5 things to read and see
This week read about redesigning the Android emoji, graphic design’s role in filmmaking and see a unique cover about rising college tuitions.
1. How fonts are fueling the culture wars
This article is an interesting look at how cultural history has shaped our feelings towards certain kinds of fonts. For example, blackletter fonts were commonly used throughout World War II and Arabic has been changed to fit our modern world. It also compares the differences between Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s typography.
2. Redesigning Android Emoji
A deep dive into the process of redesigning something as large as an entire emoji library: from a new grid system, to repeating facial features, to gradients, there were key changes made to keep all of the emojis fun but cohesive.
3. Refreshing The Atlantic Homepage in 2017
The design team at The Atlantic did reader interviews and focus groups to determine what they hoped to get out of The Atlantic’s homepage. The team explains their findings in this article, how their user research drove the 2017 redesign and how they decided to design both a curated and news-driven homepage.
4. The evolution process from a junior level designer to becoming a design lead
This is a fun article that really captures the excitement and feelings of being new in the design world, as well as how people change and develop in design over time.
5. Graphic design for filmmaking with Annie Atkins
If you were inspired by the incredible graphic design in The Grand Budapest Hotel, this article outlines a workshop that the designer Annie Atkins held about design for filmmaking. It’s an industry that’s often forgotten about in the world of graphic design, but there’s clearly tons of fun and interesting avenues within it.
Page Designs
- Administrators run into barriers amid attempts to diversity faculty | The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern University
This is a good example of a solid multimedia piece. I love seeing banner images at the top of an article, as it really makes it clear that it’s a featured article. The interactive infographics were also a great way to keep the page from being too text-heavy.
2. “It is necessary” | The Daily Emerald, University of Oregon
Having the repeating text behind the photo is a really smart way to make a visual representation of a challenging topic. It would have been easy to make a generic bar chart about tuition increase, but this way is much more engaging, and the fact that he’s doing a thumbs-up in the photo perfectly ties into the point of the article.
3. Gender-inclusive restrooms at USD are just a starting point | The Daily Californian, University of California Berkeley
I think this is a great illustration to go on social media. It not only represents the subject matter well, but using the bears gives it a stronger tie to UC Berkeley students.
4. Laugh all weekend long | Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University
This page is very clean, and I think the use of the color orange is smart because it makes the page pop. I think having the large photo cutout is good because it gives the page dominant art, but I wish you couldn’t see the white peeking through the hair in the cutout.
5. People to know | The Post, Ohio University
This spread is clean and easy-to-read, but my favorite part is that it uses a design that is similar to its online counterpart, the orientation guide. The repeating use of hexagons was really smart and connects the content across platforms.
If you think you have a well-designed page or a good read to share for the next roundup, email me at shays2@elon.edu
Students, did you know you can join the Society for News Design for as little as $5 a month?
