Texture and Type
This project was about combining texture and type while exploring design elements such as grouping, alignment, and hierarchy.
The first step of the process was to gather images of textures by taking photographs of my surroundings, then converting them into black and white images on Photoshop. I also decided to adjust the contrast for some of the photographs: I brightened some images and darkened others in order to create a wide range of tones.
Afterwards, I selected a typeface to use in the final composition. I studied each of the typefaces and looked at all of them closely side by side, which helped me choose the one I liked best. I noticed that I leaned more towards the slab serif typefaces because I thought they offered the most interest and contrast with their thick slabs. Therefore, I chose Museo Slab as my typeface.
I then started iterating on composition layouts. I forced myself to explore outside of my comfort zone in order to find different ways to structure each element. The black circle was the wildcard; I placed it in areas that felt empty, aligned it to type, arranged it next to the type that I wanted to draw attention to, etc. Out of all my iterations, I selected six that had the most potential and further iterated on those. Afterwards, I started placing the actual type into the layouts. I tried different hierarchies, typeface sizes and weights, and alignments.
I ended up choosing the second layout from above. I further adjusted this layout to my liking to create a finalized composition, which had a layout that didn't exactly follow the rules of the project. For example, I altered the hierarchy of the type to create more emphasis on DesignSpace than the actual name of the exhibition, which was Surface Manipulation. I did this because I liked how I was able to size up DesignSpace very dramatically, yet have it still fit in the box nicely. Furthermore, I placed DesignSpace in a way where some of the letters would touch the edges of the box, which helped extend the white space into the actual letterforms of the word. Its placement also cropped the last letter e of the word into a semicircle; I made this design choice to play on the word “space”. I applied this semicircle concept in the placement of the black circle, cropping it into one. Otherwise, if I'd just left it as the one semicircle in the word, it wouldn't feel purposeful.
For the final step, I added texture. I created around 15 iterations, all using different combinations of textures. Out of all my iterations, I chose this one with these four textures as my final composition. When placed in a specific way, the tactile pavement texture created semicircles, which was another reference to the semicircle concept. The pebble texture contributed its rounded nature to match the rounded semicircles. As for the leaves, I included this texture for an organic addition to the other relatively patterned and mechanical textures. I specifically chose this leaf texture since its subtle blurriness as well as its dramatic contrast in tone create a sense of depth, which adds another level to my design. Lastly, the smoothness and simplicity found in the pavement texture helps to balance the complexity of all the other textures. As a final touch, I incorporated white space in my design which gave my composition some much needed breathing room.
