OUGD601 - Practical - Design Developments (2)

For these set of design developments, the aim was to mimic handmade styles through the use of a digital production process, whilst the quote is against the use of digital computer technology, in order to show that this does not have to be a limiting experience as the quote expresses, it can also be expressive and not all digital design has to look the same.

The layout uses the same grid system, and header and footer as the other poster in order to produce a small element of consistency between the two, making it clear they are both to be looked at together as part of a two-part series.

In the main use of typography, this has been inspired by different handmade production processes and the styles of type they can produce. In order to do so, existing typefaces have been manipulated to represent the processes of screen-printing, letterpress and letraset, using these to represent each word in its meaning. For instance, the word 'clumsy' has been manipulated to mimic the style of crumbled letraset, a process which could perhaps be considered clumsy if not done perfectly. The use of these different type styles all on one poster was also inspired by many letterpressed posters which are made expressive through the use of different typefaces.

The next set of design developments use similar styles, however these play on the idea of splitting up the different sections of the quote in an attempt to make viewers focus more intently on each section one at a time, to make their aesthetic experience more meaningful. The use of these lines were also inspired by leading and kerning in the letterpress process, whereby blocks of lead have to be placed above and below the type to help set it perfectly in a line.

However, the line separations in the designs above were thought to be too perfect in effectively mimicking handmade styles, which tend to feature small imperfections occasionally when printing. For this reason, the next set of developments below use broken and uneven lines to separate the sections instead, which reflects the process better. Adding subtle elements of colour into these designs were also experimented with in order to give it a bit more substance.

In order to continue to reflect the imperfections and potential mistakes of handmade production processes, the designs below experiment with adding in paint strokes as if the paint in the screen-printing process has smudged on the back of the screen or mistakes made in over-exposing the screen.

Another variation, very different from all the other developments was also produced. This development places type close together, filling in gaps where words end with other parts of the quote. This layout was inspired by the expressive nature of some letterpressed typographic posters, whereby type in set into a specific shape using different styles to make it clear where sections are.

Each of these design developments use colours similar to that of the other poster in the series in order to produce another subtle element of consistency between the two, whilst this version is not as impactful as the other since it does not have as much of a focus on rationality than the Bauhaus. These colours can also be linked to the screen-printing process, whereby generally simple and limited colour palettes are used in order to make the process easier and quicker, or perhaps more effective in the use of only one colour.