Typography and Context - Major Project
Assessment 3 - Major Project
For the Major Project in this course, you will be provided with multiple project briefs to select from. All briefs are intentionally open-ended to allow for personal interpretation and direction. Your outcome should represent a full Trimester of consistent research, experimentation, reflection, and refinement. Participating in class workshops, discussing your work with your classmates, and sharing your progress with your tutor will be essential to your success. Your final outcome is also to be creatively and professionally showcased on Behance.
Brief - Lost
Design a typographic work exploring the theme Lost. We expect you to investigate the widest interpretation of the theme from historical, cultural and global perspectives, drawing upon references to different eras, societies, social groups, generations etc. Be selective and discerning in your interpretation. Your research will undoubtedly uncover a breadth of information – everything from the profound to the ridiculous. It is your job to consider the tenor of the communication. Is it a serious, forensic interrogation of the theme, or is it a little more light-hearted? Does it have a very specific/singular narrative drive or is it eclectic, fun and informative? Whatever the case, we would like you to lose yourself in this theme and create a typographic tour-de-force to please the eye and stimulate the brain.
Concept:
The idea to use the juxtaposition of a classic, well bound, themed and designed book with the layout to be clean, direct and professional while displaying graffiti or ‘street art’ in a formal fashion which would serve to confuse most of the readers and reconsider graffiti as an art from.
This is what the final solution looks like, the hard and textured covered adds the credibility and professionalism from the get go. Although you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, without reading the text and just seeing the gold foil on the royal red background makes this book seem very formal and should be in a high end library or on the bookshelf your grandmother wouldn't let you touch.
The layout of this dictionary is quite different to the norm. The two differences being the minimal text and having pictures included in the layout. To keep the professionalism and formality of a dictionary the layout is minimalist and simplistic which keeps it looking clean as well as gives it the feel of legitimacy .
Typeface Choices
As professionalism and authenticity are two key parts in creating a believable and trustworthy dictionary, the typeface choices for the design were very important. The two choices shown below were selected due to their historical connection within the dictionary and print family. Times New Roman is the most well known font in the world, partly due to it being the first font of the “LondonTimes” Newspaper. Using a font that everyone is familiar and comfortable with adds to the sense of trust and credibility this book is trying to create. Parable-Regular, has been used in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (11th edition revised 2008) as well as other notable published dictionaries and encyclopaedias, therefore adding authenticity to the overall design.
