Vertical Alignment p.112 & 120

What are some of the alignment principles for vertical text?

Lack of alignment creates a sloppy, unorganized look. Mixing too many alignments can have a similar effect. However, it’s also OK to break alignment when it serves a specific purpose such as to intentionally create tension or draw attention to a specific element on the page.

For example, in the poster design above there’s a clear vertical line that starts with the “l” in “long” and leads the eye down to the production information. According to Ellen Lupton, this design is considered to be a type crime because of the vertical  stacked lowercase text (p120). However, it is intentionally designed this way to draw attention to the title of the play. Do you think it works? Yay or Nay?

Take Away Tips

Alignment creates a sharper, more unified design, creating invisible connections between elements on the page. In Vertical Alignment the top and bottom margins are exactly or visually equal. It can be the full page or within portions of the page.

http://www.playscripts.com/blog/tag/high-school-plays/ http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/a/alignment.htm

This is a design from 3oneseven agency and was used on their home page. It is very successful because it is clear, interesting and relatable. Lots of white space to focus on the word Life as well as the other text.

Martha Stewart Living Cover

Martha Green

What I noticed with Martha’s design style is that she uses various shades of green. San Serif text with minimal use of serif text. You will always notice white space or sprinkles of white in her design to give a fresh clean appeal.

Typeface Mixing

Great Kerning

Horrible Line Spacing

Marking Paragraphs

Did you know that Italic letters were introduced in the fifteenth-century? Venetian printer Aldus Manutius and his type designer, Francesco Griffo are credited with creating the first italic typeface. Italic is simply a more casual style of handwriting.

This typeface was used in the cheaper writing shops. Using this style produced faster results because it did not need the carefully formed lettering like its rival lettera antica. The huge pro for Italic type during this time was its cost. It was inexpensive to print, saved time and space. The con was its connotation of a cheaper quality.

First, I would like to say I love the guy with the cute red bow tie (Sidney Offit). He is just too cute! I am a book lover and although the kindle, I-Pad etc..are tempting… I cannot see myself giving up books for the convience of an e-reader. At home I have two six-foot book cases full of lovely books. Some I’ve read and some are patiently waiting for me to read them. I need to feel, smell and write in all of my books to connect to them. I love when I pull one of my old reads off the shelf to find handwritten notes of thoughts I had during the time engaged it.

There were a few comments that stuck out to me from the video. One guy said, “Being surrounded by books is really exciting to the imagination. It gives you a feeling of being around other peoples genius”. I totally agree. I guess that is why we pick up a book and turn to the back to find out the authors perspective of a particular subject. I can stay in a book store for hours browsing and choosing my next reads for a future date.

One book owner stated, “People who like books seem to be pretty interesting people”. I agree. A person who reads alot (depending on the type of books they read) have very interesting perspectives towards life.

“In writing a letter there is something about the process of composing it, sealing it and mailing it that is much more considerate” ~Sidney Offit
Yes, Yes and Yes. This shows a person that you took time out of your Crazy day to consider them at that moment. I even like to choose stationarey that would compliment the person I writing to.

Overall, I do not think that bookstores will be completely out of business. There is still a market for people who prefer visiting bookstores and holding a physical book in hand.