C Studio I Project 2: Visual Hierarchy

Elizabeth Han
Nov 5 · 13 min read

After receiving the brief on visual hierarchy, we did an introductory exercise on typesetting information through different rules of hierarchy.

1. Stroke Weight

Three varying uses of stroke weights
  1. Highlighting information that a user might need in order to go to the event. (Name of event, date, location)
  2. Highlighting the overarching category to indicate the purpose of the poster. (Theatre brand, website to theatre)
  3. Highlighting the names of featured plays. Emphasizes content/context.

2. Linespacing

Three variations of linespacing
  1. Division by type of information (theatre brand → season → types of plays → location)
  2. Division to highlight branding (theatre brand → types of plays → location)
  3. Division to highlight plays (theatre brand → play 1 → play 2 → play3 → location)

3. Horizontal shift: two flush-left margins

Three variations of indentation
  1. Indentation used for subclassing information under non-indented headers. Headers for theatre brand, play names, and location.
  2. Non-indentation to divide up information. Indentation for play types, location. Non-indentation for dates, theatre brand.
  3. Indentation to divide up information at a macro scale. Indentation for plays. Non-indentation for theatre brand + location.

4. Horizontal shift: three flush-left margins

Three variations of three flush-left margins
  1. Indentation to subclass information under headers of plays, by hierarchy. (two indentations used once to differentiate same type of information that runs on two lines. “Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt// from the book by Susan Hill.”)
  2. Indentation by more specified hierarchy. No indentation for headers of plays. (Highlights play names). One indentation for second hierarchy information (theatre brand, theatre location, description of plays). Two indentations for dates.
  3. (Most organized, by far…) No indentation for branding. One indentation for theatre name, play names. Two indentations for subclasses. Most hierarchical.

Above exercises will be better curated soon…

In-Class: Reviewing Hierarchy, Learning Colors

In class, we learned the four rules of hierarchy, which are:

  • contrast
  • proximity
  • scale
  • alignment

Sherry sent a helpful email detailing our discussion, as shown below.

We also learned about the different types of color theory in class. [picture of slide]

Framing the Pittsburgh Classical Theatre

Gretchen, Caroline and I also selected fitting words to describe our given theatre company. As we have yet to attend the actual play, we based our words around the descriptions provided on the website.

Some of the most effective words to describe the theatre were:

  • provocative
  • innovative
  • classic
  • powerful
  • ethical

Incorporating Color

After critiquing the above work based on the rules of hierarchy, as well as learning about color theory, we were instructed to iterate upon one of our best examples of hierarchy. One direction was to create three variations using different colors.

I first made some viable color palettes, based on the descriptions of the theatre above. I tried to select a“strong” color palette to align with the empowering message the theatre is trying to convey.

Left: Selected color palette from magazine cutouts. Middle: Sampled colors through Adobe capture Right: Rough digital rendering (more to be added)

Below are some variations of simple color palettes I tested.

Minimal color palette

Three initial variations of color. Text has yet to be divided up in chunks.
  1. Hierarchy through tint Decreased the tint of sub-information to decrease hierarchy without indenting or lowering strokeweight.
  2. Hierarchy through contrasting colors Emphasis on ‘PICT’ for highlighting brand. Light background with dark type — best for readability out of three, it seems
  3. Branding through color Nearly identical to 1, just using a more pinkish background. Seems much more vibrant, despite similarity

Grouping through Shapes

Examples of using shapes to group/ highlight elements.

Note: Grouping elements that are separate in text color through shapes is effective in creating relationships between information. The third one is a good example of that.

Color for branding

Rich jewel tone colors establishes the brand as a middle ground between classic and modern for PICT, without going too far in either end of the extreme.

The rich jewel tone colors were selected to highlight the middle ground between the “modern” and “classic” branding that PICT establishes. Color tinting across different lines of text were used to highlight hierarchy.

Hierarchy through scale

Next was type hierarchy through scale. I prioritized the names of plays at the top of the hierarchy, as “PICT” is a relatively obscure organization that the audience may not be compelled to learn more about. Rather, names of famous plays like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” can be a familiar “hook” for the audience to cling onto and subsequently learn more about the organization through a closer look.

With the audience in consideration, I also strived to achieve the feeling of “classic with a modern twist” as represented on their website description. Since we were required to use the calm, classic typeface that is Neue Haas Grotesk, I tried to be as adventurous as possible with the scale in order to convey the modernity.

