Week Four: What's Your Type?

I've actually really been looking forward to learning about Typography because ever since I learned what it was (through the always-wise Graphic Designer boyfriend) I've been fascinated with it. I've always noticed things like fonts, and what's an effective use of them, so the blog assignment this week was perfect: look for 3 designs and analyze their typography components.

I scoured the depths of the internet for my examples, but I didn't have to go much farther than my own backyard to find examples of typography in use. They might require a bit of setting up, so bear with me through my explanations.

This first example comes to me from the world of LiveJournal (yes, I have another blog, gasp!). I belong to a community (forum) there where people submit their secrets anonymously. The interesting thing about this group is that they edit images and put text over top of them to better communicate their secrets. The *fun* thing about this is that everyone submitting is amateur, so many of them have no idea of design concepts whatsoever. This is one of those people:

Okay, while this guy did do something cool with the colour, I'm not talking about that this week! I don't know what he was thinking when he chose this particular decorative font for his text, but if it was "Gee, I really hope this is totally unreadable when I'm done," MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Decorative fonts are meant to be used sparingly, such as in a headline or to emphasize one particular word in a body of normal text - not all right next to each other. As you can easily see this is an assault on the eyes, and the fact that it's in all capital letters doesn't make it any better, since that's even harder for the human eye to read. The only thing I can think of is that the author/artist was trying to be playful and cute with his message, but it gets lost in translation.

This next one is a video from the lovely YouTube. You wouldn't think you'd be able to find interesting uses of font on a video site, but you just have to know where to look! This particular style of video is called Kinetic Typography, which (in my layman's grasp of the idea) means animating text so it represents both what the text is describing and how it's being said. This video is animating a scene from Superbad.

Yes, there is swearing, so I'm giving a warning right now, make sure your headphones are plugged in, or you're somewhere where people don't mind a bit of foul language before playing this video!



This is a particularly clever use of fonts since the different type groups are used to differentiate between the three different characters. There's the Sans Serif for Fogell (or McLovin), Serif for Evan and Decorative for Seth. The type groups are also used to illustrate how the characters talk, Fogell in a more subdued passive tone - using the sans serif uncapitalized, Evan for a more grammatically correct medium tone - using the serif capitalized, and Seth for an obnoxious yelling tone - using the all caps decorative font. There are also font changes to emphasize important parts of the scene such as "McLovin" which is also blown up to illustrate its ridiculousness, and Fake IDs, which is what the conversation centers around.

In general, kinetic typography is interesting because it works almost purely with fonts to give the viewer a unique view of how a script or song lyrics play out simply based on the text. Pausing on words or transforming certain words into other shapes use the reader's eye to its fullest potential, instead of wasting it on using visual images simply to show how the events are transpiring. I personally think it adds an extra layer of humor onto this example, having already seen the movie.

My final example comes to you from the fabled boyfriend! This is his website - Check it out for more coolness!

The boyfriend belongs to a community where people design DVD covers for movies that already exist or are in the process of being released. It's a way for him to practice his design techniques while he looks for work in the big city, so I thought I'd use him as one of my examples since he loves typography and responsible for most of my knowledge regarding it.

The idea behind this DVD cover is closely tied in with the plot of the movie - a guy (Jason Statham) gets poisoned has to keep his heartrate up or he'll die. Basically like Speed, but with a person. My boyfriend (also named Jason) used the repetetion of the big blocky font (hey - a CRAP theory too!) to illustrate the high-enery fast paced tone of the film, going hand in hand with its actual title, not to mention filling the text with particularly memorable stills. Another neat thing about his design choice was to insert the names of the lead actors in the midst of all the busyness of the cover. The eye almost doesn't register them at first, but once it does, it makes the reader go back trying to figure out what they missed. I may be biased, but I did watch him go through the process of designing the cover, and this design appealed to me the most in the way it related to the plot/premise of the film.

So as you can probably guess, I'm pretty into Typography and will do my best to employ it in my designs!

Week Three: All Shades (and Tints!) of Sam

This week we learned about colour theory. Now I know a thing or two about colour theory from art classes in school from grades 7-9 (in which I made the aforementioned colour wheel). So I've already heard the terms analogous, complimentary, monochromatic, hue and saturation. Those last two are almost common knowledge among anyone who customizes their computer/web browser/instant messenger's colours these days (which I do).

