BRIEF

Design a type treatment for the band name assigned to you in Project 4 (Album Art). Then, redesign your album art to integrate that typography.

 

GUIDELINES & POINTERS

  • text must include the name of the band
  • you may add an album title, but it is not required
  • when choosing your font(s), consider how the shape and design of the letters relates to your own artwork and your fictitious band’s genre – are you choosing something stylistically similar that matches the art, or something deliberately different to stand out?
  • you can fill your text with solid colors, patterns, or photographs  – try a few options to figure out what works best with your fonts
  • if you want a special look for your text (destroyed/distressed, metallic, etc.) do it yourself. Free font websites are full of “special-effect” fonts, but you will always have better results and more flexibility doing it for yourself

 

FONT RESOURCES

  • Lost Type – free (optional donation), one of the best collections out there, HIGHLY recommended
  • Google Fonts – free,  large collection focused on typical/everyday use
  • Adobe Fonts – subscription (you have it through CUNY), very large professional font library
  • DaFont – free, mostly garbage but worth it for the occasional diamond in the rough

 

PROCESS

Step 1: Drafting

  • create an Illustrator document  at US Letter size (8.5″ x 11″)
  • design FIVE visually distinct type samples showing different potential directions for your type treatment
    • these do not have to be finished/perfect versions, just rough mockups indicating the colors, typefaces, and rough layout you plan to use
    • you can use the same typeface multiple times, as long as the design itself is distinct
    • include notes to indicate any special effects (photos, textures, etc) that would be too time-consuming to produce for a draft
    • export the document with your five drafts as a .JPG or .PNG, then post to OpenLab (see below)

draft layout showing five typographic treatments

Step 2: Adapting the Layout

  • save a new copy of your album artwork layout (to preserve the textless version)
  • recreate your favorite version of the text in the same file as the artwork
  • adapt and reposition the photomontage elements to integrate the typography into the existing art/design
    • see the slides for examples of type placement/integration
  • export your revised design as a PNG and post to OpenLab
  • export your revised design as a PDF and submit via Blackboard, along with your typographic drafts.

 

DUE DATES

Friday December 2 – typographic drafts

Tuesday December 6 – album art layout with integrated typography