Are you good typography, or bad? Part 2

So now that we saw bad typography, lets see some good ones. The first image is for Tumblebees gymnastics and cheer for kids. The sign is simple yet effective, the type, the graphic, the color all work together to convey the service that they are offering. The type is a little playful yet professional. The next sign is for Camel in the middle. Now I know that they have been doing advertising for many years but it is still amazing how simple, yet effective, their signs are. They are so well known that they don't even have to tell us what the product is we already know. The type is effective, the graphic works well and the color fading in draws your attention to the piece, overall well done. The last piece is for the Uptown Deli. The sign is just really well done. The color red on the type, the way the type is curved to bring you through the sign, the graphic of the sandwich tells you what they do. The colors are bold and eye catching. The type is playful yet effective. Lets see more typography like this in the future.

Are you good typography, or bad?

Lets start by looking at bad typography. The first image is for a dance studio, the graphic image is a hat which it takes a long time to get to dance from that. The next problem is the type itself the words "Abby dance studio" isn't bad but is it the best font that they could have chosen? He is what is most painful is the numbers for the phone number, What the heck??? It doesn't scream dance studio. The next picture in the middle was taken at a gas station. One question, does anyone ever check the signs? I don't even know what it was supposed to say, I think maybe the price? Moving on to the last bad typography. Here is what I'm thinking, there is technically nothing with the typography but overall the piece is just missing something. If you are trying to get people to order business cards through your company and you use that sign, I would say that you failed. If that sign is any indication of how my business cards with turn out I will go some where else.

For this blog i was trying to find some thing a little bit different. I think that I was successful. This is an image that comes from Ilovetypography.com. The first thing that you will notice is that the type is printed on a piece of fruit. Most people find it easier to print on some type of paper but not the folks at Ilovetypography.com. The piece creates a strong contrast between the light green/yellowy color of the fruit and the sharp black writing. The type on the piece is also very clean and neatly placed. The readability is clear and the type is easy to follow no matter where the viewer starts out from. The piece creates movement by the works going around the pear. What makes this piece unique is how the viewer is supposed to interact with the object. This is an object that is meant to be picked up and turned so that the viewer can read all of the type. The type is unique in that it completely wraps around the fruit, no beginning and no real end. The font that is used is a serif font. There is visual interest created through the object itself and the different type sizes help to create hierachy right in the center of the fruit.

This design quickly caught my attention. I think that it was the color scheme that drew me into the piece. The way that the green and yellow are blended together so effortlessly. The half lemons and limes help to reinforce the color scheme. The next part that caught my attention way the way that the designer carries the viewer through the piece. The typography takes you from one end of the page to the other. The only complain that I would have is that it may take the viewer off of the page too quickly and it also does not carry the viewer through the whole piece just from left to right. There are so many small elements to this design such as the drops of water in the background, I have to ask myself what is their purpose and how do they tie into the rest of the design. The piece is visually appealing and flows nicely but there is one major problem, you can't read the typography. You can make out some of the letters but you can't tell what is saying, the message to the viewer is getting lost. Other than that the piece works well. The image can be found at www.youthedesigners.com

I am always drawn to works that use a lot of black and white with just a splash of color. This work fell right into the category. The first thing that caught my attention about this piece was the color. The swirls of light blue and yellow that are coming out of the drain pipe falling over the curb and onto the street. The color choice works because the colors are bright and capture the viewers attention and draw them in the piece. The rest of the picture is all black, white and gray scale. The picture is zoomed in to display just the curb and drain pipe with a little bit of the wall showing in the background. Even though there is not much in the way of objects the picture still gives a lot of information to the viewer. The first thing that I noticed is the the sidewalk is not clean, there are cigarette butts and dirt. What I like best about the piece is the symbolism that there is beauty in the everything. Life is not always wrapped up in a nice package with a bow on top, sometimes life is about the cigarette butts on the ground and the dark areas that are not always meant to be understood but you can still find beauty there. The quote is interesting as well, it keeps your attention long enough to carry you through the piece. The placement is in the center of the page lined up with the curb. The typography used is a sans-serif which is simple but effective. Overall this is a nicely designed piece. It can be found at www.stonewayinc.com

This design was created by Damien Northmore. The first part of the design that caught my attention was the usage of overlay technique. The background is not solid black as it first appears to be. The background actually has a pattern of bricks in gray on the black but it is subtle enough to not take away from the rest of the design. The colors are working nicely together on this piece. The designer used two complementary colors, orange and green along with gray scale. The orange has yellow mixed in with the primary color yellow and that helps to create a feeling of texture adding new dimension to the piece. The green graphic elements in the corner help to direct the viewers eye into the piece. The problem with putting it in the corner is that it also takes the viewer off of the design. There is some other directional tools such as the extension off of the "S" in lions and Sydney. There is a hierarchy created with the word Sydney due to its size. The piece has great texture and draws the viewer in. I do not understand why the typography is on an angle. I would think that the piece would work just as well if the typography was straight. Overall the piece works well in advertising the opening of a show and that is conveyed through both typography and graphic elements. The design can be found at www.allgraphicdesign.com

Form & Content 1

This work is titled "Funk" it is by artist and designer Nicholas Ainley. The bright and bold colors are the first thing that caught my attention about the piece. the subtle color shifts of the purple and orange kept me moving through the piece and kept me locked in on it. The word "Funk" describes the piece well. Because of the music notes that are throughout the piece I would venture to guess that this piece is about the music "Funk". The color clash added to the defination behind funk. The flow, the movement and the usage of space all come together to make the piece visually interesting. The flowers seem to be a little out of place without knowing the full story behind the design. There are a lot of directional tools through the piece that carry you through. I think that you could remove some of the random elements and the piece would work just as well. picture came from www.shinybinary.com/images