postmark type vol 3 - flagler college portfolio
DESCRIPTION
a folio of type and graphic design work by Kerry O'ConnorTRANSCRIPT
Vol. 3
A Folio of Work by Kerry O’Connor
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Arcadia
Flexion
Song of Ascents
Mansfield Park
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A few months ago, I had a crisis. There I was, a senior in college about to graduate with a degree in graphic design, and I realized I didn’t want to do what I had set out to do. Crap. For years I had planned on getting a job at an advertising agency. However, while taking an ad design class my senior year, I found that I didn’t enjoy it enough to do it day in and day out. So what was I going to do?
I looked inward to discover what I was truly passionate about. What would I love to spend the rest of my life doing? What would I be willing to put blood, sweat, and tears into?
The answer is twofold: type design and leading a significant life.
As far as type design goes, I came to realize that the assignments I enjoyed the most were type related. My first typeface, Chardonnay, was begun in an early graphic design class. The assignment was to design seven letters inspired by a word (in my case, “vintage”). I ended up designing all 26 letters simply because it was fun.
Why do I love type so much? I find the idea and design of letters fascinating. An infinite number of messages can be communicated through 26 little shapes. More meaning can be expressed through a combination of uppercase, lowercase, italic, small caps, bold, etc. When the design of letters changes, the message, personality, and attitude change. Creating a typeface is like creating a character (pardon the pun). It can be sassy, sophisticated, or solemn.
I am also an information junkie and the history of type design has a ton to offer. The historical context of typefaces offers a lot of insight into their purpose and application.
As for leading a significant life, what does that mean? For me, it means leaving the world in better shape than how I found it. It means building meaningful relationships and making people smile. It means helping those in need and doing good just because. It means working to the best of my ability to honor God with the gifts He has given me.
Now how do type design and doing good coincide? That is where Postmark Type comes in. My vision is that one day, this will be an organization where people can purchase fonts that have been inspired by humanitarian causes, and the proceeds will go directly to those causes. I have already designed two typefaces related to specific organizations: Vyshyvka and Girlhood. I am in the process of getting them ready for sale and will announce when they can be downloaded.
I am excited to serve the design industry and the world at large. If you have any questions or comments, I can be reached at [email protected]. I wish you the best and thank you for your support.
-Kerry O’Connor
The Story
Table of Contents
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Arcadia p. 5
Flexion p. 11
Song of Ascents p. 17
Mansfield Park p. 25
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Arcadia is inspired by the fierce and loving loyalty of a mother bear. The sharp angles and wedge serifs reinforce the idea of protection, while the curves and semi-circular terminals evoke a mother’s soft embrace. This text typeface has a charming quirkiness about it that is reminiscent of a loving, but odd, family.
The name is derived from Arcadian landscapes in art history. Classical French paintings sometimes depicted an ideal nature—an Arcadian landscape—that was beautiful and wild, yet completely safe. I imagine this setting to be the ideal place a mother bear would want to raise her young, a place where they could explore and wander without fear of being hurt or broken. n
Arcadia
Type Design
project title
industry
about
n Uppercase Type Designn Lowercase Type Designn Punctuation, Symbols, & Numbersn Type Specimen Poster
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890
a b c d e f fi fl ghijklmnopqrs tuvwxyz. , ; : - ‘ ’ “ ” ? ! $ [ ]
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890
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Flexion was inspired by a product—the Perelin lamp by Markus J. Becker. This lamp is similar to a sheet of paper in flexibility. Keeping the malleable quality of the product in mind, I created a typeface similarly flexible. The letters look as if they have been bent into their respective glyphs and retain a three dimensional quality reminiscent of the lamp.
To display this typeface I created a gif animation that takes the flexibility of the letters even further. The letters are not only bent into themselves, but into each other, creating an endless, looping alphabet. The poster uses the frames from the gif in its design. n
Flexion
Type Design
project title
industry
about
n Uppercase Type Designn GIF Animation Viewable on PostmarkType.comn Type Specimen Poster
components
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The inspiration for this typeface came from the Perelin Lamp designed by Markus J. Becker.