Iteration 1: Creating rhythm

I first approached the initial exploration by laying out a 3x4 grid, formatting the text within the grid and breaking the grid in some moments on the page to create a sense of movement. Takeaways from the previous project regarding the grid and how professional magazines tend to “make and break” the grid helped inform my decisions.

Using type as graphics, rather than pieces of “information”. Tilting the typeface to create movement. Rhythmical distribution of text across the page

Across the three iterations above, I wanted to maintain a slightly unequal balance across the three plays to give a sense of rhythm.

The second one above aimed at creating a sense of blocks falling into a void, to convey how the plays pull you into a world beyond the reality (that is the white space). While the imagery was interesting, particularly the flow of text from one title to the next, I ultimately showed the third one to eliminate extraneous uses of graphics.

In-class Critique:

  • Do not make the typeface sizes of the different plays different!

Iteration 2: Conveying the “classic”

Iteration 2: scale

For the next iteration, I went for a more responsible approach, where the different elements follow a strictly boxy format. I adhered strongly to the grid in this step to convey a sense of reliability.

In-class Critique:

  • The layout is too responsible and not as engaging. Focus on the purpose of the poster, which is to draw in the audience to your content.

Iteration 3: Balancing “Classic” and “modern”

Iteration 3: scale

This approach took a more direct aim at trying to create a balance between the “classic” and the “modern” as PICT is trying to achieve. By enlarging their logo and cutting through the text, I wanted to convey how the “Classic Theatre” can have a little fun as well.

In-class Critique:

  • Cutting through “Classic” takes away from readability
  • The page is too busy with too many elements breaking the typical rules. If “PICT” is already broken up, then don’t tilt the bottom text.

Visiting PICT: Woman In Black

Day of watching “The Woman in Black”. Caroline, Gretchen and I were some of the only people under 50 years old…

After the critique Thursday during class, I went to watch “The Woman In Black” in person to better understand PICT’s identity.

The major takeaways were:

  • Classic Theatre trying to be modern? It still feels more “classic” than “modern” as they state on their website.
  • The majority of the audiences were seniors. PICT’s established audience base seems to be the elderly.
  • Modern elements: Vibrant lighting. Actors make use of the entire theatre space, including the audience area, rather than being limited to the stage itself.
  • Classic elements: The play itself (old English, old actors, old setting… Everything about the play was classic.)

Experimenting more with color + graphics

After receiving critique that we didn’t explore as much with graphics and color options, I ventured out to making more iterations with colors and graphics. I iterated upon my “rhythmical” iteration from before, further editing the layout of the text to interact with the graphics in the background.

Iteration 1: Rich jewel tone colors + minimal graphics

After being struck by how “classic” the play was, I decided to downplay the modernity of the text layout by selecting a more classic color palette, using rich jewel tone colors.

From the previous critique, I recalled how balancing out the small scale of secondary text through strong colors was very effective. As such, I decided to incorporate strong colors in the secondary text of the playwright and date.

I decided more emphasis on practical information as the dates through graphics or another color.

I flirted with the use of graphics here, trying out boxes and flowy curves. Seeing as how the text and graphic can complement each other’s dynamic, I delved deeper into creating the graphics in the next iteration.

1. Previous iteration, no use of color. 2. Color + boxy graphics. 3. Color + curvy graphics.

Iteration 2: Curves, Bursts, and Simplicity

The selected color palette already emitted a very classic feeling to the poster. As such, I became more adventurous in playing around with the relationship between the text and graphics. This boldness with the use of type, and the classic quality of the background imagery/colors continued down all the iterations.

1. Curves in text, curves in graphics.2. Fun bursts in text, fun bursts in graphics. 3. Statement through color. Boxes = organization, season, location (practical information)
  1. Create fluidity through text that follows a curve and curvy graphics. The graphics come in threes to match the number of featured plays.
  2. Create bursts through text and graphics that all have different axes. I wanted the text and graphics to almost bounce off of each other on the page. (The color palette matched the Irish origin of the theater. The boxy graphics gave a more classic feeling, despite their whimsical orientations.)
  3. Create emphasis through simplicity. Bold red color, with minimal graphics

Using Imagery

When looking for the right image for the poster, I primarily searched on Getty Images, using key words such as “intense,” “classic,” “surreal.”

The classic imagery

The above images were selected to strike a good balance between classic and modern.

I also searched for images that matched the color palette I had previously narrowed down to.

The classic colors

Images that follow the rich, jewel tone I had iterated upon before.

