cshoorty

Our last type journal is finally here. This time we had to choose what we thought to be our best use of typography we did this semester. This picture is from our most recent project where we had to create a two magazine spreads. The person I chose was Lady Gaga, and the name of her most recent album is called "Fame Monster," which is why I used that for my headline. I wanted to incorporate some of her craziness in the text. I feel that I accomplished what I was going for. This picture was taken around 630 on Thursday, December 10th.

This week we needed to find an example of innovative typography found in the Sharadin Art building. This poster was made by a student at Kutztown. At first I didn't really like the type on it because I didn't look close enough, and couldn't really understand the word "poverty." When I stepped closer I not only realized that the word was legible, it was also able to be read upside down. I took this picture around 530 Thursday night.

We needed to find an example of type as art. This picture shows "This American Life" made out of a quilt pattern. It is made up of different patterns but still leaves it readable. I found this image around 1am on Friday, December 4th. It was in the November issue of Nylon magazine.

We had to find a word with a rebus or icon within the text. On my way out of class on Thursday I noticed the display case of student work. There was a picture with Finding Nemo on it. It uses icons of fish in both the letters i and o.

This week we had to find an example of typography that we find inspirational. This picture stood out to me because it instantly caught my attention. Many people are drawn to sparkles and by filling the text and creating texture, the word pops right off the page. Also, the way the s's are replaced by $$ adds to the word by showing a symbol representing money. All of these elements are inspirational to me because I feel that when choosing fonts and textures, it would be very effective to use something that would stand out. I found this image in the July issue of Seventeen around 6:30pm Thursday.

For this week we needed to find an example of ‘when good type goes bad.’ I chose this ad for Nars Cosmetics from the March 2006 issue of Vogue. Text going down the side of a page always makes it a little more difficult to understand. However, this one has a lot more wrong with it than that. The color chosen for the font is a pale pink which blends into the model’s face. Also, the kerning is extremely close together which makes it nearly impossible to read the type. I found this image around noon on Thursday the fifth.

For this week's type journal we needed to find a good use of a ligature. My image is a picture of an advertisement for Revlon in an older issue of Vogue magazine. The way the bottom of the L connects into the O creates a nice flow of the word. I took this picture Thursday night around 10pm.

Our task this week was to find an example of bad kerning. It was real easy to find one in our school’s newspaper, The Keystone. I got this paper around 9:30 Wednesday night. On page nine there was an article about the new movie Where the Wild Things Are. It automatically caught my eye. Not only does it look like an awesome movie, but the kerning within the headline was terrible. It is most obvious in the words “for” and “film.” The letters in for are spaced out while film is so close the letters form a ligature with the f and i.

Bad typography is not hard to find. Sometimes simplicity is more powerful when it comes to typography, however, some ads seem to not even try. This magnet for Valentino’s restaurant has a red background, which is a dominant color, but the type and format of it does nothing for the viewer. This magnet is hanging on my fridge in my dorm. I took the picture on Wednesday, the 14th around 10pm.