HORT - NEW YORK

Shoe-boxes for each part of New York, and a huge mural as an announcement for 'The world is watching' street basketball event.
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Also 'type treatment' as described on the website. Nice idea to create some slightly altered type just adding the studio name creating some more personal hype around the studios identity stemming from the event.

I was particularly inspired after hearing the head of the studio speak at Typo Talks London, explaining their unconventional methods of working. Its hard to understand the process that went into making this project, especially when you look at the typeface, which looks as if it shouldn't work... but does so well and with so much character on the shoe-boxes and mural.

Nice Things

Built up a collection of photos over the past weeks since deciding what I was doing for each brief. Researching like this is a much more effective way of working for me. I find it sets off more ideas and has more subtle visual influences in my work, opposed to browsing the internet and looking at the same sort of design and not having an understanding of how it engages with its environment.

Pretty bad photo, but the new buses are beautiful. Designed by Heatherwick, a studio which I looked at last year for the moving image module. Looks slightly like an eye patch on the back but the retro interior with a modern sleek twist redeems it. Also one of the most economic buses in Europe!

The Type on 'The Future Gallery' in London really makes the most of its black canvas. The slick black tiles with the white grouting also fits perfectly with the signage. I think its this relationship between a piece of signage has to fit with its surroundings but exploit the space and colours to stand out. I need to start putting my designs into the context of lots of books, because of the variety of colours and sizes I will keep the colour to a minimal and make the type stand out as much as possible to separate the signage from the books.

Retro Johnston Sans - Lovely to see old typography amongst the new designs through out the underground, especially after the hosting of the Olympics over summer. It also embodies the sustainability of the typeface, its constant changing surroundings and somehow it still works and looks unique.

Nice way of storing the disk that came with this book called 'format perspectives' in the Carhartt store in Covent Garden. I will consider using thicker stocks that completely conceal the disk.

These slightly thinner tipped in pages in this book add an element of mystery and instantly draws me towards that section of the book. I had intentions of doing something similar with my typography books but I will have

Type Compass

 Looking at other type based publications seemed like a good method of deciphering how I would approach mine. This lovely little journal answers the questions regarding the amount of type that is introduced into the world, surrounding the last 20 years of typographic progression. The innovative format of the book is what drew me to it, including sections for notes and encouraging the reader to interact with various topics, making it useful for beginners and experts! How can I use this to exploit a variety of audiences for my products?

Buy a copy 
for yourself here...

Need to get hold of this ampersand, I have a copy trial of the typeface but it doesn't include any glyphs, might be something for the Christmas list.

Serif Grids

These are slightly more complicated to make flexible grids. I have experimented with a few drawings by hand on scrap bits of paper, but felt the computer was a better tool for testing these grids. The first page was the original and second onwards the progressions after printing and testing each one at different scales.

The Anatomy of a Typeface

Information sourced from 'thinking with type' very close copies to the book but the re-wording it will take up a lot of time and compromise the design of the overall book. Posted onto my practice blog as well but some really useful information in the book - a resource of growing importance!

Design Museum Sketchbooks

These notebooks from the Design museum have given me a more insight into what can make a product stand out. The design was done by Kent Lyons and all the stock inside was supplied by GF Smith. I need to start designing my books and seeing how the grids will be placed inside helping me understand the relationship between the pages and the grids.

This addition of stickers that take it from a functional piece of design to something possibly slighty more materialistic. I personally am willing to pay more money for the quality and  sustainability of a sketchbook.
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The belly band is also a lovely touch, something I may consider when making my sketchbooks. I was considering making some fold out posters but will refine the publication before progressing with this.
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Buy here...

Raul Renner - Futura

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ - CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

While completing some of my dissertation research into the design of typefaces I came across thse principles of Raul Renner the designer of the infamous geometric sanserif typeface Futura. In his autobiography his principles are explained from the basic development of a typeface - constructed using circles, squares and triangles, the most distinguisible geometric shapes.
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He believed that for a design to be timeless there needed to be an underlying adherence to primary geometric shapes, the simplest and most contrasting forms.
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This lead me to think about my type sketchbooks and how I can create conceptual and considered methods of creating grids. I took this research and created simple geometric shapes and made different grids using basic squares of patterns. The squares provided an interesting space to create letter forms but creating longer strips created more variety in the grids therefor more variety in the forms that people create.