I've always been fascinated with colour. One of the few things I retained from those (I guess I should have said *mandatory*) art classes was looking at shades and tints, and the word psychoactive. It probably has a negative connotation, but it just means a colour that catches the eye (the most being red). These lessons have influenced me so much in my choices regarding personal appearance I'd venture to say they transformed me in a way. I dyed my hair red (and black, because I love contrast) and the main colours of my wardrobe are black, white and red. It's not that I'm necessarily trying to draw the eye to myself in a narcissistic way, just that I want to show that with my contrasting appearance also comes a contrast in personality - I'm not just one way or another or (ironically) black or white. I have dimensions, and I like my choices in colour to reflect that.

I'm no expert, but I also know how much colour can affect or appeal to a person's mood. Not just the hue either, but the saturation as well. I generally like to surround myself with more saturated colours but depending on my mood they can give me a headache. For example: the walls in my apartment are green, but a very low saturation of a green (almost this, but less saturated) I would never normally think of liking. If it was as saturated or bright as the colour I just showed you I probably wouldn't be able to stand living here, which is a pretty serious situation of colour affecting an important part of life.

I'd like to think I have a heightened understanding and appreciation of colour because I take so much notice of contrast, that I can pick up all the minute differences in shades, tints, hues, saturations, etc. I picked a black background with monochromatic colour scheme for this blog (with a splash of complimentary colour) so it would be easier to read and have a unified look. Also I drew all the colours from the image I used in my header. See? I'm using the CRAP theory already!

Week Two: What Design Concepts are Bett'er'?

This week in DM we learned about the CRAP principles of design. CRAP stands for - Contrast Repetition Alignment and Proximity. Our mission (if we chose to accept it.. well not really since we HAD to do it) was to find a minimum of 4 images that demonstrated at least one of those principles and explain how.

I used mostly advertisements since those are the things you're most likely to find in downtown Toronto/on the internet looking for examples of design concepts.

(Dyson Ad)

This one I picked specifically for its contrast, which is the first thing that stands out to me when I look at it. Dyson uses gray clogged text to represent a statement about their competition, giving off the idea that they are inferior. Dyson then goes on to use bright yellow clear text for a statement about their company, using the power of the eye to interpret contrast to their advantage, making them look better in contrast to the gray clogged inferiority of others.

This ad doesn't only use contrast though as it employs very simple repetition by having the text for Dyson the same colour as their actual product, again associating the positive with their company. The left alignment of the vacuum cleaner also draws the eye to the product, making it clear what the advertisement is for. The proximity of the vacuum cleaner to the company's name ensures you'll remember what Dyson in particular sells.

(The Met Live in HD)

This Met ad I took note of for its interesting use of alignment. First off, using the fact that everyone knows the Met for its shortened name they use a whole new line for 'ropolitan' which also helps line up everything neatly in that paragraph. Everything in the ad is left aligned making the eye able to follow the start of new lines easily.

There is also a lot of contrast in play here. It's hard to tell in the scan but the lettering that looks gray is actually light blue which is a complimentary colour to the main red background, making the "HD Live", "On Screen", and "Cineplex.com" stand out in the sea of white text. The contrast between the large and small text makes it very clear what the most important information is. Also, the silhouette of the woman makes her stand out; bringing an artistic flair to the ad that otherwise wouldn't have been there. She is also a part of proximity in that the text frames around her so they work to emphasize each other.

(Sony Ericsson Walkman)

This Sony Walkman ad is re-influenced by its use of repetition. The actual body of the ad is surrounded by people all listening to and enjoying the product Sony is selling. This draws the eye in because it makes the viewer wonder what these people are enjoying so much, which is revealed clearly in the middle of the ad.

The actual phone itself is what embodies the remaining principles. It is aligned right in the center so there is no confusion about the ad's product. It contrasts everything else in the ad because it is so large which makes it impossible NOT to notice. The phone is distanced in terms of proximity from everything else so that helps it stand out even more.

(Path Sign)

This isn't actually an ad, but it's an indicator on the steps down to the subway station. I took note of this because of its use of proximity. The fact that all the different letters are different fonts makes it harder to associate them, so what the designer decided to do was space them far enough apart but use repetition in the form of squares to unify and relate them. Also the contrast of the bright colours against the black background makes them stand out so the eye notices them.

All these pictures have been examples of using the CRAP principles effectively. I'd now like to talk about not just an ad, but an ad campaign that has not used them effectively.

