Visual Summary

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VISUALSUMMARY

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ceciliaserafini

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TYPOGRAPHY

VISUAL GRAMMAR

COLOUR

INFORMATION DESIGN

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typography

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Any man who would letterspace blackletter would steal sheep-

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”Frederic Goudy

Duringoneofourfirstdaysofclass,wehadtohandrenderournames.IpickedaseriffontthatIthoughtwasquitestylishandIthoughtIcoulditgiveitsomeairbyspacingitabit.Badidea.ItwasafterlookingatmynamehangingonthewallthatTonyaskedifanyoneknewwhat“stealingsheep”meantintypography.NowIknow. That’swhenIlearnedaboutkerningandtracking.Ialwayslikedtoincreasetheinterletterspace,butImostcertainlyneverstoleanysheep!

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The essence of the New Typography is clarity, as opposed to the old typo whose aim was beauty and whose clarity did not attain the high level we require today-

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”JanTschichold

AfterreadingHelen’sArmstrong’sGraphicDesignTheory,oneoftheessaysthatIfoundmostinterestingwasJanTschichold’sandhowhetalksaboutclarityintypography. ‘The essence of the New Typography is clarity, as opposed to the old typography whose aim was beauty and whose clarity did not attain the high level we require today. Today we need a greater economy of expression as a result of the amount of claims for our attention made by all the print. The beautiful type can never produce the pure form we demand today. The central axis, that started in the Renaissance runs through the whole like an artificial, invisible backbone: its raison d’être is today pretentious. The whole is a form that is predetermined and therefore must be inorganic. Every piece of typography that originates in a preconceived idea of form (also those of the pseudo-Constructivists) is wrong. The new typo is distinguished from the old by the fact that its first objective is to develop its visible form out of the functions of the text. Form must be created out of function, only then can we achieve a typography that expresses the spirit of modern man.’TheNewTypography,1928

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geometricalphabet- WhenIthoughtaboutcreatingageometricalphabetmymindwentstraighttothelines.Aftermakingdifferentandfailedversionsofletterformsbasedonlines,Idecidedtotrywithcircles.Itworked.Iused-yetagain-theruleofthirdsandtriedtomakethelettersasmuchlower-case-lookingasIcould.Toughjob.Ithinkitlooksquitegood,though.

Firstattempts!Poster

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x height

ascender

descender line

ascender line

descender

FAT FONT: ANATOMY OF A TYPEFACE

All the letters of the alphabet are created after the

template below. It’s a circle divided into 3 parts

horizontally and vertically. The final product is a

9-part circle and based on cancelling certain parts

and/or adding smaller circles, I tried to find the

proper shape for each letter.

The smaller circles are used usually for ascenders

and descenders. In this case, one of them is within

the x-height as part of the bigger circle and two

are below or above the x-height.

Thought it is a lower case alphabet, Fat Font is a

display font due to its characteristics. The

roundness of it reminds me of candy, therefore the

palette I chose. Below there is an example of a

poster that intends to bring out that characteristic.

Though I tried to be as consistent as I could

through out the whole alphabet, there are some

exceptions to the basic rules. This happened

because of aesthetical and functional reasons.

Examples are letter C and V (see below)

The only example

is the letter W.

Almost every letter is based on the single circle,

except for the W and the M, which are “double

units”. They measure 1 unit and 2 thirds, because

they are formed out of two circles that overlap in

the middle. Example is letter M.

45˚

rotation

Cecilia Serafini

THE BASICS

APPLICATIONS

SOME EXAMPLES

THE ALPHABET lower case

EXCEPTIONS

Rotated & double

Rotated Double

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FoundAlphabet- IloveLondon.Iseriouslythinkit’soneofthemostbeautifulcitiesintheworld.Oneofthemany,manythingsIloveaboutit,ishowbeautifuleverythingis.Theold,thenew,thesimple,theextremelydecorated.WalkingaroundcentralLondonIcameacrossaridiculousamountofbeautifulsignswithallvarietiesoffonts. EventhoughIquoteJanTschicholdafewpagesagosayinghowtheobjectiveofgoodtypographyisclarity,Idon’talwaysagreewithit.Asignneedstobepowerfull,itneedstospeak.Itneedstoinviteyouinsideandsellyousomething.Thatiswhymycollectionoffoundlettersisquiteloudandcolourful. TakeasanexampletheW.Idon’tneedtosaythatthatletterwastakenfromajapanesefoodplace,doI?Callitfood,orwhatever,butthepointisthattypographyisalsousedtoconveyaconceptoranidea.

