Roll

Sketching

Take three minutes to sketch this glyph.

Samples for Discussion

In Google Drive.

Based on the vitamin and supplement section at Walgreens, what can we say about fonts in this product category? And why?

Discuss logo.

Some very basic design principles (these apply to Elam posters, too).

Illustrator

Rotating an object around an axis. Create circle. Create object to be copied/rotated. Click object to select it. Click Rotate tool. Option/Alt-click object’s center control point and drag to center of circle.

Object > Radial/Grid/Mirror. Grid will be useful for Elam’s grid and modular. Radial isn’t as useful for this week’s chapter because it’s pretty fussy.

360/number of repeats (per 360). Click Copy (not rotate). Press Control/Command-D to make new, rotated copies.

Radial Designs

Share in small groups, give feedback (what works? what needs work?). Group votes on best layout for each person.

Logotype

In teams, pick two most promising designs (for each person). Then, share some with full class.

After you’ve picked your two best designs, take a phone cam shot of them and post the images to this folder. Be sure to name the images “Logo Sketch 1 YourLastName.png” (or whatever file format) and “Logo Sketch 2 YourLastName.png”. I’ll get you feedback by Thursday’s class.

Helvetica

For real this time.

For Thursday

Elam 46-67

Reminder: Logotype Draft 1 due next Tuesday (9.20). Take the two most promising designs from your first round of sketching, do at least five variations of those two (five total—two of one and three of the other). Feel free to do more.

Roll

Related: Font copyrights, trademarks, patents, and licensing. (It’s more complicated than you think.)

Quiz

Lupton

Type Terminology

Logotype Project

Review project page. Discuss logos you’ve sketched in small groups.

Exploring Axial with Illustrator

I’ve decided to skip working with InDesign this semester and stick with Illustrator for the Elam chapters. We normally do a project that involves designing book pages (which is something InDesign is optimized for) but dropped it this semester. I’m hoping this will ease the tech-learning burden a little bit for everyone.

For each Elam chapter, we’re going to use Illustrator rather than sketches because it’ll be easier to explore different versions with the same content (rather than having to write out the lettering by hand each time).

Basic format is 66p0 horizontal and vertical page dimensions. Using rectangular dimensions (like standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper) adds extra complications in terms of visual design.

Use a single Illustrator file with as many artboards as necessary for the specific project. (For the Elam chapters, at least four.) Name the file “Axial YourLastName”.

Here’s the text to use for the Axial exercise:

Chunklet Magazine Presents

Minus the Bear

with Tiny Vipers and Helio Sequence

October 12 8 PM Variety Playhouse

$18

From a Draplin Gig Poster

Begin by creating at least four simple axial designs. Then pick one as the starting point for four intermedia/advanced (more complicated) designs.

Sketching

Labeling sketches: See the ongoing list of sketch assignments on the Sketchbook page. (Note that this is the minimum requirement for sketches. You should also, once or twice a week, do additional sketching on your own.)

In your sketchbook, draw this /g/ in Frutiger (from Lintoype’s site). Designed by Adrian Frutiger and Akira Kobayashi. Based on Fruitiger’s Meridien but optimized for small text sizes.

Helvetica

Start watching.

For Tuesday

Elam Posters: In Illustrator, finish four Axial designs (which we started in class) and (in a second Illustrator file) create four Radial posters using the same text. Name the file Axial YourLastName and Radial YourLastName. I’ll set up a Google Drive folder where you can turn them in.

Six or more sketches for the logo project.

Roll

Elam Quiz

The Pen Tool in Illustrator

Review start of video for additional tips.

Also: Align tools. Making copies. Type on a path. Group/ungroup.

Work on word-image exercises from last Thursday (small groups).

Discuss Logo Sketches

In small groups, share your logotype sketches:

• What’s the organization/company about it?
• Who will be viewing the logotype? Why?
• What is the logo trying to communicate?
• What makes it work? Or not work?

Sketches (from last Tuesday)

Axes in fonts (based on flat/chisel pen shape). (Note: Different than the axes of variable fonts.)

