First InDesign Induction

Induction for the basic techniques and basic understanding of how to use InDesign.
In Design is an industry standard page layout software for the commercial print industry.

InDesign can be used for:

• books (covers)
• magazines
• publications etc.
• designboards

*Columns - dividing the columns of text frames in the page

*Gutter - space between the columns 

*Margins - having the ability to consistently layout the text on each page

*Bleed & Slug - guides; more to do with the production of the publication.

Bleed - space at the edge of the paper (to do with trimming as it's very rare to actually print on paper which is the actual size. It's to compensate any inaccuracies in trimming (standard bleed is 3mm)

Slug - an area that sits outside the page and not part of the layout. It's useful for printer's marks (have to be printed but part of production process). It can be used for custom crop marks or fold marks for accuracy. 

*Document Setup - option to change the features that you have and applies it to every page.

*Pages - allows us to change the margins and columns on whichever page/s is selected.

*Layout - "" ""

*Facing Page - arrangement of pages directly corresponds to and reflect wha t he book will look like once the book is printed and bounded. Each end pages are single pages (front and back) --> "reader's spread" - how it'll look like when the reader's flip through it.

*Placeholder Text (Type menu)- allow us to investigate text formatting possibilities. 

*Cmnd+0 - fits the page page to normal size after zooming in and out

*72pt - roughly 2 and a half cm

*Auto leading is 120% 

*Kerning - spacing between 2 character (don't have to select the letters just put it in between the letter you want to adjust the kerning with.

*Tracking - spacing between more than 2 characters (select the letters) most likely to be applied on display sentences or words --> as type size increases the character spacing will appear looser; large font size text can benefit with tightening the tracking; smaller point size text will appear tighter and lost legibility, therefore it  may benefit in loosening the tracking.

*Linking Text Frames - click the small square on the bottom right of the text frame to link text together. 

*Photoshop preparation for InDesign 

• Save image as tif. or photoshop - not  jpeg (lose of image quality), png
• Has to be 300ppi (any lower than 300 can come out with lesser quality images)
• Actual size
• CMYK or greyscale

Subjective Colour (Idea Change)

Upon reading up on subjective colour its connotations and perceptions, I decided to change my idea for this theory (Subjective Colour).

My new idea is going to be based around shops which sells furnitures or particularly presents their furniture and home essential products in specific layouts which around the store. I'm going to focus on the shops use of colour and layout of their products and how they use harmonious colours in particular, or if they use harmonious at all.

From doing this i can hopefully observe if:

• The shop uses harmonious colours in order to specify 'sets' of specific products
• How the sets may affect customers who see the products
• How the customer may feel in the environment 
• Can the customer link certain feelings upon seeing certain colour schemes together

Subjective Colour

Johannes Itten has noticed how different people have various perspectives of what they deemed are to be harmonious colours. He noticed this while doing a lecture, when he asked his students to paint with preset colour combinations and students defying him saying, "We all think that the combinations that you assigned are not harmonious". Seeing this, Itten asked his student to paint with what they personally think are harmonious colours and found the variety of colour combinations that his students came up with.

Through this he found that each person can have their own perception of colour and they can associate certain colours and themes with different things, they have their own "private conception of colour harmony." Itten also pointed out that designers having their own personal 'subjective colour propensities" can "lead to misunderstanding and disputes, where one's subjective judgement  collides with another". Although this can often be saves with objective rules and observations e.g. using red for a butcher shop in order to portray the freshness of the meat being sold.

Looking at subjective colour in another point of view, different people an also see colour differently through scientific proves. Our brain's process differently depending on how the light bounce's off our eyes, therefore your perception of 'green' will be different with how your friend perceives 'green'. This was also proven by 'The Dress' that went viral on 2015 with some people perceiving it as blue while other's gold. Spoken language can also affect how people perceive colours e.g. Russian speakers have different word for dark blue (siniy) and light blue (goluboy), as well as Himba which is spoken in South-west Africa where they only have 5 categories for colour whereas 5.

