Breaking the Rules --[Louis.03]

According to the creator, this dps was put together within an hour. By been aware of widely applied rules such as rule of the thirds, balance negative space and a clear focus, one can quickly formulate a spread that's instinctive in hierarchy and sound in structure

but if you've read the lecture: it isn't over until it "sings". Grids are rules, but rules do not have to be rigid and formulative. Angled grids lead your eyes with exciting moments around the page.

before your brain make sense of the words, you see shapes the paragraph made in relation to its surrounding. Without reading a word, you already gotten a rough idea of what the article is about.

Another example showcases this by making shape with text blocks that closely derived from the background image. See on the right page. The photograph used utilizes the triangle to create "stress" and dynamics within the image, and thus the over all feel of the lay out.  The focal point at the end of the street in relative to the store creates a triangle shape that focuses your attention into the street.

text block fits into the space of the building and is aligned to the vanishing point. Not only did it give perspective and a 3rd dimension unlike the normal 2D flat layouts, it breathe personality into the page, and the text integrated into conveying the same feeling, tone and message that it was meant to deliver.

Not unlike the Carson example from Chris, it now sings.  

Louis

Breaking the rules

Typography as we all know can be incredibly powerful, with the ability to elicit a reaction even before the meaning of the works have sunk in. I believe that it’s usually important to adhere to the most obvious conventions such as having using an appropriate typeface and not using too many typefaces in one design. In some cases, choosing a typeface that is difficult to read can be effecting, if used in the right place.

For example, David Carson creates near illegible typographic designs. These actually help to make the design, as it was put in the lecture, ‘sing’. They create a solid work of design alone, and without being read, already help to create a feeling for the work. David Carson gives an interesting talk on TED.com reflecting on his work, and the emotion it conveys. A personal favourite line from the talk by him, said when trying to read his own design, “I hate this stuff, it’s hard to read.”

So long as the typography is intelligently set, breaking from the grid can be quite effective, I believe sticking to the basic typographic rules helps to keep the work clear and legible. For example this website is still navigable - http://www.kutztown.edu/acad/commdes/

Traditions and conventions in contemporary contexts.

”The Swiss Style can be defined as an authentic pursue for simplicity – the beauty in the underlines of a purpose, not beauty as a purpose in itself.”

The Swiss style is based on grids, with design elements being strong geometric shapes. Some will say that it is been used too much, but I still find its simplicity striking.

One of the Swiss styles most used font is Helvetica.

“I don’t think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word ‘dog’ with any typeface and it doesn’t have to look like a dog. But there are people that [think that] when they write ‘dog’ it should bark.”

Massimo Vignelli in the documentary Helvetica.

By designing in a Swiss style way, you will have rules and guidelines to follow. They are there for a reason. I am not against breaking the rules, but knowing witch rules you break and which effect you want is crucial.

Week 6 Homework.

For the purpose of this task I have chosen to analysis the 2011 UNSW branding requirements. Created by Saatchi and Saatchi, this comprehensive, 65 page brand guide is an excellent tool for maintaing control and consistency.

The updated UNSW brand is made up of a 5 elements;

1. the logo

2. the new tag line "never stand still"

3. the band system

4. the grid

5. the typographic requirements

The use of these 5 elements are described in precise detail, ensuring that the end result is exactly inline with the guidelines.

LOGO

The UNSW logo comes in two variations, portrait and (if necessary) landscape. These two logos are limited by four main elements to prevent the logo being reproduced in an illegible manner:

1. colour restrictions

Seen here are the positive and negative versions of these logos. The logo can also appear on white, and there is a greyscale version of the logo.

2. space around the logo

The space around the unsw logo is defined by x - which is different for the portrait and landscape version.

portrait: x=width of letter U

landscape:x = 1/2 width of shield

3. size of logo for different mediums (print, web etc)

colour restrictions

4. backgrounds which create low contrast of the logo, or distract from the logo.

This explains the two above points. The good thing about this visual language is that it clearly demonstrates what designers should never do.

These logo restrictions are really important in maintaining the brand as the logo is the most recognisable part of the UNSW brand. I believe these guidelines are an excellent tool for maintaining consistency with the brands most valuable element, and cover almost all grey areas where designers could faultier.

TAGLINE + BAND SYSTEM + GRID

The "never stand still" tagline is a new edition to a long, unchanged UNSW brand and is intended to add a fresh message. I personally don't love the tagline, but unfortunately it ties into the more important guidelines for the band system and overall grid.

The band system, like the logo, is also restricted by size/proportion, colour and surrounding space.

The band always features the UNSW logo, the header/body typography and a band of arrows which change colour depending on whether it is for the master brand or for a specific faculty. For example:

I think my biggest issue with this is that the COFA faculty is a very depressing, boring and monotonous grey - which is disappointing and quite contradictory. Whats even worse, is that COFA doesn't get any mention other than this band throughout the entire style guide - which I feel makes the separation between the two universities even wider.

However, from a designers point of view the system for creating this band and the integration of the grid is rather impressive.

Firstly, it explains in laments terms how to create the band.

But then , in precise detail - refers to the grid for the correct placement of the band and proportions of the elements contained within it.

The page margin is equal to 1:18th of the page, and then the page is divided by 8 columns and 10 rows, the gutter of which is equal to 1:4 of the gutter. This creates perfect proportioned grid every time.

The band system fits onto this grid at a height of 2 rows, and can move up and down the grid within the margins.

here, the band is then also divided into 6 horizontal lines, which the logo scales and fits into perfectly.

The logo and text takes up three lines, with 1 line of safe area whilst the arrow band takes up 1 line.

The final element of the brand guideline is the consideration for typography. The brand uses two typefaces - Sommet (for headers and sub headers) and arial light ( for body copy)

They then explain how to use the typefaces in a multitude of ways using a pre-defined baseline grid.

All in all, I believe this branding guide line strongly guides designers in a clear (though perhaps too comprehensive) manner - maintaining a strong identity. The evidence is clear throughout campus. The only negative thing I can think of (which I suppose depends on the way you look at it) is the limitation on creativity for UNSW branded design, which would potentially lead to boring posters that become lost within each other, and offer little distinction between each other.

Herbert Bayer + Ray Larabie

Herbert Bayer (April 5, 1900 – September 30, 1985), was an Austrian creative artist, gifted in various fields from painting, photography, architecture to typography. He studied at Bauhaus in his early 20's and was appointed director of printing and advertising after his final examination. Bayer developed a Universal typeface which was designed using all lowercase and sans serif letters, but this only existed as a design as it was never casted into real type. This design had demonstrated quite a unique element towards typeface design, with this technique of using all lowercase. It has opened up a large field for future designers to consider when creating new typefaces.

Ray Larabie (born 1970) is a Canadian type designer, who started sharing his works over the internet in 1996. Especially his designs in his personal typefaces, LarabieFonts.

With the use of technology, Larabie was able to digitally create his types, manipulating them in all sorts of ways. But most importantly, he was able to conveniently share his design via the world wide web. He has demonstrated a contemporary method to create and share typographic designs. Compared to Bayer, who was unable to physically create the Universal type design, as well as being disadvantaged to the technology Larabie now has to share so fast and conveniently.