ffi publication issue 2 — out now!

reflective josh.

i wasn't sure what to expect when i enrolled. but i am glad i did.

i was really pleased to be working with the letterpress in the first assessment. it allowed for varied results in print, something that is often forgotten in such a digital age. the small amount of studio time and amount of type and presses were all challenging constraints.

the second assessment was very similar to a few past assignments from my graphic studios, but relied a lot upon the technicalities of typography (i guess that's the idea). it was a shame that the end results were fairly subjective to the taste of the people assessing. but i didn't feel there was much direction to the assignment, leaving everyone in the lurch and unsure of their design.

assessment three, i feel, will be the most successful. im really impressed with the way the class pulled together in such unusual circumstances. i was skeptical with the short amount of time and the high number of students working on the one assignment. im really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. i throroughly enjoyed working with my team...a lovely group of girls who i was only too happy to work with.

Last minute add in.. Brian's Harmony piece

Hope its not yet complete.. this is the FINAL for Brian's Harmony piece..

download from:
http://www.box.net/shared/hs0ut3kl6e

ATTN eds & Brian

FINAL harmony piece is in the comment to this post. Cheers

Course Reflection

I signed up for the course with the expectation of learning heaps more about typography and expected to be on the computer heaps. I was pleasantly surprised with project one and being able to be hands on with the letterpress. I enjoyed the deviation away from the normal and learning about something new. The second project I found the least inspiring and the least planned. I wish we would have gotten more feedback on it and been pushed to develop it a bit more. My biggest critique is I wish there had been more critique time in class. Project three has been the best planned of our projects in terms of getting feedback being pushed to the next level and coming out with a finished cohesive piece.

Cheers,

LeighAnna

ATTN WEB (or whoever needs this): FINAL EDITED EDITORIAL BY BEC

I can't load this up to the files due to exceeded limits so here is Bec's writing for her group. I have edited it so this is the final copy. Email me at runawaytj@yahoo.com.au if you have any issues. I'll be at the computer all night.
Cheers, TJ

‘Type that sings’ by Rebecca Nekho

It doesn’t necessarily pop out at you, it sits in the back of your head and you wonder... “Hang on a minute... that’s... messing with me!” Oh yes indeed. The great thing about either the making of harmony or the execution of anti-harmony is that it evokes a certain emotion, a manufactured emotion; for the good of controversy or just plain allowing oneself to adhere to the overall sensual experience the type is conveying through its characters.

Legibility isn’t the main element I’m attracted to within typography, although creating a font that is legible is an art form in itself and a rather difficult skill to master. In my world typography as illustration is where it’s at because ‘everything else has been done before’.

Experimental typography plays with letterforms for what they are. Balance between arranged type has the ability to create perfect harmony between each negative and positive space generated by each shape. The beauty of these puzzle-like formations enhances visual capacity to a much higher level as opposed to regular text that can be read and possibly forgotten. A viewer won’t usually remember if something is legible due to the typeface – or is that the global description of good legible type? Something so easy to read and unobtrusive that it’s forgotten?

All I know is people are more inclined to remember what excites and moves them and for me that is type as image.

I want to draw attention to the message via the words rather than let it sink away into the background never to be contemplated or dreamt about. I want to subject people to sleepless nights, tossing and turning, ever wondering “But, how... that ‘H’... how did they... why did they..?” The unanswered questions of technicalities eating away for days, if not weeks. Distressful you say? Inhumane? It sure is.

Harmony in type can be perceived in many ways, but essentially just as in music, it is an important element regardless of its differences in medium and sensual experiences. It draws you in and keeps you wanting more until your eyes and ears bleed from the insatiable curiosities while the sounds and visuals speak to you personally from origins so epic as to move your soul and forever remain a part of your being.

GOOGLE GROUP FILE LIMIT EXCEEDED?

Have we exceeded the limit? Does anyone need to upload but can't? Am I posting this to the wrong place? I'll try the group message board.

