David Carson

I had seen David Carson's Ted Talk on typography before. He is intrigued by the emotional response a viewer has to a story just simply by the typography that is used to present it.

How can two signs saying the same thing evoke a two different emotions or responses?

TYPOGRAPHY

A No Parking sign, for instance, can either come across as being a heard threat or something you disregard, just based on how the sign is made. It just goes to show that graphic design is everywhere. We use it as indicators for location, communication, self-expression, reinforcement, etc. All of this visual communication in the world is traveling toward a more minimalist approach, according to David Carson. He uses an example of a minimalist sign that had been vandalized by graffiti done in a minimalist style.

Magazine Spread Logic

Why use more than one column on a page? 
Multicolumn grids provide flexible formats for publications that have a complex hierarchy or that integrate text and illustrations. It increases the amount of flexibility for each spread as well as provide another element to add to hierarchy that integrates with images.

How many characters is optimal for a line length? words per line?
A line should be about 12 to 14 inches long. When working with a 9 pt to 12 pt font, it's reccommended to use ten to twelve words or sixty to seventy characters per line.

Why is the baseline grid used in design?
It's a great guide to base all the layout elements and serves as an anchor. 

What are reasons to set type justified? ragged (unjustified)?
To create a clean shape on the page and be the most efficient with space, justify type. If awkward spacing has been created from justifying type, sometimes flushing left and jagged right can be a better solution. It creates more of an organic feel for the page.

What is a typographic river?
A typographic river  occurs when the spaces between words in a body of text form and connect between lines to create a continuous white space that flows between lines.  This is a no-no and should be adjusted, for it can be distracting for the reader.

What does clothesline, hangline or flow line mean?
This is an imaginary line positioned on a page where the designer designates to hang text from on that page.

What is type color/texture mean?
Type color can be influenced by the leading or space between lines of text. Smaller lines = bolder type color. Thicker lines = less type color. You can create texture and contrast in typography by alternating between bold and thin typefaces. 

How does x-height effect type color?
Typefaces with high x-heights require more leading than those with smaller x-heights. So if you are looking for bolder color, use a typeface with smaller x-heights.

What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?
There are a variety of ways a designer can indicate a new paragraph. A few ways to start a new paragraph: indenting, extra space between lines of text, or the use of the paragraph symbol.  The only rule I'm aware of for new paragraphs is that the first paragraph in a body of text should not be indented.

Ryan McGinley Uncovered

Word List to Describe Ryan McGinley's Photographs

Strange

Natural

Calming

Erotic

Provocative 

Sensual

Naked

Raw - frank and realistic in the depiction of unpleasant facts or situations. strong and undisguised.

Colorful

Demanding

Nostalgic

Magical - beautiful or delightful in such a way as to seem removed from everyday life.

Fantastic

Mysterious

Subtle

Innocent

Personal - of or concerning one's private life, relationships, and emotions rather than matters connected with one's public or professional career.

Comfortable

Open

Beautiful

Saddening

Embarrassing

Meaningful

Striking - attracting attention by reason of being unusual, extreme, or prominent.

Elegant

Harmonious

Tense

Tender

Private

Impromptu

Staged

Nude

Connected

Familiar

Momentous

Realistic

Cultural

Progressive

Ridiculous

Loving

Carefree

Candid - truthful and straightforward; frank. (of a photograph of a person) taken informally, esp. without the subject's knowledge.

Unfolding

Documentary

Experimental

Exciting

Shocking

Crude

Spontaneous

Emotional - arousing or characterized by intense feeling.

Telling

Alive

Emotionally Raw

Strikingly Candid

Magically Emotional

Striking and Raw

Candid Personality

Rawly Emotional

Ryan McGinley in Conversation with Gerald Matt and Synne Genzmer, September, 2007, Kunsthalle Wien, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln

In your photography you take up Nan Goldin’s idea of a visual diary, making portraits of your friends and your own generation. How do you feel about being seen as a successor to her? Or do you rather try to distinguish yourself from her?

