Postcards

Further Development and Final pieces

This is my final second postcard which promotes the event at St brides library. In development to my other postcard I think this one works much better, the even is a typographic event so I felt that the postcard had to be highly typographic and I feel that i have achieved this here. I tried with various colours and found that this one worked the best.

I decided to change my Verdana postcard and go for something which looks more information filled. I think having a postcard in this style which I have above gives it a more interesting feel and would grab the publics attention more if it was to be put on sale. I added in a touch of red just to liven the postcard up a bit as it look quite dull with the black type on a white background finish.

My final pieces

I am quite pleased with my final outcomes, i think they suit the brief well and have all the needs in which the brief asks for, my Verdana image compliments the asks of the brief and shows all the unique qualities the typeface has, this postcard is aimed more at the adult market also adults who are generally interested in type. Mother postcard on the other hand is aimed at the more younger person, reason i chose Egyptian Hieroglyphics as the historic typeface as i feel its more interesting to a younger person, this would give them more or a reason to come to the event if it had Egypt as an event at the Library.

This is my design for the history of the Verdana typeface, i simply changed the colours on the image as on the reverse of the card is the Union Jack, i did this so that both sides compliment eachother, but then does this overkill the image and not make it stand alone?

This is the rear of my postcard for the Virdana typeface i gave the rear of this image the Union Jack flag as Matthew Carter was born in London this also give the postcard some more life. but now after seeing this image im deciding weather the union jack colours Red White and blue should be on the front image also?

time I added an image to make the back look more interesting, i think it makes it something to look at and takes away the boring template . I changed the opacity of the image to reduce the effect of the image and so that the stamp box could still be shown and if the person who buys the postcard wishes to write on that side they can.

This is a back design for my type history postcard at the moment it looks a plain and simple template so im going to make the attempt to make it more interesting, i dont want to over do the reverse of the postcard as a large image is already on the front. There is also a brief explanation of Egypt, i found this quite difficult as speaking about hieroglyphics with minimal type isnt easy.

This is the continue of my earlier idea but in the speech bubble ive put the event and the date, this would help to advertise the event aswell as being a clever piece of design, the image is clear that this time period   is from the Egyptians making Hieroglyphics relevant .

This was an image i was going to use for my history of type postcard but the problem i had was that i didnt know where any information was going to go as it was hard to read, a way i tried to overcome this problem was to change the opacity but because there is a lot going on in the image it was still hard to read.

www.Flickr.com

Reverse of postcard research

Some reverses of postcards can be quite interesting and by simply rearranging type can make it look even more visually interesting. Google.co.uk/images

This postcard has more than your average standard template, the designer has cleverly used a silhouette image of a head where the typical square box would be, this already makes the back of the postcard more interesting to look at and stands out from the crowd. On the rear of this postcard there is also a large amount of information fit onto a small area, this is something i need to consider when doing this myself as i also have a fair amount of information to fit on to my postcard.

This postcard rear has a background image with the opacity lowered, this allows for the standard template of a postcard to be more interesting, this simple effect can have a massive effect on the rear of the postcard. With the opacity changed this allows for writing to still be visible as if the image opacity was not changed the person writing on this card will find it difficult to read.

This is your typical standard template of a postcard at its very basic, this method allows there to be enough space left for there to have an address and writing, depending on how the front of the postcard is the back needs to compliment the front so a balance of quality is needed.

Type History Postcards

I've started my designing for my historic postcards, i decided here that i would try and add some humour to type this is what would make the postcards appealing. The images shown are from http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=egyption+hieroglyphics&m=text These ideas have a play on the whole history of type combining the old with the new, Egyptian Hieroglyphics date right back to the 3000's B.C, so the speech bubbles stating terms that are modern might possibly be considered to humourous?

These are some postcards i found on http://www.postcarddesignideas.com/ what i can take from these designs is their layout also how much information you can still fit onto a small space, some of these postcards are even near enough split off into different sections separating images from type. Some of these images even look like page spreads.

