Your calendar designs for the most part are overtly decorative. What I mean by this is that every single type of information in the calendar is expressive. and with many of the designs the various elements of information are fighting for attention with one another.
Each calendar month design is presenting four or five elements of information. These elements are:
• the Typographic Expression.
• the Name of the Month.•
• the Days and the Weeks of the month.
• a Written Description of the Typefaces used in the typographic expression and/or layout.
• other Information you may deem Important.
Each of these elements perform a different function of information within the month's message and design.
Most good designs are a relationship of three levels of visual hierarchy— a dominant, a sub-dominant, and a subordinate. But a hierarchy can also exist within another hierarchy, which allows a visual design to be visually robust as well as expressively subtle at the same time.
In the Calendar Design:
• The Typographic Expression will most likely be the most dominant element— the first, the biggest, the most expressive information.
• The Calendar Layout of the Days and Weeks will probably be the second most dominant element - but it still needs to stand on its own, but also support the expression, but not fight with it.
• The name of the Month could be dominate and/or secondary, or it could stand on its own, be sub-dominate within the expression, or dominate within the calendar.
• The Description of the Type is most likely going to subordinate, unless you want it to be the Typographic Expression.
The message - what is being said, and the design - how it looks visually, both either determine, or are the consequence of, the hierarchy and function of the information. If your design has a concept that it is using to present the message, then the concept will lead the design decisions, but not at the expense of the information.
Please ponder what I am saying here. This is the key to creating a compelling design and visual message.
Again, how these elements of information are structured and work together - their hierarchy and order and emphasis - is the message. The design of the elements - how the elements look, their size, their position, their relationship one to one another - is the visual expression of that message. .
With Exercise 5, The Typographic Matrix, we gathered and organized designs that showed how type can perform a predominant information function, or several information functions, within a designed message:
• Type can EXPRESS:
- This is where a particular typeface becomes a voice for a word or phrase.
- Or the layout of words (position and spacing) can express the feeling of idea the phrase.
- Usually this is the most dominate part of the typographic message in size and position, taking center stage, with the other visual elements being secondary and not competing with it.
• Type can INFORM, as simple declarative words, without expression:
- This is where the typeface and the layout does not infringe in any way on what is being said with words.
- Most often, this approach calls for simple, clear, san serif type, appropriately sized and positioned in relationship to the other informational elements in the design.
• Type can be FORM, that can grab attention, but also express, as well as be information. Typographic form is more the shape of the letterform—positive and negative space created by the work, the line, and paragraph, as well as alignment—than it is the express voice of the typeface. This is what makes visual communication different from written or verbal communication.
• Type can also be MEANING, where the information, the function, the importance, and the hierarchy of the message are predominately conveyed by the visual structuring of the message. Another word for typographic structure is layout: the composition of the design, as well as the syntax of the message, which are two ways of looking at the same thing - communication as form.
Take a look at your typographic selections for the Typographic Matrix exercise, and you will see a collection of visual strategies and approaches designs use to convey information using type.
For a more in-depth scrutiny at how typographic design conveys different levels of information, let's look at my design attempt for the calendar project under Larry's Calendar post on the Class Blog. The designs are for winter months, December, January, and February, and the calendar’s design concept is based upon common simple words associated with the month and season.
Let’s look at the first month. It is December and the words that came to mind to typographical express the month were Ho, Ho, Ho. Visually,“HO HO HO”, has two distinctly different letters. The H is made of up horizontal and vertical lines, the O is circular. Syntacticly, “HO HO HO”, is verbal alliteration and has a particular punctuated rhythm or beat. Notice that I set the words in all caps and eliminated the commas to emphasize the form and the design of the word, and not its grammar.
In the same vein, the words that came to mind to express January were Snow, Snow, Snow. Visually, “SNOW SNOW SNOW” has two sets of distinctly different letters as well. The N and W are lines, the S and O are curved or circular. Syntacticly, “SNOW SNOW SNOW”, is verbal alliteration as well, and a punctuated, but slurred rhythm or beat.
Words associated with February were Blow, Blow, Blow. BLOW repeats the same pairing of linear and circular form, alliteration, and a verbal accentuated punctuated beat.
Remember, the design intent for the typographic calendar is to visually convey the meaning and feel of the winter month messages through a visual interpretation of associated words using signification and form.
Let’s get back to December.
HO HO HO is dominate.… so dominate, it takes up the whole layout. This is a type as EXPRESSION decision, as well as FORM, and MEANING.The form of the letters was emphasized by filling in the counter in the O, but not at the expense of the word, as you can still read it.
