TYPOGRAPHY AND LAYOUT
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Typography and Layout, through projects, exercises and readings, furthers understanding of Elements of Art, Principles of Design and Gestalt Laws as they are applied to layout of typography and image(s). Assignments help students to strengthen their skills in visual organization and communication of form and content.
COURSE OUTLINE, WEEK-BY-WEEK HANDOUTS, AND READINGS
(note: readings, assignments and pdf links correspond to your Course Outline. Projects and Exercises will be ‘live’ on the website no later than the week they are assigned)
WEEK 1 AND WEEK 2
• GD107 Course Outline for Weeks 1 and 2 (page 1). PDF
• Exercise 1: Finding the grid on a Magazine Editorial Spread (in-class instructions)
• Elements of Art, Principles of Design, Gestalt Laws. PDF
WEEK 3
• GD107 Course Outline for Weeks 3 and 4 (pages 2,3,4). PDF
• basic parts of letters / character anatomy
• character anatomy, from Fonts.com
• http://www.artofthegrid.com/grid-it.html
(there is no link for this, just copy-paste the url)
• basic typographic information, terms, and definitions
• five basic typeface classifications
• history of typographic technology
• Exercise 2 write-up sheet
WEEK 4 and WEEK 5
• GD107 Course Outline for Weeks 4 and 5 (page 5). PDF
• Project 1, Poster on a Basic Grid, hand-rendered version
• Project 1 grid sample
• Exercise 3, The letter A in five typeface classifications
• Exercise 3, Grade Sheet
• Exercise 3, Instructions
WEEK 6 and WEEK 7
• Project 2, Poster on a Basic Grid, InDesign version
• Raster, Vector, Page Layout and Proofing and Distribution Software
• Scan Chart
• hyphenation and justification
• Exercise 4, Typeface Manifesto
WEEK 8
• Project 3
• design a grid using Golden Ratio proportions derived from the Fibonacci Series
• design a second grid using the Golden Ratio
WEEK 9
• Class Discussion, slide show and study guide (take notes during class!): Early 20th century use of typography and layout especially Cubist, Futurist, Dada, Supremetist,
De Stijl, Constructivist, Bauhaus. Jan Tschichold, Paul Renner
WEEK 10
• Self-directed Final Project (Project 4)
WEEK 11 COURSE OUTLINE
• Book Design pp 50–52 (Proportional / Modular Scales)
• Bringhurst, Shaping the Page
• Hale, from The Old Way of Seeing
• Example of house with grid overlay, NEiA student work
• Example of house with golden proportions/grid overlay, Londonderry VT
WEEK 12
WEEK 13
• Self-directed Final Project Critique (Project 4)
WEEK 14
DONNA STEPIEN (donnastepien@me.com)
INSTRUCTOR, VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN
MFA University at Buffalo
MBA Canisius College
BA Daemen College