A type ical Reflection

For the blog I wanted to reflect on different assignments that I felt helped me understand what it means to build an identity or brand.

This is an example of the "desk tags". The idea is for the audience member to come over and read this, before or during the interaction with the experiment. To me this was an important step because it not only clarifies the ideas of the experiment, but it makes it easier on us as the designer. These tags could clear up any questions the high schooler might have. It would also help us to not have to repeat ourselves over and over. In my mind I believe that the audience member could then ask further engaging questions, rather than- what is this? The dialogue and questions could be more in depth.

Here are the final name tags that I created for the symposium. The design for these seem practical and simple. Using the circular shape to represent the logo. and rules that we came up with as a class. When collaborating as a class, it is not unknown that we all approach typography in different aspects. By the end of the identity journey we were starting to frame the "lock up rules", and regulations that helped keep atypeical as a cohesive whole. We decided as a class to use Futura condensed medium, and for headers to capitalize. It was a new experience for me, because usually I am the one making all of the "rules" up and following them, but as a class it was interesting to see all the details in type and collaborate to complete the identity.

These are some explorations of the name tag, placing the logo within the traditional name tag. I wanted to put the name within a circle, but it ended up looking like a bulls eye. One important quality I did not know before was not to interrupt the logo. Before, in any of the design class we would designing for that particular company, so it was obvious not to further put design elements in. In this project we had built our own logo, but the underline rule still remains. Not to say that this observation is always correct, but it was a valid point I saw.

After this critique the decision to make these into a circular shape was made. Also to take out the logo. Not to say that the logo was not important, but the need for it to be on every piece, didn't always have to be.

Here is one of the first rounds of name tags. I know I wanted to be experimental, and include the imagery that we had all made and collected. Looking at them now, I see the problem with writing a person's name, even if it is typed. Also the variety of name tags might be confusing to our audience member's.

The name tags might not seem to be a huge part of the identity, but listening and contemplating with the others is what I found to be useful. When reflecting back to the AIA conference we presented on, I remember looking at all the different parts that went into making the conference. Little physical parts from website information to how the signage is developed. Now when reflecting and looking at branding I am starting to notice the strict choices that these agencies had to make. It is not about what typeface, or image you choose but the idea of building a structure. This includes how to view the post card vs the HTML mailer. When should the sub header break to a second line.

From weeks back these are the experiments that I made using rubber cement and some water colors. I had a lot of fun making these letters, and bending them into different spacial relationships. I know we are not suppose to have an idea at mind yet, but the concept of depth into space with letterforms has me very curious (possible more experiments). These images however are cropped in at a specific angle so the audience gets a sense of letterforms, but not "Atypeical" written out, because that's typical.

This is an example the images before editing. For this random experiment I really wanted to focus on what it mean to be abnormal. One aspect I like about these photos is I believe they have that quality, almost animal skin like texture with bright pigments. In the future I want to push myself to let letterforms like this be explored in different environments. It would have been interesting to look at these in a completely green environment, vs a metal background. However, for the Atypeical, at the time I felt it was the most appropriate way of displaying the images, focus on the cropped in letterform.

Thinking back to the process and mind set I was in when first exploring the "experimental type" aspect, I was a overwhelmed with all the different components that were going to be executed. It helped me to focus all of my random ideas onto a mind map. This was a good exercise for me to do because it gave me the chance to focus on all the different categorizes, yet visualize what needed to be accomplished.

Working though Atypeical, there was a lot of good and bad challenges. One that comes to mind would be working with a large group of people, and within that, working with a smaller group. Sometimes I questioned if I was doing the correct task. In the end, I believe that the communication between us as designers was better. I felt I was able to voice my input on a various amount of channels, and allowing feedback in. This different than being in a formal "critique" where it is bases on an individual. It was a good learning experience to interpret how the high school or freshman would come across Atypeical, and beyond that we had developed layers of information for them to grasp.