Shuichi's "Creation In Progress"

My blog for Graphic Design and Typography classes

[creationinprogress]

Graphic Design; Result for Project 3

Hi guys! This post is about the result for the third project “Guerilla Advocacy Campaign (GAC)” in Graphic Design class. As a recap, I decided to convey the danger of space debris as a topic of GAC. Below are the process of it with some updated versions.

(Brochure wireframes)

(Poster sketches)

(Updated style tile)

Then, below are the final designs of the project. I made the design for poster, t-shirt, tote, mug, and trifold brochure.

(Poster)

(T-shirt)

(Tote)

(Mug)

(Trifold brochure)

For the actual graphics, I used Adobe Illustrator as a main software. This is to convey the message to viewers by using simple graphics with clear hues. Then, after creating the design, I utilized Photoshop’s mockup templates and smart object function. First of all, in regards to the poster, I applied the rule of thirds to make the graphic look organized and visually pleasing. To be more precise, I placed Earth so that it would cover one third of the poster. Also, in terms of text layout, I put the slogan “Blank the Junk” around the one third line of the poster so that it would fit the rule of thirds. In terms of the color scheme, I used RGB triad (red = vacuum cleaner, green = land, blue = ocean). From the theory that warm colors look like they are “advancing” and cool colors look like they are “going backwards,” I applied red to the graphic of vacuum cleaner which I wanted to emphasize in the poster. It may be unnatural from the perspective of physics that a vacuum cleaner is sucking things in the space where there is no air, but since it is symbolic in terms of “cleaning,” I decided to use it as a main figure in the logo design. To create shadows on the cleaner, I did two things. Firstly, I used width tool in Illustrator to make the black outline on the left side of vacuum cleaner wider. This technique is also used while making the white lines next to the nozzle of vacuum cleaner. Secondly, I simply used the pen tool. To avoid the shadows blending into the black background, I made the outline of hose in the black space white. This vacuum cleaner is connected to the “O” of “Black Hole.” I made it this way so that the O would look like an actual blackhole. In addition, I changed the letter to a sanserif typeface unlike other letters being a serif typeface to make it stand out. In one of the images of debris, I put the QR code of this blog webpage as the homepage of organization’s website so that it would create visual interest. For the stars in the background, I used paintbrush tool.

In regards to the campaign goods (mug, tote, t-shirt), I made the design similar to the poster in order to maintain consistency. However, for the background of these designs, I made it different from the poster. Since they are the objects people carry unlike the poster, I decided to change the background of space to the free image of actual night sky instead. If it was the image made with paint brush tool, I thought that it would give cheap impression to the viewers. Hence, I used the image of real night sky for these campaign goods. I think it turned out great in terms of how it looks elegant and rich.

Finally, as for the brochure, I used Adobe Indesign. For the outside pages, I put the graphic of Earth and space debris I made in Illustrator. In the interior flap, I wrote the fun fact to avoid the graphic being boring to view. In terms of this text, I aligned it as a centered text since there was no other factors which would compete with the text in the same page. I was initially planning to put the graphic of Moon in the page, but based on the suggestion made before actually working Illustrator, I changed it to the fun fact. In the back page, I put QR code of my blog website as a homepage of the organization and the word “#Black Hole” above the image of Earth to make it more engaging and accessible for the viewers. Speaking of the inside pages, I put the text above and graphics below for the left and right pages. Only for the middle page, I set the layout opposite. In this way, I think the brochure turned out to be balanced in terms of visual weight. I used the night sky image again for the background, since it is portable like the campaign goods mentioned above. In the down right corner of the right page, I put the QR code of my blog website as the organization’s job applying page for those who want to be one of us. For all the graphics including the satellite and space shuttle, they were made in Illustrator.

Overall, I believe that the final works turned out successfully. I think that the graphics (especially the red vacuum cleaner) explain the fact that we remove space debris effectively and clearly. I think the positioning of QR code makes the campaign more engaging and easily accessible for the viewers. So, that was all about my designs for the GAC project in Graphic Design class, see you again!

