Type & Technology Case Study
Objective
I was tasked with designing and laying out information that was provided to create a folding booklet titled A Brief History of Type and Technology. The information could be laid out in an indefinite number of ways; graphically, textually, by type style, by function, by a historical timeline, etc,. Function and readability needed to guide the design process through all phases of the project.
Background
The project was about the importance of technology on the creation of type throughout history. Whether it was using a reed in fresh clay on the banks of the Nile, setting up type on a Gutenberg press, or creating your own letterforms on a MacPro, technology through the ages has been the impetus for the development of type. As technology developed, so did the creation of specific typefaces that sprung out from it. It is important information for the designer to understand. Presenting this information in a readable and understandable fashion was the goal of this project.
Research
Since I was provided with the required information I needed, that took a huge burden for subject research off of me. My greatest expenditure of time in doing other research was trying to find the correct, representative fonts for each specific category. I spent close to 5 hours searching the web for (free) MAC friendly fonts that also were appropriate for the technology/time period. I discovered a lot of junk fonts out there, as Emil Ruder stated eloquently in one of his quotes in our project, “Digital typography teems with the diversity of a tropical rain forest and is littered with more trash than an urban underpass.”
Strategy
I chose to lay out each page with the word Type in the representative font of that category in large letters so the reader could search through the pages quickly. The category and its respective date(s) were next in the hierarchy followed by the subcategories ,and in most instances, a quote. Using a vertical layout for the book, the three column grid worked nicely in presenting the information in a clean, readable form, whether it was being read as a book or opened up and hung down vertically on a wall. The layout needed to take into account a half inch of extra space on the top of each page for gluing the pages together.
Design Solutions
After deciding to go with a vertical layout, the daunting process of laying out all the information began. Since each category would need to fit on one page, the formatting options with the descriptive text were somewhat limited in my mind to keep it readable. But some of my colleagues really amazed me and came up with some nice creative layouts and design ideas in spite of the self-imposed layout restrictions. I found myself struggling with abandoning years of pursuing uncluttered, simple layouts that had been forged into my mind and venturing into the “dark world of reckless creativity” that familiar voices had warned me of. But alas, I chose to ignore the seductive lure of creativity in lieu of getting the project done.
I was amazed at the amount of tweaking even a simple design such as mine would require. I wasn’t sure about adding color in the beginning but the design needed it. I spent endless hours playing with text styles, especially with the quotes. First, I added them in the middle of blocks of color that screamed like a child with colic. Then I transitioned to borders from the 50s poster card era. Visually distraught, my professor prodded me to embrace simplicity rather than continue to flail hopelessly in my attempt at creativity. The simplicity worked.
The design for the cover went fairly quickly after finding a picture of Guttenberg that sparked an idea for the layout. Once I modified the color of the graphic to match the color of the heading text, the cover seemed more cohesive with the rest of the document.
After setting up the InDesign file and printing out the four 11’ x 17” pages, the process of assembly started with carefully folding each page into 3 sections so that when glued together it would result in a giant accordion effect. The top of each page had an extra half inch of space to allow for gluing to the page before it to create one continuous document. After folding and gluing the pages together, the front and back covers were glued onto cardboard along with endpapers on the inside to complete the finished product.
Challenges
The biggest lesson I learned was never, ever trust the printing process. My last print failed to bring over a font that had never disappeared before in the previous 20 printings. Check, check, and recheck. I also had to come to the realization that creativity for me is as elusive as the albino Yeti. I was amazed at many of the ideas my fellow students came up with. It was really inspiring. I learned that you can ace everything and then make one little mistake on the book building process and literally destroy everything that you have done. Between glue smearing, misalignment of joints, ink rubbing off of the endpapers when attaching, and scratches appearing out of nowhere like an episode of Night Gallery, it can be extremely stressful trying to create the final product. But, even in the midst of one’s artistic strife for perfection and the fateful despair of falling short, in the darkness of the mind new skills are slowly being developed that will follow us forever. For that hope, I am thankful.
