Typography project

 Grid System

Grid system consist of a series of vertical and horizontal lines which cross and are then used to build solid form and structure into your design. The grid divides a two-dimensional space into smaller sections. Into grid sections the elements of design, like photography, typography and illustration are placed. Then, these elements are adjusted and fitted into the size of the grid section. Grid system provides you a solid base that can help you to present your content in a much more readable, consistent and accessible way. The grid system is used mainly by the graphic designers, typographers, exhibition designers and photographers because it helps to solve visual problems. Well structured and clear design will not only be read more easily, but will also be better understood and remembered.

Designing grid system:

1.      To create a balanced grid we should use the paper size as a guide. Most of the printed media uses the standardized DIN system.

2.   Then divide it into a grid

3.      And start designing by filling up the boxes with the images, type and other elements

Researched grid system instruction:

Source: http://markboulton.co.uk

The Golden Ratio

It is the ratio that describes how one measurement relates to another and is formed of 1:1.618.

It means that the ration of ab to bc is the same as ad to ab

If you divide each window again with the same ratio and link their corner you end up with a spiral.

This spiral can be seen in nature as well as in art and design throughout history.

Examples:

The Golden Ratio and Apple Logo:

Rule of Thirds

It is a rule which proposes that an visual image should be divided into nine equal parts by two spaced horizontal lines and two spaced vertical lines and then an important compositional factors should be positioned along these line or their intersections.

Typography

It is the technique and art of arranging font. The words that make up typography are typo (types) and graphy (drawing). Typography is important because creates clear difference in content.  

Typographic technicalities:

- Typeface should not distract attention from the transmission of the message, text. 

- Format: the bottom of the page is less valuable, the top of the page holds the most attention, elements that are close to each other appear to belong together

Type classification:

- Serif - has cross-lines at the ends of strokes

- Sans Serif - no cross-lines

- Script and hand-lettered - hand lettering

Glyphic- letters carved in stone

- Blackletter -  flat-pen hand-scripts

- Monospaced- each letter occupies the same space

- Display- less liable at text sizes

- Symbols - simple illustrations

Typographic measurements

1.      The size of the type is measured in points

2.      Point size is the height of the font ( 1 inch = 72 points)

Typeface alphabets

-          Correct spaces between letters and words.

-          Consistent spacing makes reading easier

·         Letter-spacing – the space between groups of words or characters, negative letter-spacing pulls text closer together, positive letter-spacing pushes letters apart. 

(Wide letters need more space than narrower letters and small letters need more space than longer letters

·         Measure -  the amount of space used by a column of type that relates to the number of characters per line ( a single column of text contains between 40-50 characters per line, multiply columns contain up to 80 characters per line)

·         Kerning – the adjustment and the space between two characters that require a certain look, for example “AV”

-          The length and spacing of lines conductive to easy reading

·         Leading – line-spacing, space between lines of text
·         Baseline –The horizontal line where text lines along


-          Common type terminology

-          The most commonly used type designs are Baskerville, Helvetica, Century

Helvetica

·         Designed by Max Miedinger

·         Sans-serif typeface

·         The square dot over the letter “j” and “i”

·         Horizontal or vertical cuts

·         Round forms

                    Century

·         Designed by L.B. Benton

·         Egyptian typestyle

·         Often used in textbooks

·         Curved brackets

·         Square Serif

                      Baskerville
·         Designed by John Baskerville
·         Softer typeface
·         Contrast between thin and thick
·         Round, bracket serifs

Alignment in Design

Alignment is about organizing elements relative to a line or margin. Alignment is important in design because it create a visual connection between related elements and allows you to arrange them in a way that matches how people naturally read the page.

Text alignments:

Left - each line is aligned to the left margin, and the right edge of each line is uneven. This alignment is mainly used  for images with left-to-right text direction.

Center - text is aligned to the midpoint of the right and left text box margins, and both edges of each line are uneven.

Right - each line is aligned to the right margin, and the left edge of each line is uneven. This alignment is mainly used for images with right-to-left text direction.

Justified  - the first and last characters of each line are aligned to the left and right margins. The lines are filled by adding space between and within words. The last line of the paragraph is aligned  to the right margin if text direction is right-to-left or to the left margin if text direction is left-to-right. 

Distribute All Lines  The first and last characters of each line are aligned to the left and right margins. The lines are filled by adding the same amount from each character. 

Idioms

Idioms are phrases, words or expressions that are grammatically uncommon or their meaning cannot be taken literally as they are metaphorically expressed. Examples:

Piece of cake – something is very easy to do

Break a leg –means good luck

Hit the books – means to study

My Phrases and their origins    

Black sheep - the least reputable member of a group who doesn't fit into because their character is not good enough. 

Origin

The phrase arose in the late 18th century, probably from an older proverb, "There's a black sheep in every flock." Black sheep, in those balmy pre-industrial days, were not as valuable as white sheep. None of the sources was explicit, but I presume white wool could be dyed into any color while black wool was more limited. Thus, the black sheep was the unwelcome oddity in the flock.

Sourced : http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1947/whats-the-origin-of-the-expression-black-sheep

As white as snow – Pure white. It symbolize the intensity of color on a bright winter’s day and also the purity of untrodden snow. 

Origin

Chaucer, Shakespeare and the Bible all contain versions of white as snow. For example:

From Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1602:

... What if this cursed hand

 Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,

 Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens

 To wash it white as snow? ...

The King James Version of the Bible, 1611, has this in Daniel 7:9:

 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

Blonde bombshell – used to describe an attractive, sexy woman.

Origin:

Popularized by a movie. In 1933, the platinum blonde Jean Harlow was one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood.  That year, Harlow starred in a movie called Bombshell (at the time “bombshell” in American slang was already being used to refer to incredibly attractive, flamboyant women, with the first documented case of this in 1860). One of the advertising lines for the film was “Lovely, luscious, exotic Jean Harlow as the Blonde Bombshell of filmdom.” When the film was released in England, they even renamed it “Blonde Bombshell”.

Sourced:  http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/09/origin-of-the-phrase-blonde-bombshell/ 

Red tape - The collection of unnecessary procedures and forms required to gain  bureaucratic approval for something

Origin:

Legal and official documents have been bound with red tape since the 17th century and continue to be so. The first reference to this practice is the 1696-1715 Maryland Laws:

"The Map upon the Backside thereof sealed with his Excellency's Seal at Arms on a Red Cross with Red Tape."

The first record of it being used in that sense is from The pleader's guide, 1796. This spoof verse, purporting to be the work of John Surrebutter (a deceased barrister) was a satire on the fussiness of English law. It includes the lines:

Nor would the Fates... Cut the red-tape of thy years.

This is part-way towards a metaphorical usage of the term, albeit still clearly referring to actual lawyer's red-tape. The first entirely figurative usage of 'red-tape' is Edward Bulwer-Lytton in Alice, or the Mysteries, 1838:

"The men of more dazzling genius began to sneer at the red-tape minister as a mere official manager of details."

Sourced: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/silver-bullet.html

Inspirational designs