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Typography; Result for Project 3

Hi  guys! This post is about the third project “Information Design Advocacy (IDA)” in Typography class. As a recap, my topic is “Earthquakes in Japan.” Below are the process materials for the project with some updated versions.

(Updated style tile)

(Sketches)

Then, below is the final work of poster.

(Final design)

First of all, as for the typefaces, I used Teko Semibold for titles and Trebuchet MS for main texts. This is to distinguish titles and main texts significantly. I think this use of typefaces worked well according to my intention. In the text, I made footnotes to indicate the source of information. I initially put asterisk (*) and a number next to it to do that, but from suggestion during critique session that the numbers resemble the numbers on the second section, I utilized the footnote function in Adobe Illustrator’s text tool which I did not notice before.

In the first section’s catchphrase “Prepare, they are always sudden,” I put white outline to make it stand out more than each section’s title. I once put the black underline for this phrase, but I thought at one point that it would be too heavy visually, so I removed the underline. In terms of graphic, I used RGB triad color scheme (red = boundaries of tectonic plates, green = land of Japan, and blue = ocean). For the blue, I used gradient tool to indicate the natural continuity from blue ocean in the first section to cyan sky in the second and third sections as the background of poster. In regards to the text, I put it on the left side with light gray background so that the black text will be easy to read. For the text on ocean, I colored it white to make it easy to read.

In terms of the second section which writes about the buildings made to resist earthquakes, I put the text section on the right side which is the opposite of the first section. This is to make the poster visually balanced. I think that this method of layout went successful and made the overall image visually pleasing. For the bar chart, used the graphic of buildings as the bars. I applied tetradic color scheme (green, pink, orange, and blue) for these buildings and sky. By making the text color same as the buildings, I think it is easy for the viewers to gain the information quickly from the chart. For the outline of texts, I initially set it as 0.5, but from the suggestion in critique that the green text is difficult to read, I put it up to 1.0. Then, to add some breathing space, I made some white clouds so that the graphic will not be too overwhelming.

For the third section, I put the text on left side once more to balance it out with the upper section’s text on right side. As for the graphic, I traced the Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai as a template layer to add Japanese taste, since I am talking about earthquakes in Japan. I tried to balance out the visual weight to make the tsunami on right side bigger and detailed compared to the graphics and simple texts on the left. Even though it is detailed, I did not feel that challenging making the graphic, because I used paint brush tool and pencil tool for the white dots. In all the sections, I was putting lines and boxes between the houses, around the texts, and between the sections to distinguish them. However, based on the opinion in critique that there are too much lines and boxes, I got rid of almost all the lines in the poster (I left a line only for between the third and citation sections). Overall, I believe that my infographic advocates my topic successfully and effectively with unity.

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Typography; Process for Project 3

  Hi guys! This is the process post of project 3 “Information Design for Advocacy (IDA)” in Typography class. It is about creating information graphic using typographic hierarchy. My topic for this project is earthquakes in Japan and how to prepare for it. I chose this topic since it is about my home country, and the main audience for it would be of course Japanese people or those who are in regions with relatively more earthquakes such as Indonesia. First of all, earthquake is one of the most common natural disaster in Japan due to the several tectonic plate boundaries being right under Japanese land. It occurs more than 5000 times per year including the minor ones (Voyapon, 2020). It can cause tsunami or fire depending on the place where it occurs.

  Below is the Mood board/collage I made to visualize my concept for this project.

(Mood board/collage)

Since I'm going to explain about how to prepare for earthquakes, I included images of architectures designed to with stand the quakes and the description of earthquake insurance.

  My plan for the infographic is that first, I'm explaining the danger of earthquakes, and next, introducing the architecture types. In the architecture section, I will show a few types of them with the cost. Of course, it's the nature of economy, but the safest structure has the highest demand, so it is the most expensive. Therefore, in the last section, I'm introducing earthquake insurance as a Plan B, since it is more accessible for people, and it covers the tsunami/fire damages that was caused by earthquakes, and money for repairing the building as well as the damage on buildings from quake itself. This means that you can prepare for earthquakes both physically and financially. If many people are in the insurance, there won't be any problem, but since only 30% of the people are in it (General Insurance Rating Organization of Japan, 2022), I thought this infographic will help the remaining 70% to prepare for the earthquake.

