Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016
Logo Research Assignment
The first LEGO logo was created in 1934. It was never used on actual toys, only on company papers and shipping labels. Six years later, LEGO created a decal that they put on all their products. It was designed to look like a woodcarving because all their products at the time were wooden toys. When they began to produce plastic toys in 1950, they switched to a more modern design. In 1955, LEGO created a new, standardized logo. It was used across all product lines with little variation until 1960, when different product lines began to use different logos again. Then, in 1973, the logo was standardized again with the design that we are familiar with. It has remained roughly the same since then, with some minor changes in scale and color in 1998.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Helvetica The Movie
Where does Helvetica originate from? What country?
Switzerland
What does the original name mean?
New Haas Grotesque
What does Helvetica translate into English?
The Swiss Font
What year was Helvetica created?
1957
What is the design style that Helvetica brought to popularity worldwide?
Swiss style
List the names of 3 different design styles or design movements that are discussed in the film.
- Modernism
- Grunge
- Postmodernism
Write about some of the insight about design you have taken away from the film. You can provide quotes if you like.
Nobody really agrees what style is the best but everybody can tell what looks good and what doesn’t.
Graphic Designers and Typographers
Erik Spiekermann is a German designer and typographer. He founded several design companies and has won several awards for his graphic design work. He appeared in Helvetica The Movie to express his hatred of Helvetica and what it represented in design.
Hermann Zapf was a German typographer and calligrapher. He made his first font when he was only 20 years old. He made over 200 fonts in his lifetime. In 2010, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
https://www.linotype.com/645/hermann-zapf.html
https://www.linotype.com/645/hermann-zapf.html
Max Miedinger was a Swiss typeface designer who created Helvetica in 1957. He was directly responsible for the popularization of the Swiss design style, which led to modern design as we know it.
Stefan Sagmeister is an Austrian graphic designer who became famous for his striking and innovative designs in the early 2000’s. He designed albums covers for Lou Reed, OK Go, The Rolling Stones, David Byrne, Jay Z, Aerosmith and Pat Metheny.
http://sagmeisterwalsh.com/
http://sagmeisterwalsh.com/
Helvetica in our campus
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
CLASS NOTES
Typography (10/4/16)
Chose classical time-tested typefaces
Serif fonts look older
Serif reads better at smaller sizes
Too many fonts spoil the design
Use complimentary fonts for emphasis. If they’re too similar, it can cause ambiguity.
Don’t write in all caps
Left alignment reads easiest
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
CLASS NOTES
The Principals and Elements of Design (9/20/16)
The design elements are the basic units of an image
The principles of design govern the relationships of the elements
Design elements:
- space
- line
- color
- shape
- texture
- value
- balance
Design Principles:
- unity
- variety
- repetition
- harmony
- proximity
- proportion
- functionality
- emphasis
Monday, September 19, 2016
FILE FORMAT EXERCISE
For the tree photograph, the high quality jpeg looked the best, followed by the png-24, followed by the medium jpeg. The png-8 looked higher resolution than the low jpeg, but the low jpeg maintained color better. All of the gifs looked the worst.
The png-24 of the bus clip art looked the best. The png-8 looked ok, along with most of the gifs. All of the jpegs looked grainy, even the high quality one.
The pngs had the largest files. The jpegs had the smallest.
![]() |
| PNG 24 |
![]() |
| PNG 8 |
![]() |
| GIF 128 no dither |
![]() |
| GIF 128 dithered |
![]() |
| GIF 64 no dither |
![]() |
| GIF 64 dithered |
![]() |
| GIF 32 no dither |
![]() |
| GIF 32 dithered |
![]() |
| JPEG high |
![]() |
| JPEG med |
![]() |
| JPEG low |
![]() |
| GIF restrictive |
![]() |
| JPEG high |
![]() |
| PNG 24 |
![]() |
| JPEG med |
![]() |
| PNG 8 |
![]() |
| JPEG low |
![]() |
| GIF 128 dithered |
![]() |
| GIF 128 no dither |
![]() |
| GIF 64 dithered |
Thursday, September 15, 2016
CLASS NOTES
Vector vs Raster Lecture Notes (8/25/16)
Different methods for creating digital art:
Raster = pixels
Vectors = curves made with math
Bezier curve means using a polynomial to map shapes
Multiple bezier curves can make NURBS which are three dimensional vector shapes
Bezier curves can be scaled infinitely
Raster means pixelated images like photographs and videos
Raster images can’t be scaled beyond their native resolution without losing quality
Raster image pixels are comprised of three colors: red, green, and blue
Vector is a mathematically based method for creating line data
Vector files are smaller than image files
Vector files require software like adobe flash to run
Vectors print better
Vectors are stored in AI, PDF, WMF, FLC
Fonts are made with vectors in word processing software
Talented artists can create photorealistic images with vector art
Graphic File Formats: Understanding Image Choice and Compression (9/15/16)
Lossy files sacrifice quality for smaller file size
Lossless files retain full quality
TIFF, JPG, PNG, and GIF are most common
PNG is higher quality and can have an alpha channel
TIF (tagged image format) is a lossless format that is compatible with all computer systems. It’s not browser friendly.
JPG (joint photographers expert group) is a lossy format with an adjustable level of compression. It has a 10:1 reduction of file size. Better for photos.
GIF (graphic file format) is better for graphics or images with flat colors. It has no DPI so it isn’t suitable for printing.
Contiguous pixels means colors blur into one another
Aliased means distinct pixels and anti-aliased means that pixels are blended. Anti-aliasing is used to make low-resolution images look better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)






































