20 Awesome Examples of Typography

Here are some great examples of how to use text in interesting ways. Text can be used to fill in objects or to take the shape of a particular object that you are trying to represent. The variety of fonts and use of textures being overlayed on them can produce some great results. When you make designs try to think over alternative ways to use text in your designs.

Take a look at "20 Examples of Beautiful Typography Graphic Design" for some ideas.

Image taken from http://philosdesign.deviantart.com/art/TypoGraphy-101654436

Get Negative!

How an artist activates the negative space in their designs is very important. It can add a strong aesthetic component to the design as well as to balance out or enhance the overall message.

"Negative Space is the space between an object, around an object, but is not part of the actual object itself. It is the opposite of an identifiable object which can at the same time be used to help define the boundaries of positive space." - taken from David Leggett.

Consider the negative space and how you can fill in the space through the use of textured elements, or how you can take positive space and place the objects in a way that intentional negative space designs are being formed.

For more information check out Enhancing Your Art with Negative Space by David Leggett.

Blog Posting

Requirements for each week:

• Upload at least one image. It can be a work in progress or a completed work.

• Answer the following questions:
  
• 1) Describe the artwork created (Include the Elements and Principles of Design that influenced your work).
  
• 2) What was the assignment for the design and how did you make it your own?
  
• 3) Describe the creative process you went through in designing the artwork (Planning, Choice of images, How it is original, etc.).

Negative Space Logo Design

Logos have the power to make people remember a product and are made for immediate recognition by the consumer or audience. When logos are made, designers can use subtle hidden imagery to enhance the logos meaning. This hidden imagery can be exploited by how effectively the designer uses the negative space. The next class objective is to create a logo that uses negative space as its primary design function in defining a product, band, restaurant, etc.

First take a look at the article, "35 Logos Brilliantly using Negative Space: Negative is Positive", by Charles Johnson. This article shows some great examples of logos that use negative space. Think about them and how they are/aren't effective in representing the product. Are they using the negative space effectively? Are the designs interesting and make you want to learn more about the product? Do the logos leave an impression on your mind so you will remember the product?

And for more Inspiration before starting your logo design check out "25 Logos with Hidden Messages - Amazing Design Tricks", by Charles Johnson.

Take all of these things into account when designing your own logos. Click on the handout to see the guidelines for the assignment.

Four Design Book Construction

Construction Time!

1) Cut two pieces of Mat Board 9 1/2 x 6 1/2
2) Cut a piece of the 18 x 24 paper in half lengthwise giving you one piece of paper that is 9 x 24.
3) Fold the 9 x 24 paper into four different panels (6 inches wide each) accordian style.
4) Glue your four designs onto the different pages.
5) Glue your mat Board pieces on the back side of the first and last page.
6) Glue your cover image onto the front of the mat board.

Your final result should look like this:

Friday = Blogging

Time to Blog! Can you Digg?!

Today we are going to set up your own blogs. This entails naming, choosing a template, uploading your first image, and writing a few comments on it. Check out the Handout to learn more.

Design Books - Color Design

For your 4th and final design for your Design Books, you will be creating a Color Design. The idea is to use any of techniques you have learned so far and to incorporate color to create depth and visual interest.

First we will look at a series of abstract artists to learn more about color. With this information you will move on to your final design and make sure you consider these final questions:
Color: Have you used color to create depth and visual interest?
Design: Does your image display the elements of - Activated Edges, Negative Space, Shapes, Movement, and Focal Point?
Creativity: Have you gone beyond your first solution to the assignment - tried other designs, placement of objects, colors, etc.?

Image by Sarah Morris

Get Inspired

There is this great website devoted to Graphic Design called ABDUZEEDO. It can provide you with inspirations for designs as well as a further knowledge of the graphic design field.

ABDUZEEDO is “a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. Of course there are other softwares compiled like Pixelmator, Fireworks, and web design tutorials.

One of the goals of Abduzeedo is to be an open channel to the design community, encouraging feedback. The Daily Inspiration is a proof of that, everybody can send images that inspired them so we can share with the community. Taken from Abduzeedo.com About Us page.

Check out ABDUZEEDO HERE.

Image taken from from GisMullr’s blog

Patterns

A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set. These elements repeat in a predictable manner. It can be a template or model which can be used to generate things or parts of a thing, especially if the things that are created have enough in common for the underlying pattern to be inferred, in which case the things are said to exhibit the unique pattern. Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern

We are incorporating Patterns into your next page of 4 Design Books. Think about repetition and how you can use the skills of Line and Gradient in creating new patterns.

Check out more examples of Patterns from DESIGNM.AG here.

The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a way to organize images on a page to make interesting and more powerful compositions. When you develop a good understanding of the Rule of Thirds your images will have more life to them and a strong sense of balance.

Let's take a look at the site: PIXIQ.com to learn more about the Rule of Thirds.

Design Books

Four Design Books

This is the first major project of the semester. The idea behind the Four Design Book project is to 1) Create four grey-scale designs using Adobe Illustrator, 2) Each design is based on a drawing tool, 3) Each design demonstrates good design and creates an illusion of depth and space, 4) Create a separate 5th design that focuses on color, 5) Make a cover page using any skills you have previously learned, 6) Print and assemble the designs into an accordion book.

During the project you will be learning the basics of Illustrator and begin to understand how to create new and interesting designs.

So let’s do it!