Oh god that sounds like my first and second year visual communication assignments. I can see what you're trying to do with the two columns of text, from a visual sense, but is it practical? Itd definately be hard to read from a viewers sense. Would lining it up with the T be better? Or is this a specific direction you must take?
spoilered is minor edits. Again, im shite at graphic design
Quick eg
I expect it will be a little difficult to read, but my tutor says that's forgivable.
I want to jam the two columns together because the extract conveys a strong sense of a tight, structured environment. I'll play around with the relationship between the heading and the text and see what I can do.
By the way, I've updated the image to fix a few obvious problems that I didn't pick up before because I was in a hurry to go to lunch.
I have to be honest with you, and it's going to be blunt (and I'm sorry), but I wouldn't read that because of the way it's organized.
I would start reading at the "ALL", then straight down, but it's confusing, as I feel (as a Canadian) that I should start reading from the left -- but all I see there is a bolded first sentence, and a red/bold/large word seems more like a beginning than one bolded sentence.
Looking at it again, I gather I am supposed to start at that bolded sentence (though my eye says no), then am I supposed to read "Tomorrow's parties", then switch over, and read "all evolved to cope with joisting elbows"? If so, then that means the William Gibson part is next, which makes it incredibly awkward to read back to the left at the bottom.
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited August 2009
That is fucking great Flay! You need to up that shit onto a t-shirt, call it "Hauling Warhol"
Seriously, that's one of my favourite things ever on this site, I may even pee a little bit.
also where you currently have william gibson you have some descenders going into your copy which makes it very hard to read and a strain on the eyes. also the pattern behind the copy, especially near the top might make it hard to read for some of your demographic.
you need to have the name of it, with the author separate from the copy, also find a better layout because that one is very confusing. having it difficult to read doesn't really make sense because you want people to read it. you have to grab peoples attention and keep them reading to see what its about. but you really cant do that if its hard to read.
Maybe i dont understand the requirements you're supposed to meet, but the layout of the columns isnt very functional. Though, in design there is room to break the rules, i dont think its working. If you where to add a 5mm space between the two columns, it would read much more clearly.
I love the stencil design Flay! Although looks like that would be a bastard to cut out...
As for the ATP type and layout... not really feeling it. I have a first edition of the book though and the direction that you're heading in does suit Gibson.
First one in last post is hot. The way the bottom column of text seems to sit infront of the top column evokes feelings of claustrophobia and imagery of skyscrapers.
No really. I like it. It walks the line between design-wank and functional pretty well. I'd try to tighten up the right hand line of the bottom column some more if possible. Looks like you've done a lot already but if that line could be straighter without fucking with the kerning too much it could polish it just a little better.
Looks like you've done a lot already but if that line could be straighter without fucking with the kerning too much it could polish it just a little better.
Tracking not Kerning, old boy.
I am being a worthless pedant, apologies...
I take that back, HAHAHA!
I agree though, that bottom line does not look tidy and needs some tlc.
Personally, I'm still not entirely feeling this... it may well be down to personal taste though.
My new (and stolen) motto with design and layout is "More meaning per mark" and by that I mean, everything should be done for a carefully considered and justified reason -- if it doesn't ADD something to the overall goal of the piece, then it is superfluous and potentially even detracts something.
Flay -- This looks to me like you are just trying random things until you think it looks interesting -- which isn't always a bad thing, mind -- but I'm not getting a sense of there being a clear and cohesive idea which everything follows.
I refer you to points 2 and 4 of the aims of your brief:
2. as well as your ability to process and refine ideas before working on the computer
4. and to learn to explore and refine typographic detailing
To me at least, the idea of the piece is not coming through and the typography does not feel refined.
A process which I often find useful when I need to refine something is to look at my work and ask myself, not "what can I add?" but "what can I take away? What can I edit?"
This approach allows you to strip away the extraneous elements, and leave you with the pure idea you are trying to convey.
Great design communicates the idea in a way that makes the execution look seamless.
Maybe that helps? Maybe not... I hope there's something useful in there. I like your design stuff generally, it's nice to see it improving.
Sage advice. I'm still absolutely terrible at typography; it's an alien medium to me, and I'll need some time to get familiar with it. During the next break, I'm going to go visit the library and see if I can grab some decent typo books.
By the way, the stencil has been made, and it turned out pretty well, but not brilliantly. Pics tomorrow.
I figured I'd start making a log of my guitar progress. I'm gonna go for a 'warts and all' approach, so even my mistakes will be recorded. Hopefully I'll be making less of them in the future.
