OUGD406 - Study Task 03 - Typographic Treatments

This first typographic treatment made use of a bespoke typeface created specifically for a previous brief. This typeface was designed to look similar to that of newspaper headlines in it’s contrasting stoke weights and serifs, which could be representational of the new publicity of Holcomb town in Kansas within the papers after the crime took place. It was suggested at the time that this typeface also had qualities suitable for use in crime and thriller novels, as the incredibly sharp serifs give it an element of ‘horror’. Both of these qualities are representational of some of the themes of In Cold Blood and so I have combined it with the thin weight of the telephone lines, which were cut during the crime.

The second typographic treatment also uses contrasting elements in terms of the size of type. For this idea I have enlarged the 'C' and the 'D' within the word 'cold' so that they surround the middle letters. This composition can be seen to represent Hickock and Smith closing in and invading the Clutter family home. The typeface used for this treatment was Helvetica, which was used in order to provide a more modern type style which would then appeal to a contemporary readership (an element required within the competition brief).

If this idea were to be further developed, the typeface could also be modified slightly in curving it’s edges so that the ‘o’ and ‘l’ were more consistent in shape. These could then potentially be cut and put into a collage-type style in order to represent the eyes of Hickock and Smith or the form of the binoculars which they stole from the home.

The third typographic treatment produced potentially for my final design uses a more traditional typeface than Helvetica. Bodoni was used on the original 1966 cover of In Cold Blood, alongside Pistilli, and so I decided to use this to convey the time in which the story took place. The bold weight and contrasting serifs make it suitable for old newspaper headlines and so again using idea which represent the new publicity of the town of Holcomb, Kansas in local papers regarding the crime.

Inspiration for the way the type has been split up into two colours was based on ideas taken from the Noughts and Crosses series of books by Malorie Blackman which uses a similar style. The word ‘blood’ in this final typographic treatment represents the darker side of the story. The split of the word represents the cutting of Herb Clutter’s throat whilst the sudden and contrasting colour change represents spilt blood at the crime scene. This immediately creates a sense of 'thrill' for the potential audience before they have even opened up the book.
The double ‘O’ in blood can also be interpreted in a way to look like a pair of eyes, through the split colours which show through the bowl of the 'O's and can be seen to represent the eyes of intent from Hickock and Smith.