Postcard Ideas

Trying to come up with postcard ideas within the constraints of the design brief seems to be harder than what i first thought, i must Visually describe and Highlight the characteristics, Unique Qualities and Key Aspects of the typeface. I want my postcard to be quirky but simple but for people to have a form or understanding what the postcards about and to give a simple explanation of what the typeface is and about. My USP (unique selling point) is the play on words with the idea here being " V For Verdana " like the movie " V For Vendetta"

This was an idea i had which has all which the brief asks it has visually described the typeface by the annotation of the anatomy of the word Verdana it also has the unique qualities of the typeface. In my opinion i also think this in the form of a postcard is quite eye catching, the idea i had to do this is that the Verdana typeface was designed for the computer so having a play on that seems like a good idea.

 

This was a typographic illustration i came up with, i wanted to keep the image plain, simple and to the point, it has some minor information about the Verdana typeface and some of the qualities that make the typeface what it is and why its used on computers, im going to try develop this idea as i quite like it maybe try it with abit of colour to give the image some more life.

This is the same image but with a black background, the only colours ive used are CMYK , i think this makes the image more interesting to look at and the colours lift the letters off the page, having the image this way definatly makes the image more eye catching. My only main concern being that the colour black might look dull and out of place, which is why i used these bright colours to draw that away from the image.

Im really pleased with this image i made, its very simplistic but interesting at the same time, its very eye catching to look at but keeping the balance without going over the top, the plain white background gives the images some breathing space also i reduced the opacity on the other pieces of type so that " Verdana " stands out and is the more dominant piece of type on the page. The type on the image each describes the typeface and says the unique features this typeface has.

This is what the back of the postcard will look like , it has a 50 word explanation about the typeface, who invented it and why. The back also has the St Bride information and a few lines for the address etc.

Conclusion

I think my typographic illustrations suit the brief well and describe the typeface well without it being boring or having to read alot, this makes the person reading the postcard want to read it more, i experimented different ideas as to see which looked better but i come to the final outcome that the simple black and while image suited the postcard better.

History Of Type

Egyptian Hieroglyphics


The history of Egyptian Hieroglyphics go back as far as 3000 B.C , there isn't much to be known about the inventors but the recent study is still relevant in today's society. There was thousands of symbols used but not all of these symbols were used to write in Hieroglyphics, this ancient language was very difficult to learn, to fully understand the language there was a minimum of 700 symbols and often had more than one use , the interesting fact about this language is that each symbol had around 3 meanings or could simple be a representational meaning of the image.


There was a variety of uses for hieroglyphics one being they were prominently used to be displayed inside pyramids and tombs of the royal. Hieroglyphics conveyed the history of the Egyptian nation in particular the Egyptian Pharaohs. Studies even show that these symbols were used on jewelry and name plates.


http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/history-of-hieroglyphics.html



Glyphs were very time consuming to create so the egyptians developed a script written method called hieratic this was developed in the early years of Glyph use.
The characters on the script resembled the symbols on glyphs but in a much more simplistic way what egyptians used to write on these scripts were reed pens and ink on papyrus, papyrus is a paper like material made from a part of a plant. This new method was only used for religious script , and for general communication.


http://history-world.org/hieroglyphics.htm


What the egyptians tried to do was find an easier way to produce their hieroglyphics so they found ways that made it easier for them to write, but in order to do this they had to find the materials and product, this was the first step in history to making symbols, glyphs easier to produce.


My conclusion to egyptian Hieroglyphics is that this was the start in which forms of type/symbols first come across, they cleverly made a method using raw materials to simplify the way of communication and how they adapted the use of symbols in a more simplistic way to make communication easier.

http://www.google.co.uk/images

Illuminated scripts


During 400-600 AD they used a term called 'manuscript' which comes from the latin word for 'hand written', - before books could be printed they had to be written out by hand. This took a lot of time and effort and could take up to months or even years. Paper was available in Southern Europe from the twelfth century, however did not become wide spread until the middle ages and even the fifteenth century in England. Before this they used a material called 'parchment' (also know as vellum) which was made from stretched, treated animal skins. A large manuscript could even use up to a whole cow or sheep skin to make a folded sheet of two to four pages and a thick book could require the skins of a whole heard - therefore medieval books were expensive.