An interesting thing happened when the counter was filled in, the O starts to look like an object— a christmas tree ornament. So I added lines to visually emphasis the signification. I needed a christmas context for the message for the ornament signification to work better, but I decided I did not need to express the message by choosing a “christmasy typeface”, that I could express it with typographic form through color. I also decided that I did not need to insert a photo of Santa into the design, as that would have overpowered and killed the typographic concept and expression of the message. So, the background became green—a signifier for tree, and the type became red—a signifier for santa, and the two colors together visually shout CHRISTMAS without having to illustrate or write it.
I utilized three of the four information functions of type in this dominate typographic expression of the month of December using a very unexpressive san serif font. Sans serif type is easier to manipulate and add meaning to than serif and most obviously, decorative type. Decorative type in particular is so visually noisy, that it usually does not convey the other functions of type well, Decorative type is all about expression of itself, or the cultural signification attached to it. This does not mean that you cannot use decorative type to express a message well. It just means that it is harder to use it to perform the functions of type. Instead, I used type size, order, hierarchy, and signification of color, along with the words themselves to visually express the message through the sans serif typeface, and not from the typeface itself. This is the magic of typographic expression. You can create a visually expressive concept in a viewer's mind using type if you understand the power of design—form, composition, syntax, signification, and typographic craft.
Next, I wanted to add the calendar weeks and days. I decided that the preverbal calendar grid, that you all seem so visually fond of, would have infected my design like the Corona virus, so I did not use it. I eliminated it, and replaced its function — the separation of days, and the configuration days with weeks, to syntactically convey a month—with a juxtaposition of letters and numbers in a vertical layout of type. I differentiated the weeks with different weights of type, which again is a visual as well as a syntactic design decision. The calendar is mildly expressive, but primarily type as FORM and INFORMATION design decision. I used a sans serif typeface here as well because I wanted the calendar to somewhat express as form and message, but I wanted it to primarily INFORM.
The challenge now was to let the calendar stand out, but now overpower the expression, yet still be part of it. The H's in the design said, “layout it out on me”, so I did. With the typographic expression dominate, and the Calendar is sub-dominate, I now needed to add the name of the month, DECEMBER. Conceptually, visually and message-wise, the location reveled itself. The 25th cried, “Me, me - sit by me”. The color and the font choice was again determined by visual and message hierarchy.
Lastly, I needed to add the Description of Type. I decided to hold off for a few days, as the Calendar Project is not due yet, and I wanted the design to sit and settle and gel. I just finished adding the Description as I was writing this, and note that it is subordinate and primarily INFORMATION for information sake. Again I used sans serif as it was as obvious choice for an old designer like me, but I still added a subtle concept and expression, and even centered it on the top ornament, oops, I mean, O.
Now, some reason it seems some of you have been waiting all semester long for me to tell you how to design your projects. This is not how I teach. My approach is to throw you guys into the ocean of a design problem and help you learn how to swim without drowning. I will save you from totally killing your designs, but I will not design for you. Please do not think that I am asking you to micmic the design I just discussed. I shared my design process as a learning tool, and I illustrated that process with a solution to the design project. This same process is applicable to your design, but as your design concepts, your calendar months, and your typographic messages are different, your final designs will be also different, but they need to be good design with an expressive message conveyed with typographic craft. The only other thing that should be in common between your design and mine, is the objective of the design project.
Next step, go back at look at your designs. Analyze them based upon what has been said here. Look at your design’s hierarchy, its form, typographic expression, and meaning. Tone down the decoration where needed, and amp up the information where needed. Good form is always an imperative. Humans perceive a visual message in stages, but our eyes and mind do it so quickly than we think it is instantaneous. A designed message needs structure, order, syntax and hierarchy in order to be understood. I have conveyed a lot of design theory here, and if you are having a hard understanding what I am saying, then you might look at the design of a message as the choreography of an expressive dance. The dancer is the type, the composition is the dance, the music is the space of the page, and the message is the feeling you get from experiencing the performance. To those of you who can't dance, maybe this comparison is confusing you even more. At any rate, the final calendar design comp is due Tuesday. Dance with your designs a little bit more. and change things that need to be changed. Those of you who have not yet done so, also add a cover design, and let's see where your design is then.
On Tuesday, we are going to have a Video Conference review and critique of your designs using Zoom. To prepare, please set up a new post for this project. Title the new post P4a - Final Typographic Calendar, and upload your latest three months and cover design there without any process. Link the post to Design Projects.
I have also organized the class into three design groups:
• Group One: Aubree, Blythe, Rosa and Ryan
• Group Two: Madeleine, Bronson, Kelly, and Nathanial
• Group Three: Matt, Veronica, and Alli
We will video conference by group:
• Group One will conference from 8:30 to 9:30
• Group Two will conference from 9:30 to 10:30
• Group Three will conference from 10:30 to 11:15
Be ready and up on Zoom exactly at that time. We will conduct the conference through Zoom, and we will be referencing your design blog through out the session.
I will send each group an e-mail invitation on Monday. Just click on the invitation on Tuesday to access the conference.
It should be fun, or interesting at least.