  Below is the style tile for my infographic.

(Style tile)

Firstly, I decided to use Teko Semibold typeface for titles and Trebuchet MS typeface for main texts, since I wanted to keep consistent by using sans serif typefaces. In terms of graphic elements, I will apply wide range of hues which seems inconsistent and unorganized, but since the infographic will be separated in three sections, I'm going to use different color schemes on each sections to keep it visually pleasing. For the images and objects, I will use Adobe Illustrator to make them look simple and clear (also because I thought it would be shocking using real photos of tsunami or earthquake casualties).

  Now, below is the sketches I made.

(Sketches)

There are only little differences for details, but among these sketches, #6 is the one I'm thinking of the strongest idea, mainly from the visual interest and balance of the text positioning. For the top section, I will use RGB triad color scheme (red = plate boundaries, blue = ocean, green = map of Japan), and as for the transition toward middle section, I will use subtle gradient of blue (ocean on map) to cyan (image of sky). Then, in the middle section, I will use the image of buildings as bars in the bar chart. I will also utilize the complementary color scheme of cyan (sky) and red (damper in the building). In the text for both sections, I will add cracks as a texture to represent the damage from earthquake. In the last section, I will present the broad coverage of earthquake insurance. Well, maybe it will look like an advertisement for the insurance, but I'm not presenting particular company, so I think it will be ok in that sense.

  So, that was all about my process post for IDA, and please wait for the post of my final work of this infographic project!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BigRentz. (2019). How Earthquake-Proof Buildings Are Designed.

   https://www.bigrentz.com/blog/earthquake-proof-buildings.

California Department of Insurance. (n.d.). Earthquake Insurance.

   https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/105-type/95-

   guides/03-res/eq- ins.cfm.

General Insurance Rating Organization of Japan. (2022).

   STATISTICS COMPILED BY GENERAL INSURANCE

   RATING ORGANIZATION OF JAPAN. https://www.giroj.or.jp/

   publication/statistics/statistics_2020_all.pdf#view=fitV.

Lake, E. (2019).

   THE BIG QUAKE: Which country has the most earthquakes

   and where was the biggest quake ever recorded? The Sun.

   https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/2187546/country-most-

   earthquakes-biggest-ever-iraq-iran-china-lombok/.

Ministry of Finance, Japan. (n.d.).

   Outline of Japan's Earthquake Insurance System.

   https://www.mof.go.jp/english/policy/financial_system/

   earthquake_insurance/outline_of_earthquake_insurance.html. 

QUAKETEC. (n.d.). Seismic Dampers – Friction Dampers.

   https://www.quaketek.com/seismic-friction-dampers/.

Voyapon. (2020).

   Earthquakes in Japan – Why Are They Common & What to Do 

   When One Happens. https://voyapon.com/earthquakes-japan/.

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Graphic Design; Process for Project 3

  Hi guys! This post is going to be the process blog of Project 3 “Guerilla Advocacy Campaign (GAC)” in Graphic Design class. It is basically a project that we create a design about an issue such as global warming, and promote people to engage with and try to prevent the issue. My topic for this is "Cleaning space debris/space junks" which sounds a bit futuristic. However, it is a crucial issue for us as well as those who are in space industries. For example, when the junks hit artificial satellites, it can cause electromagnetic interference, which means we won't be able to use our phones and most of the machines we have. It will be a physical obstacle for our space exploration in the future as well. Maybe you can consider more realistically when you hear the statistic that there 128 million pieces of junks larger than 1mm around Earth (O'Callaghan, n.d.) and over 21,000 fragments larger than 10cm (Finkleman, 2014).

