Oh, Helvetica.

Helvetica Film Reaction

 In class, we watched the film Helvetica which explores the proliferation of one typeface, Helvetica, since the 1950s to recent times through the eyes of many renowned designers and major urban cities such as New York. It was very interesting seeing how much one typeface has impacted design. I never realized how frequently the Helvetica font is used – it is literally everywhere from the NYC Subway map to street signs and literally around every corner. The designers that were interviewed can be split up into two main groups: Modernists and Post-Modernists. The Modernists were very stern on the use and effectiveness of Helvetica, while the Post-Modernists opposed it in the most passionate ways.

Massimo Vignelli was one of the Modernist interviewees in the film. He was an Italian designer who worked in many areas of design such as furniture design, showroom design, package design, and public signage. His designs were very minimal and used a very narrow range of typefaces. In the film he made a reference of type to music, in which he was trying to explain how perfectly formatted Helvetica was. He said that type isn't about the letter forms but about the negative space surrounding them, just like music isn't about the notes but the spaces between them that actually make the music what it is. Vignelli was an extremely successful designer and went on to found a design firm in New York City which came to be known as one of the largest design firms in the world. Some of his most notable works were the design of the New York City Subway system, the American Airlines logo, Bloomingdale's logo, and even IBM. Below are some examples of his work.



Paula Scher, a grpahic designer from the US was one of the Post-Modernists who were interviewed in the film. She was more concerned about the aesthetic of design rather than structure. You can tell she was much more of a risk-taker and likes to think outside the box, compared with the modernists.
 She enjoyed making text expressive in her work and using movement as a design technique to create a visually interesting piece. Below are some examples of her work.

Article Review: Killing Your Darlings

I found the article, "Kill Your Darlings" Book Designers' Favorite Covers Don't Always See the Light of Day by Peter Terzian for Print magazine very interesting. The article explored several different book cover designs that never made it to the shelves for many different reasons such as new book titles, disapproval from the authors or the bookstores and much more. I think I found this article really interesting because I never really thought about this issue. I just assumed that once a design is finalized, the author would just accept it and make it work. It must be really hard as the designer, to have your designs rejected and have to start from square one, especially when you were extremely fond of your original design. Let's take the above image, for example, in Carol Devine Carson's first design (top left) she depicted the story in a successful way, and in my opinion this is the best cover of the three. However, the author felt it was kind of "sinister and mocking" and they went with a close-up of a canine (bottom left) instead. Personally, I believe that a cover that invokes emotion in the viewers (like the dog-baby design) will sell more than something that plays it safe (like the canine close-up.)

On the other hand, sometimes a redesign is exactly what a book cover needs. As a fan of simplicity, I am fond of John Gall's original design for Remainder by Tom McCarthy (top right), but his final design (both right) is definitely much more interesting. Gall actually killed his own design, after it was approved because he felt it needed "some color", and I think he was absolutely right. As I said before, I am fond of his original design, but when compared to the final design I would definitely rather purchase the latter.

Thanks for reading, 

Brittany Rendon

www.behance.net/brittanyjade

Pack It Up!

The current project I'm working on is a packaging redesign for an existing product. My graphic design class took a trip to the local Hannaford's grocery store and observed all the packaging of the products in our assigned category — my category is beauty, hygiene, and baby products. Initially, I was having a hard time finding a product that I felt I could successfully redesign. I noticed that baby products used a wide range of bold colors and intended to appear organic, appealing to parents. I didn't take an interest in redesigning any baby products. In the hygiene aisle, most products looked similar — plastic bottles with squirting tops. There were a few interesting bottles that stood out with different shapes and colors. I would definitely be more attracted to those rather than the typical ones while shopping. The most innovative packaging was definitely the Method hand soaps.

(Source: http://getconcentric.com)

 

( Source: http://www.disneybaby.com )

Examples of Method hand soaps' packaging I saw at the grocery store

I ended up choosing to redesign a beauty product. I feel comfortable doing this because I am very much interested in makeup and such things, so I think I can design something fun and different that I would actually use. I am torn between two products; Eco Tools organic makeup brushes and Baby Lips lip moisturizers. The Eco Tools packaging works, however it's is pretty dull and boring. On the contrary, the Baby Lips packaging is pretty tacky in my opinion. I have drawn up some sketches for both, now I just need to decide which one to do. My idea for the Eco Tools is to place the brush in a bamboo-inspired tube because the brushes are made from bamboo and other organic materials. The substrate will be recyclable, to keep within the organic theme. My idea for the Baby Lips is to place the item in a rectangular box (different colors for each different flavor) and have one letter of "BABY" and one letter of "LIPS" on each side of the box — sort of like toy blocks that children play with. I got this idea from a design my professor showed us in class of the packaging of scents for babies, I believe that's what it was. My other idea is to make the box in the shape of lips.  What do you think I should do?

Existing Baby Lips packaging for "05 Quenched"

Rough sketches of Baby Lips design ideas

The Dieline website offered some greats inspiration for my project. There are tons of packaging products and helpful info for package design on this site. The designs range from simple and clean to intricate and bold. If I do the Eco Tools brush I will be going for a simple design, but if I do the Baby Lips I think I want something in between. Pictures will be posted shortly of my progress, maybe you can get a better idea of what I'm thinking.

Photographs of final designs

Thanks for reading,
Brittany Rendon
www.behance.net/brittanyjade
Bjrendon31@gmail.com

Judging a Book by its' Cover.

My current project is to create book jackets for Amy Tan's novels The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement. Before I began designing, I watched Peter Mendelsund's Read, Think, Design: Create Stunning Book Covers video to get some tips from a pro. A lot of the things he stated, I already do prior to designing, including writing down the most important parts of the manuscript (words, mood, objects, characters, etc.) But he definitely reinforced the importance of this step. I loved the fact that his next step was to take two blank pieces of paper and freely sketch different cover ideas. This makes designing on the computer much easier if you already have a rough idea visually laid out for you. He took the most simple ideas and ran with them, ultimately creating some very interesting book covers. 

Peter Mendelsund's video helped me realize that I don't need to over think things as much as I do. I tend to stress myself out while trying to decide on a design concept to go with, when I should just trust my gut and start with the first things that come to my head. I especially love how he stressed the importance of eliminating unnecessary elements. This simple action can really enhance any design. I look forward to sharing my final designs for these covers with you guys, stay tuned!

Existing covers of my assigned books. (Source:http://bookcoverimgs.com/amy-tan-books/ )


Below are images of my final book jackets

Thank you for reading,

Brittany Rendon
www.behance.net/brittanyjade
Bjrendon31@gmail.com