OUGD204: Communication through type, Evaluation

I intially chose the option of this type based module because I thought that I needed to improve my basic typography skills. At this point, I did not realise that I would learn skills and gain knowledge that are integral to all areas of graphic design, and will be valuable to me in the future.

The hardest part of the overall brief has been having to get to grips with using Quark Xpress. I had never used this software before, and I am quite proficient at using Adobe based software, including InDesign. I found it quite difficult to adapt to using Quark, even though it was essentially the same as InDesign, the tools and shortcuts differ. I think that using to learn industry standard software has been very valuable, having a small amount of knowledge of a programme is better than having none.

The tasks that we have been given in our workshop sessions have been incredibly varied, and all have enabled me to learn a different aspect of the software. The tasks at the beginning of the brief really helped to learn the simple aspects of how type can create a tone of voice, a personality or emotion. The
patterns tasks was something quite new and different; I had
never really considered using characters to create patterns.
I think that I learnt a lot from this exercise, mostly just that using different characters can represent different things about yourself.

Moving onto the advertising type exercise; I found it very difficult to work on such a small scale, the information and overall feel of the task was very dull, but so useful. Learning about hierarchys of information has been so valuable; I have found new ways of making type read in a particular order, even if it does not read from the top of the page down. Small changes such as size and weight can really effect the way the type is read, and the personality it carries. I know that this skill will be really useful in the future, as it applies to almost all forms of typography.

Learning to set type in columns properly was a very laborious task, but has taught me a lot about how type is read. I realised that giving type space to ‘breath’ and making sure that the type looks appealing is really important. Using a serif font can help to read large blocks of type, a sans serif might be slightly less easy to read, but can looks less crowded on a page. I have learnt about using the right numbers of words on a line, and how to improve the leading of the lines to make more space on the page. using columns can really improve the readability of the type, as it breaks up the blocks of text, and gives a more appropriate number of words on a line. Similarly, setting type for a book or novel use somes of the same techniques. Using the right point size, and justifying the type correctly is really
important in making the pages readable.

My favourite part of this brief has been the CV, business card and letterhead. I learnt a lot about putting large amounts of
information on a page, and being able to divide it up properly. The business card and letterhead were quite easy, but I really wanted to make sure that these both represented me. I did this by using colour and serif texts, but not loading too much information on the business card.

The final task, packaging layout is probably the thing I have found most useful. I really love packaging design and the knowledge I gained in this one session has helped me to understand some really easy ways of producing nets and cut patterns.

I know that I have gained so many skills in the very short time allotted for this module. There are a few that will come in useful for future projects, and others that I will use all the time within design process. The main strength of my work is that I am very organised, I like things to be neat and tidy, which I think has helped with producing the tasks, and being very methodical about the way I approched the tasks.

I think that main limitation of is module has been the amount of time we have had to learn everything; it seems to have gone so quickly, and we’ve cramed so much into just 10 sessions. I know that there is so much more I have to learn, and I would really like to improve my knowledge further. I particularly enjoyed the type characterisitics task. I felt slightly geeky whilst I went through every aspect of the fonts I had chosen, and tried to pick out the characters that made it unique. The main
outcome of this tast was understanding the structure of a font, and learning the correct terminology of typography.

Keeping the type journal has been really enjoyable. I like collecting type and image anyway, so have an actual journal has been great. I have tried to analyse the type, and think about the personality and emotions it creates. I managed to do a little bit of the journal every week, I think that this has been more beneficial than trying to put it altogether in one go. I know that I will keep this journal going, and be able to look back at things, and draw inspiration for future projects.

In conclusion, I and genuinly pleased that I chose the typography module. I was told that it woud ‘appeal to my meticulous nature’, which it certainly has. I have also learnt that type is not just words on a page, but a translation of personality, tone of voice and feelings. I have come to realise that creating beautifully set type is like drawing a picture, it simply another form of expression, just using a set language. I know that there are rules about type, but pushing the boundaries and bending the rules it what creates great graphic design. In the future I intend to produce a lot more type based work, and I am hoping that the skills I have learnt will come in very useful for future briefs.