(Bell's marketing campaign)

Bell launched their new ad campaign (officially nixing the beavers from our memories) just last month, starting with billboards displaying a mysterious 'er' everywhere. The contrast of the 'er' dark blue over the white background, made it very clear that we were supposed to be paying attention to those letters. Then the nature of the billboards was revealed when Bell's official slogan "Today just got better" was released, the 'er's still standing out from the rest of the simple black text.

The idea of the campaign was that Bell was better, more improved than any other phone/internet/tv service provider. A pretty clear and effective message.

But now the ads are reading things like 'rocker', 'space invader', 'multi-tasker', and my mind is getting confused. I thought the contrast of the 'er's against the rest of the text was supposed to indicate an improvement on the original word. But 'rocker' isn't an improved 'rock', nor is 'space invader' an improved "space invade"! The emphasis gets particularly confusing when the letters in 'here' get singled out.

To me it looks like Bell was just looking for words that had 'er' in them to use for their ads without really thinking about what their intended message was. If they were trying to affix 'er' with a relation to Bell, they did a pretty poor job. When I see 'er' I think of "Emergency Room", or something someone says when they're confused. The fact that this campaign went through all the effort of contrasting the 'er's makes me as a consumer believe it's important to their company, but the message gets jumbled the more ads they make.

While the use of contrast worked well for them initially, the more words they used that didn't make sense in that contest made the repetition ineffective and more confusing, rather than clear. It's the folly of a good short-term idea made into a long-term campaign that has already, after only a month or so, lost its effectiveness.

Well that's my blog for this week, join me next week for more insights into Digital Media.

Sources:

"Bell's marketing campaign just got bett"er"." The Simon Tonekham Statesman. 7 Aug. 2008. 12 Sept. 2008.
"Dyson Ad: Text as more than just words." Authentic Boredom. 16 Oct. 2006. 12 Sept. 2008
Path Sign. Personal photograph by author. 11 Sept. 2008.
Sony Ericsson Walkman. Advertisement. Famous 13 Sept. 2008: 19.
The Met Live in HD. Advertisement. Famous 13 Sept. 2008: 8.

Week One: What DM Means To Me..

So you're probably wondering what I mean by my two DM's in my Blog's title. Or why I happen to capitalize Blog as if it were a worshiped deity. All these questions will be answered in due time, in fact, one of them in mere seconds; though the other will remain a mystery for generations to come.

The second DM stands for "Digital Media" which is a course I'm currently enrolled in through my program (Radio and Television Arts, or RTA) at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Chances are, if you're reading this blog on the internet you know a thing or two about what 'digital' and 'media' mean... or you're my professor. (Hey Jeff!) This blog's going to be mainly for spewing my own thoughts about the program or posting assignments I've done, this being one of them - to create a blog and make a post. Ta'da!

The first DM in the title is a reference of such extreme nerdiness that it pained me to even use it - but I am a slave to humor so I decided to use it at my own behest. It stands for "Dungeon Master" which is a term from the Role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. I am not, in actuality, a REAL Dungeon Master so I apologize for confusing any of you die hard DnD fans, but you won't find any dungeons or dragons here.

For anyone not really familiar with what Digital Media actually is, no worries, I'm in pretty much the same boat, so you can learn from and share in my experiences as I make posts through the duration of this course. My first impressions of Digital Media came from my boyfriend who graduated from college in Graphic Design this year. So I have a basic grasp of things like: Typography (fonts and typefaces), Flash (the program that makes all those funny cartoons you watch on the internet), Photoshop (the reason why the girls on the covers of magazines look so flawless), Colour Theory (I made a HORRIBLE colour wheel in high school), and all this other cool stuff I don't know the technical names of but would really like to learn to do some day! My impressions haven't changed since the first lecture, I've just gotten more excited since I sat down in THIS class about doing some actual production! We've been in lectures all week so it's nice to sit down and actually work on stuff.

I think this class is so valuable for anyone going into any form of Media (like my fellow RTA-ers), it teaches you how to appreciate and understand anything that you perceive visually. By understanding how colour theory, shapes, fonts, images affect a product or production you can turn your media from something average or mediocre into something that'll grab attention and really speak to an audience.

I'm glad I'm going to be in this course even though I'm not very artistically skilled, so I'll put a disclaimer right now - THIS IS NOT PROFESSIONAL WORK! I AM NOT A VISUAL ARTIST! I'M TRYING MY BEST, BE FORGIVING! This goes for any readers who happen to stumble upon this blog and my professor alike.

I guess this is a long enough first post, who knows if I'll have time to make these kinds of posts throughout the year since I know I'll be doing a lot of writing for all my courses. So we'll see!