Communicate the Meaning of a Word Typographically

Project Brief

In this project, you will explore the duality of typography. Type meant to be read vs. type as image.Experiment with one word of your choosing and imagine ways in which you might illustrate the meaning of the word through its composition. The aim is to express some of the power or emotional content of the word.Work with contrasts of size, weight, form, structure, and direction to explore many variations. Your word should be the most prominent element in your final composition and all other elements should contribute to defining your word. Strive to have your word “doing” the action or description, don’t simply label a scene (ex: if your word is “sinking” then the word should be sinking, not on the side of a boat that is sinking). Attention should also be paid to the tense of the word selected (ex: if your word is sitting on the bottom of the ocean, then it has “sunk”).You may complete this assignment by whichever means you feel is appropriate for communicating the meaning of your word. ie. You may choose to illustrate or paint your word, you may choose to build your word and photograph it, or you may choose to compose it digitally. You might even consider animating your composition, but a final printed version is a requirement.

Learning Objectives

Choice of media may help to augment the understanding of the chosen word. Students are also encouraged to work out various representations of several words (Breadth of Exploration). From there, students should choose one concept and work out as many variations as possible—from structural changes to minute fine-tuning (Depth of Exploration).Students should show an understanding for the process of design—from familiarization, to development, to refinement.

Deliverables

• All process related to this project to be submitted in a docket or digitally. • Illustration board — 15x10 inches. • Illustration board must be covered with a tracing paper overlay for instructor feedback and a mayfair overlay for protection. Both overlays should be folded over the top of your artwork and adhered to the back. • A Hi Resolution PDF file of the final artwork uploaded to the Assignments folder on Slate. File name: lastname_firstname_prj4.pdf

Readings/Resources

3D Typography, by Jeanette Abbink.Typoholic: Material Types in Design, by Viction Workshophttps://vimeo.com/75442965https://www.ted.com/talks/marian_bantjes_intricate_beauty_by_design

Reflections

Students should very much be encouraged to think about the materials they are working with and to push themselves to think beyond the computer. When you think of a verb or descriptive, think of situations where that word applies; Spill: What spills? Milk, Oil, etc. Can you use these materials instead of simply changing the shapes of typefaces? Where might this spill happen? In the kitchen, on a beach... what other things can be captured in the composition to help tell the story? The word should be the most prominent thing in the composition, but are there other indicators that help the viewer to identify what's happening in the layout? If it cannot be captured in a photograph, can it be illustrated? Should it be a traditional illustration or digital? Can you animate the action and save it as a GIF in order to better define the word? Is there one still from the animation that would work as a poster?