Day 5 Research and Notes

For our homework assignment we had to take our existing block and composition studies and translate them into animations. This was an interesting assignment because text on screen is radically different than on paper. Moving the text can create a bunch of new problems and solutions to readability and aesthetics.

This isn't my first time animating type but it was my first time doing it with the proper typographic knowledge. I feel like some of the compositions work better than others due to their complexity. The complex ones dont animate as well why the simpler ones, Specifically the last text composition animated very well.

Critique Notes

Most of the notes I got for critique were about spacing. Spacing between words and lines need a little work. I still seem to be trapping space in between type and even though I was trying to create strong horizontals and verticals using the spacing to create negative space, it didnt come across that way and looked more like a mistake. its something I am definitely working on. Some suggestions were to fly under the radar and try not to make anything noticeable. You want your type to be invisible. Some ways to do this is to optically adjust leading and kerning to relieve those spaces.

As far as animating the type, it is something that I have never done before and is almost a completely new way to think about type. Some of my animation on my type was too slow coming in especially when it was really small point type and traveled a large distance. Also the staggering of the animation really made it drag on. Im going to try some more simultaneous movement to make it feel quicker and more thoughtful as a whole. The best received animation was the kind that masked down from nothing rather than move from off screen to its position.

Personal Thoughts

Some of the thoughts I had about animating type is how little we actually do it. As a medium that grew from printed type, alot of the existing rules only apply to static type. We are literally rewriting centuries of typographic design for a more engaging medium.

When i work I want to constantly be asking "Is it proportional?", "Is it engaging?", "Is the movement and speed appropriate for the type and message?", "How long does it need to be viewed?".

Some of the lessons I've learned from seeing others type animations are that slow type or type that is on screen too long is EXTREMELY painful. Time seems to slow down as im being tortured by the type.

Questions and Research

As we get farther along in our major, I want to know how type affects the moving image and how to affectively make readable type with a moving image. Kyle Cooper has some amazing work with beautiful typography and while also making it functional and readable.

Day 4 Notes and Research

Day's Notes

The first thing we did was pin up our work for critique and Dorian walked around with a marker and methodically marked certain studies. For the most part, everyone had between 5-7 studies marked which were then used as discussion points. Dorian then called on me and asked me to pick out a good one and a bad one. I chose two and discussed what i didnt like and did like about them but I didnt really like any of them as a whole. I only liked a certain element or idea. We then went on to discussing what worked and doesnt work at all with type and the difference between the printed page as a medium and the screen.

Serifs are harder to see on screen due to the weight variation with the thick and thin parts of the type, Especially when you dont know what viewing format someone is watching them in. For example someone could watch a serif on full 1080P HD and see them fine but someone who is projecting it at 320x480 wont be able to see almost any of it. So Sans serifs might be the best choice in terms of readability.

Critique

We used a pretty generic Good/Bad system to determine what to talk about but didnt get into detail about what is particularly wrong with our studies. Looking at my studies though I got a couple of goods, some with no marks but two with 3-4 bad marks. As im looking at them now I can see why. I tried really hard to make strong verticals and horizontals but didnt really pay attention to trapping space between words. I also have a little stair stepping going on in one of the compositions. Im really trying actively to avoid these pitfalls but its very difficult to do so with such limits.

trapped space.

Personal Thoughts

Im starting to get the hang of it and really invested a large amount of time into these studies. Im looking at placement on the page with a different eye now. I used different grid systems to place them on the page and i think they improved a lot.

My work can still be better but I am not trying to reinvent the game, i just rather fly by and do no harm. Some of my classmates work is interesting but some is quite terrible. Its seems to be very easy to find faults in someone else's work and then look at yours and see even more.

Research and Questions

I think its very interesting to see the relationship between readability on screen and the time. Mostly I would say it depends on all aspects of the animation. The rhythm, the content, the size, the use of design and good compositions and the animation. All of these things are important factors when setting, animating and viewing type on the screen.

Day 3 Notes & Research

Days Notes

The general consensus on my block and type composition studies were that I had some problems with dead end alleys which trap negative space and cause some problems. Fortunately when working on my studies I worked hard to stay away from stair steps in my type compositions.

Personal Thoughts

My personal thoughts about the studies we are doing are in-between negative and positive. I know that they are something that we must do to move on and learn from our mistakes but at the same time, we are so limited by the restrictions of the assignment that it is hard to make interesting compositions or design without causing problems.

Question and Research

We did watch a short lecture by David Carson which was very interesting. It seemed as though one of the greatest Typographer and designer in the world is not what you think he would be. He seemed very laid back and able to laugh at type and even some of his work. He seems to have a lack of restriction in his work that gives him the ability to make even better work. Instead of saying "no you cant do that. its a rule" he rather say "well let me try it and it could work out".

Dorian mentioned Chromolithography and after some research, its very interesting to see the advancements in technology. It's also a pretty neat process that requires a lot of time intensive labor but has a great distinct style. I personally think lithography is pretty cool and would love to do some one day.

Day 1

This is the first blog post for my Designing with Type II class. Im looking forward to actually learning some typography. Dorian seems great and I have heard great and terrible things but I think thats what we need for our major and class.

I am extremely excited to actually work within our medium of animation with type. Last semester, our type I class was all print and while worthwhile it still didnt make much sense why we were doing it. Anyways, looking forward to a great year.

Welcome

  

Hi my name is Daniel Moreno and this is my blog for Designing with Typography II at Ringling College of Art and Design, Department of Motion Design.

I am from Miami, Florida and am currently a Sophomore in Motion Design. My favorite hobbies are playing games and 3D modeling. My top movies at the moment are The Boondock Saints, Fargo, Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda. So there's some info about my self. I hope you enjoy my blog!