Spend 10 minutes sketching the /a/ glyphs from last Tuesday’s class notes.

A Poster (Again)

Exploring Axial with InDesign

For each chapter, we’re going to use InDesign rather than sketches because it’ll be easier to explore different versions with the same content (rather than having to write out the lettering by hand each time). We’ll use the journals/pens for other things.

Basic format is 66p0 horizontal and vertical page dimensions. Using rectangular dimensions (like standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper) adds extra complications in terms of visual design.

Here’s the text to use for the Axial exercise:

Chunklet Magazine Presents

Minus the Bear

with Tiny Vipers and Helio Sequence

October 12 8 PM Variety Playhouse

$18

From a Draplin Gig Poster

Logotype Project

NASA logo history.

Discuss ideas for logotype project.

Helvetica

Start video.

For Thursday

Read Lupton 29 – 45.

Read Logotype Project description. Do some web research on similar restaurants, noting what sorts of language they use, feeling of the fonts, logos they use, etc.

Attendance

Quiz

Lupton: 13 – 27 + 68 – 71

A Poster

Printing Presses

Illustrator Tutorial

Finish Illustrator tutorial from Tuesday. Add a descender to the /o/ to make it a lowercase /p/. Use Pathfinder palette to combine both paths into a single path.

Some more Illustrator basics:

• Color: Fill and Stroke
• Selection Tool: For whole objects
• Direct Selection Tool: Anchors, paths
• Rotate
• Text Tool (+ character palette, Type > Create Outline)
• See Resources section on website for some Pen How-Tos

InDesign Intro

Measurement of type (and publications) often relies on picas and points rather than inches or millimeters.

Basic settings and tools.

Baseline grid

Paragraph styles

• For this tutorial, our grid is going to be based on 6 points (to allow 6, 12, 18, 24 point spans).
• Create a Title style (including character aspects): 19/24 Helvetica Bold)
• Create a Kicker style (15/18 Helvetica Bold Italic)
• Create a Normal Paragraph style (10/12 Myriad Regular)

In New Document, 66p x 66p page (use picas as measurement), 2 columns, 6p margins

In Preferences > Grid, set your baseline grid at 6 points.

View > Show Baseline Grid

Click selection tool, then click frame. Object > Text Frame Options… Select “leading”.

If right text frame doesn’t lock to baseline grid, click it and repeat.

File > Package… Package. Use default settings. Name your project with “Baseline Grid YourLastName”.

Word As Image

(from the book by Ji Lee)

In groups of two or three, use Illustrator to create a word-image for these words:

• angry
• music
• football
• streetlight

Name the file “word image LastName1 LastName2 LastName3.ai” and upload it to the appropriate folder in Google Drive.

For Tuesday

Elam: Read Intro and Axial chapters (if you don’t have the book yet, I’ve scanned this reading and posted it to Google Drive). You don’t have to do any sketches yet—in class on Tuesday, we’ll explore how to do sketches of posters for the chapter.

Sketch one interesting logo in your notebook. (Don’t use the chisel pen–just use a pencil or regular pen.) Be prepared to talk about why you like it. Consider things like how well the logotype portrays the business/organization, use of type, color, etc.

Roll

Syllabus overview

Tools for this semester:

• Sketchbook
• Pencils
• Calligraphic pens
• InDesign
• Illustrator
• TypeTool

Some Viewpoints

Aaron Draplin

Typography: An Overview

Looking at/looking through

Learning to pay attention

Some Examples for Discussion

Art of the Title

Exploring Fonts in Use

Democratica • Minion • Rockwell • American Typewriter

Sketching

Vectors in Illustrator

Download this sketch, place it in a template layer in Illustrator, and use the pen tool to create an /o/.

For Thursday

Read Lupton 13 – 27 + 68 – 71. I’ve posted this to the readings folder in Google Drive, but buy the book soon.

Find two logotypes/wordmarks. Sketch each in your sketchbook (one per page).