  So, to make the concept more solid, I made an imaginary organization called "Black Hole" which get rid of the debris and recycles them into parts of the new spaceships or space probes. I referred to other real organizations such as Remove Debris Mission in University of Surrey and Rogue Space Systems Corporations, which are actually working on removing the junks. Below are the mood board/collage and style tile I made to visualize the basic concept of my project.

(Mood board/collage)

(Style tile)

I decided to put in the image of vacuum cleaner in the logo design because I thought it would be easy for viewers to get the concept of "cleaning" (I know it's weird that vacuum cleaner works in space from the physics point of view). Also, I decided to use the split complementary color scheme of red, blue, and green. Among these hues, since warm colors are considered as "advancing" colors and cool colors are considered to be more on "backward," I will apply red on the vacuum cleaner to emphasize the concept, and cool colors on the Earth, which is going to be on the background. These designs will be created through Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Indesign.

(Brochure wireframes)

(Sketches)

  In addition, since we have to create a design for brochure, t-shirt, mug, and tote, I made some wireframes and sketches shown above. Based on the suggestion made during class, I am thinking of changing the Moon image to some kind of statistic related to space junks and also the layout of text and image in the inside pages of the brochure. For the poster, I will change the positioning of Earth to apply the rule of thirds and make it look more organized. For the t-shirt, mug, and tote, it will be basically the same as the poster design to make them consistent (just a slight change of the direction of vacuum cleaner or extending the space image on mug).

  So, that was all about the process of my final project in Graphic Design class! Now, I’m moving on to the actual designing, and please wait for the post of the final work!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Drapcho, A. (2021).

   Laconia-based satellite service company eyes vacuum of space.

   NH Business Review. https://www.nhbr.com/laconia-tech-

   company-eyes-the-vacuum-of-space/.

Finkleman, D. (2014). The Dilemma of Space Debris.

   American Scientist. https://www.americanscientist.org/

   article/the-dilemma-of-space-debris.

Mark, G. (2021). Space Debris and Human Spacecraft. NASA.

   https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/

   orbital_debris.html.

O’Callaghan, J. (n.d.). What is space junk and why it is a problem? 

   Natural History Museum. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/

   what-is-space-junk-and-why-is-it-a-problem.html.

University of Surrey. (n.d.). RemoveDEBRIS.

   https://www.surrey.ac.uk/surrey-space-centre/missions/

   removedebris.

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Graphic Design; Result for Project 2

Hi guys! This post is going to be about the result for second project in Graphic Design class, which is “Human Rights Poster” using Adobe Illustrator. Firstly, as a recap, below is the sketch of my idea.

I decided to do the two on top part of the sketch, which is about “the right to take leisure.” And now, below are the pictures of my final work in English and Japanese versions.

(English ver.)

(Japanese ver.)

In terms of design rationale, I used black and relatively dark blue in background so that white text, United Nations logo, and computer screen would stand out from contrast. Also, I applied rule of thirds to the window frames, the coffee mug, the logo, and the table to make the work look organized. In addition, I used gradient tool for the mug to indicate that the computer screen is the only light source among all the figures in the image. I made the screen’s color clean white as an emphasis on the computer. Due to these utilization of emphasis, organization, contrast, and the word "OVERWORKING?" being easy enough to understand for the viewers, I think the design communicates my message (which is the actual article written) effectively to the viewers. Especially for the "OVERWORKING?," I think it communicates the message even towards non-English speakers combined with other figures.

Before the due date for this project, there were a few critique sessions, and I got some opinions regarding the “leading” (spacing between lines of text) and coffee mug. As for leading, one person told that it looks too narrow and cramped up, so I made sure the leading is appropriate based on the opinion. For the mug, it used to be curvy and organic to make it look three dimensional, but since one person mentioned that it is difficult to see it as 3-D due to the shapes being organic but lines not implying it, I made the mug more geometric and abundant in lines. I think this critique helped me enhance the comprehensibility of design. There was also a sketch critique before creating on Illustrator, and I got the opinion about the middle sketches (the right to avoid torture) that the design is based on ancient torture tools so it is not effective and realistic to communicate the message to the target audience in modern world. This suggestion regarding "modernity" is part of the reason why I chose top ones, which I thought is more relatable for modern citizens.