Ryan McGinley: When I started making photos in the late nineties I was very influenced by Nan. I remember looking at her book The Ballad of Sexual Dependency in 1997 and thinking, who are these people? Where are those places and where can I sign up? The world she created through her photographs mesmerized me and inspired me to make photographs of my own friends. After I was photographing intensely for about a year or so, I realized that I was actually creating my own world.

I was a fly on the wall shooting what was going on in my life, which was spontaneous and exciting. We were all on drugs, having sex, writing graffiti, hanging out at parties and having a great time. It was all so fun and I was having fun documenting it. I would never not have my camera and I was never not working. All of my subjects were willing collaborators and they were excited about being photographed. They were all artists in their own right and understood what I was trying to do. I wasn’t trying to imitate Nan. When you live in downtown Manhattan each generation of kids that are involved in that culture seem to be all doing the same thing. After about two years I couldn’t wait for things to happen any longer. I took a new direction in my work and started setting up situations to be photographed. They still were in the same vein as my older work – 35mm, grainy, spontaneous shots. The only difference was that they were more thought out. I would choose locations and people and had more of an idea for what I wanted to accomplish with the photographs I was making. It was a departure from documentary photography, and I guess that’s when I started to distinguish myself from photographers like Nan Goldin. I suppose I started to develop my own style and find my own voice.

Over a period of three years you photographed close to 100 Morrissey concerts. Your images are mainly of groups of people, the audience and individuals involved in the event. The image of the mass and of the individual results in a mood portrait of the musical event, recording ecstatic moments, feelings of belonging and collective emotions. What is interesting for the photographic eye in such relationships of tension?

RM: I started shooting the Morrissey concerts because I’ve been a fan of his music from a very young age. His lyrics spoke to me; they were so close to the things happening in my life. When I started taking pictures I would go to the shows and sneak rolls of film in my socks and hide my camera in my underwear. I’d be in the crowd shooting Morrissey and my friends that I attended the concert with. When I started getting the photos back over time I decided it had to become a project. The concerts tied into what I was trying to accomplish in my nude work. People losing themselves in the moment, acting out, bathed in light. It was about a subculture that I felt an affinity with. I put a book together of the photos I had made so far and brought it over to Morrisey’s record label. Strangely enough, Morrissey’s manager was also the manager of Elton John who, from the beginning, had always been a collector of my work. I got granted permission from his manager and the man himself to shoot wherever I wanted throughout the concert. Shooting the shows required a different approach than my other work: I had limited time to make the photographs and was shooting people that I didn’t know. I would always start out between the barricade and the stage for the first three songs and make photos of fans that go to every show and follow him around the world. The beyond-dedicated fans. The fans that wait 24 hours in the freezing cold to secure their spot up front. When I’m shooting, I’m looking for the person that is really getting off. The fan that is either in hysterics, screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs, or hypnotized by Morrissey on stage.

I’m always trying to preoccupy people and distract them so they are unaware of the camera. The concerts were perfect for that reason. The loud music is disorienting. Everyone is fixated on Morrissey. I had the freedom to investigate people without them being aware of my presence. After shooting up front, I would either shoot the sea of people from above or navigate my way back into the heart of the audience where the most action was happening. Fans jumping around, being pushed and pulled, drinks flying in the air. This was the spot that was by far my favourite place to make photographs. It was always so difficult shooting under these circumstances but that’s what was so appealing to me. Reloading my camera in the most difficult situation possible was a challenge. I had to be like a hunter in the crowd to seek out fans who were losing their heads in the moment. The ones transfixed and the ones in action. The stage lighting played a part in that series. After attending so many shows I knew how the songs would dictate the light and when the bright lights would bathe the fans in every color of the rainbow. In the early stages of the project I would be constantly dropping my camera jumping around in the audience. The back would pop open often and the film would get exposed. I was very interested in the result of this and decided to start experimenting with my film before the concerts. I would expose to all different kinds of lights. Sunrises, sunsets, TV’s, house lighting, colored bulbs, etc. I began a journal about what would happen to the film after each exposure. I would then re-shoot the exposed roll at the concerts and mixed with the stage lighting it would give me a new and exciting color palette. That’s why the colors are so rich and saturated or very muted and pastel. I shot close to 100 concerts all over the world. The greatest part of any project was that I got to listen to Morrissey, my hero, when I was taking the pictures.

