Program: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Discipline: Graphic Design, Typography, Print Media
Course: TGJ4MÂ
In this assignment, you will create a poster that challenges your current knowledge of graphic design by employing typography and geometric design to engage viewers with a visually striking design.
Typography is a sub-field of Graphic Design that deals with the use and application of text, typefaces and fonts to communicate meaning to users. Lettering is a very important part of visual communication; different typefaces can communicate strength, power, emotion and personality. There are typefaces that are used to assist in legibility, some that are designed to catch your eye, or adhere to a particular theme or style.
Geometric design is a potent tool in the arsenal of graphic designers, allowing for the creation of visually striking and conceptually rich artworks. Just as typography communicates through letterforms, geometric design communicates through shapes, lines, and patterns. These shapes can serve as both decorative elements and structural components of your composition.
Your final submission will be an 11 x 17 inch (tabloid size) poster
Typographic posters require careful consideration of design principles to effectively communicate your message. Regardless of the subject you're working with, you'll need to explore different styles, typefaces, and layout compositions to create a visually interesting and functional poster. Your poster will integrate geometric shapes (circles, squares, triangles, etc.). Shapes can serve as both decorative elements and structural components of your composition. Clever and careful use of typography allows you to convey a simple, yet abstract message to your viewer. As with all of your graphic design projects, explore the use of color harmonies (complementary, analogous, monochromatic, triadic/tetradic, etc.) to create an inviting color scheme that enhances the visual impact of your poster. Ensure that your overall design is clean, polished, and presentable. Pay attention to the alignment, spacing, and arrangement of text, shapes, and colors. Strive for symmetry where appropriate.
You will experiment with various typography styles, from serif to sans-serif, script, and decorative fonts. Each font choice should align with the message or theme of your poster. Keep things simple, yet impactful by limiting the number of words in the centerpiece of your design to 3 or fewer. If you feel the need to include more text, reduce the visual hierarchy of this text and restructure your design. Explore the many font repositories available to you:
Creating effective and simple geometric shapes involves a combination of creativity, mathematical thinking precision, and a good grasp of Adobe Illustrators' pathfinder and boolean tools. Use basic geometric shapes such as rectangles, squares, circles, triangles, or even more complex shapes like polygons. Be sure to constrain proportions by holding SHIFT when you are drawing these shapes. Play with the scale and proportion of your geometric shapes to create visual interest. Enlarge or reduce certain shapes to balance your composition effectively. Geometric design often employs grids and carefully calculated proportions, so be deliberate in your choice of placement, and use your pink guides as often as possible!