These are just some areas which proves subjectivity of colour as we are shaped by our experiences, knowledge, culture which have influences in how we perceive colour.

The Dress

Contrast of Temperature

According to Johannes Itten's book 'The Art of Colour' he stated the differences between cold and warm contrasts. In his book he compared how cold and warm colours can affect people and people's senses psychologically and their subjectively views when they are put in a situation. He put people in a blue-green (cold) room and a red-orange room (warm) and found that people tended to feel a difference of 5-7 degrees between the rooms. This showed how blue-green can slow down circulation.

In the colour wheel we can see that the red-orange pole is the warmest and the blue-green in the coldest, however the line between what is cold and what is warm can become ambiguous as although the two opposite pole are warm and cold the hues in between them can either be cold or warm as they are contrasted with warm and cold tones.

Cold-warm property is also often described as opposites:

• cold - warm
• shadow - sun
• transparent - opaque
• sedative - stimulant
• rare - dense
• airy - earthy
• far - near
• light - heavy
• wet - dry

The cold and warm contrast between colour is very versatile as it can also suggest distance e.g. in landscapes as distant objects can seem colder due to the constant air around.

Itten mentioned using a 12-hue colour circle in order to successfully achieve a cold-warm modulation  e.g. doing red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, red and red-violet, blue-green, green, yellow-green, blue, blue-green and blue-violet. If a full chromatic scale is to be done it can only be successful is all the tones are of the same brilliance otherwise there will be a noticeable light-dark contrast which can affect the chromatic gradation. 

Research on Emerald and Green

For this brief I was given the pantone colour 'Emerald' as a starting point for my project. I may take this colour as the focus of my project or it may only be a part of my project as it's only a starting point and something that we can work with in order to start my design process.

From the research that I did I've found that:

• Emerald is hues are generally composed of yellow-green or blue green.
• Only gems that are medium to dark in tone are considered emeralds
• It is a birthstone of the month May as well as for the astronomical sign Cancer.
• It was the pantone colour of the year 2013

Connotations and Meanings

The colour emerald has different kinds of meaning e.g. in cultures and religions:

• Gem stones are often the sign of prophecy and hope to people
• Ancient Egyptians believed that emerald stand for fertility and rebirth, meanwhile in China it was though that wearing green would bring you good luck especially if worn on Thursday's.
• It was also thought to bring intelligence and eloquences on a person from different periods in the past e.g. in the Middle Ages, Ancient Romans in the 2nd century BC
• It can also be seen as a sign of abundance, social class and royalty as it is often worn by royalties around the world such as Queen Elizabeth II, Ptolemy King of Egypt and Alexander the Great.
• It's also thought that emerald (stones) contain mystical powers -> It has connotations to the Greek goddess Venus
• It's also a symbol for unity in Islam and seen as the most natural in Christianity.

As the colour Emerald comes under the greenhouse I thought it was also applicable for me to research about the colour green and its meanings and connotations.

• green in  secondary colour and is between blue and yellow.
• Western culture associates the colour mostly with health, youth, nature, life, boring, hope and envy,  also more negatively with poor health and toxicity whilst in the East its viewed more positively with fertility and happiness. Its also used as a colour for safety (Green Cross, First Aid) and permission (green on traffic lights as an indication to go or green light indicating something is turned on).
• It can be associated with love and sexuality - in  different cultures green have been used to identify certain groups of people e.g. prostitues in Ancient Chine who wear green headscarves, and Persian and Sudanese poetry describing dark-skinned women as "green' women to depict them as erotic. 
• Green is also a sign for calmness and tolerance, it's also passive and neutral (e.g. the 'neutral' state on the pH scale).
• It also has connotations with sickness and poor health - its often associated with poison in the west  as in the 19th century paints and pigments where very toxic as they are arsenic.
• Green can also be associated with prosperity or having lots of money - the colour was often worn by bankers and merchants in 19th century in the United Kingdom. 

