logo
dan@odannyboy.com
12 Forbes Terrace
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
412.422.0555

WHO I AM

WHAT I DO

WHAT I'M
THINKING ABOUT

WHAT I'M STUDYING

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT I'M STUDYING :: ARCHIVED ENTRY

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Gestures

We talked a lot today about composition, the placement of things on a page. Gestures--making broad strokes on a blank page--can help explore the feeling you are trying to capture in type and the placement of your text. Is the movement organic? Mechanical? Loose? Tight? etc. And don't put everything center. Centering is easy. Finding how far off-center you can go, how far towards the edges, is more interesting. Don't be afraid of the edges. But be careful of the ragged right edge of text. Make sure the edges aren't too ragged. You don't want to draw too much attention to that edge for the reader.

When designing, don't throw away your early ideas. They might be cliche, but they might also be the most honest response to the problem.

An underlying grid structure can help organize your page, and can also help build variety within consistant pages.

It's sometimes hard to know when you are done with a project. The end is often simply determined by external forces (ie. a deadline).

During the second half of class, we looked at the work of Bradbury Thompson, an American graphic designer who "helped give definition to graphic design" in the US in the second half of the 20th century. His main contribution was the integration of type and image in advertising and in his "Inspirations" projects for paper manufacturer Westvaco.

posted at 07:53 PM in big ideas, design 101, projects, techniques, typography | comments (0) | trackback (0)

 

‹‹ preceding entries

 

SEARCH ENTRIES

 

CATEGORIES
3D (2)
alumni (3)
assistantships (3)
big ideas (23)
classes (16)
classmates (17)
cmu (12)
cognition (1)
cpid program (3)
design 101 (25)
design theory (20)
extracurricular (11)
faculty (8)
field trips (5)
hci program (4)
info design (3)
interface design (6)
meta (6)
money (5)
papers (4)
photography (5)
preparation (6)
projects (43)
readings (29)
software (8)
special guest stars (10)
student life (16)
teaching (1)
techniques (12)
thesis paper (4)
thesis project (1)
typography (7)
visualization (8)

 

WEEKLY ARCHIVES
Week of Mar 14, 2004
Week of Feb 29, 2004
Week of Feb 22, 2004
Week of Feb 15, 2004
Week of Feb 8, 2004
Week of Feb 1, 2004
Week of Jan 25, 2004
Week of Jan 18, 2004
Week of Jan 11, 2004
Week of Jan 4, 2004
Week of Dec 7, 2003
Week of Nov 30, 2003
Week of Nov 23, 2003
Week of Nov 16, 2003
Week of Nov 9, 2003
Week of Nov 2, 2003
Week of Oct 26, 2003
Week of Oct 19, 2003
Week of Oct 12, 2003
Week of Oct 5, 2003
Week of Sep 28, 2003
Week of Sep 21, 2003
Week of Sep 14, 2003
Week of Sep 7, 2003
Week of Aug 31, 2003
Week of Aug 24, 2003
Week of Aug 17, 2003
Week of Aug 3, 2003
Week of Jul 27, 2003
Week of Jul 20, 2003
Week of Jul 13, 2003
Week of Jul 6, 2003
Week of Jun 29, 2003
Week of Jun 22, 2003
Week of Jun 8, 2003
Week of Jun 1, 2003
Week of May 25, 2003
Week of May 18, 2003
Week of May 11, 2003

 

RSS FEEDS
Summaries
Full Entries

 

SUBSCRIBE
Want more spam? Sign up to receive this blog via email:


 


All straight lines circle sometime. - The Weakerthans