Journal Entry 3/7

Jonathan Harris is an artist and code writer. He said he's always had an underlying schizophrenia in his life between physical stuff and digital stuff. He kept tons of sketchbooks that he worked in daily, and painted every chance he could. At the age of 22, Jonathan was robbed and gun point and the bad they took contained a sketchbook that had about 8 months worth of work in it. He stopped keeping those sketchbooks and started creating art on the computer because he didn't want his stuff to be destroyed. He turned to his training in computers science to create various informational graphics. He talked about how he got so wrapped up a project called "I Want You to Want Me" he hardly felt human anymore, and after this project was completed, he went into a bad phase of depression.

He read the audience something he wrote about a quote Hemingway said. He talks about how to live life boldly is difficult because when you write code you can't really live life. He felt like he was serving the computer, not the computer serving him. Everyone is smart and ambitious, but no one seems to be wise anymore. Our world is sadly too wrapped up in technology to interact with each other in a personal way. No one has really stopped to think about what this technology is doing to us has humans.

He talked about the mind of a programmer. Just like a computer, the human mind only has so much space and memory. When you are a programmer, one must visualize the program and know where everything is. This, in time, will fill up the whole brain, leaving no room for personal interactions. So in a way, there is a trade off of either being a good person and a person with feelings, and having those personal moments, or just letting technology control your life with no feelings.

The web use to be a place of experimentation; everyone had weird things and diverse. Gradually, more and more people began to come on the internet, but weren't sure how to "build their home in this space." Companies swept in and provided places for these people. He used the analogy of everyone having a huge, free apartment in this new condominium.

Ideas are not the goal. The goal is the goal. The outcome. Idea is just a technique. As designers, we often get too wrapped up in how cool and sexy an idea is.


The digital world is becoming the world.


I completely responded to this video. Unfortunately, I get so frustrated and tired of using computers. I get so wrapped up in my work that I sometimes do feel inhuman. Everything he said, while I didn't relate to everything he was saying, I did understand how the art of code could take the emotion out of a person.

Magazine Spread Information

For my Typography class, our next project is to design a magazine spread. Our solution must be type only, no images. We must use typographic grids to control the visual organization of the page space by supplying a particular kind of structure developed for typographic organization.


For this project we must complete some research. By reading The Mac is not a Typewriter, I was able to learn many things, and was able to answer the following questions:


What are the advantages of a multiple column grid?
It allows for the use of multiple columns, which will add interest and variety to the page.


How many characters is optimal for a line length? words per line?
Between 45 and 65.

Why is the baseline grid used in design?

Baseline grids keep continuity across the page. If all texts sits on a baseline, thenthe space between lines and the margins are equal or at least proportional.

What is a typographic river?

Typographic rivers are gaps appearing to run down a paragraph of text, due to a coincidental alignment of spaces.

From the readings what does clothesline or flow line mean?

Flowline: Horizontal intervals that separate columns of a grid to create alignment throughout the page.


How can you incorporate white space into your designs?

By not filling up the entire page, and by allowing negative space, white space can be incorporated into the design.

What is type color/texture mean?

type color refers to the weight or boldness of a typeface and is used by designers and typographers to describe the visual tone of a mass of text on a page.

What is x-height, how does it effect type color?

X-height refers to the distance between the baseline and the mean line in a typeface. The difference in x-height affects the typographic color of a page. The smaller the x-height, the darker the typographic color.


In justification or H&J terms what do the numbers: minimum, optimum, maximum mean?

The computer must decide how much to adjust the space between the letters and words. These terms mean the minimum, maximum and optimum amount of space used to justify this text without making it look bad.

What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?

New paragraphs are usually indicated with an indentation. Other ways are to highlight part of the new paragraph with new color, font, size, etc. If you indent, do not space in between paragraphs.

What are some things to look out for when hyphenating text.

Never hyphenate a word in a headline.


What is a literature?

What does CMYK and RGB mean?

RGB are Additive colors while CMYK are Subtractive colors.
CMYK has 4 inks: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
RGB has 3 inks: Red, Green, Blue.


What does hanging punctuation mean?