2 PM Crit for Design Principles

After generating ideas on our own we then had a critical where we share our ideas and get feedback from them and hopefully pint out how we can do it better and have new ideas to play with.

For my first idea of using the theory of contrast of temperature, I was suggested, as well as putting them on a warm and cold grid/spectrum I could also:

• Arrange the different images in terms of hue or saturation which will then give me a series of images that i can put on pantone strips as part of one idea.
• Make a map of the route and put the image on the map on where I found the image.

I agree with this suggestion as will definitely be something that I do as I think by doing these I am creating a broader series for one idea and will there give me a selection in which each pantone may look and feel different that another. I also think doing these suggestions will also help me generate more ideas whilst I do them as I may be think of other ways I can do them as well. 

For my second idea of using complementary contrast, I was suggested to  maybe not use leaves but instead use more artificial objects in order to get a more interesting result. I was also told to be more adventurous with it, therefore for this idea I was suggested to:

• Maybe buy a morph suit and go around the are and take pictures in it while posing on different backgrounds.
• Use clothes or your body with colour and take interesting poses on different backgrounds.

I think with these ideas I can probably take something interesting from it than only using leaves and scanning them in. I do think doing these as opposed to scanning objects in, makes the series more interactive and dynamic and will also give me a wider variety of unique photographs as well as usage of different kinds of backgrounds. However, I may not buy a morph suit as it cost quite a bit of money and may not arrive on time, however, I can wear a long emerald/green coat and take a picture in them on different backgrounds. I may also think of doing different poses with it on or maybe think of only having the coat on the picture to see the difference between the two.

For my third idea which I was having problems with as I was stuck on what to do with it, I was suggested to look at harmonious colours similar to what Johan Albers. They suggested:

• For me to create 'harmonious series of colours' on different shapes and taking pictures of it and put it as a series (doesn't necessary be green or emerald)
• From the colours and shapes that I have, get people to create their own 'harmonious colours' and I will then take pictures of it - maybe put in in context or give it a caption.

I liked these suggestions and certainly something I will try out. I think by doing these I'll be able to get a wide range of colour schemes and see what different peoples different interpretations of harmonious colours. I can also make this more interesting by not only using paper but also different materials if possible or maybe mix paper with different materials to have a more innovative series and photographs. 

Ideas for my Design Principles

This week we are to research more about the 3 theories that we picked to do our publication around for colour. Today I picked three theories which I thought I could do: Contrast of temperature, Complementary Contrast and Subjective ...

For my research on contrast temperature, I thought of going outside on the streets and take pictures of objects which is close to the colour that I have (emerald) and later putting it on a grid or a spectrum which puts the different images into warm and cold categories. Maybe I could also make myself a rule of setting myself a route and try to find warm colours while going to and cold colours going back.

My second idea revolves around complementary contrasts I thought of using leaves and putting it on a pink background as well as different other colours and scanning them in order to see the different contrast they have on each other, and how the green appears on the background.

For my third idea I'm thinking of referencing the Subjective colour theory by Johan Albers, However,  I am still stuck on how to develop this concept further, although I am hoping that the crit that I will have will help me generate more ideas for this.

Studio Brief 1: Design Principles

Today is a start of a new studio brief where we are to explore the principles of visual literacy, colour theory, typography, layout and format. We will also explore how we will use visual language to communicate our ideas. We were also given a pantone colour which is our starting point for this project. My colour is Emerald.

"visual language is a set of principles by which images can be used to communicate designs."

• We will collate and research about colour theory and grids.
• Make publication(s) based on 3 theories on colour.

Design Principles: Colour Theory 

Systematic Colour (Part 1): An Introduction to Colour Theory

Colour can be seen physically, psychologically and can be perceived differently by everyone. 

