TYPOGRAPHY - PROJECT 1
TYPOGRAPHY - PROJECT 1
18/09/19 - 02/10/19 (Week 4 - Week 6)
Chan Jing Wen (0340480)
Typography
Project 1
LECTURE NOTES
Lecture 4 : Briefing on Project 1
18/09/19 (Week 4)
Notes for indicating paragraphs, widow and orphan, highlight text, headline and cross alignment can be found under TYPOGRAPHY - EXERCISE.
For our first project, Mr Vinod introduced us to Adobe InDesign. He showed us some of the functions that would help us along the way.
Here are some of the notes which helped me create my artwork in InDesign :
1. To create a new document
: File - New - Document - 200*200mm - PAGES : 3 - COLUMN : 4 - COLUMN GUIDE : 5mm - MARGIN : 10 (for all) - unlock if you want to make the margins different instead of all being the same - Create
2. To create a spread without having a single first page
: Window - Pages - /select all 3 pages - /right click - Allow page to shuffle (turn off) - Delete (the single page)
3. Red box
- If there's a red box, it means that there's still some of the text not shown.
- To show the remaining text, click on the red box and then drag it to the place where you want the remaining text to be.
4. To check number of characters
: Window - Info
5. To turn off the lines
: ctrl + "
6. To off the outline
: ctrl + H
7. To show in full screen mode
: shift + W
8. To do kerning
: option + left arrow
9. To do letter spacing
: option + right arrow
10. To change number of columns
: Pages - /select the one you want to change - Layout - Margins and Columns
11. To insert image
: File - Place - /select the file
Lecture 5 : Continuing Project 1
25/09/19 (Week 5)
We didn't learn much about typography in this lecture. However, Mr Vinod talked about saving our files as a PDF file and also talked a bit about "masters".
To save our files,
: File - Adobe PDF Presets - High Quality Print - /turn on spread
About masters, Mr Vinod said that we wouldn't be using this for this project but it might come in handy for our further assignments. Masters are usually used for book production. If you want something to be repeated throughout the whole book, you just have to put the things you want repeated into the master spread.
He also mentioned that if we want our grids to show up when we convert the InDesign file to a PDF file, all we have to do is turn on the "visible guides and grids". This is if we want to show our grids as the process of making our layouts.
Other than that, we mainly let Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul check our Project 1 layouts and have them give us feedback.
Lecture 6 : Continuing Project 1
02/10/19 (Week 6)
We didn't learn much about typography again in this lecture since Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul were busy checking all of our Project 1 layouts.
INSTRUCTIONS
PROJECT 1
Week 4 (18/09/19)
We have to select a text from 3 options. After reading all 3 text, I decided to use the 2nd one for my project.
For my first attempt, I created 4 columns since Mr Vinod taught us how to create 4 columns in the introduction.
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| Figure 1.1 First Attempt First Edit |
I realize that this layout wasn't what I want. The text was a bit packed. All of the passages have different lengths so it looks untidy at the end. I also didn't know how to add the headline in since the whole positioning felt awkward to me.
I then went on to my second attempt. For my second attempt, I decide to decrease the columns to 2. However, I chose to remain the way I highlighted the text to emphasis it.
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| Figure 1.2 Second Attempt First Edit |
I feel like it was just words and there was nothing much to it so I went online to search the coding for letters.
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| Figure 1.3 Reference for codes |
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| Figure 1.4 Second Attempt Second Edit |
After that, I thought that there were too many blank space so I tried another layout. However, I still maintain using 2 columns.
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| Figure 1.5 Third Attempt First Edit |
I made everything horizontal instead of having the headline vertical. I still felt like there was a lot of white space in the first page and it's not balanced with the second. Therefore, I decided to add the codes beside the text.
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| Figure 1.6 Third Attempt Second Edit |
Week 5 (25/09/19)
I showed Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul all my edits. After receiving feedback, I made some changes for the second and third attempt. I notice that I made a mistake for a paragraph break. I split one paragraph into two. After editing it, the white space automatically decreased.
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| Figure 1.7 Second Attempt Third Edit |
The changes made for this attempt were mainly just for the headline. I feel like changing it made the headline more aligned but there's still a lot of white space that I'm not sure how to cover.
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| Figure 1.8 Third Attempt Third Edit |
I kind of like this but I'm not really sure if it's okay since the last paragraph is in the middle of the columns. I'm also not really sure if the white space is acceptable. The lines that are beside the last paragraph are actually Morse Codes.
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| Figure 1.9 Third Attempt Fourth Edit |
For this, I think the overall balance is okay but I had to sacrifice aligning the paragraphs. I used a QR Code (which is scannable) to cover the white space since I wanted to play with the word "code".
I printed out Third Attempt Third Edit and Third Attempt Fourth Edit on A3 paper to bring it for the next class (02/10/19).
Before class, I actually created 2 more layouts. I actually felt like I didn't have to because Mr Vinod didn't say much about my original layout, he just wanted me to do some minor changes. I also felt like I didn't have to because I kind of like my current ones and I really didn't have more ideas. However, I just tried to do some stuff to help myself familiarize with InDesign.
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| Figure 1.10 Fourth Attempt First Edit |
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| Figure 1.11 Fifth Attempt First Edit |
Week 6 (02/10/19)
After letting Mr Vinod check, they said that the Third Attempt - Third Edit and the Second Attempt - Third Edit was nice. I had to reprint my spread out because I didn't create a border before printing it. I decided to print the Third Attempt - Third Edit since I prefer it more than the others.