TJ

ATTN PROMOS: INTRO EMAIL

Angela as requested here is a shorty for your sendouts:


The wait is over: FFI issue 2 is ready to rock ‘n roll!
Intermission has come to an end with COFA’s Advanced Typography Class of 2010 returning to the stage for an encore of typographical hits. Stamp and whistle to our sensational exploration of typography from an aural perspective as we utilise our skills around the page to make some musical matter clatter. Download a PDF version of FFI’s latest incarnation here or email ffipublication@gmail.com to get the lowdown on our musical type production.

I found this course an interesting choice, as I honestly did not know what to expect when I enrolled into it. It was certainly challenging in parts, though overall I do believe that I learned from my experiences.

The first project –letterpress was interesting. I enjoyed researching the history of a font, it made me think about all the thousands of people before me who dedicated time to creating something that we take for granted in written communication. I especially enjoyed learning about the personal life of John Baskerville, and later on Zuzana licko who renamed her font after his late wife in homage to her. The technical process was enjoyable, yet the lack of letters for a class of 20 was frustrating.

The second project was quite similar to others we have done in graphics; I did enjoy being able to indulge in my passion for illustrative typography. It was great that I could bring in my passion for drawing into this project.

The last project was quite challenging and confusing at times, working in a team was great, especially as all my team members were really awesome and hardworking. Collaborating with other teams was difficult at times as sometimes personal preferences were being pushed with a lack of constructive criticism, a good experience in learning how to work in a team in a successful manner.

I did not enjoy having online lectures. I much prefer having a time and place in which I could ask questions and I believe I learn better when being spoken to instead of reading. Honestly, I probably have not absorbed as much as I could have from the lectures.

course reflection

As a whole, I have really enjoyed this semester on typography & publication design. It has really opened my eyes to new ways to use typography, which I have found really interesting.

It was great using the letterpress in project 1. Very interesting to learn about alternate methods for typographical design in the digital age that we live in. I have a greater respect now for the book publishers of the olden days!!

Project 2 I didn’t find all that inspiring as it was quite similar to a graphics/media project we did last year. However it was good to do some more work on book/magazine layouts and learn more about grids.

I have really enjoyed project 3. While it has been very stressful at times, it has been a really great experience working as a team. I agree that it is great insight into how the real design world works and nice to branch out from working by oneself. So overall, a great and beneficial experience for us all!

While I very much liked the convenience of the online lectures, I found it hard if there was something I couldn’t quite understand not having a lecturer to ask the question to immediately. And it would also have been good to have the visual aspect of an in-person lecture. But the topics were interesting and I learnt a fair bit from the lectures.

As a graphic designer it is great to get a better understanding of typography and how to make it work with our designs. This course has given me some great new skills and a good base knowledge on typography, which I hope to further in the future. Thanks Wing and Ian!

LAST PIECE OF WRITING FOR PROMOTIONS TEAM

This one is written for the Promotions team's COSMOGRAMMA typography. COSMOGRAMMA is the name of the latest album by Flying Lotus who Josh adores. Personally I think it sounds like when the three year old in the downstairs flat breaks into the pots and pans cupboard while the babysitter is in the bedroom with her boyfriend, ie really annoying noises.

Anyway here's my piece for their piece.

Whenever I find myself in a bind I ask myself what would Maria do? (I refer of course to that wondrous beast of a phenomenon that is Maria Von Trapp – the completely lovable antagonist from my number one favourite film of all time, The Sound of Music.) The answer to the aforementioned question is naturally always: the right damn thing.

So, on that willowy windswept mountain how did Madame choose (very successfully) to teach her seven young charges to carry a tune? Here’s a hint: “Let’s start from the very beginning… a very good place to start… when you read you begin with ABC, when you sing you begin with DO RE MI!” You guessed it… she SANG!

Sadly in modern Aussie classrooms my (okay Maria’s) rather progressive idea is shot down as complete bovine excrement which is quite unfortunate when the status quo is examined. In our so-called ‘modern’ world students are still using the same system dinosaurs used way back even before the Whopper was invented! And that system is of course T.E.X.T (time-consuming, exacerbating, Xeroxed trash) books.

Text based learning is fine if you harbour a billion extra blood vessels running through THAT side of the brain but spare an exam mark for us creative folk! We ain’t wired like you funny accountant people and this renders us disadvantaged in the classroom. We need an alternate option and I reckon music is the answer. Try and follow me here ‘K?

