Project 2 : Expressive Type & Design

I thought this was a rather enjoyable project. After spending the entire chapter reading about the expressive qualities of typefaces it was fun to experiment myself.

For Stodgy, meaning hard to digest, I used a rather appropriate font, 'Gutcruncher'. The spikes ooze unfriendliness, especially to a digestive tract. Using all uppercase gives the word a bigger impact, as if shouting. I made it an off-gray color to decrease it's appeal and added a shadow to give it depth and also increase the 'frighten factor'.

I think it turned out quite well for only a moments work....



Crush was more difficult. I had a hard time visualizing a static image (no motion) to represent crush. I opted to use a font called 'Razzo'. It gives the text 3d space and gives the letters height. Using the liquify tool in Photoshop 3, I just made it look similiar to what a can might appear like after being kicked around on the street. It gives it a subtle but effective 'crushed feel'.



The word I had the easiest time designing was Ornate. The word itself is rather self descriptive and I instantly knew what to do... I acquired a font called "VTKS Revolt" for it's flowery and vivid imagery, clouds, lightning bolts and curls -- it's totally ornate, and quite frankly, totally awesome. As requested from the project, one of the words we created needs to be incorporated into a B&W design composition. I used a flowery design as the background and juxtaposed a rose with a glow on the left edge. I added the arrows on the right side because I felt the image was uneven after adding the roses. It also helps draw the persons eye from the left, to the right, as they read. I had to rearrange the text, flower, and compass many times before I found an alignment I thought was visually appealing.


**The image had to be resized to properly fit in the narrow blog, if you want the full-size here it is.

Last, and arguably least enjoyed, was the word Sludge. Designing a word like this leaves me with very few options for a personal touch. How do you go about expressing sludge without, well, sludge? So, I guess some might call this the 'easy route', but I think it fulfills the project and effectively demonstrates the meaning of the word. I used a font called 'Ooky' and used the liquify tool to warp the image, giving it an almost 'melting' effect. Effective and simple...




Aside from the simplicity and ease of this project, I found this to be really enjoyable. Before this chapter I knew that text and typeface changes the message visuals have, but I didn't understand the depth of the impact it has on the viewer. Subtle changes can make all the difference it seems, especially when conveying a message via text. Overall, this assignment I feel, although simple in nature, has several levels of complexity to it and I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to tackling more advanced assignments in the future and building upon my design skills....