WDM1141 Digital Typography

CSS List Formatting Application

Design Brief assignment

Typographic characters can be manipulated in many ways that go beyond the traditional use of fonts and characters. Any character or combination of characters becomes part of a vocabulary of marks that can be used to create and design images. In this case, the basic function of typefaces - readablity - becomes secondary to the typefaces decorative properties. Characters may be used as elements of a visual image, divorced from their traditional interpretation as part of a pre-defined alphabet.

Review the list below. What are each of these properties and how can they be used to present type in as a graphical image?

• type face
• type size
• type style
• font weight
• color
• texture
• location
• path
• graphical effects
• skewing
• angle/rotation
• transparency
• pattern
• repetition
• squash and stretch

Browse through the index of images submitted at to the Word It website. Pick an example that makes strong use of text in its design.

Download a copy of the image you selected. Write a paragraph explaining which graphical elements of text the designer manipulated, and how the design visually illustrates the meaning of the word. Add your explanation, along with the image to an HTML page. Put both in a folder with your name and upload it to the folder indicated by your instructor

Review the phrases and words at the BuzzWhack web site. Select a phrase and definition you'd like to illustrate, using text as your chief design element.

• Use Photoshop or Illustrator to create a graphical illustration of the phrase you selected.
• Use only fonts, graphical type properties, and shapes to illustrate your selected phrase.
• Manipulate your typographic elements so that the visual presentation of the phrase helps illustrate its meaning
• Include the definition of the phrase with your graphic.
• Be prepared to explain what properties you manipulated to create your illustration.

Save your file as a .jpg or .png. Upload it to your server and email the URL to your instructor or bring in the file Week 7.

Mockups v1

Design Brief Review