type

(Questions what is?) 

1. Can a plant grow into a letter form-with the use of a cage or a wire frame?

 

2. Can foliage or organic material be incorporated into the letter form, while still keeping it legible? How much?

 

3. Can objects be used to complete a printed letter-form? Similar to Illuminated Manuscripts but with letters instead of bodies of text.

 

4. Can type be made more legible with added elements? Maybe elements that represent that letter, like an apple for “A,”

 

5. Can letters be used to create recognizable images

 

6. Can Organic materials be used to make a letter form

 

7. Can letters be used to make a specific letter form

 

8. How can type be portrayed in a new way? Like on trees or signs. 

WIRES

Ornate and complex typographic styles with smooth curves and dramatic ends have always appealed to me. The earliest, mass-published, example of this was the Illuminated manuscripts of Gutenberg’s Bible, in the 1450s. This was also the first use of the print press. The earliest surviving illuminated manuscripts are from 400 to 600 AD. The gothic period was a popular time for the illuminated manuscript and was primarily produced in Ireland, Constantinople and Italy. The majority of surviving manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, the 15th century Renaissance, and a limited number from Late Antiquity. Most illuminated manuscripts were created as codices, which had superseded scrolls. As a form of Rubrication, decorative drop-capitals were handwritten and illustrated in the margins and spaces left by the press. The amount of illustration in these bibles depended on how much the buyer would agree to pay. My taste is similar to the people of that time period. I prefer impressive intricate typography.

Drop Capitals are Initials that create hierarchy within bodies of text. The word comes from Latin, Initialis, meaning standing at the beginning. Initials are used today on stationary and company logos as decoration that is informative and enjoyable to look at.  Illustrative initials were important because they would help prevent forgeries.

The manuscript represents a style of typography reoccurring in the world today.  The word manuscript is derived from a Latin word meaning written by hand. Manuscripts found in books, magazines, and music publishing today are original (not printed) works by the author or composer.

about education

Paula Scher: Back to Show and Tell
Gordon Salchow: Two Myths About Design Education

Two Myths About Design Education

by Gordon Salchow

 

Myth number one:-that schools should avoid their own "look" and provide a broad education

 By having each student work on the same assignments instead of different ones.

 

PROS

     Uniqueness does not demonstrate understanding

     Quality portfolios

     Start out the same and you will grow individual.

     Easier to for a judge to asses a schools ability.

CONS

     Non-diverse outlook

     Non-liberal

 

Myth number two:-that practicing designers are the best design educators.

 They clame to be designers who teach, not teachers who design

 Virtually anyone can get a degree, at a community college or low cost university  with loans. And from personal experience at a community college, the graphic design teachers don’t even have to be good. Their evaluators are not "teaching designers".

Because the evaluation of a students artistic ability is, in part, subjective; know two colleges, or teachers, will give exactly the same score.

Why? Because, unlike a 50 question, write or wrong, biology test or a 5 page research paper, art is personal, individual and particular. People like different things.

 

ME: I agree that working parallel to my fellow design students is better in many ways that following my own original direction. As a design student I understand the importance of group collaboration. 

I agree that a teachers main goal should be focused on improving the students ability instead of on improving their own abilities or trying to challenge their own skills.

 

Paula Sher: Back to Show and Tell

Designers learn by fallowing the teacher and understanding what she has learned over the years.

 

I agree: this theory is also true with any skill. This is what separates us from animals and allows us to grow, continuing the research of our fathers.

 

 

     

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