Author Archives: Yuna Chong

Final Project Analysis

Posted on by
Yuna Chong
Signage Project
I was thinking of billboards and while I was looking up billboards, I thought of taxi ads. Going to school in the city who knows how many taxi ads I pass by. I looked through some taxi ads and saw that there was usually a variation small text and big text. That made sense because when a taxi is passing by, the big text will be more visible. However, the taxi ads also give you something to stare at while you wait at that red light. And I believe that most taxi ads are seen when a taxi is at a stoplight or when it is picking up a customer. Although the ads are seen at a stop, it’s a good idea to keep the message short because the red light will turn green in a short amount of time. Because the background of the sign is a city landscape with many people, it’s important to make the sign pop with simplicity. This can be accomplished with bright colors or sticking to black and white. Helvetica is a nice clean font that can be used for easy reading from a distance since it does not have serifs that can interfere with legibility from afar. I used Helvetica Neue Condensed Black throughout the signs. Some letter spacing is required because the sign might be seen from far away. However, in most cases, the sign will be at a readable distance since the road and sidewalk is not far from each other. Summing up, the most important things are to keep the signs simple and give a short message that can be captured in a glance.

Illustrated Quote Analysis

Posted on by

Yuna Chong

When I first started drawing sketches for this project, I sticked to a plain typical design. I was able to create various variations of similar designs. I thought I was done with my sketches when Professor Klein said they all were the same. With some shock I wondered what I could possibly do with such a simple image and quote. However, looking at other examples, such as ads, magazines, and other students’ examples, I was able to open up to thinking of other kinds of designs. Then when I moved on to designing in InDesign, I was able to explore my ideas even more as I saw my ideas come to life; new ideas came to mind and I gave them a try. Strangely enough, those later ideas became my few favorites. At first I used Garamond and small text for a subtle and delicate design. Then, when I tried to explore other ideas, I played around with the size of the text and saw that Garamond did not suit what I was trying to do. That is when I found different forms of Helvetica Neue. The different contrasts, such as color, size, structure, and texture, helped me try different text arrangements.

Hand lettering analysis

Posted on by

Yu Chong

The typeface I used for the assignment was Bodoni. I liked how different it looked compared to the other typefaces with serifs. Through this exercise, I was able to notice and learn characteristics of the typeface. One of the main thing I noticed was the size of the letters. Although the letters look the same size, when studied carefully, not all the letters were the same size both height and width. Not only were the curved portions of the letters slighty longer, the angular portions, such as letters A and N, also extended longer than the x height. The lowercase was found to be more difficult to write because of the extra details. The letters with ascenders was not straight like the normal serifs; they had a slight curved upwards stroke, which was difficult to draw. I was able to learn that the length of the serifs were not always the same due to the thickness of the stems. Drawing the letters allowed me to examine and notice the details of the letters.

Tracing the words first helped me to draw my name. I was able to see the pattern of the letters, like of the curved letters and the length of the serifs. In the case of the lower case, I noticed that although the u and n looked the same, just flipped, at first glance, there was a difference at the serif detail that I would have missed if other. The spacing was difficult at first. With two letters, the spacing did not look awkward but once the word was complete and I saw the full picture, I was able to see that I had a few places where the spacing was off. Having a draft helped with this, especially so that I did not have to start all over from step one. It also led to less erasing on the final draft because I already experimented and made outlines on the first draft. It was a long assignment but I was definitely able to learn of the basics of typography by drawing the letters.

What is Graphic Design

Posted on by

Yu Chong

When I think of graphic design, I usually think of art and design made on a digital format. This article reminded me that graphic design is more than that. Especially the fact that typography plays a big role in it and that graphic design is found practically everywhere. As much as physical, analog form of design, graphic design lasts a long time and influences the next generations of design. It was intersting to know that depending on the type of product, the order if thought process differs. Examples the article provided were books versus magazines as well as movie credits. Each symbol is born after careful thought process to become part of the bigger system of designs whether it is a postage stamp or company logo. Graphic design has also been affected with today’s change in jobs and job titles. Graphic design is a necessary skill set in many levels of any system.

A question I would like to ask the author is whether it would be better to have a basic expertise in all areas or have superior skills in one area. If I were to answer this question, I would say both depending on the direction of career you would like to go. As a entry level, it is important to know the basic of many platforms for design and know a little more in the area of your interest. Then as your career develops, your skill set will naturally develop to become more specific.