Design Priciples: Type Journal 12 - Signs

This was another sign that caught my eye in Debenhams and I thought the font was very appropriate for the style of "happily ever after". It is a beautiful Script font which is legible and readable. The thin curvy font looks like it has been produced with a calligraphy pen and does feel like it should feature in a fairy tale ending.

Design Priciples: Type Journal 11 - Photoframes

This was a photo frame I spotted whilst in Debanhams, I immediately took a dislike to it and its typographic style. As much as I dislike the happy, motivational statements it was the typographic layout that offended me most. The words have no uniform to them, the sizing looks like they have tried to squish everything in. The "IT IS A" has been taken out of its correct point size and been elongated to fit into a gap. The spacing between "IT IS" and "OF LIFE" directly below it is the same which doesn't look right as they are completely different sizes so this makes the kerning look funny. Equally I think the type as a whole completely distracts from the photograph and takes away the attention. Typography should compliment and be invisible not be the central point of focus.

Design Priciples: Type Journal 10 - Packaging

Whilst eating some crisps I noticed how well the type fitted in with the packaging and the design for Sunbites. There is a great use of natural colours with the type being green and brown which fits in with the natural look of the brand. They have combined humanistic style fonts with bold block and also more scripted fonts. This surprisingly works really well together. The bold Sour Cream really makes it standout and leads on nicely from the SunBites logo where the font is rounded and almost looks like it has been written with a sharpie. This whole amalgamation of type are examples of type I would usually avoid. Perhaps from now on I will try to be broader in my designs and work with combining different categories.

OUGD404 - Study task 4: Office Type Hierarchy

I decided to branch away from heavier sources of type and decided to look at how retail uses type to grab the attention of viewers and make them look at all the right things. 

The first obvious thing that stands out is SALE. The red background automatically catches peoples eye and the big white chunky caps saying sale really makes this the centre of attention. 

The smaller point size and different font of  'up to...off' is still really prominent and keeps the focus on the sale. The 50% is kept in the same font and thickness as the the SALE so that it links the two together and you know how much money you may save.

After reading the sale the next thing that immediately jumps out is the bold contrast of white on black on the top bar. OFFICE in capitals and spaced out becomes quickly the main focus. Having the letters spaced out means each letter is more recognisable and easier to read.

The free standard delivery reads on from the office logo and remains in capitals to keep the readers attention and keep it in a straight line. The pink FREE  adds colour and highlights the point that it is free standard delivery. The astrix on the end of delivery is so small and does not read. The conditions apply isn't read until a lot later if at all because of the low point size font and the low line weight.

The next thing that jumps is the red sale option. Red linking back to the main piece and also contrasting on the black. The other options in line with the sale read after.

The grey signs underneath the main options bar then read. Being bold and in a different colour compliment the bar above but also show the benefits of shopping with office. Additional information which is shown in a much thinner complimentary font provide more information.

my eye then went back to the red smaller signs where the sale items are divided into categories.

This 0 really stood out as being overly large but clearly not large enough for me to see it at the beginning. Perhaps it makes the viewer think of it as a tally of how many items they have in their bag.

Below the option to search for an item is presented. The search bar is often viewed last but mainly because it always tends to be in the top right corner so people see it with their  peripheral vision and tend to disregard it unless they need it.

Very last is the small options of ways of getting help or contacting the company. Maybe they want to distract you with new products before you can complain about the products you have already brought.

OUGD404 - Study Task 4: BBC Homepage Type Hierarchy

For my second type hierarchy within websites I wanted to look at the BBC homepage as it a popular website and I wanted to see how they layout their pages to get people to look in the right places.

The first catching story headline in a bigger font than the other stories and also paired with a larger photo which speaks for itself. It doesn't need any bullet pointed text.

Directly above the city and date in a nice clear capitalised font. The distinction of colour makes it more attractive than the rest as it pulls your eyes up to it.

Straight above the date is the famous BBC logo made to stand out by reversing text colour by having white font in black boxes.

my eye then skimmed across the top bar and read the options from left to right as they are not cluttered with information.

I then followed it down to read about the suicide bomber but read the next sports title on the right before reading the information below it.

I then scanned through both sets of information before being attracted and distracted by the pink text of the radio station and BBC 2 advertising programmes. 

Below this my eyes went straight to the next piece of colour which was the blue of the BBC now in a clear bold blue font.

From this the next option tabs read out in the right order.

The BBC website is clear and concise, it is easy to read and navigate around. The different options stick out first because there is less text surrounding them so they seem simpler. This is good because it means you can find what your looking for within the first 30 seconds. The layout is similar to a newspaper with the idea that it is in columns so it trains your eye to read the title and then the direct information below it. 

OUGD404 - Study task 4: NatWest Type Hierarchy

To look at type hierarchies within websites I have chosen to look at NatWest to get an idea of how they lay out their typography and which parts my eye naturally reads first.

Firstly my eye focused to the largest text on the website which was placed centrally. After skimming through the questions and further information below it my eye immediately jumped up to the familiar natwest logo and slogan placed in navy in the top left corner. 

Here is the main place that you would start reading a book from so it seems natural for it to one of the first places for my eye to be led towards.

immediately below three options became open, these were placed nicely underneath the logo and allowed me to quickly search for what I was looking for.

Although it isn't the largest of writing the next block my eye was led to was the further options underneath.

At the end row of previous options this online banking box was placed just about which followed on nicely from the options and also the purple and larger font made it stand apart from the rest of the page.

Next my eye jumped right down to the bottom two options. I was firstly attracted to the bottom box, this is because the blue box is a better contrast with the green grass background unlike the green box with the green grass - it didn't stand out as much. Even though both fonts are the same size because the blue boxed one is in a smaller box the font appears bigger and easier to read.

The very last thing that caught my attention was the two ads at the bottom one for a kids saving account and one for an appeal.  The kids saving account caught my eye first out of the two, not because of the type as both are laid out identically but rather because it was positioned directly below the last piece of typography I read.

Design Principles, Study Task 2: Type Modificaton

So far I have managed to create a, b, c in regular, bold, thin and italic lower case in the new modified alphabet. They all follow the same rules and work as a font family. Next I will explore just working with regular letters and creating them in an uppercase set and also in the further lower case x,y,z. Once I can be sure the rules work I will then look into persuing the other categories.