While I started the posters using the text layouts I had before, I wanted to let the text and the image speak to each other, rather than treating them as separate entities. As such, the layout of the text changed drastically with the chosen images, all the while maintaining the same hierarchy.

The classic imagery: Iterations 1 & 2

1. Intense look of the woman was captivating. Text surrounds woman to complement image. 2. Classical image matched with classic text layout. Aesthetic quality still draws you into the poster
  1. Human imagery + text: I was drawn to the intensity of this picture that I wanted to incorporate it with the “curvy” text iteration that I had from before. The text highlights the different features of her face to complement the imagery.

(In class critique: The text is treated too much like a graphic. Disturbs the readability.)

2. Classic layout: This was an iteration from one of the previous exercises, where PICT was split into two parts. In order to honor the central focus of the imagery that I chose, I decided to split up the elements to give emphasis on the plays in the middle through surrounding negative space. PICT was still split up to create more engagement.

The classic colors: Iterations 3 & 4

3. Emphasizing PICT, Visual interest through tilted text. 4. Leaves overlap on text to create interest. High contrast between text and imagery.

3. Emphasis through negative space After seeing how effective the previous iteration with the center composition was through a purposeful use of negative space, I wanted to further play around with not filling up the entire poster with text. I made use of the division of colors by the image to distribute different types of information.

4. Overlapping imagery on text + high contrast This was the most “effective” solution of all iterations. The balance of text across the three plays was well established. Organizing elements that come in threes was difficult, but the overall “flow” created by the layout was interesting yet balanced. The color was selected for high readability, but also complemented the image itself through pink details in the secondary text.

In-class critique: The last image was well received for:

  1. prioritizing the audience’s interests by scaling up the size of the play names
  2. incorporating the text with the image without turning the text into graphic elements
  3. selecting effective yet strong color palette for the text

Mason brought up a good point of how the secondary text was much too big. The reader should be able to see something new at a closer viewing distance, but the current text size took up too much space.

Killing the darling

I liked the woman a lot. I couldn’t get attached to the leaves for some reason.

While I agreed that the last poster was the most effective, the poster with the woman’s face was my “darling.” As such, I tried to make the text function less like graphic elements, and more like information, all the while complementing the image.

Micro iterations… From clarity to stylistic. The last one is bad for readability, but I liked the traslucency of the text for style.

While the straightening of the text helped break the text layer from the image layer, the more I looked at the poster, the more it felt like a teen-romance book cover — or a medical guide as Gretchen keenly pointed out. As such, I moved onto iterating upon the plants.

Final iteration

The main refinement dealt with the scaling of the text. When the secondary text was scaled back, there was too much negative space that were not activated. As such, I made the primary text bigger, resulting in some change in the overall layout.

(Left) 1. Secondary text too large 2. Primary text too small, too much negative space from far-away distance (Right, last one): Primary text sized well

I made a lot of micro-adjustments to help make the text fit perfectly on the page. There were lots of internal debates over

  1. how much the leaves should cover the text for readability
  2. how the flow of the text from one play to another should be
  3. how the alignment (or the lack of alignment) in the play names should be treated for a good balance between readability and playfulness
  4. how the secondary text should be treated (Note how poster #2 above has dates that align at the corners of the bylines, versus how the secondary text is left justified for the last iteration)
1. How much should the leaves overlap the text for readability? 2. How should the text be laid out for playful yet effective readability?
Poster for the final critique.

Final critique

The critique brought up how my poster was the only one that emphasized the names of the plays. It brought up an interesting point of how the client’s intent with the poster would be important to determine the hierarchy choices we make as designers. If the poster’s purpose is to get the audience to watch the plays, then my poster would be ideal. If the poster’s purpose was to get PICT’s name out to the public, my previous iterations that blew up the size of the logo would be more ideal.

Seeing as how there was little diversity of age in the overall audience of the play I went to, my poster would be effective in drawing in audiences of different age for PICT to gauge at their modern pursuit, as Vicki pointed out.

The last refinement dealt with fixing the awkward alignment issue at “A midsummer.”

The final poster

The final iteration

Reflections:

I really enjoyed experimenting with the affordances of type in this project. I especially liked how we were constantly balancing engagement of the audience and functionality of the poster. The push and pull between creativity and purposefulness is the essence of design, and it was refreshing to apply such principle into a project as fun as this one. I learned a lot about establishing hierarchy through different elements, beyond the typical “bolding” text as I had previously perceived it as. I feel that I have more tools in my arsenal to make people’s lives easier and more enjoyable through my work.

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