For The Love Of Type (& Politics)

Being President of the United States is a big task, but first you have to convince people you're fit for the job of being their leader. Candidates spend millions on their presidential campaigns, and a very important part of it are their signs. Although it won't even pass through the minds of most voters, the typefaces the candidates use to display their name and slogans suggest something about the candidates themselves. Let's take a look at the typefaces used by the top 3 candidates and how effective (or ineffective) they are.

Senator Hillary Clinton
Typeface: New Baskerville
Designed in 1757 by John Baskerville, the typeface for Clinton's campaign is one commonly used by book publishers, law firms and universities. It doesn't make much of a statement, and comes off old.


Senator John McCain
Typeface: Optima
Described by Microsoft as "classic, quirky, elite and just a bit old-fashioned", the description seems fitting for McCain's maverick status. This typeface was designed in 1958 by Hermann Zapf, who was once a POW. The typeface is commonly used in pharmaceutical packaging and hospital signage, and is also the one used to engrave the names into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

Senator Barack Obama
Typeface: Gotham, Requiem
From Hoefler & Frere-Jones and designed in 2001, Gotham is described as the hot font of 2008 by John D. Berry, author of a series of books on typography. Requiem is from the same typography group, garnering them a lot of press for this presidential campaign. Gotham is praised for it's classy and clean look and a favourite of many bloggers, including myself.

Moving Picture Blocks

In exploring color palettes in various mediums, I've broken up images into main color blocks to show the differences in colour palettes for television, print advertisement, and paintings.

Television
uses colour palettes that correlate to the mood of the show. Animated shows use bright palettes with many colours. In contrast, dramas use less saturated colours.

Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law

Grey's Anatomy

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uses simple palettes with few colours to grab the eye. Monochrome palettes with a contrasting or complementary colour are popular.

Vespa

Maybelline

Paintings
use earthly and natural tones, as high saturation capable in light systems are not available in paint.

Botticelli's Birth of Venus
Dali's Persistence of Time

The Joshua Tree

In the Non-Designer's Type Book, author Robin William mentions how she once received a book on how to identify trees. In the book, the first tree she stumbled upon was a Joshua tree; it was simple to identify as it only took too clues. Although at first she thought the Joshua tree was weird-looking and that she'd never seen it before, after seeing the book she realised that 80% of the trees in her neighbourhood were Joshua trees.

This awareness applies just as well to designs. Or, more specifically, the principles of design:
Contrast
Repetition
Alignment
Proximity

Once you're aware of the principles, you notice their relevance in design everywhere.


For example, all 4 principles are effectively applied in this poster:

Contrast is found with the obvious visual difference in colours (black/white), bold handdrawn shapes versus thin lines neat background, and the changing thickness of the type to emphasize text.

Repetition is found in using the same typeface throughout the poster and the repetition of the handdrawn yellow arrows and shapes.

Alignment is found in the text, justified center.

Proximity is found in the groupings of text, where relevant information is close to eachother.

Although the principles of design are a good place to start for any piece of design work, it takes much more than just these four principles to become a great designer. Additionally, not all pieces of work will involve all these four principles of design but may still look brilliant and amazing.

Warning: This Advertisement May Cause Seizures

Or at least that's what the video advertisements lining subway tunnels should say. The first time I came across this form of advertising was riding the train in Beijing, China this summer. It was just like any other subway ride in Toronto (or almost, the TTC subway system has always been subpar compared to other major cities) but all of a sudden flashing lights and pictures bombard you from the dark tunnel outside the car. A long line of video screens all displaying the same clips are shown practically like a stop motion. They placed in a way where the speed of the train is calculated and the screens practically look like they're stationary with respect to the train's windows. Except when the train isn't at the right speed they seem like strobe lights.

Goes to show that digital media can truly insert itself absolutely anywhere.

But seriously, I would not go on the subway with these ads if I were epileptic. Instant seizure.

In This Information Age

According to Wikipedia, the term digital media refers to "electronic media that work on digital codes".

To tell you the truth, I never thought about what digital media meant to me before the first lecture. It just seemed like another strand tacked onto this whole Radio & Television Arts major thing. I wasn't sure how it related to the idea of broadcasting, but then I realized how obviously relevant digital media is.

Digital media is ubiquitous. From the World Wide Web to the cable box to the billboards on Dundas St., digital media is present everywhere. This form of media is an important part of out lives as a means for mass communication, especially in this information age. There is a need for us to receive constant updates and only the latest up-to-the-minute news. Digital media delivers this.

An RTA student should take a digital media course because as our society advances, it becomes more and more dependent on technology. Students trust the internet for information, whether it be Facebook or YouTube or Perez Hilton. In an increasingly digital world, it would only make sense for an RTA student to understand and learn about the effects of digital media and how to take advantage. Digital media is connected to all forms of broadcasting, and without knowledge of digital media, success will be hard to come by.