show posters

When I was at Las Vegas, I noticed this poster of broadway show. I really enjoy this poster. The " LOVE" with organic lines and shapes to create an fantasy environment. The background colors and shape give us a feeling of the magic of Cirque du Soleil together with the spirit and passion of The Beatles to create an intimate and powerful entertainment experience. I haven't got a chance to see the show, however, I prefer its poster rather than the poster of "The Phantom of the Opera' which I did see it and really enjoyed the show.

On the other hand, the typography in the poster of "The Phantom of the Opera" seems more interesting than in "LOVE", yet there is one weak point that the "mask" between "T" and "M" is too close to each other. Hmm, is that the benefit that I took typography class!!

Logos of Las Vegas Hotel

Last weekend, I went to Las Vegas, a city full of cutting-edge technology, and splendid entertainments. To advertise the entertain, there are all kinds of advertisements, signs and magazines spreading over in this city. I then, unavoidably, look at logos of hotels and shows, and posters too. I collect some of them and posted here above. I especially like the one “Te No”, and think that I should redesign my own logo. I need to improve my brand identity to a simply yet meaningful one.

GAUGE speaker Austin Garza

About two weeks ago, I attended a GAUGE speech by Austin Garza. I really enjoyed his speech about his process of his work, his mythology, his experience, especially his philosophy. Mr. Garza has a different view aspect from other designer. He created a story for the project of Mexico City, the “Mexico eclipse”. Also, he likes to travel adventure to explore the nature beauty, such as his trip to Sahara desert. In addition, he took photos for his book. He is not just an artist but also a business man too. I really admire his creativity that he had some boring and ordinary project but he created brands and a series of relatives to promote the place and give the object a totally amazing look, for example, the project in LA and Xanadu shopping mall in New Jersey.
Above all, I think his lecture is well organized with the slide show as well as the sequence of his story. Further, I love what he said about Taiwanese people, hey, I’m proud of my people, and they are really what Mr. Garza said, good to be friend.

Morteza Momayez/Iranian graphic designer

While I take my classmate Christine’s advice and search for some Iranian graphic designer, I found Morteza Momayez, he was known to the greatest Iranian graphic design master. He introduced the Iranian graphic design to the world. He was referred to Iranian artists of new generation as the father of graphic arts. Also the 5,000-rial and 10,000-rial paper bills currently in circulation were designed by Momayez. I personally like his logo and identity design with the shape and color, positive and negative space. The above identity logo look very simple and strong in shape yet just significantly represent the subject company or organization.

Chinese Calligraphy

Two days ago as I checked on other classmate’s blog and I saw “Iran Calligraphy” which was mentioned in Christine’ blog, I do think that’s really unique typography. And yesterday, I company my friend to buy vitamin and visit this new branch drug store, I saw a four separate awesome canvas fill with Chinese calligraphy. Each of them is a Chinese character in different font type surrounded, in other words, they are all the same character in one canvas. So totally, there are only four greeting blessing words for a newly open store in four canvases. I think most them are pictographs.

Book Design

While I searched book design and checked the sources that my instructor Jimmy gave in the class syllabus, I found this very interesting and elegant book design in AIGA web site. I am so fascinated by the design. The book, A Little Book on Poverty & Glory, is a book about Protestantism. The typography is so elegant with rich illustration, the curves and position that set in the text. Even though it’s overlap, it’s still legible. Also the pictures that set in the top of the pages with the warm rich red, orange color and some organic and shapes echoes the illustration in the text. However, I have a problem with that “bread&tongue press” with bold and solid black caught more attention to the viewer than the body text did which is regular san serif in mid tone. Over all, I think this is very well designed book that would catch reader’s attention and want to read it over and over again, just like a painting, an art work.

business card design

While I'm designing my business card I searched some cool design and found this web site
(http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs) really interesting. In this blog/web site, there are various of ways, such as quality of a business card, shape, and display. I especially like marriage counselling one which is a red torn card with a scotch tape on it ; and separation lawyers one which is a perforated card demonstrate what a separation lawyers does. As for display, I prefer the one that the letters with extend tree branches.