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited September 2009
Hmm, I've been playing for a long ass time, kerrist, almost 20 years now (that's longer than I thought). So I have trouble remembering what exactly I did to get myself up to speed, I did practice everyday for at least an hour for about 5 years. Probably my biggest tip is to learn your chords, start with majors and minors, open and then barred. You'll find the open chords at lot easier to use on an acoustic until your hand strength builds up, then try moving onto barred chords. Keep that practice up, those dud notes are probably more to do with a lack of strength in your hand and forearm than technique.
Also get yourself a metronome, they suck, but good timing is an indespensible skill, especially if you plan on playing with a band at some stage. You can learn timing without one, but using one will get you there a lot quicker. Anyway keep at it, I never made any money from guitar, but it's been one of my best friends for a long time and I never regret learning for a second.
Similar to Mustang, I've been playing for such a long time I can't seem to remember what it was like not being able to play.
Just to offer a slightly different point of view -- I really struggled with chords initially, almost to the point where it put me off continuing any further. I also had a bunch of books and videos, none of which I found of much use. I just wasn't finding it much fun.
Sooo... I learned how to play a basic powerchord and started trying to figure out how to play some easy pop-punk stuff, just by listening to CDs and then finding the chords by ear.
This meant that I started to understand how the notes on the fretboard correlate and I began to see lots of similarities in the chord structure of songs, so I'd learn to play something and then realise, "oh, I'm playing the same powerchord patterns as this other song, only faster, or a couple of frets higher, or whatever..."
By playing along with early Green Day and Lookout Records stuff, without realising it, I was stengthening my fingers, improving my strumming rhythm, learning basic song-writing principles, but most of all I was just having fun playing along with stuff. I can recall how hard playing and singing seemed to be but then one day it just clicked.
Sure, you can have a book tell you the ins and outs of things and you can try and work everything out using TAB but for me, I needed to figure out things for myself by just experimenting and trying things out.
Fast forward to being competent enough (just!) and I started playing in bands and writing songs. I used to 'make up' a lot of chords, and eventually realised some of them are, of course, actual major and minor chords, I just didn't know the names of them. I recall learning palm mutes and pinch harmonics before ever knowing what such things were called.
So, that was how I learned. There's no right or wrong way, but certain approaches do seem to suit different people -- I thought it might be useful to share that just in case you struggle with the traditional methods and lose heart. My advice to learn to play, is actually to pick up a guitar and play!
One of the best things I ever learned, I find a lot of enjoyment in picking up the guitar and just letting my fingers wander, or making up daft songs, or playing satisfying riffs. And of course, I've had a lot of fun touring and recording and playing gigs, etc.
Sounds like you're getting there though, just keep practicing and you'll start to find it much easier when your fingers strengthen and callous. Mostly, though enjoy learning! 8-)
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited September 2009
With stairway you need to pick it as a chord. Those notes need to be sustained, same as what you were doing in your second mp3 there. Does that make sense?
Posts
I expect it will be a little difficult to read, but my tutor says that's forgivable.
I want to jam the two columns together because the extract conveys a strong sense of a tight, structured environment. I'll play around with the relationship between the heading and the text and see what I can do.
By the way, I've updated the image to fix a few obvious problems that I didn't pick up before because I was in a hurry to go to lunch.
I need to know what order you read the paragraphs in.
I would start reading at the "ALL", then straight down, but it's confusing, as I feel (as a Canadian) that I should start reading from the left -- but all I see there is a bolded first sentence, and a red/bold/large word seems more like a beginning than one bolded sentence.
Looking at it again, I gather I am supposed to start at that bolded sentence (though my eye says no), then am I supposed to read "Tomorrow's parties", then switch over, and read "all evolved to cope with joisting elbows"? If so, then that means the William Gibson part is next, which makes it incredibly awkward to read back to the left at the bottom.
Large post is large. I'm sorry.
And thanks for the feedback. I'll see if I can make it more readable.
WIP
Seriously, that's one of my favourite things ever on this site, I may even pee a little bit.
EDIT: Or even better "Warhaul"
also where you currently have william gibson you have some descenders going into your copy which makes it very hard to read and a strain on the eyes. also the pattern behind the copy, especially near the top might make it hard to read for some of your demographic.
you need to have the name of it, with the author separate from the copy, also find a better layout because that one is very confusing. having it difficult to read doesn't really make sense because you want people to read it. you have to grab peoples attention and keep them reading to see what its about. but you really cant do that if its hard to read.
(And thank you Mustang
As for the ATP type and layout... not really feeling it. I have a first edition of the book though and the direction that you're heading in does suit Gibson.
Imagine this second one with wider columns, more leading and generally better formatting.
