Typography Evaluation

At the end of this 10 week typography module, I would have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed all 10 sessions and have definitely learned a lot. I now check many things before I begin writing, or laying out a document and even the tiniest of details will annoy me until it is corrected. The strongest sessions, and the most useful to me, were the designing of the business cards and the short press ads tasks. The final longer task of designing two contrasting double page spread designs have also been a useful challenge with end results that I can perhaps use in my portfolio to show the kind of editorial design I enjoy.

The column and leading tasks were interesting and got us working and discussing as a group, but after a while I found it quite difficult to critically decide on what leading and font size worked best on the page and what didn’t work, as it was all starting to blur into one. However, I definitely benefitted from it and will continue to analyse and experiment with text and come out with various printed solutions before deciding which option works best. The grid and colour exercises were fun and I have come away with many little tips to think about when playing with white space and grids.

Experimenting with this optional module was important to me as it has proven that I do want to go down the path of editorial design more and that I have the patience for detail to work with typography. It excites me that there is so much more to learn and that I have only just scratched the surface, so for briefs such as the up and coming design practice 2 whereby I can personalise it and write it to my strengths, I hope to create worthwhile designs out of it to show how much this module has influenced the thought process that now goes into my designing.