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GraphicA series

of visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof Communication

Elephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

11.12.13

DialogueGraphic

A seriesof visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof Communication

Elephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

December 11, 2013

Dialogue

Graphic

A series of visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof Communication

Elephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

December 11, 2013

Dialogue

Graphic

A seriesof visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof Communication

Elephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

December 11, 2013

Dialogue

Graphic DialogueA series of visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof CommunicationElephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

11.12.13

Dialogue

A series of visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof CommunicationElephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

11.12.13

Graphic Graphic

Dialogue

A series of visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof CommunicationElephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

11.12.13

Graphic

Dialogue

A series of visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof CommunicationElephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

11.12.13

DialogueDialogueDialoghicGraphicGraphicGrap

A series of visual conversations

SioleongChao

KenyaHara

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

HongChong Ip

HelmutSchmid

PhilippeApeloig

AprilGreiman

David McCandless

EdwardTufte

To book email:t.pritchard@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Main Lecture TheatreLondon Collegeof CommunicationElephant & CastleLondon SE1 6SB

11.12.13

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grids, grids,grids- TheimageontherightisapiecebyJosephMüllerBrockmann.Theoneontheleftisaguidanceastohowtocreatethe‘swissgridmethod’thatIfoundfromaclassbackhome. Müller-BrockmannwaspartoftheSwissInternationalstyle.HewasinfluencedbydifferentdesignandartmovementssuchasConstructivism,DeStijlandBauhaus.

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visualgrammar-

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visual grammarand the city- A2ndprojectIhadforthevisualgrammarbookwastotrace(byhand)differentcityscapesandfindinthemshapesandactivities.Ithoughtthetracingwouldhelpconveytheconceptofallcitiesbeingcreatedbythesamebasicshapes,soitwouldnotmatteriftheimagewasfromLondonorfromPrague.

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the point is thought as ideally small and round, but it can assume an unlimited number of shapes-

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”WassilyKandinsky

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circles& lines- WhenIstartedtothinkaboutthevisualgrammarassignment,Iwantedtoexpressdifferentconceptsrelatedtovisualgrammarinafunway.ThoughIfinallydidnotusetheseimagesforthefinalproject,Ithoughtitwouldbeinterestingtoexpresstheseconceptsinareallyaccesibleanddowntoearthway.

Randomstructures,frequencyandrhythm.

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colour

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AccordingtotheMerriam-Websterdictionary,colouristhe‘Aspectofanyobjectthatmaybedescribedintermsofhue,lightness,andsaturation.Itisassociatedwiththevisiblewavelengthsofelectromagneticradiation,whichstimulatethesensorcellsoftheeye.Redlighthasthelongestwavelengths,whilebluehastheshortest,withothercolourssuchasorange,yellow,andgreenbetween.Huereferstodominantwavelengths.Lightnessreferstotheintensityordegreeofshading;itcorrespondstothesubjectivesensationofbrightness.Saturationpertainstopurity,ortheamountofwhitelightmixedwithahue.Thecoloursred,yellow,andblue,knownasprimarycolours,canbecombinedinvaryingproportionstoproduceallothercolours.Primarycolourscombinedinequalproportionsproducesecondarycolours.Twocoloursthatcombinetoformwhitelightaresaidtobecomplementary’.

so what iscolour?-

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Color... thinks by itself, independently of the object it clothes-

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”CharlesBaudelaire

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Color is all. When color is right, form is right. Color is everything, color is vibration like music; everything is vibration-

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”MarcChagall

So,whenitcametotalkaboutcolour,Iwasabitbored.Ithought“whatelseistheretoknow?Primary,secondary,tertiary”.However,Irealizedhowmuchcolourmakesorbreaksadesign.How,throughthecorrectuseofcolour,asimpledesigncanreallyshine.Conceptslikerecedingandadvancingcoloursareparticularlyusefulforacomposition,andanalogouscolourscancreatebeautifulpalettes.

Whenthetimewasformetostartthinkingaboutthecolourassignment,Ihadabsolutelynothinginmind,soIthoughtIcouldgosimpleandstarttryingdifferentcombinationswithsquaresandcircles.Thoughthesepiecesontheleftdidnotmakeittothefinalproject,Ithoughttheywereworthshowing.

informationdesign-

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Thepieceabiveisamappingofourclass.Iwantedtoexpressgraphicallydifferentdata:howmanystudentswewere,whatwhasthefemale-maleratioandwheredoweallcomefrom.

mapping

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Information design is the discipline of laying out and displaying information, whether it be simple or technical, so that it is easy to understand and is usable-

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”UKDesignCouncil

Tube maps from London, New york, Tokyo and Vienna.

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ThisbookwasdesignedandwrittenbyCeciliaSerafiniasaprojectforthePostgraduateDiplomainDesignforVisualCommunication.

ThefontsusedareBebasandPalatino,regularanditalic.

ThebookwasprintedattheLondonCollegeofCommunicationinMarch,2013.