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Figure 2.1 Final Submission - JPEG File
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Figure 2.2 Final Submission - PDF File
FEEDBACK
Week 5 (25/09/19)
General Feedback :
The body text must all be connected, don't create too many text box. Paragraph spacing, indentation and left alignment cannot be used together. If there's an indentation, do not use paragraph space. If there is an indentation, the alignment should be justified.
Specific Feedback :
Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul commented that the layout was nice. He liked that the text for the 2nd attempt were aligned. However, there was a weird and awkward spacing in the middle of paragraph 2 and 3. For the third attempt, they commented that the layout was also nice but they prefer if the codes were lighter. Mr Vinod also suggest that I change the word "ETHICS" from bold italics to bold.
Week 6 (02/09/19)
General Feedback :
Bring a mouse to class. Mr Vinod wants us to know it is important that our text are all connected. We shouldn't put them into various textbox. This is because putting it into different textbox is very risky since we might accidentally delete it without noticing.
Specific Feedback :
Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul helped me choose 2 of the designs he thought were the best among the other designs. He didn't want me to change anything so I just printed it out. When I let them check the A3 printed version, they also said it was okay."
REFLECTION
Experience
Week 4 (18/09/19); This is the first time I'm using InDesign. My experience for the first few days weren't very good as the layout of my InDesign was different with others. I then notice that it was actually my settings. It was in touch mode instead of essentials, so I wasted a few days time trying to figure that out. But after getting to use it normally, I find it really cool that we can do kerning and everything else in it. It really made the text look neater, and now whenever I'm writing something outside InDesign I feel stressed that I can't really make it look as neat as it could. Week 5 (25/09/19); I feel like InDesign is actually very useful and easy to use once you get the hang of it. This week, I didn't really do much at home because Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul just wanted me to make minor changes to my layout. However, I did try to create new layouts but I personally didn't really like it so hopefully my corrected layouts are okay. Week 6 (02/09/19); This week, we had nothing to bring back home to do so my experience is mainly based on when I was in class. Using the school's printer was really stressful. The day before our class, I was already at the school's printer for about an hour just because the school's printer didn't accept my print so I had to go out to print. Then my print ended up getting rejected since it didn't have a border. In the end I still had to use the school's printer and I still couldn't figure it out although the school's printer accepted my print. But then the code thing got me stressed again and I kept having to run around the classroom because I just don't understand how it functions. I really miss Sunway University's printing system.
OBSERVATION
Week 4 (18/09/19); I notice that the people around me were mostly doing the same article as me. It kind of made me feel a bit pressure because I'm not really sure if I can make something as good as them. I also observe that there's actually a lot of modes in Adobe application (not only InDesign) after getting lost and thinking that my InDesign malfunctioned when I was actually just in a different interface. Week 5 (25/09/19); I notice that a lot of my classmates focused on creating a nice layout for the heading. Some of them used illustrator to create the heading. It was a really different approach when compared to mine because I focused more on trying to make the text look tidy and keeping the whole layout simple. Week 6 (02/10/19); Today I finally realize how big our class actually is. Since I sat at the back of the class today, it took Mr Vinod and Mr Shamsul about 3 hours to come to my table and check my work. But it's good that our lecturers take time to help us understand our mistakes and what we can work on in stead of just rushing through the feedback session and not give us anything helpful.
FINDINGS
Week 4 (18/09/19); I find it hard to reduce the white space between the second and third paragraph if I use the layout which has everything aligned. If I were to reduce it, the layout will be changed but the awkward white spacing will be gone. I find it really hard to find a balance to have everything I want. Week 5 (25/10/19); I find that it's quite hard for me to think of a new layout since I already found a layout that I like. I also struggled a lot printing the layout on an A3 paper in school so I went out to print. In the end I notice that I printed it wrongly during class so I had to print it again while in class. Week 6 (02/10/19); I find it very cool seeing the printed version of the layouts.
FURTHER READING
MASTERING TYPE by Denise Bosler
25/09/19 - 02/10/19 (Week 5 - Week 6)
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| Figure 3.1 Mastering Type |
This book focuses on history, letter, word, sentence, paragraph and page. Relating to our project, I focused more on page.
According to the author, a page must ensure that the viewers don't have to put much effort into understanding how the page works. The headline, images, body text and everything inside a page must be organized and relate to each other to create harmony. "Communication comes from the layout and design working well together." The author tells us that in order to communicate well and help the readers understand a text better, we must focus on making suitable layouts and designs.
The author also introduces Gestalt theory. Gestalt theory is a form of psychology that focuses on cognitive behaviors. Gestalt suggest that the whole is greater than the sum of its part. Simply speaking, we view things through a bigger picture. We see the whole composition and group similar things together. We try to simplify things by doing so. The gestalt principles mentioned by the author are :
1. Proximity - When things are close to each other, we group them together.
2. Similarity - When objects are similar, we see them as a pattern.
3. Continuity - When the eye is leaded to a direction by continuing one object to another.
4. Closure - When an element is incomplete or it's not totally enclosed, we still automatically fill the space and picture the entire figure.
5. Figure/ground - When our eye differentiates an object from it's surrounding as we are able to identify a figure from a background.
The author also suggest that we should use grids when creating a page layout. Grids help us maintain alignment and balance in a layout.
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