One of the most difficult parts for creating the design was computer keyboard. I made each parallelogram with pen tool one by one without doing the copy-and-paste process. The reason for not using it was because I thought the keyboard would not look organized from the perspective of lines or grids, so in order to keep the alignment and organization clean, I decided to make each keyboard one by one with my hands. Also, by doing such troublesome process, I had an intention of understanding how overworking feels like, because it does not make sense if someone who does not even know what overworking feels like is making a design related to overworking. I think this effort turned out well in the final work of design. Another difficult part was to whether put clock or coffee mug on the side of computer. For the clock, it would be easy to show the time, but since the background is already night, I thought it would be too persistent and annoying. Instead, I came to a conclusion that coffee mug would be effective to indicate how people are working hard during overtime.

So, that was all about the result for my work in Human Rights Poster Project. See you again!

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Typography; Result for Project 2

  Hi guys! This post is about the result for the second project “Typographer’s Postcard” in Typography class. The pictures below are the work I made using Photoshop.

(Front side)

(Back side)

  As mentioned in other post, I was assigned to create a postcard of Max Miedinger, a typographer who created Helvetica typeface. Initially, I was planning to use white for black parts in the pictures, but since light blue and white don’t have much contrast, I made a radical change of white to black. The reason I chose not to turn the light blue part into black is because light blue is used in the flag of Zurich, the place where Mr. Miedinger was born, and I did not want to erase the Zurich taste from postcard. For this decision, I think it worked well, creating strong contrast and visual variety.

  For the back side, I think that the use of geometric shapes and red lines enable the viewers to easily get the sense of hierarchy, especially when it comes to the biography section. Additionally, I believe those two factors helped me create visual interest, especially for front side’s “X” used in “MAX.” This was from a suggestion made during the progress critique, but I think this actually enhances visual interest while not breaking the simplicity. I am happy for this outcome, since my main theme for this project was simplicity (because Helvetica typeface is known for its simplicity).

  In terms of what I learned in this project (both technically and conceptually), first, I learned how to draw straight line on Photoshop. It’s simple, but just by pressing on Shift on your computer, I realized it will be possible to draw a straight line on Photoshop. As for conceptual aspect, I learned that the centering of text can sometimes make the work look messy and unorganized. Initially, I tried to used centered text for back side, but from the critique that said it looks unorganized, I decided to change the text arrangement and make the texts look like as if they’re surrounding the typographer’s picture in the center. Learning these things not just by reading textbooks or sitting and listening to lecture but also by actually making something, I feel like I stepped up (at least a little bit) as a designer!

  So, that was all about how “Typographer’s Postcard Project” turned out, see you again!

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Graphic Design; Final Result for Project 1

  Hi guys! This post is going to be about the final result for project 1 assigned in Graphic Design. So, as a recap, the project is about reproducing a design from old magazine using Adobe Photoshop. The design I had to reproduce is Victory Magazine Spread (Thompson, 19) which is below.

And based on this original work, I made the one below.

  Firstly, I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome, even though it was challenging to reproducing the work. For making colored circles, it wasn’t that difficult. I used ellipse tool and colored all the ellipses. Then, I overlapped them with smaller ellipses, and made the opacity of smaller ones 0. In this way, I was able to empty around the center of each ellipse. By the way, this use of ellipses was the part I found most interesting about researching the original work.

  The real difficult part was making the arrows, other war-related objects (except for the knight on a horse), and nose made of blue line. I used pen tool for outline, paint bucket tool for making them gray, and dodge/burn tool for shading and lighting. I was too exhausted when I completed these process for all of the objects that I was about to be hollow in my mind. I think this process made the arrows look more geometric, compared to the sketch based original. I was initially planning to use sketches, but since it is graphic design class, I decided to use Photoshop’s tool as much as possible. I knew I would hate myself if I do the same process for the knight, so I made a rough sketch (shown below) by myself and exported to Photoshop.