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Flexion is available for free download on dafont.com.
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The inspiration for this Song of Ascents came from Medieval illuminated manuscripts. A Song of Ascents is a book containing a specified 15 Psalms (Psalms 120-134). The purpose of this book is to raise questions about the Bible in the present day. We have the words from long ago, but has the meaning changed? Is the truth hidden from us, or is it there for those who are willing to look? These questions and others are raised through the way the pages are laid out. In each spread, the left hand page features an illustration of the main idea or keyword for that psalm. The flowers decorating the margins also represent the idea or keyword. On the right hand page, the psalm is written in pencil and located behind a window with a piece of vellum partially covering it. The fact that it is written in pencil raises the questions, “Is God’s word permanent? Has it been changed?” The hidden quality of the words asks, “Is it all here? Can I truly see and understand what is written?” This book does not attempt to answer any of these questions, but rather asks thought-provoking questions to get people thinking about what they really believe. n
Song of Ascents
Book Art
project title
industry
about
n Historical & Symbolic Researchn 18 Illustrationsn Book Binding with Clasp
components
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This book was purchased by Flagler College and is on permanent display in the Proctor Library.
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This is a handmade copy of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. The cover is birch wood decorated with grey milk paint and a hand-drawn design. The 500 pages are made of archival paper so they will not yellow or become brittle with time. The spine features headbands at the head and tail, traditional coptic binding, and a new method I developed to create the M and P. I have seen coptic bound books that feature straight lines, diagonals, and sometimes curves on the spine, and even more rarely, I’ll find a circle. I knew I wanted to do something special for the spine of this book, and I thought, “If lines and curves are possible, why not make a design or letter with them?” So began my endeavor to create new designs with a centuries-old binding method. I look forward to experimenting more with it.
Not only did I design the outside of this book, but I typeset the inside as well. The text is set in Mrs Eaves, a revival of a typeface that was around at the time of Jane Austen. I thought it was appropriate to use a revival typeface in a book that is a revival of a 200 year old story. The type used on the title page is House Holiday; it represents the main character’s personality and handwriting. The text also employs the many ligatures available in Mrs Eaves. Care was taken to improve readability while setting the text. n
Mansfield Park
Book Art
project title
industry
about
n Cover Designn Book Binding with Self-Developed Methodn Typesetting of 500 Pagesn Adjustments for Greater Readabilityn Colophon
components
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This book won a Silver ADDY at the district level and is going to nationals for editorial design.
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204
Edmund’s first object the next morning was to se his father alone, and gve him a fair statement of the whole acting scheme, defending his own share in it as far only as he could then, in a soberer moment, fel his motives to deserve, and acknowledgng, with perfect ingenuousness, that his concession had ben axended with such partial good as to make his judgment in it very doubtful. He was anxious, while vindicating himself, to say nothing unkind of the others: but there was only one amongst them whose conduct he could mention without some necessiy of defence or palliation. “We have all ben more or less to blame,” said he, “every one of us, excepting Fanny. Fanny is the only one who has judged rightly throughout; who has ben consistent. Her felings have ben steadily against it rom first to last. She never ceased to think of what was due to you. You will find Fanny everything you could wish.”
Sir `omas saw all the impropriey of such a scheme among such a pary, and at such a time, as strongly as his son had ever supposed he must; he felt it too much, inded, for many words; and having shaken hands with Edmund, meant to try to lose the disagreable impression, and forget how much he had ben forgoxen himself as soon as he could, ater the house had ben cleared of every object enforcing the remembrance, and restored to its proper state. He did not enter into any remonstrance with his other children: he was more willing to believe they felt their error than to run the risk of investigation. `e reproof of an immediate conclusion of everything, the swep of every preparation, would be su2cient.
`ere was one person, however, in the house, whom he could not leave to learn his sentiments merely through his conduct. He could not help gving
Chapter Twenty
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