Marking paragraphs outrageously
Here are the class selections from part three of the assignment. There are a few other solutions that were not picked and I will add these soon.
type eh?
Graphic design and typography
Posts Tagged ‘ marking paragraphs ’
Esquire editor has last word
Perhaps this caught my eye because the class assignment this week is an exercise in marking paragraphs. It’s worth clicking to enlarge the image. Wonderful.
[Esquire UK May 2011]
Marking paragraphs: outrageously
Below are six solutions that nicely demonstrate the third category of assignment four. Despite their unconventional approaches, there are elements of both playfulness and organization. Let me know what you think.
Marking paragraphs: experimentally
Once again I have chosen five pages from the class assignment.
It’s interesting that nobody asked me to define what I meant by experimental. But you’ll see in these examples that the text reads in a sequential fashion, from the first paragraph to the last.
What makes them experimental is the treatment of the type.
1. Below
In this example a justified column of gray text is punctuated with a black dingbat, clearly indicating where a new paragraph begins.
The heading is situated in plenty of space and even though it’s gray, it stands out clearly.
2. Below
This design uses a dense block of text. The paragraphs are marked by a bold word at the start.
In my view the design would be better integrated if the typeface for the heading had been the same as the text, Futura condensed. But the design approach is effective. The composition cleverly demonstrates the meaning of the text: A legible typeface that has been made less readable by tight leading.
3. Below
I included this because the page is both an imaginative and well-crafted solution. As we discussed in class it does not mark paragraphs as clearly as it might, but that fix is simple.
4. Below
A really clever concept that also answers the assignment criteria. Fine work indeed.
5. Below
The simple but effective idea of reducing size and width is a good demonstration of a system being thoughtfully utilized.
The challenge for the reader is that the type is both small and condensed too. And as with example 2, perhaps there is visual irony here. Because there is no doubt this text is difficult to read.
Marking paragraphs: conventionally
There are five pages in this post from the 60 that were created for the class assignment.
They demonstrate paragraphs marked in a conventional way using either indents or line spaces. What’s notable about them all is the contrast between heading and text. There is no ambiguity about the hierarchy.
The pages are airy, but not empty. The white space is very deliberate, not just what’s left over.
Grasping this notion of designed space, is the key to design and typography.
1. Below.
It’s not only the weight of type, it’s also the orientation of the heading that makes this such a strong page. The left edge of the text is a strong anchor for the heading. The only thing I would change is the top of the heading which should align with the top of the text block.
2. Below.
What works here is the organization around the horizontal bar that is a container for the heading. The drop cap and the introduction on the left make for a lively page design.
3. Below.
What’s nice about this page is the fact that both columns of text align with each other perfectly. The dingbats at the beginning of each line are not necessary, but they add a delicate touch.
4. Below.
Many struggled with how to design a page with two columns of text. This is an alternate treatment to the page above. Here, the columns are staggered. I frequently talk about alignment. So why does this work in my opinion? Because the columns are very deliberately not aligned. Dropping the word clearly to the second line makes use of the space above the second column.
What’s also of interest is that the two columns of text are different widths. Just be careful with this treatment and don’t overdo it.
5. Below.
Finally, I chose this page because of the movement in the heading. The typesizes are clearly differentiated , and the words lock together very effectively. Notice how the letter L in clearly, has become an alignment point for the text block.
The horizontal and vertical rules are graphic devices that are delicate enough to provide structure without clashing with the typography.
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type eh? 
