Typography.
Typography Portrait of Bob Marley
CREATIVE BRIEF
Bob Marley’s portrait was created strictly using typography and color. From the tiny text that shapes his face to the large type in his dreadlocks, attention was given to readability to help spark interest in reading his profound words.
DESIGN REASONING
The typeface, Gills Sans, was chosen for this typography portrait. While in Britain, Bob Marley must have come across the widely used Gill Sans font in the London Underground logo. This may have led him to select it for his Natty Dread album cover. To engage the audience and gain visual interest using typography, the focus was placed on the most distinguishing feature of Bob Marley, his dreadlocks.
ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
The design element, movement, was the aim when creating his wavy dreadlocks with words flowing downward. His dreadlocks also demonstrate hierarchy; his name set to the largest type allows an unfamiliar audience to identify the subject quickly. Another design element that dominates the work is color. Iconic reggae colors, red, yellow, and green, rotate throughout the composition. Not only do the colors draw visual interest and set the reggae vibe mood, but it also creates depth in the portrait. Adding greyscale type created shape and dimension to the piece.
Designer’s Calendar
CREATIVE BRIEF
This piece was inspired by another designer, Paula Scher. Mrs. Scher is an American graphic designer who has worked in the industry since the 1970s. Known for designing with type, her most notable work was for The Public Theater in New York City and the Windows logo.
DESIGN REASONING
Paula Scher’s work with type is similar to this calendar, where she harmonizes different-sized text. This piece is a self-expression of her style.
ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
Color selection was a vital takeaway from the artist who inspired this piece. The black type is the details of the calendar, with one line of text in red to call out its importance. A yellow background, black lines, and pink cone shapes were added design elements. Movement, in every direction, is a design principle flowing through the composition.
Article Text Layout
CREATIVE BRIEF
The project specifications called for the text-heavy article by E. Walter Maunder to be laid on a two-page spread. It is an article asking, “Are the Planets Inhabited?” The author and the artist who created the background image, Udo Reitter, are credited with the piece.
DESIGN REASONING
The focus was placed on selecting appropriate fonts to attract an audience of science fiction fans. The headline’s tall and skinny typeface, Agency FB, looks alien. It is a sans-serif font to keep it lean yet set to the largest point size in all caps to be at the top of the hierarchy. Serif fonts were selected for the article’s callout and body to improve readability by forming a visual baseline. Clarendon Wide was used for the callout and Garamond for the body. Both fonts have large x-heights, giving them a tall and skinny look similar to the headline.
ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
The negative space in the background image was used to lay out a white text to get the best visibility for the headline, subhead, and credits, which are at the top of the hierarchy.