Your photographs sometimes show the subject either forgetting themselves in a particular moment or looking self-consciously into the camera. To be photographed has become so much a part of everyday life that it is either not noticed or is taken for granted, an oscillation between self-forgetfulness and self-presentation. Do you look for these particular moments? Do you also stage them?

RM: I don’t stage my photographs but at the same time they are not documentaries. I make these moments happen by putting certain people in certain situations. My subjects are usually friends or someone that I might have met at a club or walking down the street. I seek out interesting people that I know will perform for my camera, people with dynamic personalities, in much the same way that a director finds an actor they like to work with. I like to think of my photographs as happenings. Like the happenings of the 1960′s and 1970′s. I find a beautiful location that functions as a backdrop. I use inspirational photographs to figure out what direction I want the shoot to go in. They range anywhere from amateur photos from the internet, screen-grabs from movies and TV shows to naturist documentaries, photographs from vintage pornography, nudist publications, camera periodicals, and artists I’m inspired by. We start off by looking at a lot of imagery and ideas and then narrow them down to a few that feel right and work that day. Then I let them run free and direct them with a very loose hand. If I want something to happen I’ll make it happen or if something I didn’t expect happens and I liek it I’ll go with it. It’s usually a waiting game. You can only direct someone so much before their personality takes over and they offer me something I never would have expected. I shoot a lot of photos and when editing find that one image that is perfect from that one shoot. If I make a successful image it will get across my idea, the gestures of the subject will be casual, the light will be perfect, the composition will work, and the feeling will be real. I like to be surprised when I get back my film. That’s the exciting part of making photographs; you never have full control and you never know what might happen. Each roll of film is like a little gift under the Christmas tree.

You had your artistic breakthrough with pictures of urban youth culture, documentary images of a sub-culture, the world of the skateboard, graffiti and music. A few years ago you shifted your settings to the natural world outside New York. Has the treasury of urban motifs exhausted itself?

RM: When I first move to New York I never wanted to leave. I think I might have left the city once over a period of seven years. All I wanted to do was stay out late and roam the streets of New York. Ride my bike around and end up anywhere. Being a young teenager coming into the city from the suburbs also had a big impact. Skateboarding around the city was inspiring. I was exposed to all different kinds of worlds. Being uptown observing the businessmen and cruising downtown to the vagrants underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Hanging out with kids of all races and economic backgrounds. Utilizing the urban landscape to have fun and do tricks. I guess the way I got into making photographs was making skateboard videos in high school. I realized I was more interested in the in-between moments that happened and people’s characters on the videos rather than the skating itself. Looking back, I see that making those skateboard videos is very similar to the way I work now. Back then it was all about the trick and doing it over and over again until you landed it. In my photo-shoots nowadays I might have someone do the same action numerous times. Running back and forth, jumping around, falling until the person can’t do it anymore. I like to push my subjects as far as they can go. I often find the best results happen when someone is so physically drained they are in a state of exhaustive bliss. I loved photography graffiti writers because I identified with their insanity. These crazy kids that wrote their name tens of thousands of times all over the city. Hanging off rooftops 15 stories up to make their art. I felt the same making photos all day and night everyday and night. I was so fascinated by that lifestyle. I was always up for an adventure and never afraid to get in trouble. All of these subcultures tie into one another. Skating, graffiti, music; there are so many crossovers. Music has always been a large part of my life, defining the way I dressed, my attitude, my beliefs. All of these elements play a large roll in my photographs.