Let’s use COSMOGRAMMA as a sample. Even just a half hearted listen (and lemme tell with this FlyLo ain’t no half nuthin’ coz boy commands complete ‘tensh yo) leaves you with lessons in history (Alice Coltrane and Jazz), religion (world religion and spirituality via the cosmos), music (how to count beats real easy) and pop culture (an A-Z of Nintendo generational hits) – and that’s just the bare basics.

To compliment the vocal lesson we add some visuals to pump up a rounded day of learning. For example the sample shown teaches us about the first ever printing block: a curled up hand, dipped in dye and pressed down to form the mark we now know as paisley. YOU DIDN’T KNOW THAT? Hesitate not class-dunce! Ditch the T.E.X.T books and sign up for my S.O.B, School of Beats, coz we are outta the dark ages and seriously off the book!

Course Refection

Overall i have found this course really enjoyable. The projects have been fun and have allowed us to explore a number of different aspects of typography and publication design. It has also been fun working as a team for the final project as it has felt more like something that would happen in the real world – when often projects seem pointless. The printing press project was also really good and meant we had to manage our time well in order to get it completed. The hands on approach to typography was really interesting as everything else I have done so far has been on the computer. Its good to get another perspective on this aspect of design.

I have found the lectures a little difficult – I would have preferred to come in and sit in the lecture theater and hear something because I find having the lectures online doesn’t give me much motivation to look at them. They are also a little less engaging because they lack the images a presentation would have. The lectures have been on useful topics and have helped me throughout the project, but I agree with Katherine that sometimes it is hard to understand some terms/concepts.

I think I have really developed my technical skills in typography and publication design throughout this course. My interest in this area has also grown as a previously didn’t know so much on it and I think it is something I will continue to read about to learn more.

Hollie :D

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS. WHO DECIDES THIS???????????

Who decides the new email address on this thing? I thought it was Wing?

I know we can't change the name from FFI because promo's have done their work already.
Arlene suggests ffipublication@gmail.com or hotmail.com or whatever.

Guys I don't know who organises this stuff. Please help. Arlene needs to know STAT.

TJ

wk12 talking point: Course Reflection

I'd say this course has broadened my understanding of typography and publication design mainly through the online lectures. Overall I've found them to be informative, easy to read and understand through its somewhat casual tone of voice. They have covered a nice broad range of topics within publication and typography, and have been a nice balance of theory, technical aspects, society and trend analysis. I must admit though, Lecture 7 on page layout (particularly the Golden Mean etc) I found a bit hard to understand in terms of how exactly they were suggesting to divide the page and would have liked some further explanation to be able to actually implement the methods described. Similarly, Lecture 8 on setting up files for printing with terms such as 'RIP', 'lossy' and 'loss-less', which until then I either hadn't heard before/didn't understand.

The projects themselves have also been quite eye-opening, however I think this has mainly come from hindsight, realising what would have been a better way(s) to approach the brief and project. For instance, the letterpress project – only after completing the project did I probably begin to understand the limitations of the letterpress, what compositions work and look best, and the best ways to physically set up the characters within the frame. At present I'm also finding the class-based publication project to be quite insightful. Predominantly in terms of what it's like to work on the one project as part of a large team sub-divided into smaller teams, the challenges that are faced in decision-making, and how the smaller teams tend to interact with each other. I'd say in both of these projects, due to the method and set-up involved, we will probably learn the most through the process itself.

Katherine (z3235050)

PROMOTIONS: WRITTEN PIECE FOR NEW YORK I LOVE YOU

Please listen/watch song at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JkBiP7rPt0

Promotions Group took inspiration for their artwork from a song entitled “New York I love you” by LCD Soundsystem. The following is my written dedication. Thanks for choosing such a sweet piece guys! xx tj.

New York Hymn

The sun screams loud as it dusty’s in,
the dusty louvres let him in.
If only they had kept at bay
that hymn that to this very day
can paint me black, lure me away,
force my heart to yesterday.
I can’t resist that fist, but then,
nor could you – and now again:
I am five and you are ten.

