OUGD406 | Studio Brief 02 - Research

After delving deeper into research into Erik Spiekermann, I became unsure as to whether he had a modern or post modern approach. The expressive style of the book itself came across to me and others I asked as a post modern style with hints of a modernism. However, online sources have suggested that he is a modernist. One thing I am sure about him is that he loves typography, he states that A is his favourite letterform and he also loves to ride bikes. In the film 'Helvetica' he seems in favour of the particularly modernist typeface.
I want my cover to celebrate Spiekermann's graphic design style as he is such a well known Graphic Designer. So to gain a greater understanding of who he is, as well as his design I looked at his book "Hello, I am Erik". It seems appropriate to design a primarily typographic cover as this is what the content discusses, so I also looked at some typography books for some inspiration for my cover.

Hello,I am Erik 

A lot of the book is from the point of view of others and their opinions on the man himself. What was useful is that the book features some work from the companies he founded "FontShop" and "MetaDesign". This enabled me to get a grasp of his overall style and understand whether his approach was modernist or postmodernist. He describes how he usually uses a red,white and black colour scheme, so perhaps this would be an appropriate colour scheme for my cover. 

The cover of the book is eye catching in itself. There is a black, bold simplistic sans-serif typeface against an illuminated orange - so it is difficult not the notice. Photographs of Eric Peek through holes that are cut in the thick stock of the front cover - this enables the reader to make a visual connection between the name and his face. 

This is one of the typefaces which Eric Spiekermann designed called 'Block Italic'. I am interested by the way the book shows annotated versions as this allows me to understand how a typeface is put together. Particularly here a red pen is used to stand out against the black, I like this contrast in colour. I also like the rounded edges of the typeface, it comes across as very friendly. 

Again there is a use of red,black and white. These are pages from the first book Spiekermann wrote on typography "Studentenfutter - Everything you always wanted to know about typography but was afraid to ask". The book is supposed to be 'consistent with Spikermann's belief in typography as an expression of language and communication for everyone'. I am drawn to the 'a' that appears to made up of lots of lines. I am unsure why as the book is not written in English - perhaps this is a style I could introduce to my cover.  

Above is the cover of an oversize type sample book designed by MetaDesign in 1984. I was drawn to the cover because of the harmonious colours used on the cover. There is a low contrast between the reds so the text does not particularly stand out but is soft on the eyes. The chosen type is also very bold to help it stand out against the background. There is also a very tight kerning, all of this is to demonstrate the new type technologies within the book which were revolutionary at the time. The purpose of the book is to demonstrate a new type setting system and its features. Therefore, the book is aimed at at Graphic Designers and type enthusiasts. I would potentially like to experiment with a similar colour palette in my work - however I am unsure as to how this would work with screen printing. 

These are some type specimen book covers by various designers from MetaDesign. The company redefined their house style in 1985. This new design was in red, black, white and shades of grey (very Erik Spiekermann). Type was often reversed out of a background and the red bars were a particularly striking feature. On the above book covers I am interested by the fun positioning of type. On every cover the type is composed differently with a variation of colour shades, angles and pt sizes. The purpose of these unique compositions is to make the type specimens within seem appealing and desirable, and so it is aimed at graphic designers and typographers who would be interested in purchasing the typefaces. The consistency in colour means that the reader will always associate the books with MetaDesign, the books are instantly recognisable as the MetaDesign style.  I would like to play around with the angles and positioning of type. I would like to try and be more playful with my typographic compositions rather than using the default type settings. 

Above is the branding for FontShop, the publishing house for digital fonts founded by Eric Spiekermann. He explains the design on his blog "I have never used many colours, apart from the basic typographic black and red. Twenty years ago, however, Alex Branczyk and myself designed the logo etc for FontShop. We thought light and dark would nicely represent the digital process of one and zero, as well as the process inside the laser printer. Black and white was too plain, so it became black and yellow. That colour scheme has become synonymous with FontShop and its products, to the point where we couldn't possibly change it for a rebrand." I like the strong contrast between the colours and would like to try this out in my experiments. 

Above is a typeface designed by Spiekermann for the Italian pharmaceutical company Fidia. They required a typeface that could easily be read in 6pt. Although this job never came to anything, the Dusseldorf airport set on fire and urgently needed new signage. Spiekermann used the typeface he designed for Fidia. This was perfect for the job as it was easy to read on all signage and took up less space than Helvetica or Univers. It has negative and positive versions for specialised signage. I was interested by the way the type is displayed in the image in the style of airport signage. I like how the letters are framed, this reminds me of letterpress blocks. Letterpress is also something Spiekermann enjoys. 

The book finishes with a list of the typefaces that Spiekermann designed himself. I searched these with the aim of downloading them to use on my cover, however all of these are only available on FontShop at a high price. So I plan to select one of these typefaces and find a similar type. One of my favourite typefaces his ITC Officina Serif -

TYPEOGRAPHY 22  - THE ANNUAL OF THE TYPE DIRECTORS CLUB

This book showcases some of the best entries to an annual typography competition so it is a good source for inspiration. 

