day four: lasting marks of type

I have been experimenting different concepts for the use of negative & positive space. When looking at type, the letterforms are still readable when you look at just the positive space or just the negative space.

I came across these marks that had been left from signage on these store fronts. These marks were not intentionally made but are evidence of type treatment & usage. It is interesting to me that these marks still portray what used to be there. Here we have the absence of the positive letterforms & still, the negative affect of them being removed revealed a (somewhat) readable mark.

day 4

i thought the contrast of the red rock and the snowy blue mountains was amazing. the fog settling on the slopes was the icing on the cake.

i think that the charm of cedar is largely due to its location and environment. we are surrounded by some of the most beautiful natural formations in the world. i feel that many people in cedar and the southern US for that matter take it for granted, while various people from around the world travel to this area specifically for our national parks and amazing landscapes.

for me personally, this is a large part of what initially attracted me to SUU. i love hiking and visiting the state and national parks in this area, and thinking about this further and my experiences with it, i want to include this element of cedar city in my project.

Light & Dark

I took this picture of some kids sitting next to me at the basketball game. They found some signs and put them in front of themselves, of course thinking they were hilarious. I asked them if I could take their picture. It's funny, when they first found the words they thought they would mean something different, but they used them to create humor.

Day 4: Jade Gelskey

Day 4: 99 Cents

Day 4:
So for this day I wanted to look at the style of these signs. This is where the typography is going to come into play as a large factor in effectiveness. If you look at them all as a whole you will notice that all are done in the same care free style. Well designed, but carefree in the way it makes the viewer feel. I think this is why they are so interesting. The style of type truly makes all the difference. Sometimes the signs have pictures like the one above but I do not think it is necessary for effectiveness. Tomorrow and the next couple of days I want to really dissect and figure out what makes them feel the way they do, the fonts, colors etc.

a few typefaces

I think if i stick with this idea I'll ask people to pick a font to use on their imaginary (or maybe not) mark on cedar city. I thought this could be a start for a selection of fonts. I think it might be interesting to see what preferences people outside the design world might have for typefaces. I am certainly open to other typeface ideas or criticism about these typefaces! thank youuuu.

Can't Be Found

Reflecting on yesterday's post, the chain link fence helped me think about where I want to take this project. Basically, I'm going to be dismembering the type to an eventual unreadable state. A thought just occurred to me: Do businesses put signs up because of a need or because it's habit?

Day 4:

I found this sign in the middle of main street on the side of this building. It has the same sort of older vibe as my last post. The letters are very clear and the message is very simple and in your face. You could not miss it because it is so large. It also a reminder of the past history of cedar when people wore boots to work in and rode horses and buggies. The fact that it is painted on brick also reminder of the past as brick was the most popular material and they used to put their advertisements on the side of large buildings rather than billboards.

Shannon

Cedar City deconstructed

Today I experimented with shape and abstract forms dealing with a cedar city sign I found here on Campus. I like the abstract feel to it. Letters, when you think about it are simply lines and shapes that we have given phonetic and symbolic meaning to. When you break down the shapes they become form and negative space.

Mexican Anyone? (Day 4)

Taco bell is strict. No shirt, No shoes, No Smoking, No service. Wait what? What if I ain't got no smokes on me? Can I still get me a chalupa?

Oh and no pictures, notice the manger swiftly approaching.

1st post

This is my first post on the blog. I would have done this sooner but I did not officially register for this class until Wednesday and did not have access until earlier today, so I apologize for the delay. Because I missed the first class I'm not entirely sure what we need to post on here.

Gem 4

I found this gem right here on our very own campus. In our library we have some pretty amazing books here about graphic design and type. Chip Kidd is a book designer and is a prime example of a master designer.

Artificially Weathered #4

So far in my collection of artificially weathered type i have charming trendy and rugged for their various descriptions of why such a typeface was used. Today I opened a periodical at the school, ya know SUU, its in cedar, so therefore has some significance towards a tour of cedar city typography (?), and it interestingly was a design magazine from several decades back. It all looked worn out as far as ideas go but in its time it was the cutting edge of contemporary typography. So it once demanded the respect of an idea for the future of design. Hard to say in one word but that's the explanation for the designers choice in type.

Metal Plate

I found this metal plate mounted in a brick memorial behind the Heritage Center parking garage. It serves as a historical marker for the original location of Ward Hall. The building was the first home of Southern Utah State College, before the Old Main building was completed in 1898.

I thought this example worked really well with the kind of historical type around town that I have been documenting. This example however doesn't really have the three-dimensionality that I admired about the previous examples. The gold, serif type seemed to be somehow printed on the plate, rather than engraved.

Anyway I still thought this was a cool example of type that is meant to last carrying on a story or legacy.

-Dan Gill

While trying to find the best way to express my theme, I found that sometimes Type makes its way into nature unintentionally. Someone, somewhere had pizza a while ago, but they forgot their receipt in a pile of leaves.

Day 4: Screaming notice me

This sign is up in a window at Taco Time, yet another small Mexican Restaurant in Cedar, and has a couple interesting things going on with it. There are three different font sizes and three different bright colors. The way this sign is designed screams notice me. It seems like Taco Time could have bought the sign back in the psychedelic break all rules period of the 1960's or 70's.