Category Archives: Class Notes

Upcoming Dates to Remember

The end of the semester is fast approaching so you need to make certain you are aware of the followings.

Monday, May 12th – INTERACTIVE ZINE PROJECT DUE

Thursday, May 15th – Last day to withdraw with “WF” grade

Friday, May 16th – ALL PROJECTS ARE DUE (This includes any revisions that  you want considered for reevaluation for grades)

Monday, May 19th – FINAL EXAM AND LAST DAY OF CLASS

May 27th – FINAL GRADES POSTED

Classes 9 and 10 – Alignment, Justification, Tracking

Topics Covered

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
  1. Find  3 examples of bad kerning—good kerning, loose kerning, and bad kerning.
Homework
  • Complete these type book exercises from last week—Alignment, Variations
  • Reading AssignmentAdobe Typography Primer
  • Type Book – Alignment/Justified vs Forced Justified: down the handout with the complete instructions if you missed it in class.
    ADV1167-Justified

Class 8 – Type Variations

variation samplesTopics Covered

Most typefaces have different variations or styles. These are modified versions of the original or regular typeface. Some common variations are italic, bold and bold italic. Some typefaces also come in condensed or extended (expanded), but may also have other varieties like small caps, outlined, shaded or even more decorative with swashes. A few articles to review on the topic are Variations on a Theme and Styles, Weights, Widths—It’s All in the (Type) Family.

Vocabulary
  • Regular, roman, book
  • Type width
    condensed
    extended, expanded
  • Weight
    light, bold
  • Posture
    italic, oblique
  • Stress
    vertical
    horizontal
  • Contrast
    extreme
    medium
    low/none
  • Serif
    bracketed
    unbracketed
Homework

Type Book— This type book exercise is based on variations. Create a 6-page document. Each page must show a sampling of 3 character, comparing variations to type within each category discussed in class. The document for this assignment may be downloaded –>ADV1167-Variations

Class 7 – Multiple Page Documents

One of main projects of the semester will be to create a type book that each student will be able to use as reference as they continue their graphic design studies. The book is created using InDesign and consists of a variety of exercises.

The lecture for the day included a demonstration on creating and using multiple InDesign documents.

Topics Covered
  • Creating multi-page documents
  • Using the Page Panel
  • Working with Master Pages

If you need a little help with InDesign, here are couple of  video tutorials which may be helpful.

InDesign 5 – How to Work with Pages

 

Working with Master Pages – InDesign 6

In-Class Lab & Homework

In class we begin a 5-page document which should be completed and turned in on Monday, Feb 24. The instructions are as follows:

  • Create a 5-page document using the 5-column grid we set up in class.
  • The 5th column of each page will contain the following:
    Families of Type
    —Name of family
    —Timeline
    —Characteristics (at least 2)
    —Name of the font used
  • Use the first 4 columns as your art area.
  • Using the name of the famous person you selected, create an interesting composition with caps and lowercase or all lowercase type
  • Use lines and basic shapes to make your composition interesting.
  • Do 1 page for each of the five families of type.
  • Create a new composition for each family
  • Save your file as follows:
    ADV1167_yourlastname_5Families
  • Then save the file again as a PDF (which will be submitted) with the same name.

Samples for Reference
FamilyofType1 FamilyofType2

Class 6 – The 5 Classifications of Type

2014-02-10 12.52.03 Topics Covered

The 5 Classifications of Type – with so many typefaces, it is important to be able to distinguish and categorize the different varieties. Knowing the various characteristics of the different classifications will help to make identifying type a bit easier.

  • Old Style  (Garamond is one example)
  • Transitional (Baskerville is one example)
  • Modern (Bodoni is one example)
  • Egyptian or Slab-Serifs (Rockwell is one example)
  • Sans Serifs (Helvetica is one example)

The reading assignment, The History of Type contains all the information about the different classifications.

Homework
  1. Prepare for Quiz #1  for Friday, 2/21/14 (will include 5-10 questions covering everything we’ve talked about so far, including readings)
  2. Type Book – Choose a performer, famous person, or fictional character about whom you will do your type book assignments. You will use this person’s name or text about them to thematically tie the exercises together.
  • Create a 1-page document (use the grid in the Dropbox folder)
  • The document has 5 columns. In the 5th column, title the page: Anatomy and Letterforms
  • In the 1st to 4th column, type the name of your performer or famous person. Use these type specifications: Times, C/lc, approximately 120 pts and adjust if the type size is too big for the name you are using.
  • Align the baseline of this word with the first your horizontal guides
  • Use the LINE TOOL from your tool menu and PLACE a horizontal line indicating the baseline, meanline, and capline. These lines should be gray.
  • Use the LINE TOOL again and set lines and/or arrow to identify the following:
    • baseline (gray line)
    • meanline (gray line)
    • capline (gray line)
    • serif
    • counter
    • x-height
    • ascenders
    • descenders
    • When completed save your INDESIGN file as ADV1167_yourname_anatomy
    • Then save again as a PDF: Go to FIle > Export  > ADOBE PDF > ADV1167_yourname_anatomy.pdf
Doc1-anatomy
This is an example

 

Additional Resources