Project 3: Type & Hierarchy
Project Description
For project 3, we were given a specific typeface which we had to research and create a type specimen poster for. We had to create a hierarchy with the text, while using principles such as kerning, tracking, alignment along with Gestalt principles. We were contrained to using only the grey scale and one spot colour and only basic shapes.
Research
Garamond was originally created in Paris by Claude Garamond in the 15th centuary for King Francis I. It was one of the first typefaces created for print and was more economical and easier to print. After Garamond’s death, the typeface was sold to Christophe Plantin, who owned a publishing house. This was key in the distribution and popularity of the font. Most Garamond fonts today are interpretations of the original punches. Some noteable designers of modern Garamond fonts are Jean Jannon, Robert Granjon and Robert Slimbach.
Garamond is a categorised as an old-type serif. It’s considered one of the most classic fonts due to its elegance and highly readable design. Garamond has been used in a numerous ways: books, including all Dr. Suess books, logos such as Abercrombie and Apple.
Process Documentation
initial sketches
These were my intial digital iterations. I really wanted to have many layers and create a sort of texture with my copy and hierarchy. Garamond is such a classic and versatile font and I really wanted to show off how it could be used in so many different ways.
During interim crit, the feedback I got was that they were hard to read, especially the first one because of the alternating capital and lowercase letters. The justified copy was also hard to read for a lot of people. The fact that garamond had been used in all the Dr. Seuss books was really interesting, so I decided to use that as my inspiration going forward.
I decided to change my orientation to landscape to accommodate longer text and focus on creating very little white space to make it more playful and inspired by Dr. Seuss. I chose the spot colour as the green from Green Eggs and Ham. I really liked the effect of layering garamond and making it look less elegant and more playful. I thought this really brought out the versatiliy of garamond as a typeface. I had some trouble placing the ‘CLAUDE’ and ‘1561’ text without making the hierarchy confusing. I really liked adding the text background as it added an interesting layer and a good example of copy without being distracting from the main headings. I decided to develop this further, playing with the colours and placement of the different texts.
This was my poster for final crit, I removed all the black because I thought it created a really stark contrast with the green and I wanted something more subtle so I went with a dark grey. Having the dark grey and white layered added a shadow and made it seem more three dimensional.
The main feedback I recieved was that the Claude and 1561 was still placed awkardly and that the highlighted copy was heavier on the right. I decided to make a few minor changes to address the feedback.
I moved the Claude and 1561 to the bottom left and made it very subtle. I also tried making the highlighted copy more centred.
Final Thoughts
I thought this project was a lot harder than the previous one because there were so many variables and it was very open ended; I had a tough time narrowing down on ideas. But I am really happy with the way it turned out finally and it was really interesting to see how many different directions and ideas you can give out with just text.
