Nick's Layout Analysis and Construction

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How do rhythm and scale affect the design/layout of the object?

This particular poster was eye catching due to its very ordered, geometric, and basic look. However it may appear basic at first glance, but it is actually quite detailed. The items are neatly arranged on what is a railroad track and wheel. The railroad track and wheel, despite being a large part of the poster, did not stand out compared to the other objects. The other objects are also more colorful than the railroad items and that is why they seem to be more of a focus.

The wine and seltzer almost look to be brought further forward than the railroad track and wheel. They are most definitely meant to be the center of attention and that is why they are scaled differently. Also the text “Wagon-Bar” is meant to draw the most attention when it comes to the type at the bottom of the poster therefore it is bolded and made much larger than the other type. 

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How do rhythm and scale affect the design/layout of the object?

The overall rhythm of this poster is very geometric. There are very clear cut lines, specifically from the left side, that are all focused on the centerpiece of the poster... the head. Quite literally, it creates a focal point for the piece. There are also very few curves in this piece, when compared to the amount of straight lines. It creates a very serious energy and almost appears as harsh.

The head and face in this poster are clearly the focal points of this piece and are made larger to show that they are. Even the text seems to be secondary when compared to the head, which I find quite interesting because usually the point of posters is to get the viewer to read what is on them. 

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How do rhythm and scale affect the design/layout of the object?

The rhythm in this particular piece is established, but bold. The woman in this picture is used almost as a piece to rest the type on. The word “Job” is contoured with the woman’s body which is helpful when trying to draw attention to the text below the woman. The woman’s curves help to direct movement of the eye which is what allows it to keep the readers attention and read everything that is on the poster. 

The word “Job” is very large in comparison to the other words on the poster. However, it is used as a device to position the woman’s head an arm, therefore creating the curve that draws the viewer’s attention to the bottom text. 

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4 Concepts That I Learned (DwT)

The first of the 4 concepts that I learned about was in chapter one. This was the concept of Pictographs. Pictographs were one of the first ways of communicating visually and were brought about by the early people of Egypt, Sumeria, and China. The pictographs were simple drawings that were easily understood by most of the peoples at the time. They were, more often than not, drawings of people, animals, tools, and weapons simply because those were the things that people would have to communicate at the time.

The following topic that I found most interesting was the topic of individual characteristics in different typefaces. These individual characteristics are things that enable people to identify specific typefaces. They are subtle differences within upper and lowercase letters in different typefaces. When someone is attempting to identify a typeface it helps to look at individual characters as opposed to groups of characters. By looking at individual characters one can see that there is more design information in certain letters than others. The uppercase letters of “R,” “T,” and “W” are a few characters that contain the most design information. This is also true when talking about the lowercase letters “e,” “g,” “h,” and “o.”

Optimal Spacing was a concept in chapter three that I found to be interesting as well. There has to be a desirable amount of spacing between words and characters or else it will cause the reader to have a hard time discerning what is being said. If the type is too close together it makes the reader work harder when trying to distinguish one word from another. However, if the words are too far apart then it creates vertical spaces or “rivers” between words and characters that can cause the readers eye to become distracted from moving left to right. 

Finally, I would like to talk about the concept of Tints. A tint is a color that is printed less than its full density which causes it to appear as a lighter shade of the same color. This effect is created by “screening.” Otherwise known as converting the image into a pattern of dots that vary in size. If the dots are made smaller than the tint is made lighter, and if the dots are made larger than the tint is made darker. Tints were originally created in values of ten. This meant that 10% tint was the lightest tint available and 100% tint was the solid color. However, nowadays any percentage of tint is available between 0% and 100% Tints are an asset that is very much necessary when a specific project is limited to only one color. The tints add much more depth to a project when limited to a single color.