Get ready sports fans, it's time for another blog entry from your favorite blogger. Tonight's theme is another entry into Mini Art School. Let's jump right in!
Fonts, Fonts, Fonts, Fonts...
The first activity was to explore the power of fonts. Would you be surprised to know that most common entry font used in a resume is Times New Roman size 12? Don't be - it's the default font that Microsoft Word uses.... This font lesson from tonight's activity has taught me to break away from the default font. Be creative, have fun, and be intentional with the use of your font. I also learned that it's really helpful to try many fonts on the same text - you'll never know which one you like best!
For the activity, I had to use 12 different fonts. For each font, I had to list two words that describe that font and use the font in a way that contradicts this meaning. Take a peak!
The goal of the next exercise was to learn to use patterns. I had a lot of fun with this activity and tried several approaches. This also was an insightful activity, as I learned that visually I'm not a fan of busy patterns, especially that cover a whole page. I find it to be a bit too busy. However, I recognize that while that's my preference, there is still merit in doing so and it's an attribute of good design, depending on the context of the piece. I also learned that I struggle to freely create/design. I find it much easier to design towards a goal (i.e. a poster I need to create for work). I challenged myself to try to do this piece freely, which I think reflects in the, um, lack of quality?!?
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I truly enjoyed this week's mini art school. I especially found the font activity to be fun and helpful. I'm looking forward to the next lesson!
And, as promised each week, I shall end this blog with a picture of The Bean. This picture was taken recently when we visited Seattle and took a tour of the baseball stadium. The caption of the photo is "What do you mean I've been traded to the Seattle Mariners?!?!?"
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteCute baby!
I LOVE Times New Roman size 12 :( it makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside...ok ok maybe I'm just brainwashed by microsoft.
I think you did an awesome job with the fonts! I was really amused by the words you chose and the contrasts (80's and P-Diddy...though I think it's just Diddy at this point in time, but who can keep up!).
Hi Steve-
ReplyDeleteWhat a great picture of you and your daughter. She looks like she is ready to chair a board meeting and she is all business!
I love reading the posts that work with the fonts. They are so overlooked but so much fun. I really liked the contrast section of the activity. I guess the best way to put this is the font sort of overrides the word. For example, using the Disney type fonts takes the sting out of the word morgue or death- you can't seem to take them seriously!
As for playing with the patterns- you got your point across. I am not an artist myself (half the time I can't match colors) but I thought that you showed movement and originality.
Have a great day!
Steven -I seriously enjoy reading your blog posts! Even though everything is via text, you definitely have a tone of voice!!
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I saw that you completed the font activity, I was all ready to see what contradictory words you had come up with (since I read the reply on my blog prior to seeing this post). The first one just makes me laugh -'grandmother' just looks ridiculous in that font! The switch of the Mickey Mouse and Morgue fonts is a little chilling. The funny thing is that my Microsoft Word 2004 is defaulted to Helvetica, while my Microsoft Word 2011 is defaulted to Calibria. I have no idea why, but the settings came that way! So I end up changing all of my notes to Times New Roman, while my resume I had changed to Arial (to fit everything on it, maybe have to go back and edit it -play with the font a little).
For your second activity, the combination of stars and circles is very appealing. The stars match perfectly with the font that you chose for 'rise above'. I do not know how to explain it exactly, but it just works. The circles that you chose to overlap stick out with the color scheme you chose versus the straight line of circles that sort of are faded out, really sending the message of 'rising above'!
Great job on this mini art school post.
-Henna T.
P.S. Your girl is too adorable!
Steve,
ReplyDeleteGreat job, your blogs are always interesting and funny! I agree with Katie, the contrast words are highly amusing. Also, I like how you presented the words-two columns, bulleted, good spacing! I think the first project is a great representation of a lot of concepts we learned in this week's readings.
Your second mini-art school project was very interesting and also captured many objectives thus far. I like the limited colors, inverted circle colors, size, and placement.
Again, your daughter is adorable! And I think it is a great idea that you introduce each mini-art school project for those not in our class.
~Anita