Typography 4--> Conference Artifacts

name tag






informational postcard mailer



poster

Typography 4--> Conference Description revised

Art is design is art is design. Wait... what does this even mean? The boundary between fine art and graphic design is fuzzy at best, and the source of much debate. If graphic design is displayed in a museum, does it then become fine art? If a painting incorporates text, does it become graphic design? Why do we even make such distinctions, when all of this is purely about visual communication anyway?

Interchange seeks to mesh together the world of fine art, illustration, and graphic design in a dialogue about typography, the meaning that can be added or subtracted through experimental type, and bringing together elements from different worlds to better our professional work. What can a typographer learn from a painter, or a illustrator learn from an information architect? Answer these questions through a series of workshops, breakout sessions, and interesting lectures from leaders in creative fields.Together we will dispense with labels and come together as visual people in a typographic world.

This year's theme is Typographic Significance Across Disciplines. Workshops will involve getting your hands dirty while exploring objects as type; breakout sessions will introduce designers to painters and photographers to illustrators as we discuss how our fields can enhance the world of typography; brief keynote lectures will highlight the processes of artists who break out of their assigned world to add new meaning to typography.

Typography 4--> Type Conference --> Title and Description

Veronica and I are working on developing a conference theme together. Here is what we have come up with:

Conference title:

Interchange: Examining Typographic Significance Across Disciplines


This is the first version of my own type conference description:

This typography conference explores the meaning that can be derived from experimental type, in particular that which is somewhat illegible. Many different forms of meaning can be placed on something that may not be what it seems at first. At Interchange you will learn to brainstorm new-found ways of creating meaning in the world of experimental typography.


Veronica's description:

Art is design is art is design. Wait... what does this even mean? The boundary between fine art and graphic design is fuzzy at best, and the source of much debate. If graphic design is displayed in a museum, does it then become fine art? If a painting incorporates text, does it become graphic design? Why do we even make such distinctions, when all of this is purely about visual communication anyway?

This conference seeks to mesh together the world of fine art, illustration, and graphic design in a dialogue about typography, the meaning that can be added or subtracted through experimental type, and bringing together elements from different worlds to better our professional work. What can a typographer learn from a painter, or a illustrator learn from an information architect? Answer these questions through a series of workshops, breakout sessions, and interesting lectures from leaders in creative fields. Together we will dispense with labels and come together as visual people in a typographic world.


*We are looking to somehow combine the ideas of illegibility and creating meaning.

Typography 4--> Refined Designer Bio--> Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes is a free-lance graphic designer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She began her career in 1983 when she began typesetting books in the traditional, classical style. Since that time, Bantjes has experimented with many different mediums from vector art to sugar-sculpted letter forms. Although she doesn't have any formal training as a designer, she has developed a series of unique styles and compositions that yield to those emphasized at design schools across the country. Her wide range of experimentation makes her a great candidate to speak at conference about experimenting.

You can learn more about her and her work at www.bantjes.com

Typography 4--> Type Conference Concept Map and Timeline

timeline

Typography 4--> Typographic Experiments--> Round 3

After looking into some calligraphy and blackletter type I found that capitals in blackletter usually have thin supportive lines and ends of letters contain stylized strokes. I attempted some of these attributes in the above tests, but I believe that they became too legible in my controlled brush strokes.

Below, I continued to explore a more loose approach, and also discovered that using a fatter brush produced more desireable results (the first line in the first image is done with a smaller brush). The way in which these letterforms are created with fast strokes and visible stops in the flow of the form creates a style in itself.

Typography 4--> Typographic Experiments--> Round 2

In these typographic experiments I am using a drop of ink and a straw to create letterforms










These are playing off the first set of forms, only now creating words and phrases.

Typography 4--> Designer Bio--> Marian Bantjes

The pieces that inspired me to experiment with legibility were the pieces that Marian Bantjes created for Sagmeister using sugar. I believe that she is exploring some of the same questions of legibility in hand generated type while using an alternative medium.

Marian Bantjes is a freelance graphic designer from Saskatchewan who now lives near Vancouver, British Columbia. She declares that her influences and inspiration come from everything: "conversations, things I read, things I see around me, books, magazines, old stuff, new stuff, art, design, craft, film, music, garbage." Bantjes does not have a formal education in art or design. She went to art school for only one year. In 1983 she began typesetting books, where she was trained in the traditional, classical style. In 1993 Bantjes founded and co-owned a design firm which she ran until 2003. At that point she became what she calls a "graphic artist" and has been doing this ever since. Most of Marian Bantjes' clients consist of other graphic designers and art directors. She doesn't seek them out, they come to her. Her motivation to design is "figuring things out" this is also her definition of design. She enjoys complexity and typically starts a project by giving herself a question that she has to answer through the solution of the project.

Typography 4--> Typographic Experiments

I am in the process of experimenting with the legibility of hand generated type using india ink.

Typography 4--> Questions about Hand-generated Type

1. How far can I push legibility in making typography out of unusual substances?

2. How might hand-generated typography give way to the progressive DIY movement?

3. What is the potential for hand-generated type to become more widely used than computer fonts?

4. Can I create a hand-generated typeface, put it into the computer and have it retain the same quality?

5. How many different tools can I use to hand generate type?

6. How many different surfaces can I place type on?

7. What kind of results will I get if I combine mediums that aren't normally put together?

8. Is there a pattern that a hand-generated typeface can be made from?

9. What combination of collage and traditional writing tools would make for unusual results?

Typography 4--> Experimental Type Trends

Hand-Generated Typography

The trend in hand-generated type is an attempt to break out of the traditional methods of typography, which have become highly digitized in the last 30 years. Ever since the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984, people have become obsessed with the digital age and forgotten the roots of their craft. The hand-generated trend has begun as a way to bring back the fine arts in graphic design.

Hand drawn typography arguably began in Pre-historic times and has been evolving throughout the centuries. These characters have an aesthetic quality that can never be properly represented in computer fonts. It is a form of expression that becomes the personal mark of the artist or designer who creates it. No one else is able to produce that letter in the same way. In this aspect, hand drawn typography is similar to handwriting. No single person will be able to write the same as another.

In the past few years there has been great effort to expose the illustrative type trend. In the April 2008 issue of Print Magazine, they focused on one designer, Michael Perry, who has created an entire book dedicated to hand-drawn type. We find this method appearing everywhere from posters to product design and brand identities, including that of Urban Outfitters and others.