Some manscripts were made even more valuable by 'illumination', - this comes from the word 'lit up' or 'enlighten' and refers to he use of bright colours and gold to make initial letters stand out. Sometimes the letters were purely decorative, but often work with the text to show important messages or to comment on the meaning of the text.


http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourIntroGen.asp


My conclusion to this method is that parchment was mass produced at this point so writing onto parchment was very easy the only problem was it took a very long time months to years to produce one book which made book very expensive. Because the demand in books began to increase the demand for parchment also increased which meant the prices were high so only the wealthy
could afford them.

http://www.google.co.uk/images

Chinese moveable type


During the Ch'ing-li period which was from 1041-1048, the printing technique was advanced further through the invention of 'moveable type'. This technique was expensive and took up quite a bit of time - each carved block could only be used for a specific page of a particular book. Each block had a chinese character carved on it and was made of clay and glue put together - after the block had been hardened by fire it was then durable.


For each chinese character there was several pieces of type - the number reached up to twenty or more if that character was very common. When they were not in use they were covered in paper for protection, they were grouped together according to rhymes and were stores in a wooden frame. If there were some uncommon characters that had not been prepared in advance the carver had to do it there and then, harden them with fire and make them fit for printing in little time.


To proceed with the printing the printer smeared an iron plate with a mixture of was, resin, turpentine and burned paper ash. Pieces of type were then placed on a plate quite close together and were arranged in a way to reflect the text of the book which was yet to be printed. They were confined together by an iron fence which was attached to the plate, and was then placed on a light fire in order to melt the mixture so that all the heads of al the pieces would appear on the same level. It was then ready for printing.


http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/movtype.htm


This was the first method in which there was moveable type but in the most simple way possible, as a machine was not yet invented at this point letter pieces had to be glued together, this was a massive step forward in type production but was still yet far away from where we are today.

http://www.google.co.uk/images

Johannes Gutenberg


Johannes Gutenberg who was a goldsmith and businessman from the known mining town of Mainz in southern Germany. Gutenberg borrowed money from his brother in law to invent a new technology that changed the world of printing Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable or moveable wooden/metal letters in 1450.


The invention of the press massively brought down the price of printed materials as it was much easier to be mass produced. How the press works is ink or rolled over the the raised surface of the moveable letters and was then pressed against a sheet of paper,this could be done for one whole sheet of paper but then the letters had to be rearranged for another page to be done the maximum number of lines that could go onto one page was 42.


This massively changed the lives of people during this period, it made books much more easier to buy as they were no longer hand written which decreased the time it took to produce one book, the first book Gutenberg produced was the 42 line bible this book was made in large volumes as it was one of the most wanted books and at the time was so expensive to buy.

Johannes Gutenberg Timeline

Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the press is still known today as one of the biggest steps forward in type production for its time, and if Gutenberg had not invented the press we might not be where we are today, but Gutenberg's press is a stop forward from the chinese moveable type.

Gutenberg's 42 line Bible page
http://www.google.co.uk/images

Printing press
http://www.google.co.uk/images

Verdana Typeface Information

Verdana is a sans-serif typeface which was designed by Matthew Carter for Microsoft in 1996. Verdana was designed for desktop computers and was made to be highly readable and legible making it one of the most used typefaces of its time it was available to download from the Microsoft website and still is today, as a result its already preloaded to most desktop computers. Verdana was designed for computer use and was aimed to be readable at smaller sizes. What this typeface does not have is ;

• Sans Serifs
• Large X height
• Wide proportions 
• loose letter spacing
• Large counters

Because of those aesthetics this is an often used typeface by web designers attempting to get large amounts of type into a small place. 

http://www.fontco.com/font-facts/verdana.php


Matthew Carters experiance includes cutting punches in steel for metal typefaces, editing bitmaps and drawing outlines for photo digital systems. Another typeface Matthew produced was " Matthew's Bell Centennial " which he made as a bitmap for the use of typesettings in the late 1970's, the typeface was used to print phonebooks, these were always printed at high speeds on poor quality paper. After this point Matthew was set the task to create a highly legible and readable typeface, he began this by starting with what he had experiance in which was bitmaps.


