#workshop session

[trapezium-cat-blog]

Type with Shape Pt 3

We had a lot of people; way more than 26. And everyone was silent for about 2 or 3 minutes, waiting for someone to take on the obviously necessary role of the leader so that someone could tell us what to do.

After the leader stepped up we compiled all the shapes onto one table. We had a lot of shapes and therefore a lot of possibilities that could arise from them. After to-ing and fro-ing we decided to have one person make one letter. The shapes being most accessible to those closest around the table, those closest around the table were allocated to do it. This wasn’t very inclusive, but no-one could come up with a better idea than that. Anyhow, I was thankful to the leader because this way at least the job would get done.

In hindsight we probably should have set up a rule so that the typeface was more cohesive. I think those making the letters brought along with them what they had learnt from the previous activities, which of course were quite different from each other. Many of them didn’t use more than 2 different shapes, which suggests to me that no one really experimented and just stuck with what they already know. Using different shapes for different purposes also results in different sizes and different styles. After it was completed, no one was brave enough to suggest edits or alternatives either, so this was the result.

It’s not bad but it’s not great. I think ideally, we could have assigned different roles for everyone by coming up with important things to do e.g. leading the team; making a rule; making alternatives; choosing the best one out of the alternatives; making adjustments for cohesiveness; delivering shapes to the makers; showing and telling to the rest of the group some techniques we’ve discovered and could include in the final design etc. We could even have made more than one typeface.

Of course, there were many difficulties that arose which made that difficult. Firstly, I think we weren’t prepared and were thrown off guard by the idea of working together in one huge group. Not everyone knew each other well enough if at all and the dynamic was hard to grasp. There was a lot of tension and pressure from the demands of the task I think and amongst such a large group of people most of us lacked the confidence to feel significant and influential. I’m sure everyone had thoughts and ideas running around in their heads but sharing it would have been daunting and the idea of so many people following your idea comes with a large feeling of responsibility for not failing.

Also it was hard to communicate because we saw each others as equals which is good, but we needed someone to give us a push so that things could flow and actually happen.

However, we were still technically successful in completing the task as the brief didn’t specify whether the typeface had to be amazing. Our result was legible, bold and diverse and we had many creative ideas incorporated into it.

[engineering-colleges-aimt]

Special two hour Workshop session on topic Nurturing Winning Habits

Accurate Institute of Management and Technology organized a special two hour Workshop session on topic Nurturing Winning Habits for the PGDM and MBA students

Accurate Institute of Management and Technology organized a special two hour Workshop session  on topic Nurturing Winning Habits  for the PGDM and MBA students

[trapezium-cat-blog]

Type with Shape Part 2.

After we had a look at the other groups’ work we were told to collaborate with another group. Naturally, as triangles most of us wanted to work with either the squares or the demi-semi circles.

Unfortunately, the squares and the quarter circles had already united as one group, we had no choice but to combine our orange triangles with their green triangles.

At first I wasn’t particularly excited about this combination. Many of their letters were similar to ours, no surprise, and other than having to colour co-ordinate the only other obvious benefit was that  maybe we could choose the better version of each letter.

However things soon got exciting (for me anyways) when we found out that the triangles were different sizes... meaning there was more contrast to work with between the two colours and our typeface could be more interesting. More contrast meant we could have a bit more hierarchy and draw attention to particular areas of the shape of the type and hence the letter itself.

Before we began we decided that negative space was our approach and that utilising the conveniently bright white of the table would make the most use of our different side-of-the-triangles’ lengths and colours. There were some outliers (i.e. “b” and “d”) but they were cool and effective enough to make the final cut.

Interestingly, I think the rule of using negative space allowed for a similar line of creativity and thinking so that not only did the negative shape thing was consistent, the general ratio of orange small to green large triangles was also quite even throughout the entire typeface. The negative space was also a contrast to both triangles’ previous approaches which was to use the shape itself to be part of the type.

I also think there is a more vertical and horizontal emphasis... a sense of a grid going on because we are able to differentiate various areas of each outcome. The triangles were still unapologetically triangles but they were able to harmonise much better so that the overall look would have more squares and rectangles involved.

[trapezium-cat-blog]

Lo-Fi Exhibition

This week we looked at some of the Ask Me Anything Posters that we had created and curated an exhibition show them off.

We brainstormed on the possible spaces that we could use that would be interesting and unique, such as underneath the tables and on the windows. Then, the idea of the elevator came up and the location of the exhibition was quickly decided.

As a fee we decided to make the viewers walk up two flights of stairs to the next level first, before allowing them to see the exhibition. This journey was guided by a roll of pink tissue paper (I think it was tissue paper) which we had unrolled along the edge of the stairs leading all the way to the front of the elevator. Then the viewers would press the button for the doors to open and step into the exhibition.

Usually, inside an elevator is very plain and metal. The walls and the floor are smooth and hard, and the reflective ability allows for the illusion of a larger space than it is in reality. For our exhibition, however, we sacrificed that virtual space and replaced it with burning questions built from type made of everyday objects. The small and narrow space is outlined with the very tangible and layered posters. In effect, this bombards the viewer with information with an explosion of colour in a very in-you-face manner, as if the questions were demanded to be answered or contemplated about. As a bonus, when you arrived at the level below and exit the exhibition you are welcomed by a large group of paparazzi snapping away with phone cameras.

I personally think it was very successful because the inside of the lift created a very intimate experience and it was almost as if the viewer was momentarily inside someone’s head, experiencing all sorts of curiosity and other emotions which lie behind these questions about design.

[trapezium-cat-blog]

I had a look at what the other groups had done.

The wire pangram cleverly used shadow and I like the way it is framed by the shadow of the window panes too.

The yellow rope/string reminded me of our own initial attempts to do something similar with the cassette tape. The rope flows really nicely creating round and soft outlines. I also like how they used clips rather than tape.

[trapezium-cat-blog]

The task was to write our pangram with water on a surface somewhere in RMIT. Our first attempt was on a strip of concrete which darkened when painted with water and that contrasted nicely with the dry areas of the surface.

As the location was quite sunny it didn’t take long for the words to evaporate and so we had to capture its temporary existence with our phone cameras.

And when we weren’t fast enough we had to touch up some of the words.

So for the next one, we decided that the documenter would use their bodies to create a shadow for the scribe.

Although the thinner strokes still evaporated fairly quickly, we found the shadow method to be quite effective.

[trapezium-cat-blog]

We experimented writing on a variety of surfaces.

[trapezium-cat-blog]

Here I experimented with combining multiple outcomes within one tablet. This allowed me to play around with hierarchy and create more interest and dynamic within each design as different imprints attract and direct the eye differently. Some combinations were more coherent than others and I found that the most legible ones were most similar to modern typefaces and embodied simplicity in their formal qualities, particularly line and texture.