Each image symbolises a planet; Moon, Earth and Uranus, which each have links to the facts I have chosen to work with. The Slide Rule was used by NASA engineers to aid with planning for the Apollo 11 moon mission, which has clear and direct links to the moon. The Abacus was first developed in Ancient Greece (symbolised by the Earth) by the Ancient Historian, Herodotus. Finally, the third design symbolises the planet Uranus. The inventor of Napier's Bones, John Napier, gained a reputation as a Wizard. This idea of magic and intelligence has links to the planet Uranus within astrology, as well as being the planet symbolic of his star sign. I chose to create these links to planets in order to keep the postcard designs standardised in their design and layout so that they clearly work as a series of three.
The layout of the type was adjusted so that the kerning fitted in with one set of measurements found on a typical slide rule, which was used on the Apollo 11 moon mission, as well as for other slightly abstract purposes. The typeface I used for this was a simple default type produced specifically for certain software, such as text-editing programs so keeps it's links to the process I used in the production of the postcards. In addition to this I wanted to make sure the type was clear and easy to read, especially if the kerning was to be manipulated in an abstract way. This gives the overall design a small, quirky element which does not distract away from the context in which it is being used, as well as not over-powering the main design for which I had already used text to form the image (ASCII art).
The background colour was inspired by my research into the artist Liam Scully, as well as the colour scheme for one of my initial mock-up zines. Scully used pink thermal ECG paper within his body of work 'A Digital Suicide' which has clear links to graphing calculations as well as coding, which he took from the meta-data of his previous Facebook profile. In addition to this, I also felt the colour complimented the overall design well. I wanted to use quite a pale colour so the ASCII images would not be lost amongst the colour or so that it would not over-power the image too much. This pale pink colour I felt was a happy medium, as it enhances some of the design through it's transparency, making the image clearer to understand and interpret by bringing out the different shades in text properties.
Through the printing process, I also found that this colour printed a slightly paler shade than it appears on screen, however this does not compromise any of the design and still produces a simple contrast between the front and back pages of each postcard.
Taking ideas from the standard layout of a postcard I used this to design the reverse side which also features a small passage of text that explains each fact further. In order to link these passages of text to the main design, I used a simple red circle giving it a purpose similar to that of an asterisk. These are also used overlayed onto the ASCII designs to map out certain areas of the planets. For example, the first features a series of blue and red pinpoints. The red symbolises the Apollo 11 moon landing, whilst the blue symbolise the areas landed during the other five moon missions. The second pinpoints a rough idea as to where Greece is situated within the world and the third pinpoints where the Aquarius constellation would normally be situated within the month of October. I have used each of these to provide further direct links between the image, fact and information, therefore producing a coherent series of designs.
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