web pages if users have those typefaces installed on their computers. However, it’s impossible to know which typefaces users have on their computers, so this was difficult to do until Microsoft’s Internet Explorer started shipping a set of typefaces with all of their browsers. Since Internet Explorer is by far the leading browser on the web, we call the set of fonts that used to come with IE “Web Safe Fonts”. The list includes: Andale Mono, Arial, Arial Black, Comic Sans, Courier New, Georgia, Impact, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, Verdana and Wingdings.

Theory to Practice//The type handbook

So as I've said before i am producing two separate elements to this brief, the first being the type handbook and the second the font dictionary. At the minute i am working on the type handbook.
This is a little trickier than i thought, because i am having the fold out pages in it, i have to design these pages and backs of them in a separate document, which makes it harder for me to line everything up across the double page spread, but it will still work okay.

The grid and making of the page layout for the publication.

To start with i made myself a grid to work off for all the pages within this publication, for the majority of the pages it will be split into 2 columns having a thin one and then spreading the rest over the two columns. This should fit in nicely with all the pages, on the bigger spreads i may have to split each column down more to fit all the information in, but that isn't a problem.

Laying out the page of the publication. As you can it has all fit into the grid nicely, on some areas i have moved away from the did slightly because i thought it needed more room, which i have used a guideline to help me with this, this will be consistent on all spreads so it will still work fine.

The layout of the page.

After looking at the page layout, i needed to add the page numbering and heading, which i was looking at where to place on the page. I thought that the pages did look a little empty, they were filling right to the bottom, so this is when i came up with idea of having the page numbering at the top of the page, like it is shown here. In this case it meant i could push all the information down slightly to take up more room and have the numbering at the top. This style also fits in with the font dictionary more, so it works better this way.

Close ups of the page numbering at the top of the page.

After figuring out the grid and the layout of the pages i used this template for the rest of the publication and started to design all the pages:

Double page spread for the timeline. This goes over two A3, which fold in half to make the A4 size of the publication, because i am doing it in this way i have to do these pages on a separate document to print them, but as you can see they are identical in the page layout.

Contents and history of type spread. The history of type page, goes into more detail about how typography first started and how it came about.

Classification of typography spread. When printed these two will be next to each.

What makes a typeface and styles. This is where you see the full layout of what i was visually wanting the publication to be like, because of the amount of info on some of the other pages, i have had to change the layout slightly, but the same elements are still there and working on the same grid.

Anatomy of type, again working on the same grid.

Fold out A3 page on the anatomy of typography.

Anatomy of type and sources spread. This sources page, covers everything that i have used to gain the information for my content of the publication; books and internet sites. I have also included a further reading section for book and internet sites and a design and download section which is websites for looking at typography based design work and where you can download fonts from.

From designing this i printed out a rough copy for me to look at and evaluate the design and content of the publication.

After printing this out i managed to speak to jo about my project and i showed this. Her feedback on it was that it was designed to a high spec and looked very good. The content within the publication is good and reads well. The only thing she said i should consider was the outline the aim of the publication; what is would be used for and what the reader will gain once read it. So for this i am going to extend the information on the contents page to cover this.