Bitmap is a format in which it stores colour data for each pixel which results in crisp high resolution images, the only downfall being the file sizes are quite large which means bitmaps are only really used when in use for printable images.


Using bitmaps had a massive impact on peoples ability to read fluently,Matthew then focused on the final product and did 3 other sizes of bitmaps giving altogether 4 type styles within this type family. From those bitmaps he was able to hand render outlines of the typeface which then made this " Truetype Outlines" What is truetype outlines? its the combination of both engineering and art it was about defining hand rendered imagery and making the structure better this overall gave a much better crisp outcome.


http://www.fonts.com/aboutfonts/verdana.htm


Matthew carter made many typefaces throughout his career, here are some of the typefaces he made ;

• Bell Centennial
• Nina
• Tahoma
• Sophia
• Georgia
• Olympian
• Fenway

Matthew Carter Timeline




http://designmuseum.org/design/matthew-carter

Placement of type

Placement of type

These are a few examples of various placements of type, my allocated typeface is Verdana. Suprisingly by only using one typeface there was many outcomes i could of had by simply arranging the type in different ways. When arranging type there are some important things to consider, type should always be alligned in some form be neat and crisp. Type that is of more significance is normally bigger and in bold, this is to make the piece of type stand off the page more or in some cases more eye catching. Types of scenarios where the placement of type would be relevant would be in newspapers where the designer has a certain amount of text to fit into a certain space and make everything aligned also the most important parts of type will be in bold. Small changes in type can massively change the look and feel and the effect if gives to the viewer making this very important towards visual communication.

For maximum visual impact the main things to consider are

• Font
• Letter spacing 
• colour
• Point size

Here are my examples of various placements of type.

What i've learnt from doing this is how important type is and that it should never be undermined , in some circumstances type is more powerful than an image and can sometimes better be used to convey a message that perhaps and image cant. In a visual communication aspect changing such simple things can change a whole target audience this is something i will always keep in mind and remember when aiming something at a specific target audience.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-typography.htm

Verdana

Lower case Verdana

Upper case Verdana

Verdana Type Family


A type family incorporates all the variations of a single typeface including the range of different weights, widths and italics. They provide the designer with options that work together in a constant way

Legibility

How easy it is to distinguish one letter from another within a typeface, legible typefaces usually have larger counters. How legible a typeface is all depends on its purpose 

Readability

How easy words, phrases and blocks of type can be read, more readable type encourages for it to be read as it requires less effort. More readable type should be understood straight away as its the words which are readable not the typeface.

Conclusion to readability and legibility

From the information i have about legibility and readability the Verdana typeface is both readable and legible as each character of the typeface can easily be distinguished between one and other, also when the typeface is used in blocks of type its very easily read. Things that may effect the readability and legibility is the Tracking , Horizontal and Vertical scale

  

Character tab

 font, font style, font size,  leading,kerning,tracking, horizontal scale,  vertical scale, character rotation, bassline  shift. These are all the keys for typographic use in illustrator.

Verdana Tracking

This is the outcome for Verdana when tracking is used, tracking closes the spacing between each letter, this makes the word less readable. Each character isn't easy to be told apart so the word is also less legible.

Horizontal scale

Horizontal scale is how stretched out the typeface is this is only 150% but at a higher scale would make this typeface much less readable and legible.

Vertical Scale
Vertical scale is how stretched vertically the typeface is, at a much higher scale percentage this typeface would be very distorted and almost be fully illegible and non readable.