Project Three: Type & Hierarchy
Print
2018
Individual Project
About the Project
This project introduced us to typography, and how typographic variables such as scale, weight, line-spacing, and indentation can be combined with variables such as color, tone, value, texture, and position in order to create a poster that effectively conveys the typeface that we had been assigned. In my poster, I learned how to effectively use many of these variables in order to represent the typeface Futura.
Futura was designed by Paul Renner in 1927. The font favors simple geometric forms: near-perfect circles, triangles, and squares. The font is based on strokes of near-even weight, and the lowercase has tall ascenders which rise above the cap line.
Project Process
Sketches
Because Futura is a newer, sans-serif font that has a lot of geometric shapes, I wanted to create a futuristic type poster that was able to convey the quote “The typeface of today and tomorrow.” As a result, many of my initial sketches arranged the text in the shape of a skyscraper, or in a blocky, futuristic format. However, I thought these shapes were too cluttered, so I decided to experiment with lines and the letters in the Futura font itself in order to create hierarchy and make my type poster more dynamic. I eventually settled on altering the shape of the ‘t’, as it was the most natural letter to extend, and it gave me space to put other information, such as the date and the quote, as well.
First Digital Iteration
From the feedback I received about my sketches, I realized that there was no need to add any extra text, and that the only required words were the font name, the year it was created, and the creator of the font. As a result, my designs became a lot more minimal in order to reflect the simplicity of the typeface. After digitizing my sketch, I realized that the line design did not translate onto the screen the way I had hoped it would, so I began to experiment with other designs. I decided to minimize the number of shapes on my poster, and I tried to challenge myself to work with only horizontal and vertical shapes in order to truly convey how minimal the font was. I liked the idea of having Futura be bold and large, but thought that the width of the poster was too narrow, so I placed it on the side of the poster. I then realized that, because Futura was so geometric, each letter created lines, and as a result, it made a lot of sense for me to place the date and the creator onto the imaginary lines that the letters created. For my last composition, I played around with the hierarchy, and I eventually decided to have the orange on top as it popped out more. I also added a quote onto the ‘R’, and highlighted the word ‘future’ as I felt like it captured the essence of the font.
During the first in class critique, I was told that while my composition was on the way to being perfected, there were still many aspects I could play around with and fix. Many people felt that my hierarchy wasn’t necessarily there, as the dividing line between the ‘U’ and the ‘R’ and the fact that ‘FUTU’ and ‘RA’ were different colors made it very hard to read it as one word. I was also told that placing the ‘1927’ right at the ‘U’ created a lot of unwanted tension, and that I should line the words up with the bottom of the letters. My classmates also suggested that I play around with the color layout, and see how that could alter the hierarchy of my poster.
Second Digital Iterations
I fixed many of the small issues, like lining the words up with the bottom of the letters, and aligning the border of the background rectangles to the ‘F’ and the ‘R’. I also played around with the colors of the words, and settled on a deep gray for the ‘FUTURA’, as the black was too strong.
During the desk critiques, Mackenzie mentioned that I made very minimal changes to my type poster. She then suggested many ways I could alter the composition, like changing the colors of the background rectangles, and creating negative space between the words. She told me to create an entirely new file to iterate on, as staring at the same poster for so long caused me to become attached to it, and this way I would be able to come up with new ideas to iterate upon.
Third Digital Iterations
I decided to really play around with the idea of negative space and the minimalist feeling it evoked, so many of my third digital iterations had a lot of space between the words. I also liked the idea of having the 1927 bleed into the bottom rectangle, as it would give off a feel of being in the background without me having to reduce the scale of it. Eventually, I settled on having the gray rectangle on the bottom, as the orange rectangle was more eye-drawing, and as a result made more sense as the top rectangle from a hierarchal standpoint. While I liked the idea of having the highlighted ‘future’ inside the ‘F’, I felt as though it was too low, and would lose some of the emphasis I had placed on it. As a result, I decided to keep it in the bottom ‘U’, as it would still be low enough to create an amount of negative space, but it wouldn’t be so low as to get lost within the poster. I decided to place the ‘Paul Renner’ close to the top of the bottom rectangle in order to emphasize the quote more, as it would be the only object cutting into the negative space at the bottom of the poster.
Final Thoughts
Altogether, I was able to learn a lot through this project, especially the importance of hierarchy and how thoughts and emotions can be evoked through simple but effective designs. I received comments that my final poster was a large improvement from the one I presented previously during the first critique, but I was also told that the ‘1927’ was what drew people’s eyes the most, even though I was hoping the ‘Paul Renner’ would draw people’s eyes in first. However, I believe my final poster was simple but dynamic, much like Futura is itself.