http://www.americansuburbx.com/2012/10/interview-ryan-mcginley-2007.html

Ryan McGinley Introduction

Ryan McGinley, an American photographer from Ramsey, New Jersey, was born in 1977. He currently lives and works in New York City after graduating from Parsons School of Design with a B.F.A in Graphic Design. He discovered his love of taking and collecting photographs during his time in design school and created a book called The Kids are Alright, which he distributed at his exhibitions. McGinley had his first public exhibition in 2000 at a DIY opening and in 2003, was the youngest artist to have a solo show in the Whitney Museum of American Art. 2003 was McGinley's year, because he was also awarded Photographer of the Year by American Photo Magazine. McGinley continues to take photographs and has since appeared in countless exhibitions and shows. Here are a few examples of his work:

http://ryanmcginley.com/

http://models.com/models/ryan-mcginley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_McGinley

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/ryan-mcginley_n_4151128.html

http://www.vice.com/read/the-kids-were-alright-v15n5

The History of Typography

I rewatched The History of Typography and was pleased to realize I'm beginning to understand the language of type. The video is not only visually compelling, but it's filled with information on this history of type classifications, what characteristics each classification possess, and the some examples of fonts to give a full picture snap shot of typography.

Some facts I picked up after watching the movie again:

Blackletter, the first typeface by Guttenberg, looked great when scribed, but had difficulties with legibility when printed. The introduction of Roman Type helped solve this issue. Because it was designed based off of straight lines and regular curves, the clean marks it made made it more legible and appear much lighter in weight compared to Blackletter.

Italics were initially created to save money. By setting type at an angle, it allowed printers to fit more letters on a page. We now use italics for emphasis.

One of my favorite parts of the video was when the comparisons between Old Style, Tranditonal, and Modern were all made within the same frame. It visually depicts the changes in type classifications over time in a concise manner, something that can be difficult to do without losing the attention of someone that doesn't know much about type. When it's shown this way, it becomes easier to understand:
Old Style has thick serifs and low contrast between thick and thin lines
Transitional has thinner serifs and high contrast between thick and thin lines
Modern has very thin serifs and extreme contrast between thick and thin lines

Advertising was a major influencer in type design. As marketing became more important, so did creating eye catching typography. Because of this, typefaces were made taller and bigger so they could be more visible on posters and billboards. This also opened the doors for experimentation in type design. Some were more successful than others, but this also lead to Egyptian typefaces or Slab Serif typefaces.

The last section of the movie touches on the different kinds of sans serif fonts. This was an area I felt pretty knowledgable about since my current project is on Gotham, a geometric sans serif.

FUSE

FUSE magazine was about a lot of things, and in many ways, ahead of the curve.
It was about reclaiming typography, exploring form, making it sculptural, organic, show depth, be more architectural. The magazine was about exploring the edges of legibility, abandoning the grid, and making typography beautiful and poetic again.

Some designers created more than one typeface, but here is a list of all of the participants of FUSE magazine and their reinterpretation of typography:

Neville Brody - played with negative space, free form, loss of identity, restructured stories, half this form and half the next form
Gerard Unger - asked the question of why we need 26 characters to communicate...why not just 10?
Barry Deck - grunge, legibility
Paul Elliman - typography about people
Rick Vermeulen - morse code
Phil Bicker - graffiti, tagging
Tobias Frere-Jones - pollution, architecture free form, conversations turned into characters
Cornel Windlin - mechanical
M&Co - uppercase wrong, lowercase right
Mario Beernaert - painterly
David Crow - abstraction of corporate culture
John Critchley - free form body parts, hiding, shredding
LettError - promise
Xplicit FFM - textural
David Crow - DNA
Florian Heiss - surveillance
Function - Tourist version in Japan
Anna-Lisa Schönecker - spoons
Jason Baily - MS

TOBIAS FRERE-JONES

Reactor - Typeface for FUSE magazine

is an American type designer based out of New York. He currently works with Jonathan Hoefler at H&FJ, a font house, that has produced some of the most beloved fonts of our decade. Frere-Jones is best known designing the fonts Gotham, Interstate, and Archer and for participating in FUSE magazine. The photo on the left is an example of his typeface "Reactor" that redefines typography in a polluted sense. The more you type, the less legible it becomes.

Since Frere-Jones is a living designer, he was featured in the film Helvetica. Here is an interview of him and Hoefler that was used in the film.

