Back to school
This will go down as my typography semester. Two of the three classes I’m taking are geared toward type, either setting it or studying it. To non-designers, type is something that’s just sort of there and is read without much analysis. However, there’s actually a lot that y’all Gentiles take for granted. Well designed “body” type is more or less invisible. In other words, if the designer did his/her job correctly you won’t notice any design at all. It’s when type is set incorrectly that you’ll notice it.
This is actually one of the major frustrations experienced by designers. Folks look at what designers do and say “what’s the big deal, I could do that.” No, you can’t.
Trust me, a lot more goes into typography than you think. Pick up a trade paperback copy of Haruki Murakami’s Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and look at how clean and easy to read the body text is. Then, pop over to a rack of mass market paperbacks (fantasy and science fiction books are almost exclusively small, mass market books) and look at how their type is set. There’s a world of difference, and believe it or not it has a profound effect on things like eye strain and comprehension. Design is important stuff, folks, in spite of what Eric Raymond may think about it or the “art fags” that employ it (have I mentioned that I think he’s a gasbag? Perhaps).
The third class that I’m taking is simply a 3rd year design student project class. I don’t have details on what’ll be in it because the first class doesn’t start for about six hours. However, I’m sure it’ll involve magazine design, motion graphics (After Effects, baby!), and other fun stuff that I have yet to learn about. This semester is going to be a bear, but it sounds a lot more fun than last semester.
We’ll see.
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p> Expect my mood to go downhill as the semester progresses. Hey, I’m just being honest.]]>