We learnt that:

• Hue is one colour
• Colour is one or several hues
• Chroma is all of the colours including shades, tints and tones
• Colour and Hue are often interchangeable 
• Chromatic Values is combinations of all (hue, colour, chroma)
• Shades are hues plus black
• Tints are hues plus white
• Tones are hues plus grey
• Monochromatic scale
• Monochromatic value

Johannes Itten (The At of Colour)

7 Colour Contrast

• Contrast of Hue - contrasting colours put next to each other are seen at their brightest intensities.
• Contrast of Light/Dark - how it looks black and white
• Contrast of Saturation - creates effects of depth, 3D form, and something that 'moves upwards'.
• Contrast of Extension - properties* how much space a colour takes up on the page; how dominant a colour  is; how much volume or are the colours take up in order for them t be equal
• Contrast of Temperature - juxtapositioning hues that are considered warm and cool; shifting the balance between warm and cold.
• Complementary Contrast - the maximum vividness when adjacent (vibrating boundaries); cautionary feel to it?
• Simultaneous Contrast - making 2 colour look the same or making 1 colour look like 2 colours.  (photographing environment- leaves on different coloured paper?)

Johan Albers (Interaction of Colours)

Looks at the perception of colours and how colours change when placed or linked to other colours.

• Intersection - sculpture illusions or intersecting colours (similar to Contrast of Saturation).
• Film and volume- illusion of colour on top of another 
• Reversed Grounds - Colour that looks and feels different when placed on different background (Bezold Effect)
• Subjective Colours - Albers study that people have different perceptions on colours e.g. when he held a lecture and told students to make painting with 'harmonious colours' and some students disagreed with his selection of harmonious colours.

Fourth Typeface Development : Unconformable

Following my previous development of my typeface I have decided to create smooth terminals for my letter faces

                      

 

As seen in these letters the curved terminals really makes a difference on the typefaces and makes them look more consistent now. They still attain their own qualities from the rule that was applied from idea 2 (curving straight stems and straightening curves (counters)). I also think that the typeface looks much more cleaner and refined as they all have the same feel and aesthetic too it compared to the third development. I also found that the typeface has started to have its own personality as the now subtle angular strokes on letter like 'a' still creates a strong and confident aesthetic to it, whilst also the combination of curved stems and straight legs in . letters such as 'h' has created an interesting boldness to the character with the opposing shapes complementing each other and making the letter work.

I also put the letters in a word in order to see how they would look and feel like when used in some context.

i feel that by having the letters in a sentence it has create a very distinct characteristic to it, which is being assertive and strong and modern. It has an aesthetic which can be used in serious tones such as propaganda posters; also it may be used in editorial titles and headings as it also has some modern unique elements. However, I feel like it would not be used as body text as it may become eligible when scaled down and and some letters may overlap or become smaller altogether.

Third Typeface Development : Unconformable

I have included the KKK 'Katipunan' flag in my this design development form the fourth idea.


                

Having the flag as a simplified grid with the three K's shown as triangular lines on the rectangular grid kind of made it easy to develop the typeface from idea 2. However, I found it kind of difficult to place some letters such as 'I' and 'n', 'm' and 'q'  on the grid, partly because of Q's short descender and the repeated lines form n and m; also 'i' a single stemed letter. This may also have something to do with some of the letters looking different or not consistent with each other with some being very angular like 'a' and 'o' while ''r' and 'k' attained their curvy aesthetic. I want to develop these letters so that they become more consistent and has similar moods and personalities as because as of now the they seem fragmented and not part of the same type family. I will maybe develop this typeface by making the terminals smoother in order to possibly counteract the sharp lines that makes the angular qualities of the letter very prominent; though I still want to keep the angular qualities of the typeface as it does match personality and character that I want the typeface to have which is: strong, and bold.

 

Wolfgang Weingart: New Wave/ Swiss Punk Typography

Wolfgang Weingart was Swiss graphic designer and typographer who popularised the New Wave/Swiss Punk typography style. It's a style which opposes the traditional rules of typography and the Modernist aesthetic style of being minimal, functional and logical. Instead the postmodernist style highlights the thinking of typography as something that is creative and free; something that's used to express one's self and it has resulted in more dynamic typography designs as well as increase improve communication. The style includes different type weights in the same sentences, letters in different angles and omitting parts of the letters such as their stems and terminals.