grid systems

Note for ART413, A type primer p.152-181

In this chapter, I learn how to make a grid for a document/book, and I think it’s very useful when I create a grid system for my project III, a booklet. As this booklet has to be stylish and legible and meaningful for the design I make. So I have to consider the amount of the text/imagines, the kinds of text/imagines, the levels of meaning and importance with the text/imagines, the relationship between text and imagines, and the relationship between text/imagines and the reader. Also a grid is a system to organize and clarify text on a page and amplifying its meaning. In other words, it is a foundation of expressing one’s voices within the text through color and position on the page. In this chapter, the author display different kinds of layouts for display type and text, some of them look more tradition while the other more interesting. When design the text need less pictorial and more organic than with display type. When set a grid, first set in vertical axes and gutters, the vertical gutter should be around 2 ems of the text type; then set in type ruler and cross-align the body text to the type ruler; then set in horizontal axes and gutters, the horizontal gutter is determined by the leading of one line of text type. In addition, to set the caption and headline length/leading for the text, they need to be multiples of the text length/leading. Also, they need to be cross-aligned. Sometime if there are sidebar and text, they are required to do the cross-alignment too. In this chapter, it also introduces how to create grid for text and imagines. Above all, I think this chapter is very useful as a fundamental for my project; meanwhile, I need to check other source book for more diverse layouts.

Brand Survey

Brand Survey

In respond to the brand survey on McDonald’s and Jack in the box, Target and WalMart, and Verizon and Cingular,
McDonald’s and Jack in the box both are chain fast food restaurants, however, McDonald’s is the world’s largest one and successful one. McDonald’s is more customer friendly, especially to the children. Many McDonald’s restaurants have included a playground for children and most of its advertising geared toward children.
So McDonald’s give us a impression of family friendly, while Jack in Box seem to cling toward adult customers. Compare to their logo, both are all in a square shape, McDonald’s has a beautiful yellow “M” on a red square seem more fun than Jack in box the diagonal white letters place in a tint red square.

Target and Wal-Mart:
Target with its red target like logo, catch most of blue collar and student customers, while Wal-Mart with its blue letters and its goal “Save money. Live better.” Catch most of family customer, especially those low income families. My experience of shopping in target and Wal-Mart have a different feeling, in Target, most of products seem more designed and better quality than in Wal-Mart which emphasize in cheaper price.

Verizon and Cigular:
Both are wireless provider, after Cigular purchase AT & T, it becomes the largest one. First they use Cigular’s logo with a blue text, latter on they change to AT & T logo, and the name as well. Cigular provide customer cheaper rate, while, Verizon provide better connection as to price is higher than Cigular. Now Verizon is the 2nd largest wireless provider. In comparison to their logo, I seem to like AT & T with a earth like shape and blue diagonal strip cross over the earth, we can its ambition to serve/cover business all over the world. As to Verizon also has its significant logo, but doesn’t imply so much information in the logo. But it also imply the wireless signal in the logo.

abcdefg

Hey, I really like to thank you, Jennifer(my classmate in CSULA). As I read your blog and follow the link that you posted, I found this interesting video of kids doing calligraphy with his uncle. Though his uncle doing really good calligraphy, my eyes just keep looking at what the kids had draw out instead. And each time he drew one alphabet just amazed me that I will think how kids can do so unexpected yet adorable things. Especially, when he drew first heavy stroke, then he will look over what his uncle had drawn and add some line or curve of his own creativity. Just very integrity and nature, but very beautiful!!
PS: the URL for this video is http://drawn.ca/category/typography/ , and is under the abcdefg category.

story time

Couples days ago, I read our text book A type Primer, it mentioned about the golden section exists in the nature. And he points out an example—a spiral and a set of keys in the keyboard or piano that inspires me to think deeply that isn’t that this whole universal has its own mythic law that we more or less have to follow in order to make our journey successfully and smoothly. So as to typography design has its rules to follow. Today my professor Jimmy had this “story time” about typography design, and he introduced a book about the 10 rules for typographic design and 10 rules to break the original ones. They are all in one book and opposite side. I think that’s quite interesting concept and display.
As a beginner in graphic design, I need a lot of good information and knowledge to guide my road, build my foundation firmly. I’m a slow learner and I need more time than others to fund my basis. Anyway, I like the “story time”. Jimmy, please introduce
more good books to the class.

text

After reading A type primer from page 76 to 113, I have a clear picture of what the kerning and letterspacing is. Kerning refers to remove space from letters while letterspacing means to add space between letters. There are four kinds of text arrangement (flush left ragged right, centered, flush right ragged left, and justified) which Jimmy just reviewed this afternoon in the class. A successful layout should create a middle gray value, in order to achieve that, considering of leading and line length and choosing the typeface is the key. As author suggested that own a type specimen books is quite useful, even though we have typeface samples in the monitor.
A printed one can always show more clearly than in the monitor, especially in small size. As to ways of indicating paragraphs, I prefer add a line space between paragraph, cause that will less the chance of having widows or orphans in the text. There is always necessity to highlight text for emphasis requirement. And in this text book again author demonstrate clear samples. Further, he and Jimmy also point out the misusing on primes to apostrophes that I really don’t know until I take this class. Finally, the arrangement of headlines within text, which is also called hierarchy, shows the sequence and subordination between headlines. After reading this section, I have a clear idea of how to design the text in the book or maybe in the posters that have information text needs to be arranged in hierarchy way.

