Spatial dynamics:
Meaning, in short, resides in the total act of communication.
The familiar form features conditioned patterns of reading, from left to right or top to bottom for example, which allow us to approach any form of printed material with some expectation of how we will navigate through it. This, then, is the starting point for the designer, who is able to build upon this familiarity within the layout and format of a project, often utilising the element of surprise or difference to confound the reader or user's expectations. The designer is able to employ a range of strategies and key elements such as typeface, scale, arrangement and colour within the page(s) to emphasise either the content in general or a significant aspect of a project.
- In my own publication, an existing template/grid system could be utilised from the typical layout of books for instance which could then be manipulated and worked around to appropriately and effectively work with the type of content for the book in order to show this underlying element of familiarity which readers typically like and establish when looking at a publication.
Identity and audience:
The format of each project has been carefully selected by the designer, through their consideration of the relationship between the content or underlying message and its intended audience.
- Think about the audience, how the layout and design of the publication will be suitable and appeal to the target audience. How do you want the book to be communicated?
Historical context:
Throughout the history of the discipline, graphic designers have utilised elements of foundation and structure, making use of various strategies to create a sequential or narrative structure within layout. Earlier experimental European approaches focused on the use of white space and san-serif typography to create simplicity of form and communication that utilised asymmetrical typography and layout. This was driven by an adherence to the grid as a controlling device based upon either geometry and the proportion of the page, or - following the standardisation of typefaces and paper sizes - on the basic units of typographic measurement (such as point scales).
The maxim of graphic design at the time, that visual communication must appear in the 'shortest, simplest, most penetrating form', drew upon the investigation of internal organisation within page layouts and of ordered content. The embracing of the idea design itself could both empower and act as an agent for social change is documented in the optimism and spirit of the early manifestos produced by designers associated with movements such as the Bauhaus in Germany, which celebrated the new methods of mass production and technology of the day.
- Think about the historical content/context of the publication. How could layouts/design elements present from the time of the town's development be utilised within the book?
"Form follows content":
- Use this idea of form follows content in my own publication through finding an appropriate layout and format which links directly to the content. For instance, the idea of zoning systems in the development of the town could be present in the layout of the book, separating sections into different zones based on the subject of the content. Text could be overlayed with imagery in interesting ways (as shown in examples below), or use layouts and shapes from images in the placement of the books content, for example.
Words and pictures:
Mapping meaning - much of the work of a designer in creating visual structures and systems within layouts could be described as a form of mapping. Writer and designer Anne Burdick has described this process: "just as the map actively constructs a particular world-view, so does the layout of a page". Typographic form and the placement of images form the base elements of this mapping.
In this sense, the map is not just a formal directional or navigational structure, but something which directs the reader to a particular position relative to the information presented. This process of opinion-forming through the visual arrangement within the layout of the page, as well as through the written or visual content held within it, can be used by the designer to generate other messages or modes of engagement. Certain designers may present their work as a form of dialogue, an open question for the reader or viewer to actively engage with.
Typographic interludes:
Nick Bell's collaboration with Rudy VanderLans to produce typographic interruptions in the pages of Emigre magazine - the spreads, which Bell terms 'humm compositions', are designed to distract the reader from the flow of the magazine, to make them stop and think. As such, they present an interlude which breaks from the visual narrative or typographic noise of the publication, in an attempt to "prevent the flow of information dissolving into a blanket of syrup where anything can be said to mean anything you like without the strength of context to qualify it".
- Typographic interludes could be utilised throughout my own publication/guidebook in order to create some breaks between passages of textual information so that the reader stays engaged with the content. These typographic interludes could be formed through the use of imagery, bolder elements of text, or small inserts between pages, as shown in examples above.
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