(By the way, jamming the columns together was my tutor's idea. We're given a bit of licence to sacrifice legibility.)
No really. I like it. It walks the line between design-wank and functional pretty well. I'd try to tighten up the right hand line of the bottom column some more if possible. Looks like you've done a lot already but if that line could be straighter without fucking with the kerning too much it could polish it just a little better.
Tracking not Kerning, old boy.
I agree though, that bottom line does not look tidy and needs some tlc.
Personally, I'm still not entirely feeling this... it may well be down to personal taste though.
My new (and stolen) motto with design and layout is "More meaning per mark" and by that I mean, everything should be done for a carefully considered and justified reason -- if it doesn't ADD something to the overall goal of the piece, then it is superfluous and potentially even detracts something.
Flay -- This looks to me like you are just trying random things until you think it looks interesting -- which isn't always a bad thing, mind -- but I'm not getting a sense of there being a clear and cohesive idea which everything follows.
I refer you to points 2 and 4 of the aims of your brief:
4. and to learn to explore and refine typographic detailing
To me at least, the idea of the piece is not coming through and the typography does not feel refined.
A process which I often find useful when I need to refine something is to look at my work and ask myself, not "what can I add?" but "what can I take away? What can I edit?"
This approach allows you to strip away the extraneous elements, and leave you with the pure idea you are trying to convey.
Great design communicates the idea in a way that makes the execution look seamless.
Maybe that helps? Maybe not... I hope there's something useful in there. I like your design stuff generally, it's nice to see it improving.
By the way, the stencil has been made, and it turned out pretty well, but not brilliantly. Pics tomorrow.
(Note that I was in a group for this, so for the sake of work distribution I was mainly involved in designing, not so much actual making.)
Here's the first one: http://drop.io/ip38l9o/asset/8th-september-2009-mp3
I started learning 'Sunshine of your Love' today. It's a lot of fun to play.
Also get yourself a metronome, they suck, but good timing is an indespensible skill, especially if you plan on playing with a band at some stage. You can learn timing without one, but using one will get you there a lot quicker. Anyway keep at it, I never made any money from guitar, but it's been one of my best friends for a long time and I never regret learning for a second.
Just to offer a slightly different point of view -- I really struggled with chords initially, almost to the point where it put me off continuing any further. I also had a bunch of books and videos, none of which I found of much use. I just wasn't finding it much fun.
Sooo... I learned how to play a basic powerchord and started trying to figure out how to play some easy pop-punk stuff, just by listening to CDs and then finding the chords by ear.
This meant that I started to understand how the notes on the fretboard correlate and I began to see lots of similarities in the chord structure of songs, so I'd learn to play something and then realise, "oh, I'm playing the same powerchord patterns as this other song, only faster, or a couple of frets higher, or whatever..."
By playing along with early Green Day and Lookout Records stuff, without realising it, I was stengthening my fingers, improving my strumming rhythm, learning basic song-writing principles, but most of all I was just having fun playing along with stuff. I can recall how hard playing and singing seemed to be but then one day it just clicked.
Sure, you can have a book tell you the ins and outs of things and you can try and work everything out using TAB but for me, I needed to figure out things for myself by just experimenting and trying things out.
Fast forward to being competent enough (just!) and I started playing in bands and writing songs. I used to 'make up' a lot of chords, and eventually realised some of them are, of course, actual major and minor chords, I just didn't know the names of them. I recall learning palm mutes and pinch harmonics before ever knowing what such things were called.
So, that was how I learned. There's no right or wrong way, but certain approaches do seem to suit different people -- I thought it might be useful to share that just in case you struggle with the traditional methods and lose heart. My advice to learn to play, is actually to pick up a guitar and play!
One of the best things I ever learned, I find a lot of enjoyment in picking up the guitar and just letting my fingers wander, or making up daft songs, or playing satisfying riffs. And of course, I've had a lot of fun touring and recording and playing gigs, etc.
Sounds like you're getting there though, just keep practicing and you'll start to find it much easier when your fingers strengthen and callous. Mostly, though enjoy learning! 8-)
Thought I'd play something I'm a bit more confident with, so here's another recording:
http://drop.io/ip38l9o/asset/9th-september-2009-mp3
(Good Riddance by Greenday, as if you didn't know.)
http://drop.io/ip38l9o/asset/17-september-2009-1-mp3
Yeah, it was pretty much a given that I would learn this at some time, even though I butchered it.
http://drop.io/ip38l9o/asset/17-september-2009-2-mp3
Just started learning fingerpicking. It's a lot of fun, but I still haven't quite got the hang of it. Or anything else, for that matter.