  For the eyes, I used the drawing I’ve done long ago (shown below). As I mentioned in the very first post of this blog, I am obsessed with drawing human eyes, so I have tons of eye-drawing. I thought this project is a good opportunity to utilize my past work.

After exporting the drawing to Photoshop, I used eraser tool to make it into circle. Then, I changed saturation and contrast to make it match the atmosphere of other objects in the image. However, after doing this project, I remembered about the clipping mask technique and regretted all the time I wasted using eraser tool... Anyways, for the use of eyes, because it has less shades/dark part than the original work, I think it became easier for viewers to comprehend the existence of face (to be honest, I couldn’t tell that the blue line was nose, and the object inside blue ellipse was an eye during the first week I was coping with this project). Overall, I think the whole work became more simple and geometric to some extent.

  So, that’s all about my final work for Reproduction project! See you again!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thompson, B. (1953).

   Victory Magazine Spread. Westvaco Inspirations.

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Graphic Design; Sketches for Project 2

  Hi guys! This post is going to be about my sketches for the second project in Graphic Design class, which is “Human Rights Poster” combining an article of Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Adobe Illustrator. Below is my sketch.

  So, I have three main ideas. First is the right to rest or leisure (article 24), the second is the right to avoid torture (article 5), and the third is the right to avoid arbitrary arrest (article 9). In the critique session, since one person said that the torture ones are difficult for people to relate themselves, I'm thinking of doing either the leisure one or arbitrary arrest. I am particularly into the leisure idea since overworking is one of the major issues in modern Japan (my home country). Also, I thought the idea is full of geometric shapes including the cityscape in background so that it would be easy to understand for the viewers. For the arbitrary arrest, I'm not as interested as the leisure because it would be very challenging to create organic texture of human hands on Adobe Illustrator. Hence, I am currently planning to carry out the leisure one. I hope I can do the lighting and shadowing effectively. Well, that's all about my sketches for Project 2. See you again!

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Typography; Result for Project 1

  Hi guys! This post is about my final photograph of my Typography Found Objects project and the process of making it. Below is the photos of the actual work and development sketch, for those who want to compare.

  I constructed this using color pencils for straight lines, paint for curve lines, and paintbrushes as a decoration. I tried to make “C” completely by color pencils, but since “R” was made of both pencil and paint, I got an opinion from other person that it would be more symmetrical if I do the same for C. Therefore, I included some paint and curve strokes for C. I think this change was good, since the word COLOR is pretty symmetrical (especially how the “O”s are placed). Also, from this process, I came to a conclusion that color pencils are not flexible to change their shape, so the use of paint strokes would be crucial for this project.

  When I took the photo, I put the sketchbook on white table and used natural lights, so the photo turned out to be pretty clean and nice looking. Also, I thought the rings of sketchbook shown in the upper part of photo would be a good additional texture, so I decided to included in the photo (they also helped to set the paintbrushes stable). What is more, the cyan part of where you hold the paintbrush has lighter blue than the blue sections in the letter, so I thought including them would give more variety into the frame.

  The result turned out to be like a geometric sans serif typeface, which was something I absolutely wanted and got obsessed with when I first saw the concept in Ellen Lupton's "Thinking with Type." The hardest thing was to cut the light blue color pencils to shorten the under line of “L” and make the letter more natural. Also, I found difficult to apply the gradation for painting section, since the paint I had was acrylic and there were only cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and white in terms of colors. Overall, I thought the assignment was challenging, but the problem solving of how to deal with symmetry, gradation, and the combination of flexible and inflexible materials was enjoyable. So, that was all about how my project turned out. See you again!

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Graphic Design; Research for Project 1

(Thompson, 1953)

  Hi guys! This post is going to be about my researching part for Reproduction project in graphic design class. It is about reproducing a piece of design that was created in past using Photoshop. The image above is Victory Magazine Spread created by Bradbury Thompson in 1953, and I’m going to reproduce this image in the project. The page explains philosophical aspect of what winning a war is. It mainly contains a collage which consists of primary-color-based geometric shapes and objects related to weapons such as arrows or an armored soldier on a horse. As we can see from this design, this spread page was created with a purpose related to war propaganda.

