Design Context: March 2013

Weeks until hand in: 7 weeks.

Submission Requirements:

· Blog with all workshop tasks completed

· Thumbnail layouts - strong collection

· Enlarged and scaled thumbnails with rough measurements

· Traditional mark-up with margins, guides, grids, sizes etc - hand-rendered - to be done on scaled thumbnails.

· Digital mark-up

· 10 Double page spreads or booklet format (content will be made up of '10 things someone should know about Graphic Design') - it is completely up to you on how to produce the book. You can just hand in 10 loose double page spreads, but that's the lazy option...

· Consider printing method, format, final outcome

· Time

· Design and Layout!

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Stuff to know & find out...

· What are grids, columns, gutters and margins?

Grid: 2D structure made up of vertical/ horizontal axis. Allows the usage of columns and rows.

Columns: Vertical down the page - break up the body text - they improve composition and readability.

Gutter: Inside margin, or the blank space between two facing pages - used to accomodate the reading process.

Margins: The edge and border of the page.

· Explain what rulers, boxes, folio numbers and drop caps are

Rulers: The measurements in a document which helps align the design accurately.

Boxes: Also called frames, and there atre three types: text, graphic and unassigned. You can manipulate the shape of them to help.

Folio Number: Another term for page numbering.

Drop Caps: When you enlarge the first letter of a sentence or paragraph to emphasises the letter.

· What are picas, points and pixels?

Pica: A unit of measurement, used to measure typography. There are 5 picas in an inch, and 12 points in a pica.

Pixel: A square element, that is normally used to create an image. A 10 x 10 image will be made up of 100 pixels. There are 96 pixels per inch. When you use pixels for printing, it goes up to

· What is golden section?

Also known as the golden ratio, a special number which is approximately 1.618. The golden ratio is an irrational number, which means that you can't use it as a simple fraction, but you can calculate it by using a particular equation:

The golden section has been used since the Greeks and Romas, and is derived from nature. It is the only equation that can be used for aesthetics.

· What is DPS and what does it do?

Double Page Spread - Functionality or aesthetic ? A matter of opinion. Engages the viewer and helps maintain interest. It is down to you, and you can chose to use it or not. Budget can be a huge issue.

· What are sub-heads, paragraphs, captions and ligatures?

Sub Heads: A heading given to a subsection of writing. It will allow the reader to understand what that section is about.

Paragraphs:

Captions:

Ligatures:

Apply to context and apply your opinion - is it aesthetic or is it a hard rule?

Pagination: The process of dividing content into pages both electronically or printed. Printed collateral are usually created digitally (PDF) and then printed. Pagination encomapsses rules and alorithms for deciing where page break will occur.

Research into the Following:

- Greeking
- Folio Numbers
- Ligatures
- Measures
- Rules and Boxes

This post has no reflection on my topic, as it was changed to "The History of The Book", however I have still included it to show my previous research.

I chose to look at optical illusions for my book project. Here are some design influences I could use. I decided to focus mainly on shape and pattern.

Illusionz – A project by Greg Christman