"Renner based the proportions of Futura capitals on 'circle, triangle, and square'. He did not consider the circularity of the round letters to be as intrinsic to Futura's charachter as the forms of E, F, L, T and P. Renner made E, F and L half-square in width and, more importantly for him, the horizontal strokes of E were all the same length."
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Burke (1998 p.96)

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"He believed that a designer had to consciously apply standards of aesthetic quality in order to make an object an artistic success. In his view the 'time-bound' aspect of design was the response to the material and functional demands of any situation. This provided only raw material, 'technological form', which, in order to become good design, required the addition of a 'timeless' aesthetic quality."

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Burke (1998, p.68)

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The 'timeless' rules, then, were an underlying adherence to primary geometric shapes - the 'simplest and most contrasting forms'.

The artistic worth of simplification does not lie in a mysterious magical power emanating from circle triangle and square; instead the artist simply designs so that the consistent variation, the logical differentiation from these highest categories is apparent, because we only understand such forms.

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Burke (1988, p.69)

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Field Notes 50 States

Field Notes celebrate the country fair with notebooks of the 50 U.S states! This is a great example of how the standard format of a sketchbook has been adapted to reach a larger audience.

Picked these up in The London Graphic Centre in Covent garden, possibly showing me a good example of another point of sale for my sketchbooks.
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The set of three books is another element that I want to pick up on, how can I extend my sketchbooks?

The books are printed on 100-lb, with a lined cover stock featuring metallic gold text and 48 pages of graph paper with light blue lines inside. The bind is simple but perfect for the function of the notebook, with the staples making it a sustainable wear-proof notebook.
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The durability of these notebooks is definitely a factor in their popularity. I need to consider the environment in which my notebooks will be used as well as sold to determine their form.

The back of the books include meticulously researched facts and figures on each state. The only issue that stands out to me about these is that the facts and figures are the same on all 3 books, creating a series with different facts may have been a better solution.

The inside of the books contains the usual Field Notes specs with a ruler going down the side and the inspiration behind the notebooks placed into the back.

Trip to London

During the weekend back in London for Typo Social 2012 I went round a few graphic shops looking at the selections of sketchbooks that they sold and analysing where mine would fit in the market. I was also trying to understand the audience and looking at the different points of sale and how this will determine the format of my books.

Star-wars Moleskin
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Obvious audience really fans of star-wars and moleskin users, very specific market and there are thousands or other moleskins out there.
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The other aspect of this was looking at how the books are stacked and sold, considering the different points of sale will be the next definitive point in my design direction progress.

Lego Sketchbooks 1
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A much younger audience with this Lego books but again the point of sale is interesting, I need to make sure my books communicate if they are laid down flat or presented in the same way as the moleskins above

Lego Sketchbooks 2
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I need to consider how a range of sketchbooks will work, even if its the same grids but different covers broadening my audience, need to make sure that I avoid clichés such as pink for girls and blue for boys...

Address Books
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The function of these books defines its audience, an element that will play a large role in the sale of my products.
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These books were all in the London graphic centre which could be another point of sale for my brief.

The Social Grid

After an inspiring weekend and typo London I had a lot of new relevant work to blog, none however as much as 'The Social Grid' by Joshua Davis. Check out some of his work here
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As a basic summary of what I have learnt is that I shouldn't underestimate what people can do with the grids and I need to give people an incentive to use the books!

Joshua Davies is a graphic artist from New York and gave an exciting and lively presentation about his life and his work. Another part of his presentation was getting people to fill in these grids two days prior to the event, asking them to find 'type and forms' and the best would be part of the presentation.
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The grids created were a way of getting people to play and explore ways of working that they may not have experienced before, mine however have more of an educational function (not that I don't want people to play)

There were also some digital renditions using the grids he had created that he posted online 10 days before the event (also with the chance of being shown in his presentation)
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It was the engagement with the event that really made people want to see the presentation and that created a certain level of 'hype' about his talk.

