OUG204 TYPE ELECTIVE EVALUATION

This module has been extremely beneficial because I’ve learnt things which now seem crucial to not only type and layout design, but every aspect of design work. Through covering a range of areas it has taught me to focus more carefully on what I am communicating when using type and how even the smallest details can affect work considerably.

It was useful to have experience with Quark Express as even though it is quite different to InDesign, once I familiarised myself with the software it was fairly easy to navigate and utilise.

The introduction to the workshop was helpful in showing how certain types and combinations of letters can change the interpretation of a single word; the way it reads or sounds. This was fun but forced me to begin considering the basics such as appropriate typefaces, positioning within a page and pt size. It was really interesting and useful to see how other classmates approached all of the tasks, which definitely contributed to my learning.

When looking at hierarchies through creating a very small scale advert I was able to realise how important the order of information is. This is not only the order from the top of the page through to the bottom, but how details such as font choice, pt size and weight can drastically influence the order that the eye reads within an area.

The impeccable texts tasks developed my understanding of setting up a piece of text with columns and of how a body of text works on a page. There are so many factors to keep in mind that effect the way we read a body of text such as leading, justification, pt size, weight, font, kerning and the amount of words to each column. These tasks were challenging and surprisingly interesting to learn due to the fact that they will be important considerations in the future.

The leaflet practice was very valuable but I admit that the gape fold in particular was the most challenging for me. After creating the A5 leaflet I expected the gape fold to be no problem, but it was strangely daunting having to organise the images and text successfully onto what seemed to be very awkward pages.

I was so relieved to have learnt about some of these rules before I went on work experience at a Productions company (London) who produced two magazines for dentists. I had to create an A5 leaflet as well as a poster to advertise a dental website and I also had some experience in their magazine layout. It was a bit disappointing to see that the person in charge had no design experience and since he dictated the majority of the design direction, it was a very poor standard. I know I am still learning and have a long road ahead, but it was very deflating being forced to create awful work which I’ve been taught is bad practice. I do not regret the experience however, as it made me appreciate what I had learnt and look forward to those open briefs :)

I am so pleased that I’ve now got a business card and letterhead design (which I really enjoyed creating) and it was rewarding to utilise what had been taught into something more personal. It has also been beneficial to keep a type diary as this has forced me to take more notice of type when I’m not at college! I have tried to annotate areas as best possible but plan to improve on this ability as it can be quite difficult at times.

My weaknesses within this module have been my type diary. Although I’ve enjoyed collecting type, when annotating I feel a bit under pressure to make sure I’m saying the right thing. It also takes a degree of consideration and patience, so even though most of the time I’ve noticed details, it is different when having to write down my comments. I plan to continue practicing however as I’m slowly getting used to it.

My strengths within this module have been learning and slowly putting into practice what I have learnt. There has been a lot of information to take in over a short period of time, but I want to hold onto all this information as best possible because I know it will affect my ability as a designer in the future.