to come down freely under the influence of gravity

I found this falling poster very creative. From the falling of the a and the g, to the letters on the bottom. I like the way that they made the a and the g to appear as if it was falling by repeating the a and the g and changing the opacity. I also like the verb description that is placed in the middle. 

Thy Rules of Typography

The following website provides excellent rules for all typographers out there. You do not want to let bad typography ruin the content and design layout just because you didn't go over these few rules:

1.

Too many type faces

One of the biggest mistakes that people make, is to use too many typefaces and styles. Try to limit any piece to 2 or 3 different type faces and styles. This means that the body should all be one font and size. Choose one header and stick to it, maybe a subhead as well. Don't be afraid to make the fonts very different from each other. Using 2 very similar fonts can look like you made a mistake and accidently chose the wrong font.

Consider keeping color, spacing etc, consistent or it looks like drunk flies walking all over the page.

2.

Spacing

Be careful not to crowd the typography. If you are having problems fitting something in, resist the urge to squish it together. Select a condensed font, or just shrink everything down and allow some breathing space. This applies to the edge of the page too, allow some white space around the text.

3.

Alignment

Please don't just throw everything center aligned (unless that's a deliberate design decision). Think about using a grid. Have everything on the page in relation to something else. Use guides and clean things up. Don't throw things in the corners of a page either, that looks like you couldn't decide where to put anything.

4.

Decorative faces aren't always beautiful

You've found a nice decorative font, wonderful! Now, that doesn't mean that it will reinforce your message, and at all costs, resist the urge to set paragraph text in that face. If it's decorative, chances are, it has a history or a specific use, such as a headline or title. Often times, simple is better, that's why fonts like Helvetica are so popular.

5.

Size matters

Really think about the size of the text. Titles are nice bold and large, but if you set your paragraph too large, it tends to feel cheap. Think about it. You go to a nice restaurant and the menus are often written in smaller print, it makes it feel classy. (Make sure it's not so small it's hard to read). If you are using heading and paragraph text, don't be afraid to make the headings much larger than the body.

6.

Readability

Whatever you do, make sure that people can read your message. Dark text on a dark color, not a good idea. Even worse, tying to apply small type over a high contrast photo. Remember less is more, this has never been truer than behind text that is supposed to communicate a message.

7.

Color

What color is best for type? Generally, believe it or not, black or white is often best. Why would I say that? Because the grayscale tones are pushed to very strong values. If you use color, consider muting the saturation a bit. Brightly colored type can be difficult to read. Beware of vibrating colors such as a red directly on a green. Rainbow colored gradients are probably not your best choice.

8.

Grouping

Group related pieces of information together. This will clean things up a lot. Examples: Look at a movie poster, all the credits are grouped into an attractive block. This block can now be treated as a single design element. For examples of bad grouping, open the yellow pages.

9.

Leading

This is the spacing between lines of text. It's much classier to open up the spacing. It's more inviting to read when there is resting space for the eyes in between lines. As a rule of thumb, try to use at least 2 points higher than the type size. For example: 10pt type should have a 12pt leading for maximum readability.

10.

Kerning

Kerning is the individual spacing between characters. Often when using Photoshop, with a cap followed by a lower case, the spacing is too wide. It should be even between characters. I like to do it this way, look at the first 3 characters and adjust the balance if needed. Now move onto character 2-4 and adjust #4 if you need to. Work your way through 3 characters at a time. After a while, you will instinctively see when the kerning is messed up. Don't EVER change the aspect ratio of a character, don't stretch or squish it. (I don't know who put controls into software that allow you to do this, very, very bad) - choose a different font if you don't like the shape.

PS Tip: To change the Kerning, place the text "I-beam" between 2 characters. Hold down the Alt/Option key and tap the left or right arrow keys to nudge the kerning. (The type has to be applied first)

Try and apply these tips as you design anything with type. In fact, well-designed type should be able to stand on it's own and look nice without any images. At best, you want your type to reinforce your design and pull people in. It should be inviting and easy to read. I know I titled this article "Colin's Principles" they are really age old principles and most of them are common sense when you think about it.

http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/typography/typography-tips.htm

groW

My architecture professor freshman year gave us a copy of the Incomplete Manifesto For Growth which is based on Bruce Mau's beliefs. Here they were applied for projects. I try to refer back to them on occasion because they are so motivational, and they apply to any sort of art. Because the list is so long, I will by listing my favorites. 

1. Allow events to change you.

2. Process is more important that outcome.

3. Capture accidents.

4. Drift.

5. Begin anywhere.

6. Ask stupid questions.

7. __________________.

8. Stay up late. (Easy for me since I have insomnia!) 

9. Make your own tools.

10. Don't clean your desk.

11. Take field trips.

12. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

13. Laugh.

14. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.

15. Don't borrow money.

Art in a LoGo

After reading a blog on the secrets hidden in logos, I have been fascinated by them! I now try to look for them everywhere. Some of my favorites are:

Families

The Royal Parks

Cubic Metre Furniture 

and Eight

The Music

The album cover has always played an important role in music. It is the first thing that you see, it describes the content of the music, and it is a work of art in itself. Most importantly the title of the album in seen on the cover. This automatically means that typography is crucial in the design. Some of the albums in which the typography really stands out are:

http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/typography-album-covers/ 

Book Binding

Bookbinding is something that I have found interesting, and I am excited to finally make my own books that I will give out as Christmas presents. Before I started, I had to look at YouTube videos to learn how to go about making a book. I finally found a guy who went step by step, and I will be following his process. Because of this skill and easy explanation, I wanted to share his videos:

Part 1 of 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svYRsyxsikQ&feature=plcp

Phaistos Disc

The Phaistos Disc is the first print item to be considered a typographical creation because of its reusing of identical characters. The disc dates from 1850-1600 BC from Crete, Greece. It is a fired clay disc which it is believed that the hieroglyphic seals were pressed into soft clay in a clockwise motion heading towards the center of the disc. 

I had never really though about the origin of the first typographical element until a few days ago. It is incredibly interesting how people produced mass pieces of text in a time when ink was not used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaistos_Disc