A can of coke as evidence,
your nobly meek confession.
An eternal moment’s sweet silence,
then we, are taught, a lesson.
We kneel before our brutal hymn
and sing in shame until Amen.
Outside the maid finds coke cans missing:
I took five and you took ten.

Blinking hard I return to now
with calm and dread I dial somehow.
She knows before I’ve even dared,
her babies fatally unpaired.
Your bruises hidden in sparkled snow,
the New York blizzard your final show.
I laugh out loud, my clever big bro!
For never again, shall you be ten.

ATTN: ALL TEAMS

Hi everyone,

Make sure all your typographic pieces are uploaded tonight on the Google Group.

Label them properly so that the Typographic team can access them and understand who they are from and what they are for.

Thanks.

Adrian.

MORRISON’S END.

I had reached the end much too early,

Not late for once but still not on time.

We were so close but so far in this frame of mind.

You were on the highway into the sunset,

I cruised in the slow.

Less enjoyment, less pain,

Still had an open and powdery brain.

Junk up then collapse,

That was your thing.

It did such a good job of relieving your sting,

In the smack you were wrapped

The more restless you napped,

Was that how you watched me die?

Through a numb face

And a near closed eye?

You pulled the belt for me,

And told me I'd drown,

I was already more than coming down.

Further derailing my life,

Thinking Nirvana was close.

Pretty springtime, natural energy,

So many arms to make me a dose.

Your dead flowers brought genius

Of a million degrees,

Mind spilled into music

When we were just fusin'.

I'd dumped and snorted only hours ago,

It was then that you offered,

You needn't have bothered,

I had premonitions I'd be feeling abhorred.

(to go with Joanna's piece, hopefully to be changed to morrison..)

ATTN: Promotion/Style Guide Team

Hi Promotion/Style Guide Team,

I didn't want to do this but I have decided to take a hard line.

I was going to take that 150mm by 150mm promotion piece to the printer, but honestly it's not worth getting everyone to spend their money on getting it printed.

So come Saturday at 8pm, I want you to send me your finished products that you have designed for this publication.

I will be printing ONE of each to hand in to Wing alongside this assessment task.

I expect you to think about what you have done so far, reference the style guide and in these next few days produce promotion collateral that:

a. People will be interested in picking up/looking at.
b. Is representative of the publication.
c. Something that both you and the class would be proud of.

Style Guide will look at your submission on Saturday and they will give you feedback. You will then have until Sunday 8pm to finalise your designs and submit them for me to print on Monday morning for Tuesday.

***Style: Give honest, critical feedback and make sure it is up to your standards.

Adrian.

CLICKER TEXT FOR ARLENE AND EDITORIAL

Guys my ride is a few minutes away so I'm going to post this but then I won't have access to your feedback until this afternoon, but I can answer my phone if you want to call me/sms.

Arlene here you go my sweet:

LIFE INSIDE THE MUSIC BOX AIN’T EASY
- Well Regina Spektor it’s a hell smoother ride than living here within the strict confines of the typographic grid, with all its rules and regulation – ‘don’t show emotion/avoid sensation’ - a virtual dictatorship nation. So baby fly from your radio station while I stage a page evasion, and together: a revelation.

For Twenty ten’s ‘revelation’ we’ve worked typography into paying homage to that thing that sounds better with you, it makes the sound of the city disappear, ABBA thanked us for it, the Village People warned us we couldn’t stop it and remember what it did to the bourgoise and the rebels?

MUSIC and typography are a complementary marriage of opposites. Where kerning turns, a yearning note burns. Where plain lowercase fills visual space, its heavy weight plays pure deep bass. And so, what copy cannot express alone, typography brings to life with deafening resonance.

ATTENTION ARLENE

(Arlene... I think that was Garfield's bird's name.)

Listen sugar I just want to keep communication open for us and let you know I just hit myself up with some of the good beans so you'll have your "click" information in about a half hour.

I have a site visit this morning, home about... 1pm? So I'll have the rest of the main introduction to you by the afternoon.

After that I won't check my computer until Thursday arvo as I have a funeral in the morning.

I'm quite excited about my clicker copy - I've got some deadlies bouncing as we speak!

TILL THEN
tj