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Typographical lessons from retail, the subway & the campaign trail

Typographical lessons from retail, the subway & the campaign trail. Brian Carroll Berry College bc@berry.edu. Typography : Big bu$ine$$. $300 million business in 2007 approximately 40,000 typefaces busy type factory will produce maybe three type families per year

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Typographical lessons from retail, the subway & the campaign trail

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  1. Typographical lessons from retail, the subway & the campaign trail Brian Carroll Berry College bc@berry.edu

  2. Typography: Big bu$ine$$ • $300 million business in 2007 • approximately 40,000 typefaces • busy type factory will produce maybe three type families per year • the effect of the personal computer

  3. Typographical lessons from retail, the subway & the campaign trail Three main points • Type is symbolic (semiotics) • The medium is the message • Less is more

  4. Typography: Is it textual or visual? Beware of false binaries!

  5. Don Egenstein, 1960

  6. it’s textual and visual!

  7. Type is symbolic, and symbols are learned (all of them), right guys?

  8. Right, ladies?

  9. What does this mean? In New York? In the Bronx? In Queens? In Georgia? In Ireland?

  10. The medium is the message On the doctor’s wall A wedding invitation The Holy Bible Welcome to Moes!

  11. A wedding invitation (hard to read, but pretty!)

  12. The Power of Type From retail: The Gap From underground: Mind the Gap From the campaign trail: Obama’s “O”

  13. The medium is the message • Why the new logo sucked: • Not enough contrast • Overlays = overlooked • Sharp edges unsettle • All caps = logo; lowercase = a word, or part of a word • Serifs honor the past

  14. The medium is the message • Why the new logo sucked: • Not enough contrast • Overlays = overlooked • Sharp edges unsettle • All caps = logo; lowercase = a word, or part of a word • Serifs honor the past

  15. The medium is the message 1990s 1950s

  16. The medium is the message 2010

  17. Mind the type New York subway system type re-done in 1966. It is still in use today. Helvetica. > G. a. horse

  18. Mind the type: How expressive should it be? I love Helvetica! I love Helvetica! I love Helvetica! or

  19. Helvetica and Gotham

  20. Gotham

  21. Electing a president

  22. Electing a president

  23. Electing a president • Type that looks like handwriting for “my” Obama.com • Gotham for branded URL • Serif for menu items (??) • Back to Gotham for LOGIN

  24. Electing a president

  25. Less really is more

  26. Less really is more

  27. Less really is more

  28. Some final thoughts • Type is saying things to us all the time – expressing a mood, an atmosphere, coloring the words • Every typeface has connotations. For Helvetica, think clarity, transparency, rationality, neutrality (Swiss!), purity, post-WWII idealism • But typefaces are also like people. Helvetica is heavy in the middle (it shouldn’t wear stripes!). It needs a lot of white space. So, in choosing type you aren’t unlike a casting director.

  29. Some final thoughts • You also are like a doctor fighting disease, the visual disease that is all around us. Type is the cure. Type can create order. --Massimo Vignelli • We see black marks. Type designers see white space interrupted by black marks. The missing notes. Learn to listen. Learn to see! • Typography is a servant art, like architecture. • With the democracy of the personal computer and easy-to-obtain typefaces, these are exciting times!

  30. Typographical lessons from retail, the subway & the campaign trail Brian Carroll Berry College bc@berry.edu

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