  As mentioned above, the method of creating this page was mainly a collage, which basically is the blending of more than one photos or images. Thompson's style was to “simplify” as it appears in his designs, and utilizing this style, he was also active as a typographer. Based on this research, I am thinking of using shape tools, a photo of my eye, and my own sketch of arrows to reproduce the work. So, that is all about my research for my graphic design project. See you again!

Bibliography

Cannon, M. (2017).

    Creative Titans: Bradbury Thompson, the Master of Typography.

    http://www.worksdesigngroup.com/bradbury-thompson/.

Clarke, A. (2020).

    Inspired Design Decisions With Bradbury Thompson: The Art Of

    Graphic Design. Smashing Magazine.

    https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2020/08/inspired-design-

    decisions-bradbury-thompson/.

Communication Arts. (n.d.).

   Pioneer: Bradbury Thompson.

   https://www.commarts.com/features/pioneer-bradbury-thompson.

Thompson, B. (1953).

    Victory Magazine Spread. Westvaco Inspirations.

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Typography; Research for Project 2

  Hi guys! This post is going to be about my researching for project 2 “Typographer Post Card” in typography class. The project is about making post card which is about one particular typographer.

  I was assigned Max Miedinger (1910-1980), a typeface designer born in Zürich, Switzerland. The typefaces he created are Helvetica and Pro Arte. He started to work as a typographer in Globus department store’s advertising studioin from 1936, and after a decade, became a customer counselor and typeface sales representative for the Haas’sche Schriftgießereiin Münchenstein until 1956.

  As for his typefaces, Helvetica created in 1960 is a well-known typeface which communicates with simple, balanced letterforms that convey an aesthetic clarity that is at once universal, neutral, and unequivocally fashionable (MoMA, 2007). It was designed to create a new sans serif font that can compete in the Swiss market. I think that this is the most important legacy he made, since Helvetica is also known as the most used typeface in 20th century, and a lot of derivative typefaces were created from it.

(Devroye, 2022)

  Pro Arte is a condensed slab serif created in 1954, and it has more of a traditional look compared to Helvetica. Until today, it has not been digitalized yet. Therefore, in my opinion, maybe this typeface was regarded not as innovative as Helvetica. However, personally speaking, I like Pro Arte more than Helvetica, especially how it gives me an impression of the bars in Western films.

(Devroye, 2022)

  Basically, I'm going to create a post card about him. Currently, I'm thinking of using Pro Arte for his name, and Helvetica for other parts. Also, since he was born in Zürich, maybe it would be a good idea to include something related to Switzerland in the post card. So, that was all about my research for Typographer Post Card Project. See you again!

Bibliography

Devroye, L. (2022). Max Miedinger.

    http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-26268.html.

MoMA. (2008). 50 Years of Helvetica.

    https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/38.

Webdesigner Depot. (2010). The Simplicity of Helvetica.

    https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/01/the-simplicity-of-

    helvetica/.

Yang, L. Y. (2017). Max Miedinger Biography.

    http://laurayyang.com/helvetica_html/biography.html. 

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Typography; Sketch for Project 1

Hi guys! This post is about my sketches for project 1 in typography class. The project is about found objects. More in detail, in it about using real world objects to create a word and express the word effectively.

For this project, I chose “COLOR” as a theme, and below is the preparation sketch and mind map for it.

Since the theme is color, of course I decided to use wide variety of colors using color pencils and paint. Especially for the paint brush sections, I’m going to apply gradation to make it look more interesting, avoiding to the monotone look. Also, the reason I made two “o”s smaller than other letters is because I thought it would be possible to create repetition in terms of scale, since both the “o”s are between other letters and are not next to each other. In this way, I thought it will look systematic and comfortable to watch. Other than that, I am planning to place paint brushes around the work, including in the photograph.

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Typography; Type Exercise

Hi guys! Today, I’m going to upload about what I did in Typography class, which is “Type Exercise.”