In justified text, the punctuation is sometimes allowed to extend into the right-hand margin area to make the margin look neater. This is called hanging punctuation.

What is the difference between a foot mark and an apostrophe?

They are simply different characters that mean different things. Visually, a foot mark is a straight dash while an apostrophe has a curve and a ball serif on it.

What is the difference between an inch mark and a quote mark (smart quote)?


What is a hyphen, en dash and em dashes, what are the differences and when are they used.

A hyphen is 1/3rd of an em dash. It is used to connect words, break syllables, and to connect two broken parts of a word when reading justified text. An en Dash is half of an em dash. It is used to indicate a range between to preceding and following words, or to substitute the word "to." An em Dash: The size of a capital "M," relative to the type face. Substituted for brackets or parenthesis, indicates a sudden change of thought or thought patterns, or to indicate a rest less strong than a period, but stronger than a comma.

What are ligatures, why are they used, when are they not used, what are common ligatures

Book Covers

Here are the book covers that I have designed for my Typographic systems class: There are two flaps, back cover, front cover and spine, as well as interior pattern, and a title page and chapter page for one of the covers.

Journal Entry 2/28

Bruce Mau is Chief Creative Officer of Bruce Mau Design. Some of his clients include oca-Cola, McDonald's, MTV, and Arizona State University. His Incomplete Manifesto for Growth guides designers with his design strategies and motivations for creativity. "Mau seeks to prove that the power of design is boundless, and has the capacity to bring positive change on a global scale."





Coca-Cola: Creating a Global Green Platform for the World's Best-Known Brand.

Coca-Cola has help defined American Culture. BMD helped them transform into the 21st century culture through a campaign called "Live Positively." It represents Coca-Cola's commitment to making a difference through redesigning the way they work so that sustainability is a major factor in everything they do. They created tools for employee engagement and added an entire visual identity across all media.

Coke is one of the largest companies today, and one of the most famous brands of all time. I thought it was interesting that such a large company got such a HUGE makeover to stay true to the time and trends that are occurring in today's society.


I really responded to mantra number 41 : Laugh. Laughing is honestly one of my favorite things to do, and sometimes I just get too busy and wrapped up in my design work to remember to laugh. I need to laugh more! Bau says laugther is a "barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves."

The Four Lessons of Lou Dorfsman

by Michael Bierut

Lou Dorfsmand was responsible for everything at CBS from its advertising to the paper cups in its cafeteria. "Every bit of it was executed with intelligence, verve, glamour and taste. " His work was timeless. He had 4 lessons:

1. Mind the client's business.

When Dorfsman began working at CBS at the age of 28, he was working along side his hero and mentor, Bill Golden. After CBS was divided into two sections, Dorfsman was made art director of the radio unit, the company's "orphan child." He embraced this new position and did hundreds of ads for this seemingly fading media type. After Golden died in1952, Dorfsman was made the creative director of the CBS TV

2.Learn to identify opportunities.

Through his career at CBS, Dorfsman never sat around passively waiting for requests from his internal clients. He created a way to document technological feat of broadcasting multiple games each Sunday all over the country.

3.Assume responsibility.

He valorized every one of CBS's shows as if they were separate clients, each with individual importance. He advocated for programs he thought were great, and created ads that supported them. Dorfsman, who began his career as an exhibit designer for the 1939 New York World's Fair, never limited his ambitions to print and broadcast. He didn't worry about his job description, he did what needed to be done.

4. Define the company's character

1n 1965, CBS moved to a new building, a black granite skyscraper designed by Eero Saarinen. Quickly nicknamed "Black Rock," the tower was conceived as a defining symbol for the company by its leader. Dorfsman understood that this new building would play a role in how the company would be seen, and it's commitment to excellence. Dorfsman commissioned two new fonts from Freeman Craw, CBS Didot and CBS Sans, and these were deployed everywhere throughout the building, including door numbers, elevator buttons, and wall clocks, 80 of which had to be dismantled and reassembled with new faces installed. He applied his typographic skills to a 40-foot long blank wall that was covered in three-dimensional collage combining words related to food and culinary phrases. This art work was named "Gastrotypographicalassemblage."


