Exercise 6: Grid and Typographic Structure
In this exercise, I used text and images from the Sheldon Art Museum to create an announcement for the exhibition. I started with using just one font size, then slowly added more elements and font styles to my composition, and ended with the addition of an image.
My process for this project began with sketching ideas for all five layouts. Before I began in InDesign, I already had a basic idea of the layout I was going to experiment with. After I created my first layout, I selected my favorites to iterate for my second layout. I continued iterating my favorite layouts until I created my final design for my fifth layout. Throughout the iteration process, I discovered a few things about the fonts I was working with. First, I noticed the ‘N’ of the Franklin Gothic font curves in slightly on the outside strokes. Second, I found it interesting how different weights and styles of a font can significantly change the mood of the design. Once I added the ultra bold weight to my layout, the word ‘unprecedented’ visually felt more stressful. Lastly, since my favorite subject in high school was math, I loved getting to use numbers to create a visual layout. I enjoyed learning how our brains find patterns and equations aesthetically pleasing.
In my first layout, I used Franklin Gothic in the medium style and a 6x6 grid. Franklin Gothic was designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1904 for headlines as opposed to paragraphs of text. During this time, businesses were progressing and expanding. This brought about a greater need for clear and eye-catching advertisements. For the layout, I experimented with the hyphenation and justification of the paragraph about the art exhibition to accurately fit it to the grid. It was difficult to create a visual hierarchy without being able to increase the font size.
In my second layout, I again used Franklin Gothic medium and a 4x4 grid. I used the Fibonacci sequence to mathematically determine my font sizes. My body paragraph stayed at 9 pt. The dates and location are 18 pts, the subtitle for the exhibition is 27 pts, the ‘precedented’ is 45 pts, and 72 pts for the ‘UN.’ Using the sequence kept me from second guessing or randomly choosing font sizes to work with. Throughout these iterations, I kept the font sizes consistent to those described before and experimented with the grid and layout.
In 1979, the other weights and styles of the Franklin Gothic font were created which I explored in my third layout. Visually, I wanted the title to be the focal point and draw your eye to the subtitle and body text. Using the bold style made ‘unprecedented’ feel more stressful and painful because of its heavier weight. When thinking of recent unprecedented times, I remember confusion in not knowing what would happen next and feeling like the world was falling apart, thus why the title is falling apart. I kept the same font sizes as my second layout and used a 6x3 grid.
In my fourth layout, I included the use of serif and other sans serif fonts - Garamond medium italic display, Gill Sans condensed book italic, and Franklin Gothic. Garamond was created in the 16th century by Claude Garamond to use in the printing of books. During this time, the printing press was becoming more accessible and necessary towards the expansion of society. Gill Sans was created by Eric Gill in 1928 to create a perfectly legible typeface. During this time, branding and visual identity was essential for businesses. For my layout, I wanted to create more visual stress and urgency in the subtitle and more formality in the date and location.
In my fifth layout, I included a picture of a piece from Nebraska native, Robyn O’Neil, that is featured in the exhibition. I liked how the black and white color added to the ominous tone of the announcement. For this layout, I also increased the size of the ‘UN’ to 72 pts to make it the focal point instead of the image. Hopefully, viewers will be intrigued by the bleakness of the announcement to visit the Sheldon Art Museum and remember fear of living in unprecedented times.