I used Weingart and New Wave as an subtle inspiration for my typeface as it also follows a similar philosophy of not following the rules of typography. I feel like I could use different rules or bend the rules in order to create a completely new typeface that expresses a certain mode and personality and at the same time being able to communicate properly when used in context e.g. posters.

Research on the Philippine Revolution

The Philippine Revolution began in 1896 and was a crucial part of  the development of one of my design ideas. I first started looking at revolution and rebellion as it has connotations to the word 'Unconformable' which is the word I'm basing my typeface on.

The Propaganda Movement - this movement happened as an attempt to call reforms and act against the misinformation that the Spaniards are spreading. Among the people in this movement was Dr. Jose Rizal a Filipino nationalist who wrote the book 'Noli Me Tangere' (Touch Me Not) in order to reveal the wrongdoings of the Spanish Catholic Church and government; the book came with a prequel 'El Filibustirismo'. Through the book Filipino's started coming together and having a strong sense of patriotism and nationalism (as they have lived segregated and fragmented in their own regions due to Philippines being an archipelago) upon realising their need and want for freedom from a 350 year rule from the Spanish rule.

Rizal was imprisoned due to his novels which triggered the 'KKK' 'Katipunan' (a secret anti-colonisation society) to start the Philippine Revolution. The mainly consisted of 'Katipuneros' (members) from 8 regions of the Northern Philippines (Central Luzon) (Batangas, Tarlac, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal, Nueva Ecija and Bulacan). The Katipunan called for a nationwide armed revolution led by their Supreme Leader, Andres Bonifacio; though it failed in central Manila other factions from other regions has succeeded  and gained control of smaller regions apart from Manila. Bonifacio died in 1897 with the power going to Emilio Aguinaldo a military leader and member f the Magdalo (Cavite) faction of the Katipunan. He later led the Philippine Revolution; form the said alliance with the USA in defeating the Spanish during the Spanish-American War and then in the Philippine-American War where  ordered "[t]hat peace and friendly relations with the Americans be broken and that the latter be treated as enemies" He was also the 1st President of the First republic of Philippines which formally declared war against the USA in 1899. The Philippines did not get independent state states until 1944.

End of Module Self Evaluation

In this module, I believe that the content was relevant to my development as I learnt how to research and develop work in a much more in-depth way than my previous studies. In addition, I also think that the briefs we were set is relevant and appropriate for the module as this is our first module; having briefs which introduces us effectively to the course is helpful as we are able to properly settle in the course as well as learn or refresh our knowledge of what we already know. Furthermore, I feel that the workload we were given is appropriate to the module as the work we were set helped us develop our designs further than we would probably do, and it has also made us reflect on our work frequently e.g. on our blogs. However, in my opinion I feel like I haven’t fulfilled my own learning potential during this module as I felt that I didn’t have enough time to do what I wanted to do, although this may because I’m not used to the pace and workload of the course compared to the course I attended previously. I was more sued to a linear way of working and being set tasks and work which will help me achieve a certain level, however, this time I’m expected to be more independent and spend less time ‘thinking’ which at times led me to feel blank and panicked, however as the module progress and has nearly finishes, I felt that I’m starting to settle in better and manage my time more effectively.

To add to that, the support given to me by the course team has been very useful as they helped me discuss how I could further develop my work and things I could do to improve not only my work but also my written analysation and evaluation. In addition, the feedback given to me during critiques has bene very useful and has helped me progress and spot problems with my work. Having people’s different points of view looking at my work has helped me improve my work as there may have been aspects of my work that I didn’t notice but was pointed put to me- both positive and negative. In addition, I was also able to change and improve my designs where there were problems, due to feedback given to me by my peers and the course team.

