To begin with I am following the layout we have been doing with Paul as I am more familiar with that, once I finish the HTML and the CSS and am sure it is working I will start changing the background and the layout a bit.
Bellow is the link to my essay
After doing some research I found out that in typography, type specimen refers to a any presentation of a certain typeface to showcase its design and/or use.
For this project I will have to design a type specimen screen for an iPad based on one of the following fonts:
I have chosen to go with Palatino – I like the simplicity of the font and how easily legible it is.
After doing some research on my chosen type face I decided to keep it simple and clean – this typeface was designed and released shortly after the war ended, I would like to integrate some colour in my design as a way of symbolising freedom and the end of darker times.
Key information on the Palatino typeface:
Inspiration:
Sketches and notes in preparation:
Initial digital designs:
I think that the type specimen screen with the colourful shapes is the best one to represent the boldness of the typeface Palatino.
As shown in the pictures of my notes, I interviewed 4 people and I found that a younger viewer prefers the more colourful designs, I added up their votes and the 3 most popular designs were the following:
After presenting my work to both Kyle and Pauline, they gave me a few pointers on how to improve my designs.
This is a scan of my notes from that day.
My favorite design by far was the colorful one with shapes but as my tutors correctly pointed out, that that design focused more on design, and shapes and being appealing rather than the typography – which was the whole point of the project – focusing on the typeface. The design was competing against the typeface.
I decided to focus on the one with the big bold letters as I got positive reactions to it from my tutors and they suggested that less is more, I’m not normally comfortable with that so I am picking that one to challenge myself.
I applied some more of the changes suggested by my tutors using figma and this is the result:
This is the final outcome and I think it is very eye catching. I tried to keep it as simple and uncomplicated as possible. I reduced it to the minimal and only left behind the essentials.
After watching the talk given by Wilson Minor I saw a bit more clearly that objects, no matter how nice or well designed are simple “empty vessels to fulfill our desires” that we accumulate to gain some kind of sense of belonging or to be appreciated by others due to our material possessions. It makes me think of phones – how they are always being upgraded and how companies are always coming out with a newer, ‘better’ version that we ‘must’ have and how many of us fall prey to this. Weirdly enough the talk made me think of the song ‘Never enough’ in the greatest showman – no matter what we have or get, we will always want something else, it will never fulfill us or make us whole.
“we shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us” – Marshall McLuhan. What he is trying to say is that things can create a new environment, changes outlooks and attitudes in societies, it affects everything. The light bulb lengthened the work day and changed how we interact; cars changed our environment, we had cars so we needed roads, so we needed highways and so on.
I may not fully realize the extent of the change or impact an invention or design might have on the world – with the right tools anything is possible. Phones changed completely how we interact we each other and created a divide between generations – smartphones, for example, are all someone born in 2000’s has ever known, its a central point of our society, work and method of communication. This tells me that the things we surround ourselves with shapes us.
Everything I create as an Interaction designer should be designed to last and evolve with the time. Things that were important, relevant or revolutionary 100 years ago are now irrelevant or improved upon so much and changed it would be hard to know that the originated from that ‘outdated’ design or technology. The world is constantly changing and if we don’t want to be left behind then we must change with it.
To me a manifesto is a declaration of intent not only to the world but also to yourself, it presents values which a person stands for or is inspired by – or as Paul put it ” a battle cry to inspire you when things get tough”. A mantra would be more like a slogan or statement repeated with the purpose of uplifting oneself. Mottos would also be a form or motivation much like the mantra and the manifesto. A creative method for artists to express their intentions – a way to artistically articulate something that is meaningful to you.
I am not a fan of the ‘typical’ uplifting quotes as I find them kind of empty of real meaning. I want my manifesto to mean something and to do that I think it has to be personal – maybe like an inside joke or private story? Whilst I understand that a wider audience than just me will view it, I think that the message my manifesto will convey should be directed at me to keep me going; it needs to be MY battle cry.
I want to not only consider the words I use but also the design and colorus I utilize as, for example, a background or design with a mainly pink colour scheme will feel more personal to me than a green color scheme would as this colour does not resonate with me as strongly.
Surrealism, as Andre Breton explains is the combining or merging of reality with dreams, in art and all aspects of life imagination is to be a person’s greatest quality. 
As Breton argued, there is no point in creating ordinary and boring art that reflects reality as perhaps doing this only pushes away the subconscious and the creativity in us. Breton stated that “realistic attitude” is the same to being “hostile to any intellectual or moral advancement.” I guess that he was trying to argue that if we only accept was is directly in front of us and look no further a different and perhaps better way of thinking, analyzing and imagining things can never be achieved as the rose-tinted glasses, or in this case the ‘wacky’ glasses have not been put on. Breton’s manifestos lay out the politics of the surrealist movement – he clearly conveyed his message, I would like my manifesto to do the same.
Dada Manifesto is not a singular writing, it was a movement. the best-known pieces for this movement were created by Hugo Ball and Tristan Tzara. Ball wrote his piece in 1916, while Tzara’s wrote his in 1918.
The Dada movement originated during WW1 when young creatives living in neutral Switzerland decided to take their aim at the issues that led to the war, such as nationalism. They became known as Dadaists. They were searching for a way to disengage from the cruel reality of the times.
Dada was influenced by Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, and Constructivism. This movement – the same as many other movements- had the urge or the aim to change the world for the better. They craved freedom. The anti-intellectualism of the time heavily influenced Ball and Tzara.
“Dada world war without end, dada revolution without beginning, dada, you friends and also-poets, esteemed sirs, manufacturers, and evangelists. Dada Tzara, dada Huelsenbeck, dada m’dada, dada m’dada dada mhm, dada dere dada, dada Hue, dada Tza.” – Hugo Ball, Dada Manifest.
“Freedom: DADA DADA DADA, a roaring of tense colors, and interlacing of opposites and of all contradictions, grotesques, inconsistencies: LIFE.” – Tristan Tzara, Dada Manifesto.
To Ball Dada perhaps meant goodbye but to Tzara Dada was meaningless, perhaps because he viewed art as also devoid of meaning. What comes to mind after researching this is that a manifesto can mean different things to different people – the way it is perceived and under which mindset will heavily influence its meaning to the viewer, even if the resulting meaning was not the one the artist intended to communicate.
I really like this last version – after talking to my professor it was established that the previous 2 versions with the vertical writing were too difficult to read – Their complexity made them obsolete. Good design is easily understood – I did not take that into account here. My designs should be able to be appreciated by anyone. I would like to try and experiment using only typography, I want to make it – simple, BOLD and easy to understand.
I think that using only the type without a background really helps the words pop and solidifies their worth. Sometimes less is more; this is something that I learnt while studying the Fibonacci Sequence.
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