H&FJ in Helvetica




NEVILLE BRODY

Neville Brody Work Wall

is an English graphic designer, art director, and typographer. He graduated from the London College of Printing and Hornsey College of Art to receive a BFA in Graphic Design. Brody is known for having a strong punk rock influence in his work, which was a popular genre of music in London at the time of his education. In his early years of design, he focused mainly on designing album covers for a variety of bands, such as Depeche Mode and Cabaret Voltaire, but his involvement with The Face Magazine (first publication in 1980) was what really made his name popular. He moved on to work for London Newspapers, The Guardian and The Observer,  and numerous magazines, City Limits, Lei, Per Lui, Arena, and Actuel. 
Brody currently works in his own design studio, Research Studios, alongside Fwa Richards. Their company is located in London, Paris, Berlin, and Barcelona. Anything from typeface, packaging, and website design can be found in their portfolio. Brody is also well known for his involvement/founding of FontShop, a typeface foundry based out of London. He has designed typefaces for FontShop, as well as, FUSE, a magazine that he helped initiate. 

JOHN CRITCHLEY

Critchley's typeface in FUSE, Ollie, which depicted
typography with the sensation of hiding.

is an English typeface designer that joined Nveille Brody's Research Studio. He later became the Art Director of MTV Networks in Europe and more recently was placed as the Art Director of the cultural institution in Europes largest ceneter for the arts, Southbank Centre. He now works in a variety of media for clients, touching on advertising, television, film, publishing, and record companies. His most recent endeavor involved forming Visual Material, which incorporates print, animation, and web design clients. 













JASON BAILEY

Sclerosisscript, a typeface designed to communicate
through the restrictions of MS.

There wasn't a lot of information on Jason Bailey, but I found a quote from him on the subject of his typeface in FUSE, Sclerosis Script, which helps explain his purpose behind the design:

"One of the most frustrating aspects of MS," he says, "is the way in which one's ability to communicate is impaired. I have tried to translate this frustration into the font Sclerosis Script. The letterforms that make up the font are digitized examples of my mother's handwriting, with certain characters having had their 'natural' kerning relationships with other characters greatly exaggerated. Thus, like the condition itself, the experience of using Sclerosis Script cannot be completely controlled."







RICK VERMEULEN 

The packaging design for FUSE 6, which used
morse code as a typographic system

is a graphic designer based out of the Netherlands. He attended Rotterdam Academy and worked regularly for Bert Bakker as a participant in Rotterdam's Graphic Workshops. In the late 70s and Early 80s, Vermeulen was the editor of Hard Werken magazine, a cultural tabloid that made considerable national attention. The company went into financial crisis, relocated to Amsterdam, and renamed the company Inizio. He still works for Vermeulen and has since designed two typefaces for FUSE.
‘I don't think anything designed should be considered as art. It's not only about the experimentation with form. There is always a client’










GERARD UNGER

Decoder typeface featured in FUSE 

is a graphic designer from the Netherlands. He studied graphic design, typography, and type design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Unger has had a very strong academic presence in the world of design. He has taught Typography and Graphic Communication at The University of Reading (UK), Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam) and Typography at the University of Leiden. He lectures frequently in Holland and abroad, about his own work, as well as, type design, newspaper design, and related subjects. In his career, he has designed stamps, coins, magazines, newspapers, books, logo's, corporate identities, annual reports, and many typefaces. 
Unger's typeface, Decoder, challenges the idea that we don't need 26 characters to communicate. Why not have a typeface that uses only 10? 

All Things Typography

As Typography progressed and technology advanced, fonts began to develop characteristics and style. Today, we have a variety of classifications for fonts.

OLD STYLE
It all began with Francesco Griffo's designs of the punchcutter. Influenced by During this time period (1475), everything was made by hand and therefore, mimicked letterforms as if handwritten.
Defining Characteristics:
wedge serifs
slight diagonal stress
contrasting stroke weight
scooped serifs
Font Examples:
Bembo, Garamond, Bookman

No significant advancements or trends changed in the typographic world for a while. 280 years to be precise. But naturally, as time passed, technology advanced. Typographic tools were invented to make more intricate marks, which in turn, created more font styles.

