CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

CRI300

Digital Design Studio • Week 3

Typography

Reminder

• Project #1 (Advertisement) due week 4 – Details on D2L
• September 27 - October 3
• 300-800 words
• Sign-up for critique
• Examples in slides & D2L

Art and technique of arranging type to make written language most appealing to learning and recognition.

Font family

Font style (bold, italics)

Font size (in points)

Line height / Leading

Kerning

Tracking

Leading • Kerning • Tracking

Image: creativemarket.com

Readability
Legibility

Comprehension
PERCEPTION

Digital Typography

Origins

• 1980: Desktop publishing
• Adobe PostScript
  • Vectors on a desktop
  • Precursor to PDF
• PostScript fonts lead to better formats:
  • TrueType (TTF)
  • OpenType (OTF)
  • Web Open Font Format (WOFF)

Web Fonts

• Available from a few vendors
  • TypeKit (free with Adobe CC)
  • Google Fonts
  • SkyFonts
• Links to CSS, WOFF, EOT, SVG, or TTF
• Excellent support in new browsers
• Limits in layout and type adjustment

Font families

Futura

• 1928: Paul Renner
• Bauhaus philosophy
• Balanced weight, perfect circles, isosceles triangles
• Common usage:
  • Absolut Vodka
  • Costco
  • Louis Vutton
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey

Use for plaque in the Apollo Mission

Gill Sans

• 1926: Eric Gill
• London Underground
• Known for:
  • BBC
  • Penguin Books
  • British Govt (2003)

Helvetica

• 1957: Miedinger & Hoffman
• MS made Arial ©
• One of the most popular fonts ever
• Associated with:
  • 3M
  • Microsoft
  • American Apparel
  • Jeep
  • Skype

Prolific designers

Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec

• 1864-1901
• Paris, commissioned to create posters
• From confetti to cabaret
• Hand painted text and imagery
• Portrayed in several films
• Over 350 posters and prints

Massimo Vignelli

• 1931 - 2014
• Interior, package, environmental,
  product, and graphic design
• NYC subway map
• Bloomingdales, Knoll, American Airlines 

Milton Glaser

• 1929 – present
• Multi-disciplinary designer
• Bob Dylan, I Heart New York, New York Magazine
• 2009: Awarded the National Medal of Arts by Obama

Saul Bass

• 1920 – 1996
• Known for title sequences
• Also created posters and logos
• Played with type and motion
• Animations that mimic
  or impersonate life

Paul Rand

• 1914 – 1996
• Designed corporate identities
• Playful yet simple designs
• Evokes emotion through typography

Susan Kare

• 1954 – Present
• Pixel designer
• Worked for Apple, NEXT, Microsoft
• Forefront of GUI design
• Interface icons
• Solitaire cards & control panel

flat design

Removal of any elements that give the illusion of three dimensions

• Bauhaus influence
• Swiss style (International Typography Style)
• Relevant in UI and web design
• Responsive, efficient, flexible
• Found in iOS 7+ and Windows 8+
• Opposite of skeumorphism

Retro &
Low-Fi

Generative graphics

• Data driven graphics
• Algorithms used to program graphic generation
• Area is seeing unprecedented growth