Just Simple

Youtube is great for looking at online video content. I’ve found Youtube to be a more valuble source on tutorials than google or tutorial sites. Somehow watching someone do what you would like to do it more useful than having words explaining how to do it.

I’ve recently become interested in Kinetic Typography through watching videos on youtube. I feel the most effective kinetic typography is shown with live characters in movies.

Kinetic typography is defined by moving text through animation that portrays an idea or emotion. I think the examples below show that.

Below are some examples of kinetic typography, I’ve found while searching on youtube.

*Warning: Examples NSFW

While away in Melbourne a week ago I was fortunate enough to visit the Melbourne Design Market. Although the layout and though are pretty similar to Adelaide’s Bower Bird Bazaar it was interesting to see what is popular in other states.

While there I picked up some business cards with great typographic examples:

Due to the huge amount of work I have this week I’m unable to do a proper post. However I have found some interesting examples of cities interpreted through type.

Penguin books have adopted this idea in a small ad campaign shown here.

Also there is a flickr set from insect54 that displays some of the work of Herbert Spencer’s “Pioneers of Type”. One book worth getting if you love type. One day I will display my own collection of design books.

Link to the set can be seen here:

I thought I would share some of the type I’ve seen around the place. Today I went to a VW show near Tea Tree Plaza, while most people where looking at the uniquely designed cars. I decided to have a look at some type around the place.

For a larger image please click on them. It will take you to my flickr page.

Leadwire- “What is Search?” from Aaron Blecha on Vimeo.

I found this on the DRAWNblog earlier today. It’s a very effective example of kinetic type done by Aaron Blecha.

The advertisement is eye catching and really screams at you with capitals. It’s also a good example of how little animation can also be the most effective way to portray a message.

Aaron Blecha’s website is quite well done. It’s worth having a look if you have the time.

Link to Aaron Blecha’s site:

http://www.monstersquid.com/

I found a few good typography websites the other day and thought I would share them.

More new math is a clever site which combines Typography with maths. Some of these sayings are just wonderful.

For a link to the site: Typograhic posters

Typographical posters seem to be a database of popular typographical designers. It’s worth having a browse though when you have the time.

For a link to the site: More New Math

I’ve been collecting grafix magazine for while now. I’ve the magazine to be quite informative about typography.

For a link to their site: grafix

Despite the saying “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, people do judge products by the packaging. I was quite impressed when I saw this blog post on abduzeedo. Although most of the work are student designs, it shows how much consideration and care is taken when designing the final product. No matter what the end product is the utmost care should be taken when dealing with a client. It’s definitely worth having a look at the site.

Here’s a link to the site:

http://www.abduzeedo.com/inspiration-packaging-design

Well I know you can read if your reading this blog but I would like to take you to this site:

The idea is words being expressed as images. There are some real gems here and it’s amazing how a different typeface can add a whole new meaning to a sentence. It’s really worth a look if your interested in typography.

Here’s a link to the site:

http://icanread.tumblr.com/

For a larger view of the image please click on it.

University of South Australia Postcard.

I found this image on the post card rack at a local cafe. I was a bit confused about what it was advertising at first it wasn’t really clear to me. The type was fairly hard to read, which I believe was done on purpose and I had to look at the card for a minute or so before I saw the word “illumination” in bold clear type. On closer look of the back of the card you can see it’s an advertisement for the University of South Australia. While I find the ad quite confusing, I am not their target audience. On further reading of the back their target audience became clearer. They were aiming for people who have a degree and would like to gain a post graduate degree.

What attracted me to the postcard was the use of typography and colour. The type in this card was hard to read due to all the type being in capitals and purposely faded. It feels like the card is screaming, however I believe that this is the effect that they were going for. The real message of the flyer is trying to help the viewer seek direction. I think this type of flyer would work well for the audience they are aiming for.

Back of the flyer.

Waterhouse Art prize postcard.

I was more interested in the use of colour and shape in this postcard. The colours are effective, showing nature. I also like the use of shape to show the founders face. Which is showing use of the Gestalt.

Willunga Almond Blossom Festival Flyer 2008

Another flyer I found at the local cafe. I found this flyer to be a bit too busy for my liking. Although the type at the front stands out the most, there is type at the back. It seems to be competing with the type at the front to gain some notice. I thinks using simple shapes with those same colours would have been far more effective.

I find the colours very attractive and they do remind me of blossoms, what the flyer is trying to advertise.

During the holidays I picked up some typography books since typography isn’t my strength in design. I prefer to learn from a mixture of books and websites with anything I do.

For coding I have a selection of books I find useful, however when they don’t have the information I need I can look it up on a website I have bookmarked. I find this way much more useful in my learning then just looking it up on google. My main problem with google is trying to sift through the information. Most times I am able to find the information I need however most of the times I can just look it up in a book and save half the time.

I decided to pick up a few books on typography, layout, line and colour to try and strenghten my knowledge in these areas and hopefully to apply it to future projects.

Here are a few books that I picked up:

“The Typographical Experiment: Radical Innovation in contemporary type design” Teal Triggs.

I actually found this book fairly interesting. It shows waht other graphic designers around the world have done with type. Type has always been the bedrock of graphics. Type in other words is the most important thing to consider when designing. Something I have learnt over the last project. Type can be used in so many ways to convey what you would like the user to feel. There are so many things that can be done with type and while it’s one of the most basic things to work with it can be one of the hardest.

I’ve come to the conclusion you could do a masters degree on type, colour, line and form and still have a lot to learn.

“Typographical systems – Rules for organising type” Kimberly Elam

I picked this book last week and found it quite useful. It explains the grids used in type. Much like used in interface design. It’s actually quite a good read and I regret not picking it up earlier in the year. However late is better than never.

“Making and breaking the grid” Timothy Samras

I am waiting for this book in the mail at the moment. I felt that it would be a nice contrast to the typography systems book.