Advanced Typography - Project 1A



16/09/20 - 21/10/20 (Week 4 - 6)
Ahmed Yaman Ibrahim (0341119)
Advanced Typography
Project 1A

LECTURE NOTES

Lecture 5: Perception & Organisation
23/09/20 (Week 5)

This week's lecture was on Perception & Organisation, which covered topics of contrast, form and organisation of typography and how they can be used to guide reader's eye through the content.

Fig. 1.1: Use of contrast in typography with regard to size

INSTRUCTIONS

PROJECT 1A

Key Artwork (Week 4)

For Project 1, we are tasked with using visual and type in order to create a key artwork which will be used in collateral for Project 2 (collateral design), using one of the three event titles from the previous exercises. It was important that we research the topic of the title we choose to understand what the movement represents, so we can convey it better in our design. I went ahead with Russian Constructivism & Graphic Design as my topic.

I did some research initially on the history of Russian Constructivism and its use in Russian war propaganda, and tried to come up with a visual aesthetic that was similar to the style used back then. However, I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to come up with a design as I wasn't sure how the key artwork was going to be used.

Fig. 2.1: Project 1A - Reference imagery

Fig. 2.2: Project 1A - Initial work-in-progress

Mr Vinod suggested I do some more in-depth research into Russian Constructivism in order to understand what the movement stood for, so I did so.

Below are some of the links I went through during research:

Afterwards, I came up with 3 more variations:

Fig. 2.3: Project 1A - Variation 1

Fig. 2.4: Project 1A - Variation 2

Fig. 2.5: Project 1A - Variation 3

Based on Mr Vinod's feedback, I adjusted the key artwork to be less sharper or angular.

Fig. 2.6: Project 1A - Adjustments

Mr Vinod approved the first and last design, and asked me to proceed with whichever I saw fit. I chose the first design.

Fig. 2.7: Project 1A - Key artwork

While working on Project 1B, I made some more adjustments based on Mr Vinod's feedback.

Fig. 2.8: Project 1A - Key artwork (Final)


Fig. 2.9: Project 1A - Key artwork (PDF)


FEEDBACK

Week 5 (23/09/20)

General Feedback:
Key artwork must work in black & white.

Specific Feedback: Do some more research to better understand the Russian constructivist movement, and come up with more options.

Week 6 (30/09/20)

General Feedback:
Poster and other collateral must reflect the design of the key artwork.

Specific Feedback:
Initial feedback for final option - Adjust the shape for the text "Constructivism" and ensure that the design works in black and white before moving on to color.
Upon making adjustments - Reduce the thickness of the outline around "Constructivism." Afterwards, choose my preferred final option and get to work on designing the poster.

REFLECTIONS

Experience:

Week 4 & 5: Had trouble with Project 1A and 1B overall. I needed to do a lot more research than what I'd already done. Trying to come up with a design that accurately reflected Russian Constructivism while also being something that could be used in a logo-like context was especially troublesome. 

Observation:

Week 4: While my original idea was to try and modernise the imagery surrounding Russian Constructivism, I found that I first needed a much better understanding of the movement to be able to do such a thing. Week 5: I found that this process was surprisingly time consuming.

Findings:

Week 4: I soon found that the lack of interaction between classmates (as these are online classes) meant that we were missing out on feedback from our peers, which is something I greatly appreciated in my previous semester as we were able to help each other out. Not having that communication, along with the fact that I don't know any of my classmates as I'd deferred previously, meant that I had to figure a lot of things out for myself that would have normally taken a lot less time if I was able to work with my classmates. Week 5: I'm still struggling with balancing the workload of all my classes. Having missed that one week in the process of moving back to my apartment caused a huge backlog of work that I struggled to catch up with.

FURTHER READING

Week 4 (16/09/20)
A Brief History of Constructivism (https://www.christies.com/features/A-brief-history-of-Constructivism-9811-1.aspx)


Fig. 3.1: A brief history of Constructivism

As the title implies, this article covers the general history of the Constructivism movement, its origins in Russia and what it stood for, as well as the movements it inspired later on.

Week 5 (23/09/20)
Constructivism Brought the Russian Revolution to the Art World (https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-constructivism-brought-russian-revolution-art)

Fig. 3.2: Constructivism Brought the Russian Revolution to the Art World

This article provides some more information on the timeline of Russian Constructivism, the pioneers behind the movement and the work they did.

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