There is no one today that can match the excellence of design work from Dorfsman designed in his years at CBS.


Main points: Dorfsman was an excellent designer, he took responsibility and initiative, he was responsible for all of CBS' design work, he created a piece of art called "Gastrotypographicalassemblage," he was proud of what he did.

Journal Entry 2/21

Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design:





Stefan discovered that he was happy while experiencing elements of design. He made a list of things that took his breathe away, and he then crossed off what wasn't related to design. Over half of the ones that weren't crossed off were about design. There is a scale of happiness--Comfort, contentment, joy, delight, bliss. He comically mentions how one way to see if a designer is happy, while they are designing, is to look at the photographs of themselves. A museum opened in Japan, and an exhibit in there was called "Happiness." The exhibit was sectioned off into 4 sections--Arcadia, Nirvana, Desire, Harmony. The exhibit showed different ways to write happiness, various paintings. What he took away from the exhibit was that the pieces were about the realization of happiness. One artist replaced subway procedure signs with signs of his own that were about how to be happy in life. Also, a room that has retractable ceiling that opens during dusk and dawn and allows viewers to see the subtle changes in light during these times. He ends talking about various ad campaigns he has done with various life sayings. I really enjoyed what he was saying when he talked about the different life lessons, and the list that he put up. I would ask him what makes him happy other than things in design, and what he thinks is sad design. I can tell why he is so popular; he is very humorous has interesting points of view on design and happiness.




J.J. Abrams' mystery box

J.J. Abram begins by talking about why his grandfather was such an amazing guy, and says he was the one that got him interested in crafts, like printing, book binding, etc. Abram loves boxes. At one point he went to a magic store, where be bought a box of magic. Over the years, he has never opened it, and he questioned why this was. It represents hope and potential. Mystery is sometimes more important than knowledge. Technology is very inspiring. Why are stories but mystery boxes? withholding information is mysterious too. What comes next? the creation of media is everyhwere. There is an amazing sense of opportunity. Technology allows people to create and express themselves. There is nothing stopping you from making something great. Don't need the greatest technology to do great things.

I loved his approach to talking about design and the mystery behind it. Being a fan of Lost, I enjoyed his references and clips from the show. This video was inspiring because it made me view things in a slightly different way--everything has a sort of mystery behind it.


Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity




The three themes of the lecture were that 1. there is extraordinary evidence of human creativity. 2.the world is a place where we have no idea what will happen 3rd- children have exceptional talents and creativity. He thinks that creativity has the same importance in education as literacy. If you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything creative. As children grow up, they are fearful of being wrong. He discusses that there should be more of an emphasis on the arts in school. He says that he thinks the whole purpose of education is to produce college professors. Some people were steered away from things they loved to do because others told them they'd never get a job doing that. People who are extremely talented don't think that they are because in school what they loved to do was not valued. Intelligent is diverse, dynamic, distinct.



How Good is Good?
by Stefan Sagmeister

In a year away from having any clients, Stefan realized that he wanted a part of his studio to move from creating cool things to significant things. There might now finally be room for content, for questions about what we do and for whom we are doing it. As Victor Papanek said about advertisement design, "In persuading people to buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, in order to impress others that don’t care, it is probably the phoniest field in existence today.” Bad design can harm our lives, but good design for bad causes can as well. He then discusses things such as why so many celebrities involved in charities--are they in it just to promote their own career?

When philosopher Edward DeBono talks about values, he puts them into four equally important sections:

Me-values: ego and pleasure
Mates-values: belonging to a group, not letting it down
Moral-values: religious values, general law, general values of a particular culture
Mankind-values: human rights, ecology

No matter who you are, there is ALWAYS room to be nice to people. The small simple things that make someone's day better.

Most of current graphic design done by professional design companies is used to promote or sell, which is fine, but design can also do so much more. Good design + good cause = good! Design can help us remember, design can simplify our lives, design can make someone feel better, design can make the world a better place, and design can inform and teach.

I am so impressed by how he views life and design. He is inspiring with his optimism towards both of these, and I think everyone, not just designers, can learn from him.