Debbie Millman

Debbie Millman is president of AIGA and chair of SVA's master program in branding (Oy sweet Abraham). Debbie Millman is in charge of Design Matters which is a show where she interviews designers.

Notes on interview with Ed Fella:

40 seconds in: "I'm the kind of person who thinks everything is my fault." .... wut.

4:40 - "Self perception is the illusion of the ego" Troof.

This was the main part I found interesting, unfortunately for the whole interview. It reflects on the self and how that may influence your design. Are you comfortable enough in your own skin to be comfortable enough with your own designs?

Also what I liked about the interview was at the 21 minute mark was the question of design influence by the geography of the designer. Not only the environmental, but the social. It also brought up the question of taste and what the hell good design actually is. I mean, almost everything is arbitrary.

Good is... heh

This website called Good.Is.com is kind of awesome actually. The motion videos seem to be on point. The infographics are outstanding. They're informative and very nice to look at from a design standard of course. Using design to be an activist is quite the feat in my opinion. You utilize your skills of something you like to do with something that you are passionate about.

Journal no 8

Two fonts similar to Futura are Avenir and Neutraface.

Avenir:

From design-daily.com

"This, in my opinion, is true because it maintains Futura’s geometric construction, normalizes its quirks and expands its width offering."

Avenir seems like Futura at a quick glance, however the apexes are less... aggressive (?) which can make the font more usable in signage and kind of takes away from that 1950s look

Neutraface:

Design Daily states that this typeface comes in more variety making it a better choice, especially since the readability is a little better. Can it be used as body text? Probably not, however that's typical with most sans serif typefaces. However, it makes a kick ass headliner font.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface

1. Because it works

2. Because you like its history

3. Because you like its name (eff that)

4. Because of who designed it

5. Because it was there (why the hell not?)

6. Because they made you

7. Because it reminds you of something

8. Because it's beautiful

9. Because it's ugly (rock on)

10. Because it's boring

11. Because it's special

12. Because you believe in it (viva la revolucion)

13. Because you can't not (Helvetica anyone?)

I find a lot of these reasons interesting and I wrote comments on the ones I found the most intriguing.

"Because you like the name"

I wrote "eff that" because if I find typeface ugly, I don't care what the name is. It's just like if I find a hideous shirt in my roommates closet and if she exclaims "Well, it's Gucci!" I'm most likely going to say she should get her money back if it's completely heinous.

"Because it was there"

As there are certain typefaces universally agreed to be superior from all the hundred thousand fonts, you do need explore other options. If you find a great typeface that WORKS and it happens to be out of the list of approved fonts (no offense to you, Andrea) then freaking use it!

"Because it's ugly"

I found this reason interesting as this is the epitome of punk design. However, it still has to work of course or not work for the right reasons. Feel me?

"Because you believe in it"

The best example of this I find is the use of Papyrus. I really HATE Papyrus, as do most graphic designers. I think it's hideous, has absolutely no function, and is just a cop out of doing your own handwritten type. HOWEVER, I find people who will defend this font until death. And hell, it worked. Avatar anyone?

"Because you can't not"

In human nature, there is this thing we emphasize called tradition. As there are holiday traditions, there are fonts used because of tradition. For example, Helvetica is something most, if not all designers will use in their lifetime. Sometimes you don't even know why you find yourself using it, you just do.

Blog 2-28

_ What are the advantages of a multiple column grid.?

A multiple column grid helps in fitting lots of text within one spread while still keeping the text organized in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.

_ How many characters is optimal for a line length? words per line?

About 6-8 words.

_ Why is the baseline grid used in design?

The baseline grid is used mainly for to organize spreads.

_ What is a typographic river?

A typographic river are the white spaces running through the paragraphs of text.

_ From the readings what does clothesline or flow line mean?

They separate columns horizontally to create a better alignment... or something.

_ How can you incorporate white space into your designs?

White space can be used to group certain bodies of text

_ What is type color/texture mean?

Size, tracking, leading, weight of text, etc.

_ What is x-height, how does it effect type color?

X-height refers to the height of the baseline in relationship to a lowercase x

_ In justification or H&J terms what do the numbers: minimum, optimum, maximum mean?

Minimum - lowest space allowed, maximum - most space allowed, optimum - preferred space allowed

_ What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?

The most common example is the indenting of a new paragraph. However, you can use different line spacing, change of typographic color, etc.

_ What are some things to look out for when hyphenating text.

More or less using the right dashes to convey the right message.

_ What is a literature?

_ What does CMYK and RGB mean?

C- Cyan M- Magenta Y - Yellow K - Black. R - Red G - Gree B - Blue

_ What does hanging punctuation mean?

Punctuation that does not interrupt the alignment of the text, so they are usually set outside of the box of text.

_ What is the difference between a foot mark and an apostrophe?

A foot mark goes straight up and down, while an apostrophe curves

_ What is the difference between an inch mark and a quote mark (smart quote)?

Basically the same as the different between a foot mark and an apostrophe. An inch make has both marks going straight up and down, while quote marks usually curve and alternate directions.
_ What is a hyphen, en dash and em dashes, what are the differences and when are they used.

Hyphen - short dash; usually to conjoin something. En dash - longer dash; indicates "through" i.e Monday through Friday. Em dash - longest dash; indicates a long pause.

_ What are ligatures, why are they used, when are they not used, what are common ligatures

A ligature occurs where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph.

Blog 1 for "speads": CULT OF THE UGLY by Steven Heller

Steven Heller has published more than 60 books on the subject of illustration, typography, and other subjects relating to graphic design. Over the years, Heller has kept track and written about trends in design.

In "Cult of the Ugly" Steven Heller brings the question of what beauty is to our minds. He compares the beauty standards of typography and other design from decade to decade and era to era. In the article, Heller emphasizes on the ugly integrating with the beauty during the 1970s wave of the Punk subculture. He illustrates how the punk scene was dedicated to the shock factor, which eventually led to what was considered "ugly" design to be considered high design and also to ask the question "Where does beauty begin and where does it end?" Heller also brings to mind John Keats famous line, "Beauty is truth, truth Beauty - that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know" but insists that anyone's beauty can and will be another person's ugly.

Thoughts:

Your beauty is another person's ugly

The standards of beauty change from decade to decade and era and era

Your beauty is not the norm

The idea of "good design" is always to be challenged

Take the ugly, make it pretty and vice versa

"Ugliness is valid, even refreshing, when it is key to an indigenous language representing alternative ideas and cultures."

Esplanin' a Vague Thriller

Vague: Not clearly expressed; inexplicit.

Thriller: a book, film, play, etc., depicting crime, mystery, or espionage in an atmosphere of excitement and suspense

How can I make the a book cover for the The Giver read vague thriller?

Vague cover examples:

Thriller cover examples:

The cover should of course reveal that there will be a thrill here and there, then again shit doesn't pop off until basically the end of the book. Before then, we barely know how anything works except for assigning jobs, spouses, children, etc. However, we do not how the Council of Elders regulate such a thing. This will be interesting...

Journal entry one

Writer's Toolbox covers the organizational aspects of writing. However, how can these be applied to design? Design is a practice that takes a lot organization, especially graphics. When in the initial process stage of any work, itis always a good a idea to make concept maps and word lists. Along with those two, it is always handy to keep a sketchbook around to jot down notes, ideas, observations, and of course various little doodles as you go through the design process. Writer's Toolbox sums up the section by saying that writing is an ongoing process, which we all know is very true of design. Usually what is concentrated on isn't the product of design, but the long grueling process of it all, from seeing the hundreds of initial sketches and of course the hits and miss of the sketch concepts.