I was interested by the top design on this page because I feel that a larger pt size of typefaces shows off their detail and you can really begin to appreciate their form. I also like the how the text is overlayed to add another dimension to the design. When the type is so large it appears as a shape rather than a number,letter or glyph - this is an intriguing effect which I would like to experiment with. I am unsure what the reasons behind the design are or its purpose so I cannot comment here. 

This design is what I imagine Spiekermanns mind to be like as his favourite letterform is A and type is constantly on his mind. I like how the letterforms appear to float in the air and do not conform to the grid. I think it is interesting that many different typefaces have been used across the page which really illustrates the variation that can be created from letterform yet it can still be understood. 

This piece struck me as I could imagine it as a screenprint because of the layering of the letters and how the ink is effected. The bold letterforms allow plenty of surface area for the inks to react with each other and create a variety of colours. The print itself is made from various historical wood type fonts. Perhaps it is a celebration of wooden type? I would like to experiment with a similar style of overlaying and type composition. 

Again, this work reminds me of the potential product of screen printing. It features a similar principle of overlaying letters. The typefaces used are some of Massimo Vignellis basic typefaces - Helvetica, Futura and Bodoni. The work highlights the the differences in the structures of the letters, the effect of over laying the colours produces a brand new palette that works well with the whole design. The bold black background compliments the colour and shape of the letters. The limitation I would have if I brought this to screen printing is that I can only use two colours, so the effect would not be as aesthetically pleasing. 

Here, I was attracted to the top left hand page as all the numbers are framed within red boxes - I like how this highlights the qualities of each number. The density of these boxes reduces towards the centre of the spread. This leads the eye from the outside of the page to the centre, then across to the image of the boy. 

CREATIVE TYPE BY CEES W. DE JONG, ALSTON W. PURVIS AND FRIEDRICH FRIEDL

Creative type is a record of the development and advances of type. 

The first page struck me because the shapes do not originally appear as glyphs, the green colour is also very friendly. What is interesting about the page is that it shows the variation in form of the asterix across many typefaces. This interests the reader as it is fascinating how much variation can be achieved from one simple form and the different messages that each form can communicate. Similar spreads with different characters are displayed throughout the book. 

Bibliography

Anderson, G. (2002) Typography: The Annual of the Type Directors Club: No.22. United States: HarperCollins Design International.

Erler, J. (2014) Hello, I am Erik: Eril Spiekermann: Typographer, Designer, Entrepeneur. Germany: Die Gestalten Verlag.

De Jong, C., Purvis, A. and Friedl, F. (2005) Creative Type: A Sourcebook of Classical and Contemporary Letterforms. United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Citation

BOOK COVER DESIGN RESEARCH

Not many book cover designs appeal to me personally, so I want to create a book cover that is unique to the normal covers you would find in a book shop. I decided to look at primarily type covers as this is appropriate for the content of my book. 

There are several designs for 'Just My Type', but this cover interested me most because of the variation between each letter form. The cover effectively communicates the content - type! And so the cover is obviously aimed at graphic designers and typographers...or anyone who may be interested in type. The texture of the cover has a very handmade feel, as well as the letterforms themselves and this promotes the origins of typography and letterpress. I would like the experiment with using a variety of typefaces and allow these to be the main focus of the cover, so that the content of the book is clear. 

This cover caught my eye as it reminded me of the title of my book "Stop Stealing Sheep". The green strips reminded me of blades of grass in a field that a sheep would be found. This has given me the idea to use a letterform to represent blades of grass. An I or L would be most appropriate for this as their shape most resembles grass. I do not want to use a sheep illustration on my book cover as I feel this is an obvious resolution, and it was also used on the cover of the second and third editions of the book. 

The letterform on this cover takes up the majority of the space on the page - it is the main focus. The main focus of my book is type so I need my cover to communicate a similar message. The pale background compliments the greyscale photograph which is within the letterform. The cover appears very sophisticated, however I feel that Erik Spiekermann would prefer the cover to communicate a playful and fun message as I feel these are his feelings towards typography. 

This cover uses a similar style, whereby a letterform takes up the majority of the space. However, here the colour scheme is much brighter and I feel this communicates Spiekermanns feelings towards type much more appropriately. I like how the structure of the letterform has been used to frame the title of the book - this is effective in that it shows off the characteristics of the letterform and therefore shows off type in general.

To me this book cover could have been screen printed because of the layering effect of the two typefaces/colours and how these create new shades of red. Although the cover is quite hard to read, it is visually appealing and once the reader looks closer, the title can easily be read. The handmade feel of the type is appropriate as the book is about sketches and this communicates the hand rendered style that is within the book. I am most drawn to the composition of the title, I could potentially use the same technique but with the main title and subtitle, rather than the main title repeated twice. 

FUTHER INSPIRATION 

Although this is not actually a book cover, I was still inspired by the way the page illustrates the structure of type. I feel that it may be appropriate to design a cover similar to this which shows all the elements of a word, the title or a certain character. 

I was attracted to the bold colours and composition of the type on these covers. The bright colours all sucessfully stand out against the grey/brown background. I find it interesting how the titles are vertically aligned and zoomed in, this sucks the reader into the book.