How meaning is formed

How meaning is formed.
After reading chapter 2 “How meaning is formed” in the book Visible Sign, I’m kind of confused by the paradigms and text, especially p.35, 37, 42 and 47.
The author tries to use Both Saussure and Peirce’s theory of categorizing sign to understand how we extract meaning from a sign. So the categories of signs which Peirce defined are icon, index and symbol, while Saussure defined are iconic and arbitrary. They are the same thing just in different words.
In the 2nd chapter, I do agree with Peirce’s semiosis “it is not a one-way process with a fixed meaning. It is a part of an active process between the sign and the reader of the sign.” In Saussure’s theory, he thinks “value” determine the meaning of a sign. And the value is composed of 2 things, a dissimilar and a similar thing. Isn’t this redundant?
Fortunately, in the page 48 and 49, I can understand the whole demonstration, and think that we have to crop imagines carefully so that they will convey the meaning that we want to display.
Overall, I think this book is quite sophisticated than we can understand, and honestly speaking, I really don’t enjoy most imagines in the book.

A type primer by John Kane

In response to the reading assignment of the textbook A type primer by John Kane, p.V-13, 52-73, I got a chance to review what I have learned from Introduction to Typography two quarters ago. And to use the right termiology as well. In addition, the author gives more detail demonstrations and other aspect as well. He displays 10 typefaces Bembo, Garamond, Janson, Caslon, Baskerville, Bodoni, Serifa, Futura, Gill Sans, and Univers. The demonstrations of understanding letterforms show us a clear and close up look at the letterform. As to the maintaining x-height section, I do remember that when I designed my own letterform two quarters ago, I had two characters “e” and “a” that needed to exceed the baseline and median in order to look optically same size as other characters “n” and “r”. As to form and counter form and reinforcing meaning sections, I did these exercises too. I like the demonstration of the word “train” which creates an illusion of perspective. As to the author demonstrate the word “dance”, he put the word in different corner of the square or split it or repeat it and occupy the whole square and or different arrangement, that give me a very clear idea and make me realize what he try to show the idea of placement of the word “dance” in the square suggesting different activities in a place. I especially like the section of making sentence, finding sense, it also give me a good idea of making my first project of advanced lettering and typography, that I need to make some of text really BIG to achieve viewer’s attention. Also, make the background color complementary color to the focus point which is a circle with the final destination in it.

Typographic systems

Have you ever wondered yourself that you have the talent to be an artist?
This Tuesday I spent whole day (and night) to make almost 40 layouts of 8 kinds of frameworks for the advanced typography class. I’m glad that my works caught others’ eyes. When I was trying to arrange these 8 kinds of framework, I found out that random system and transitional system were easier and freer to do than the other 5 systems and the result was equally good.
The assignment asks us to develop a set of directions. Unfortunately, I’m a person with little sense of directions. So I always print out the direction from Map request and highlight all the turns, street names, free way exits, and other landmarks that are important. Naturally, when I design the poster for directions, I capitalize all the turns, street names, and free way exits just to be considerate for drivers like me. In addition, I made it easy and arranged left turn directions on the left and right turn directions on the right. I also used spaces between directions to show scales of real distances.
Further, from the notes of Typographic Systems by Kimberly Elam, I learn that nonobjective elements, such as rectangular strokes, circles, rules and tone, can attract attention, control hierarchy and the compositional texture of the message. However, they need to be carefully placed or used so that will avoid overwhelming the message. I think this is very usefully and need to experiment in many ways.

John Maeda's art works

Simplicity

Because of a class assignment, I got a chance to know one of the outstanding graphic designer in this century-- John Maeda. John Maeda, a programmer and an artist, is a pioneer of linking design and technology successfully. I was fascinated by his speech at TED.com. The speech was about his recent book Laws of Simplicity and how he came up with the idea of simplicity. I really enjoy his clear and humor way of speech. Also, I like the digital calendar which was a bunch of flying letters jumping out from the bottom of the imagine, though it's kind of complex. However, just as he mentioned that man love complexity. As a graphic design student, I really encourage other students see this speech.
When a civilization came to a certain kind of over-developed, human being came to realize that what is more important to himself and what is real beauty; not all the material things or our outlook, on the contrary, it's the simplicity of the life, ourself. I guess that's why a successful and well known artist, John Maeda, try to simplify his life and art work off course.