I was initially briefed by Marcus and given the “Sapere Aude!” brief. The accompanying text was Kant’s “What is Enlightenment”. I tried to read the text on a screen when it was emailed. It was quite unapproachable – it was dense and contextually heavy. I’m quite a fond reader so when something challenges me I find it exciting, it got me thinking about the subsequent exercises and workshops that would work around it. I went to the library to have a look at some of the recommended texts and some others I thought exciting or potentially relevant.
I’ve used a few of them since for reference. it’s interesting just how rigid some of the typography books are, some are simply a list of rules to follow. It’s somewhat different to other elements of design, especially our recent ideas generation briefs. It’s been really useful to keep “Type Matters” open next to me when I’m working. It’s particularly useful to learn typographic terms and basic theory and is presented in a really clear way.
On Tuesday we began by discussing digital vs physical print and text. We talked about how physical print persists, there is no history within the digital text space – it’s all about the here and now. The historical aspect to the discussion was really eye opening. Originally printed matter had to appeal to the rich and upper class in order for it to get printed. Therefore ideologies within this circle were only reinforced with what was being written and published. Social media is a space where people can voice their individual opinions through text. It’s a platform where marginalised voices can be heard – we talked about the Black Lives Matter movement. It was then interesting to tie this area back to Kant’s text and the values of the enlightenment. Where individual freedom was celebrated. After this initial discussion we did a practical exercise.
We were given a sheet with text on it. We had to identify the problem with the type setting. The lines were too long. Lines should be about 10-12 words long to keep the readers attention. Also, the leading was off which again made the text harder to read. I started by cutting the text to a better line length. After setting the text in a traditional way, I wondered if there was any way I could look into the context and isolate certain areas to give them a higher importance on the page. This goes against the standards of type design in which nothing should stand out.
I took pictures of other people’s results and engaged with my table to see the reason behind their type set compositions.
Following this, I was challenged with creating the letter R using 4 squares. The point of the exercise was to realise that type and font is not only the line but also the negative space of the shape.
Moving forward, I’ve began to brain storm some ideas for my experimental period and outcomes. I’ve found in the past grids and rules inspire more creativity and innovation they also help focus the inital stages of work generation. After some basic idea generation and research I find a good way to focus my subsequent experimentation stage is to set a few rules to work under. These can always be tweaked and reevaluated after something has come out of them.
I was reminded that the content of the text wasn’t what the task was focusing on. This was an exercise in the technicalities of type. That being said I think it was still important to look into it, derive some of the principles that could potentially work into my typographic explorations. One of my favourite novels Frankenstein, critiques the enlightenment. I’ve come in with a preconception, I wonder if this will infer my reading of the brief and outcome.
Cameron Aitken Graphic Design 