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One person even created music that was again made through programming, a different series of songs that represent the different grids. Its this sort of innovative way of using something as simple as a grid that really inspired me to push my ideas.

This video is also a great bit of research into cymatics, using an alternative approach to recreate the grids in sound, essentially the opposite of visualising sound.

Getting Involved

Social importance of the inclusion of others
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I feel projects that engage others, whether 'others' refers to designers or any other category of people. A project that engages with people will stay in their mind for much longer as it is built from real memories and interacting with real people. With the sketchbooks I aim to run a day workshop even if its just with a few people where I can talk through the grids and see first hand how different people take different approaches to the same grids.
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Another aspect from this project I can pick up on are the limitations the brief bought and how this can make often make the designs more successful.

The brief for the workshop was -
"The use of only only one typeface, the Graphik semibold by Christian Schwartz,
use only the colour black and they were only allowed to use photography for the booklet.
The results was a series of playful and radical posters which push the usage of the basics typeface rules, kerning, leading, rotation..."

Enter the Grid

Enter the grid workshop at the design museum
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Bit gutted as this was essentially exactly what I wanted to do with my sketchbooks brief. I can however take it as a piece of inspiration and use it to reflect on the progress with my own project. I love the interaction and excitement that events create.
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My brief does however appeal to a different audience, people with an interest but little knowledge of type, also mine will use personalised grids with small set briefs for each section of the book.
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I have also been speaking to an old sixth form tutor about doing some workshops and this brief could offer me a brilliant opportunity to target a specific audience and get the younger generation inspired by type! Also the set briefs for each page will broaden the students contextual understanding of typography, as in why a typeface has a serif or why the typographer chose to use a hand drawn style of typography. 

Notebooks

Research into the existing market and an analysis of the desired audience for each, this will help broaden my understanding of where the notebooks I produce will sit on the market, or what they offer that is different to what already exists.

Young Designers Kit - Notebook - Design Museum
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Stumbled across this while on Aisle one, looking at different note books and grid systems outside of just typography. The design museum shop has some more interesting note books and although they have no educational value the design alone appeals to designers and has a defined audience.
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The audience is clearly communicate with the title, though defining an audience for my type sketchbooks may choose to be slightly more of a challenge. This will be the main area I will work on over the weekend.

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Doane Paper - Grids and Lines
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Another pretty basic grid book, I don't think it particularly offers anything new to the market but again it shows that designers still want note books. I think the importance of pen and paper is become increasingly influential as computers take over young designers need to understand that ideas are not generated by sitting in front of a screen. This could be a possible angle to take for my sketchbooks!

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Moleskin series on Architecture

These notebooks are more along the same lines of what I aim to achiece and the audience I want to market too. With an over saturated market for plain notebooks I need to make sure that my designs challenge the conventions of what a notebook it and educate the interfacer.

I will do another separate post just for moleskin notebooks given their prominence in the market. I will analyse how they have target specific audiences and why they have been so successful.

"The focus is on style and craftsmanship in the creative process, that primordial step of sketches and freehand drawings. Each volume, edited by Francesca Serrazanetti and Matteo Schubert, presents a different perspective of the design world. Sketches, scribbles, watercolors and personal notes from each designer are include"

Hyperactivitypography

I was advised to have a look at this book after the crit, as it explore methods of teaching typography. Although it addresses a very different audience to that of which I am currently targeting it has some interesting and simple methods of teaching people how to use and make typography.

The main thing that looking at this book / post crit feedback has shown me is that I NEED to start defining my audiences before continuing with any of my briefs.

- See more of the book here

The audience for the book is immediatly obvious with colourful and simple illustrations appealing to a younder audience and defining the tone for the rest of the book.

I need to consider my audience in order to full understand what route I should take with my design direction for the sketchbooks.

Simple and effective methods of explaining the different parts of the letters, this may have to play a slightly larger role in my sketchbooks than I initially thought.

I will need to consider the different sections of the book and how the fit together and interact allowing people to physically make letter forms while learning? Will they be separated or integrated?

I want to create something that's more 'hard nosed' typography, although this displays the details of typeface design I want my sketchbooks to have more of a formal tone / format.