Exercise. Chinatown Material Alphabet

Background and context:

The alphabet is the basis of the typographer’s art. Type foundries produce type samples that usually contain Upper and Lower Case alphabets (see sample of Haas foundry’s Helvetica, c.1957), these sample sheets often include a few symbols and punctuation elements too.

Much (in typography) has changed since the era of Helvetica. By the 1990s, type had become very expressive and hand-made in reaction to the idea of universal legibility exemplified by Helvetica. This period of “grunge” typography introduced the hand of the designer in a way that hadn’t been seen before (refer to. David Carson, Ed Fella etc.).

This period of “dirty design” led (in the 2000s) to two trends. 1. a return to clean type (such as Helvetica) to enable legibility as people began to access more print-based media online, and, 2. a trend toward a deeper engagement with “dirty” (or experimental) typography that incorporated “conceptual” elements.

In this exercise we will explore the second approach. NY-based Austrian designer Stefan Sagmeister offers us some interesting examples of conceptually-oriented experimentation with type. He created his 2008 type work, Banana Wall using 7200 bananas which changed as they ripened.

Banana Wall was exhibited at Deitch Projects, an art gallery in Soho, blurring the boundaries between design and fine art. Sagmeister used ideas of entropy, decay and temporality which associated him with famous conceptual artists from the 1960s and 70s, such as Robert Smithson and Fluxus artist Deiter Roth (alias, Dieter Rot).

Sagmeister often makes commercial design work for clients using similar organic processes to generate type forms:

The New School’s new graphic identity engages with concept slightly differently. Our new identity was commissioned by Paula Scher using a typeface by Dutch typographer Peter Bil’ak called Neue. This typeface is very similar to a classic Bauhaus era face that is featured on the front of Joseph Urban’s building on 12th Street from 1930.

Pentagram’s Paula Scher commissioned Bil’ak to draw and program Neue with an algorithm that scrambles the letterforms' various widths, so a given word typed in Neue can be printed in a large variety of permutations. This means that each distinct school's name has a striking, individual typographic flavor which was intended to reflect the fact that each school (including Parsons) has it’s own history, culture, profile and identity and can express this individuality within a system.

In this example we can see the formality of a modernist typeface (similar in purpose to Helvetica) being re-purposed (through an algorithm) to become more playful, experimental and individualizable.

Today’s exercise engages us in experimentation with materials and some engagement with type concept.

Logo

Merriam Webster defines logo as (noun) a symbol that is used to identify a company and that appears on its products The origin is from word, or speech, and refers most originally to Aristotle’s concept of “logos” (or logic); a manner of rhetorical persuasion through reason.

This, along with pathos (emotion) and ethos (trustworthiness) are the three pillars of rhetorical argument and, we could argue, are the three pillars of modern branding strategy!

We have been surrounded by these symbols, or logos, from Starbucks to Apple, all of our lives so there is no need to reproduce those examples here, however it’s important to note that most logos are designed (for companies) with a detailed research process and range of concepts and psychological principals in mind.

For example, Arnell Associate’s Pepsi’s 2009 re-branding (see new logo) was accompanied by a 27 page document entitled “Breathtaking Design Strategy” which can be viewed here. http://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell-021109.pdf

Incorporating Vedic, Greek, Feng Shui, Roman (Vitruvian) and enlightenment principles, Arnell’s document has been widely ridiculed as a an excuse to bill Pepsi $1 million for the re-design! But it also is a useful reminder that clients (and designers themselves) need to answer the “what” and “why” questions in logo design–pretty pictures must be anchored in research and meaning. In an age where everybody has the tools (Illustrator, Fontographer etc.) and can easily learn them, for the professional designer, concept [supported by research] is king.

Old Pepsi New Pepsi

Logos are usually designed to exist (as symbols) both independently of the name of the company and also able to be integrated with it as a logotype, a compound symbol/name/brand. A logotype allows for a wider range and configuration of applications.

The example below shows the historical evolution of Pepsi from a typographically-based identity to a logotype-based identity whose origins (contrary to Arnell’s rebranding narrative) seem to be based around the Pepsi bottle cap c. 1950!

You will be making a type sample and logo that will utilize at least one Chinatown material (perhaps in combination with a material of your choosing), you will create this logotype for an imaginary brand (product or service) of your choosing.

You will

Note: You do not have to create upper and lower case forms (just one or the other).

1. Look at the materials we bought in Chinatown and look for materials at a dollar store today.

2. Choose materials carefully considering the following:

• What are the SHAPES of your objects like? • What positive/negative space do your shapes create around themselves? • What lines and contours do they make? DO NOT focus on surface and avoid materials with complex multi-colored surfaces and patterns–ignore surface.

• What is its CONTRAST level going to be like when you shoot it? The objects must be able to stand out against a background, consider this when you’re choosing material(s).

3. Consider purchasing a sheet of colored paper if you think achieving contrast will be difficult. You can shoot against a blue or green background to achieve separation of your letter shape too, but may need to buy this paper> We provide some colors.

4. Shoot all 26 letterforms. Try to look at how you can construct each letter from the same basic shapes; circle (sometimes cropped), vertical line and horizontal line.

• Try to keep your camera lens plane parallel to the picture plane of your subject and to maintain the same shooting distance.

• Make sure all 26 shots are either vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape) format. • Constantly check your camera screen (zoom it) to ensure your letter is in focus.

• Try to shoot with your letter as close to the edge of each photograph but do not crop in the camera!

Frame your letter edge-to-edge and try to position the letter in the same location (top-to-bottom) within the frame), the more consistent this is in-camera the less work you’ll need to do in Photoshop.

5. Create and shoot your logo.

6. Photoshop tutorial will follow. Includes: - Template and format - Title - Selecting and arranging letters

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