MMc401.2 'Typography'

Type is power.

As part of my multimedia design FD course I have been set a brief to research 4 idioms and produce 4 typography design containing a chosen idiom.

For inspiration I will be looking into contemporary typography to make sure that i'm up to date and current with my designs. When researching for a project I like to use 'Instagram', its always useful for finding the current standard of work. I started following '@TYPOGRAPHYINSPIRED'(www.twitter.com/typographyinspd) 

They post daily, you can also submit your work to be posted on their page. I found some fonts I like and some typography designs that have inspired me and provoked me to create something as good. 

I have found a guy on Instagram Called Luke Tonge, he's a graphic designer and magazine art- directer based in Birmingham, he also used to work in Nottingham. He's a typography wiz and he posts photographs of typography from all over the country. I've decided to follow him. http://luketonge.com/the-recorder-issue-2/.

I've also searched on Behance and looked at other students work to give me a firm idea of what standard is expected of me.

Having looked at the current standard I am going to research into the history of typography and try to find its origins. 

I've found out that the creator of typography was Johanus Gootenberg he created the first ever movable-type printing press (letter press printing) and the first typeface 'blackletter' which was designed to look like it was hand written. He introduced printing to Europe which started the printing revolution and was then regarded as the most important event of the modern period. 

What is letterpress printing?
'Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing using a printing press, a process by which many copies are produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable type into the "bed" or "chase" of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type which creates an impression on the paper'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterpress_printing

The next type face was created in the 15th century by the french-man Nicholas Jenson who madea definitive break from 'blackletter'. He created 'roman type' which is similar to Times New Roman which is used most commonly today. He worked in Venice as a printer and was inspired by the lettering found on ancient roman buildings.   

Typefaces remained similar until the 18th century when 'old style', 'traditional' and 'modern' fonts were created; old style has low contrast between thick and thin strokes, where as 'modern' has extreme contrast between strokes and 'tractional is somewhere in-between.  

After researching the history of type I've begin to look into how culture effects typography and I've realise how beautiful typography can be, typography is power, its the power to express ideas visually, its the power to change the way we perceive everything around us. Its timeless but always changing. 

The artists I've looked into have each displayed love for type and I've recently found a blog by a girl named Nikki Villagomez its an insight to her time traveling across cultures to find type, old and new. She expresses pure glee when finding unusual type like this, its inspiring. 
https://nikkivillagomez.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/buzzing

Alinement in design 
 There are many benefits for using girds in typography, a grid introduces order to any layout and brings efficiency and continuity and after learning of  the basic design principles for typography, Ive learnt my designs need to be carefully alined, as such I've started reading a book called 'Making and Breaking the grid' by timothy samara. Its all about structure and freedom in design using grids Its given me a great understanding of how and why I should be using grids in my work.

These are a couple of grids I have recently been learning about;

The golden ratio ;- otherwise known as the 'Fibonacci sequence' is a system that appears in nature, it is seen in petals on a stem and vegetables like artichokes. put in more simple terms, it is the size, proportion and placement of one feature compared to another. It has also been used in architecture for thousands of years, and has recently been used in web design. Many layout grids often follow the Fibonacci sequence. 

The rule of thirds;-  This grid system is used in many areas 
of media, its more commonly used in photography, the idea being that if you split a design into 9 equally balanced sections, then this will create a more interesting and natural feel to the design. Using this system can help you understand the places on a design where someones eyes are naturally drawn to.

An Idiom;

'Is a phrase or fixed expression that has figurative, or sometimes literal meaning'.
For this project we have to use idioms with colour, (for example 'a heart of gold') I will be searching online for idioms that I find interesting and their histories so I can decided which idiom's will provoke more creative designs. 

Once in a blue moon;  means that somethings happens very rarely, the expression comes from the myth that there are 3 full moons in a season, and the fourth being very rare but why blue? the word comes from the old english word 'belewe' which means betrayer. Before the Georgian calendar was formed the church used to calculate the date that easter would take place using the cycle of the moons. when a blue moon appeared in the sky this would be a fake indiction of easter and in fact was called a 'betrayer' moon. 

Show your true colours;  again in the Georgian era, ships used to be identified by the flags they would fly and which colour they flew determined which country they belonged to. British ships were often fooled when pirates would sale under different flags until close enough to attack, they would show their true colours (a pirate flag) but by then it would be too late. 

White Elephant; Means that something is more trouble than its worth to keep, the expression comes from ancient Thailand the king at the time would give someone he didn't like a white elephant, The elephant being albino, would be harder to keep, as it required special medicine and food. people would come to worship the elephant because it was seen as holy. The recipient of the Elephant could not get rid of it because it was a gift of the king and would drain all his recourses and leave him broke. 

White lie;  Is a lie that you tell in order as to not upset someone, and spare their feelings. the expression stems back to india and a white lie representing good and a black lie representing bad like polar opposites. 

Like gold dust;  If things or people are like gold dust, it means that they are difficult to get hold of. It's proving difficult to find the origin of this idiom. 

Black sheep;  Is used to describe someone who is odd, someone who is the 'odd one out.' It can also mean someone that is disgraced or is an embarrassment. This expression comes from the bible GENESIS 30;32 ‘All blacke shepe among the lambes’.  

find my final 4 Idiom designs here; https://www.behance.net/_Verma 

By Jonathan Verma