As we move into the autobiographical Zine project, you will be putting to use the principals you’ve learned in this course and selecting a typefaces. It is important to select typefaces that work well together and not to get too carried away by using too many.
First, here is an interesting website I came across that is suppose to help designers match typefaces that work well together. It’s described as an online dating site for type. Give it a try, Type Connection, A Typographical Dating Game.
You should have your content (photos, illustrations, copy) ready for your magazine. Begin sketching out the order of your content. Bring everything to class. Bring your fonts if you need them also.
When you begin designing your magazines, you will have to select a font for the body text. There are some things you have to consider:
You have decide on the appropriate font. Reading it should be easy for your audience. You can choose a sans serif font or one with serifs.
You have to select the right body text size and leading. The point size of the body text should not be too large or too small. Also keep in mind the leading.
Selecting the body text alignment will also be important. Using a flush left will will have a more casual appearance. Justified text is more structured and will allow you to fit more text on the page.
For our next project, you will design an autobiographical magazine. We will refer to it as the Autobiographical Zine project. You will have to create and print a 12-page zine (not including the cover) about yourself. You will be required to use images and all the typographical implementations that we’ve covered so far. You will even include a table of contents and numbered pages (we will get to this in coming weeks).
A site that will be very helpful to you in the next coming weeks is Magazine Designing. You should bookmark this site because we will be referring to it often. There are plenty of tips and tutorials to help you with your design. I suggest you get started by reading the article Structure of the Magazine.
For class on Monday, March 17th bring a copy of 2 different magazines with you to class and we will begin to take a look at the common elements of magazine design.
Gotham is a typeface that is all around you every day. You’ve seen it but probably didn’t notice it. That is one of the things I like about Gotham. It has a strong, clean and simple design that is not over powering. Gotham happens to be one of my favorite typefaces to use—that is really an understatement. I use it on ALMOST every project I work on. I came across this quick video about the creators of the Gotham typeface and thought it might interesting for you to see the real faces behind some of the fonts you see everyday.
For the last few sessions we have been learning InDesign—creating new documents, creating guides and rule , adding text, kerning and tracking. As we have had the chance to experience digital typography, and we have had the opportunity to deal with variations in typefaces, such as different weights, styles and widths.
One of the new tasks was creating type on a path. Here is a video that will help you if you didn’t quite catch on during our class session. Even though this demo uses InDesign CS5, the technique is still the same.
Journal Items
Find 3 examples of bad kerning—good kerning, loose kerning, and bad kerning.
Homework
Complete these type book exercises from last week—Alignment, Variations