TRANSITIONAL
This font classification showcases the transition in the 1700s from Old Style to Modern, hence the name, Transitional.
Defining Characteristics:
greater contrast in stroke weight
slight vertical stress
typically wider than Old Style
bracketed serifs
tall x-height
Font Examples:
Baskerville, Century, Caslon

25 more years pass with a little more font evolution

MODERN
Inspired by the Transitional font classification, the Modern typefaces were born in the late 1700s.
Defining Characteristics:
hairline serifs
vertical stress
mathematical
high contrasting stroke weight
unbracketed serifs
Typically wide letters (M&W) are condensed and others (P&T) are expanded
Font Examples:
Didot, Walbaum, Bodoni

SLAB SERIF (EGYPTIAN)
Vincent Figgins introduced slab-serif typestyles in 1815 under the name Antique. During this time period, Egyptian artifacts were extremely popular, which inspired the name of this font classification by typefounders.
Defining Characteristics:
thick serifs
medium contrasting stroke widths
monoweight
stress on curved strokes is minimal
usually unbracketed serifs
geometric/constructed
Font Examples:
Swift, Rockwell, Serifa

SANS SERIF
The name alone describes the root of this classification. No serifs. William Caslon IV released the first sans serif typestyle in an 1816 specimen book.
Defining Characteristics:
Monoweight, typically uniform stroke weight
Vertical Stress
Geometric construction typically
Some combine organic and geometric characteristics
Further Classifications with Font Examples:
Geometric - Futura, Gotham, Din, Kabel
Humanist - Frutiger, Meta, Syntax
Grotesque - Interstate, Trade Gothic, Accidents Grotesque, Helvetica

Here are a few definitions to get you on my nerd level

Proportions of the letterform
There are four major letterform proportion variables that end up having a large impact on the appearance of a typeface.
Ratio of letterform heigh to stroke width
variation between the thickest and thinnest strokes of the letterform
width of the letters
relationship of x-heigh to the height of capitals, ascenders, and descenders.

Stroke Weight
Describes the thickness/width of the major lines comprising a letterform.

Axis/Stress
The visual axis created by the relationship between thick and thin strokes. Can be left-angled, vertical, or right angled.

Small Caps
A set of capital letters that have the same x-height as the lowercase letters. Often used for abbreviations, cross references, and emphasis.

Lining Figures
Numbers that align with the height of the captial letters and the baseline

Non-Aligning Figures
Also called Old Style Figures. Numbers that are have varying alignments. 1, 2, and 0 align with the x-height; 6 and 8 have ascenders; and 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 have descenders

Ligatures
Two or more characters linked together as one unit, such as ff and & (which originated as the combination of the French word et ("and").

Dashes

Apostrophes

Optical relationships within a font
Adjustments purposefully made to correct spacial problems between letters. Pointed and Curved letters have less weight at the top and bottom guidelines, which makes them appear shorter. To change this appearance, the apexes of these letters go beyond the baseline and capline so that they appear to be the same height as the other capital letters.

Type Measurement
The point system of measurement was created by Pierre Simon Fournier, a French type designer. Before 1737, there were no standards for measuring type. The current system, developed in the 1870s uses the point and pica system of measurement.

72 points in an inch
12 points in a pica
~6 picas in an inch

There are three dimensions of type design:
The depth of type is measured in points and called the point size or body size.
All metal type must be the same height (called type high) so that it prints at a uniform impression.
The width of type is called set width, but it varies usually from letter to letter. M & W are the widest and I is the narrowest.
The length of a line of type is measured by the sum of the set width of each character and the spaces in between. It is measured in picas.

text type - Size 12 point type and less is used mainly for body copy.
display type - Type over 12 points and is primarily used for titles, headlines, signage, etc.
Metal type maxes at size 72 point type and has a minimum of 5 points.

A few terms

Type House/Font House

A collaboration of designers that focus on type design.

A few well known Font Houses
House Industries
H&FJ
Adobe
P22
Underware
Typophile
Font Brothers