First, I did one-letter exercise, playing around with a letter. As shown in the picture above, I experimented the angle of “A.” I chose this letter because it’s the first letter in alphabet and I simply connected with “one”-letter exercise. Also, since there is a blank space in the middle surrounded like a triangle, I thought that it would be easy to analyze the relations of the letter with space. After making the letter big so that it fits the frame, I found that if the letter is shown vertically, it gives me an impression of stability or safeness, but if it is diagonal, the impression changes to stuck (at least that was how I felt). Also, because it is not vertical, it gave me kind of organic feeling, like a person roughly stamping on a piece of paper.

Moving on to next which is "Two-letter exercise," I chose "O" and "N," particularly because both are symmetrical with respect to a point. As for O, I had the same thought process for A in previous section, which is about the blank space inside the letter making easy for me to see the relationships with space. Also, I thought that putting a letter inside O would make interesting look to it. However, seeing N inside O, I thought "NO, this doesn't work," because O looked like a simple circle or ellipse surrounding N. Because of its simplicity, it did not look like a letter. Therefore, I think this combination will not work well in poster that much.

The third exercise was about "Typographic Expression." Since there was water texture on Photoshop, I decided to make good use of it. I typed "FLOATING" in random angle first. Next, to show the look of floating, I typed another set of FLOATING, and placed slightly under or left of the original ones. Then, to make the second set of the word look like shadow of the original set, I made them a bit transparent. I found that in this way, I can express as if the letters are floating. Also, I found that by making the shadow part further or smaller than original set, the image starts to look like it is deeper than actual depth of water.

The last exercise was about "Hierarchy" of the words. I made a brief invitation card of jazz recital to experiment. First, I thought that this card needs to address the readers that it is actually an invitation, so I italicized for the word "Invitation," made the font size bigger than below, and placed above all the words. Then, because jazz recital is the main factor in this invitation, I put the word in middle to indicate the general information of what the readers are invited for. I chose this font to express the elegancy and how cozy the word "jazz" sounds. After that, I put date and time under Jazz Recital in relatively small font size, because I thought it is going to be the last information which the readers process. By this experiment, I learned about how the size of letters affect the importance of information comprehended by one glance.

As such, I've done some typing exercises in Typography class. I think it is a good experiment to understand about letters and how they work with space or with other letters in the same image. Well, that was all about it! See you again!

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Graphic Design; Collage and Clipping Mask

Hi guys! Today I learned some techniques in Photoshop, so I would share it!

First is simply a collage photo (below is the one I made).

I used magic wand tool to erase unnecessary white parts of the layers. This tool was very helpful for this Photoshop exercise (I'm now addicted to it). Also, using burning tool on cyan thumbnails made them relatively more natural, even though the original color was red and I changed the saturation. Those parts were successful in my opinion. However, I think I used blur tool excessively for the layer with grotesque hand anatomy. Probably, making all the layers look like thy match completely would be a part for me to improve!

Also, I learned clipping mask using text (below is the one I made).

First, after typing the text, I rasterized it to enable the editing. Then, I used the paintbrush tool to color around the text purplish. I guess the color choice was successful, it doesn't mess with the image behind. However, I think I still need to improve how I use eraser tool, because it still looks a bit messy on the picture. Or there may be more effective and easy way to do this process.

Well, that was all about my first Graphic Design training in class! See you again!

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About Me!

Hello to those of you reading this blog, I am Shuichi, an Art major student from Japan, currently studying in New York! I’ve been doing drawings, paintings, and sculpting in my home country, but in here, I’m going to post mainly about what I do in Graphic Design and Typography classes which is what I am learning in the U.S. recently.

Above are some of the drawings and sculptures I made. As you can see, I really enjoy drawing human eyes and human body-related figures. I frequently watch anime, so sometimes, I draw things that are shown in those anime such as Attack on Titan or Neon Genesis Evangelion. It might look weird, grotesque, surreal, or even messy, but that is my style, and I hope you would enjoy my works that I will be posting!