Class:MFA Illustration 2019/Week 23
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Contents
Last Week
- History of the Internet
- How the internet works for us
- Domain Name Stuff
- Setting up Email for your Domain
This Week
- Check-in to see how you are all doing
- 1:1 Video Reviews of your self-promo projects
- New assignment: self-promo wildcard
Open Questions
Notes
Typographic Best Practices
During our reviews this week, several of you had some questions/challenges with typography and type, font, selection. I asked you to explore options and suggested that you spend time this week looking at good type relationships.
Like all disciplines, typography is a skill with fundamental learnings that can be mastered with time and practice. I have assembled some links and thoughts for you here:
- The Typography Handbook is a wonderful place to start.
- The Complete Manual of Typography is focused on print.
- The Pocket Guide to Master Every Day’s Typographic Adventures is handy.
Key Typography Tips
- Visual Hierarchy
- Have content that looks aesthetically pleasing! Key information (your name, title, chapter) should be larger than supporting text or items. Make sure that there is enough white space.
- Don't just shop for a font, instead look for typeface pairings!
- Very rarely do you do a project with just one font, if you want to drastically accelerate your typographic confidence, browse already proven classic solutions.
- 8 Great Adobe Font Combinations For Your Next Design Project
- Typekit (now called Adobe Type) font pairing
- 10 Great Typekit Font Pairings
- Fontjoy - Generate font pairings in one click
- 36 perfect font pairings
- If you want to know more about the science behind it Eight Tips for Combining Typefaces
- A Non-Designer’s Guide to Pairing Fonts
- Don't go crazy
- Great typography has character but does not draw too much attention to itself: The 40 Best Fonts Available on Adobe Fonts
- Adjust Your Kerning
- Kerning refers to the spacing between letters. You can adjust the kerning in many Adobe tools. In some cases, you may want to bring letters closer together or space them farther apart to add impact. Do this carefully, legibility can break down quickly if you space out words too much. Without proper kerning, your typography may come across as unprofessional or odd.
- Pick an Alignment & Stick To It!
- Type alignment is often the downfall for artists who refer to themselves as 'design-challenged'. Don't mix multiple alignment types in one project.
- Design Principles: Alignment
- The Art Of Alignment In Graphic Design
Video Notes
Look at the notes from the last session if you have questions about your domain or setting up email with your domain.
Assignment
Your assignment for next week's review is three-fold:
- For the final step in our self-promotion adventure you are all tasked with creating ONE NEW AMAZING piece of self-promotion that works seamlessly with the design system you have been working on. This week's assignment can be anything you want as long as it helps you to generate work, interest, followers, and so on. Possible ideas could be a folding poster, a small book (story or portfolio), coffee mug, enamel pins or buttons, t-shirts, whatever...
- Based upon our discussion this week: Make any and all additional refinements to your postcard, business card, and stamp (if you are still refining the stamp). I have given several of you specific feedback and I expect to see those thoughts considered in your explorations.
- Get Zoom video client installed and test it out 😉.
We will have a group video crit or more 1:1 sessions next week.
Presentation:
- You will be presenting your work digitally (via the screen) next week! This will require preparation on your part:
- You will need to mock up your 4th self-promotion and present it as a file/image whatever.
- You will need to have digital versions of your postcard, business card, and stamp designs. These can be files or photos, or whatever you can share digitally and speak to.
- The cameras in our devices are poor quality and do not work well close up, consider taking photos of everything that is not already digital.
- Presenting via video is a good skill to develop. You can share loose files or make a keynote (slide deck), I leave this up to you.
Delivery:
- I have created a new Google Drive folder for you. You should be prepared to present your work.
