#bookreview2

[crazzzie-creative]

WorldBookWeek - Review Two.

Kissed By An Angel - Elizabeth Chandler.

This book I haven't read in such a long time. But it was this book of all books to get me in to reading properly. A Love story. It not only tells us, but makes us use our imaginations. It shows us. It shows us that True Love does last forever, even after we've passed  away. The writer, Elizabeth Chandler, has written it in a way of showing that most of us become angels after we die and that Angels do truly help us and guide us. Some people can speak to angels, if they truly believe.  Anyway, back to the actually story. I haven't read this book it many years, and I have read many books since this one, but it still remains my favourite. And well, the story is a bit hasty in my mind, I am due another read of it, i know. I can't remember the start of the Book.. only from when Tristan died.  Ivy and her Boyfriend, Tristan, are driving somewhere. On a country road, Tristan driving, and they crashed. But another car had caused the crash. Tristan died. Ivy was more then devastated and upset. She feels life doesn't exist without him. She used to believe in angels, but when her boyfriend and best friend died, she fell out of touch with them. Thinking that they can't exist. If they exist, he would still be alive.  Ivy's brother found out that Tristan hadn't left her side. That he was her Guardian angel. And started trying to help him, make her believe again.  Ivy was always a popular outgoing type of girl. But since Tristan died, she lost all faith and believe. All her close friends and family struggled to get her to be happy again. Little does she know when she starts to believe again, is that he is only there for 1 reason. 1 mission. To save her life. If he does that, Ivy would lose Tristan forever. But he just wants her to believe again.  He makes the right decision in the end.  I'm obviously not going to post the ending, I can barely remember if I'm honest, but I don't want to spoil it.  I think it will always be my favourite book, because its such a beautiful love story. It was the first book that really got me to love reading.  I give this book 10 out of 10.  I 100% recommend this book to girls. Teenagers. 

[boom-bust-sustainability-process]

Type as Image

As a young girl, I enjoyed craft time. I enjoyed collage, cut-and-paste, illustration, and illustrating type. This is not completely unique, as many other children love crafts and play, however, my love for letterforms and numbers now has evolved me into the world of graphic design. The sidelines of my notes in grade school became canvas for illustrated type and it was not until recently that I have been able to study type formally and rediscover my fascination with letter-form and begin to play again with a child-like spirit to create sophistication from the rough and sloppy.

In the book 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design, Steven Heller and Véronique Vienne touch on the topics of many different ways to play with type – metaphoric lettering, visual puns, paper cutouts, ransom notes, collage, and calligrams. Using type not only as a readable message, but as a visual to emphasize or create a double meaning seems to appear over and over throughout graphic design history.

Calligrams Calligrams were first introduced in order to play with metal type and took great care when working under rigid constraints. Their structure of type implies an image in relation to its readable content. Sentence structures are formed to fit shapes that provide a surprise. Today, with type more easily movable with software and cut & paste, calligrams have become somewhat cliché. I think their is still an opportunity to play with calligrams in web and other electronic forms, where rigid constraints of laying type have once again come back into graphic design.

Metaphoric Lettering Stephan Sagmeister is associated with metaphoric lettering. Heller and Vienne share in the book: ‘Sagmeister transforms everyday natural & industrial objects into letters to convey messages in which the metaphors trigger deeper understanding of the message.’ Metaphoric lettering allows for visual puns, adds dimension to print, and helps to bring life to the written word.

Collage Under the category of collage, we can find montage, ransom notes, and basic cut & paste similar to the style of Henri Matisse. Collage may include images, texture, and sketches, but for me I really enjoy collage with typographic elements. Deconstructed, merging, and aggregation of type turns into its own visual, and the letterforms can lose their meaning as a sound or part of a word and turn into shape, line, and image.

As I begin to prepare for my thesis topics, I am hoping that play with type can once again line the sidelines of my notes, perhaps even my final book, and allow me to explore type in new ways.

Book Credits: 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne, 2012.