5 things to read and see
This week, read about creating typefaces for a variety of languages, learn about glyph positioning and the baseline shift and see a sharp spread on a cheerleader’s struggle with cancer.
5 things to read
1. A World of Typography: Creating Typefaces for Multiple Writing Systems
Designing fonts for a variety of languages and cultures in a great step forward in inclusivity by ensuring that different languages don’t get lost as more and more communication happens online. Mark Jamra and Neil Patel of JamraPatel specialize in non-Latin scripts and outline how their team comes up with new alphabets, as well as the training it takes to help design them.
2. The hot, in-demand career skill that could help you get a big job promotion
This article explains how more designers are becoming executives, and what skills designers bring to the table.
“I think what makes designers most successful is not just being able to visualize the product from a customer’s point of view but being able to leverage the expertise of the people that work within the company they are in and bringing that to the customer.”
- David Sherwin, author of Success by Design: The Essential Business Reference for Designers
3. Glyph Positioning and Baseline Shift
I’ve noticed that hyphens and dashes sometimes look as though they’re positioned much lower than they should be in type, but I’ve known why that happens or how to fix it. This article explains both.
3. Diet Coke Unveils ‘More Gender Neutral And Diverse’ Logo, Packaging And Flavors
Diet Coke is getting a redesign to modernize the brand and help appeal to a younger audience. Get a sneak peak of the new design and flavors.
5. If Brand Logos Were Affected By Their Own Products
This is a fun project by Italian graphic designer Marco Schembri that rethinks brand logos. The article provides a small taste of the designs and includes links to see the full project.
5 things to see
- Cull of the wild | Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University
This is a really smart way to bring in photos of the area to give the article a sense of place, while also representing the deer. The headline leading straight into the face and eyes of the deer is a great, subtle detail.
2. From the final four to chemotherapy | The Daily Emerald, University of Oregon
I think this is a really clean spread that uses color really effectively in the subheads and in the bar across the pages. The bar also unites the page, ties in all of the photos and divides the spread into nice, neat, easy-to-read chunks.
3. Sites + scenes of Japan | Ka Leo, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Photo spreads can be hard to do well, but I think this page is really sharp. The hierarchy in the photos is clear and there’s plenty of white space so that it doesn’t feel crowded. I just wish the main part of text wasn’t on top of what would have been a brightly colored and eye-catching image.
4. Back to school | Mustang News, California Polytechnic State University
If you were just scrolling through newspapers, it would be easy to think the photo was just a photo of a stack of books. The editing of the headline onto the book’s spine is really well done and blends seamlessly into the photo illustration.
5. 50 years of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy | The State News, Michigan State University
I really like using an illustration to tie together some of the biggest civil rights events over the past fifty years, and the lines and negative space continue to ask the question of where the movement is going next. It’s bold and stands out and does a good job representing the angle of the story.
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?