The Library resources available was satisfactory and has been helpful for me to produce my work physically. Although I did have to spend quite a bit of money in order for me to print and show my work in a good quality.  

Studio Brief 3 : Final Crit

Before handing in our final work we were able to do a final crit which helped us get more feedback about what we missed in our developments and suggestions on how we could improve our work.

For my final crit most people suggested for me to create poster designs that could be linked back to history or propaganda as well as create a more refined version of my book. They also said that some of my letters are inconsistent and are too angular e.g. a,c,e and g; however I think this may be because my grid and rule didn't give me much flexibility therefore some letters may look inconsistent., though I do think that these traits gives my typeface it's own character and personality. I think for my book I may probably need to write more information about how I have developed the typeface and how I used the historical references into my typeface.

Second Typeface Development : Unconformable

After making my first development for . my typeface 'Unconformable' I've decided to make some changes to it.

For this development, I tried deviating from the actual starting typeface which was 'Helvetica' as I found it made the typeface look awkward. By doing this, I think that it has made my typeface look cleaner and smoother. You can see the distinct difference with letters 'd' and 'g' where previously they looked disjointed and gaudy (with 'd's' terminal ending curvy previously but now it's more straight and smooth and 'g's' stem looking disjointed previously but now has become straighter to fit it's descender), but now they look tidier and controlled. Furthermore, in this development I think the typeface become a bit more consistent and tidy as they look more assembled and similar with each other. However, I still think I need to improve and make it look better.

Example of refined letterform - D stem is connected more accurately with the curve making it look cleaner
G - stem is straighter so it does not look disjointed anymore; looks more mechanical

Possibilities of what to do:

• Think of a clearer rule for the curved stem's --> angle?
• Thickness of stems need to be consistent
• Combining it with design four (grid from design four?)

*MORE DEVELOPMENT

                                 

TYPEFACE WITH CONSISTENT STEM WIDTHS

I refined the typeface further by making the stem widths more consistent and the same this time. In my opinion it looks more balanced.

I've made a lighter version of the typeface in order to see how they'd look like compared to the normal sized one. This lighter version of the font aesthetically look better than the first one I think...

{Notes} Illustration Induction 2 : Text

• making text = text box
• attaching text to path = create shape or path --> text option (type on a path tool) *click vertical line on text to rearrange it on path/shape.
• type --> create outline = change the text to vector shapes *no longer editable and grouped together
• working with counters in text = make two shapes -> object (compound path) or right click (make compound path) *release compound path to undo movE

{Notes} Illustrator Induction 2 : Totoro

• if using Photoshop file on Illustrator do 'File Place'.
• cmnd + r = Ruler guide for alignment purposes
• double click layer for layer options --> option for template layer (50% dim image)
• joining two paths together --> direct selection tool and select two anchor points from ends of the pen lines to join them together --> object menu (path --> join) or [object --> path --> average = lines (anchors) sit right on top of each other]
• pencil tool = can freely make lines and close shape and re-draw on them and automatically changes and closes the shape
• smooth tool = smooths over the shape (also deletes anchor points) and makes the shape simpler
• Alt key + using select tool to select shape then hold alt key to copy whilst moving object
•  duplicate while moving shape = click reflect tool 
• moving objects to different layers = select objects then on layers palette click coloured square and move it to new layer.
• reflecting object symmetrically = select object --> click reflect tool --> position point of reflection (guide) --> click alt + shift --> move object anywhere / position it to where you want it.-
• varying stoke width = click uniform (shows stroke profile) --> click first option *creates paths with an organic feel
• expanding appearance (object) = closing path of object making it simpler and making it a shape.
• width tool = changes width of object more freely and manipulate it exactly you needed it without using a preset (*simplyfring by expanding appearance)
• stroke palette menu = shows all option --> *cap = end of path, *corner = corners of path lines/stroke
• working with grouped objects = double click grouped object (isolation mode) * going onto the actual group objects separately --. able to change the objects individually --> double click again to deselect