Type 4: c/id Reading

So after reading through a few of these museum and space exhibitions for design identity possibilities for our type symposium, a few thoughts come to mind.

The Frieze Art fair's identity worked much like a typographic template. The photography was interchangeable throughout their formats and was the star of the layout, with the type functioning as a secondary aesthetic element. Now don't get me wrong, I love their photographs, but in our type symposium, type is the star. So I believe that some merging of our type with this possibility of photography could create some dramatic and alluring imagery for our symposium's identity.

For the MoMaQNS, I thought their identity was a little busy, but I thought their concept of showing motion was an interesting design choice. Their system, much like Frieze's, is tightly bonded with their navigation at the event/ venue, and I thought Base Designs designing for the nearby subway stations was a brilliant move. Now assuming we had a budget for some massive signage, that might be something we could reach, but dealing with our realistic budget, it's better to other things from this. 1. Our design could relate in some way to the area it's being distributed or shown in and 2. Movement of the viewer in relation to the object can be used as a strength. They don't have to be standing still to view the piece.

The Mori Art Museum of Tokyo, Japan had some incredible imagery for their venue as well. It functions in the same way the Frieze's identity does. Their Type is a little more involved and up front however, rather than residing in the photo's quiet space. Our typography should be bold, and utilizing some dramatic imagery will help grab the freshman and high school audience we are seeking. Their swag is also well designed, and sticks within a limited color palette, which helps to create unity in their design, even though it changes between swag articles.

The Stedelijk Museum CS in Amsterdam was my favorite of the sections in our reading. Experimental Jetset did some awesome work in using a color scheme and type arrangements to create a modern and poppy feeling that would surely reel in many of the high school crowd. Their identity is an adaptable system that is modular and interchangeable by using the sleeves, and I think this idea of modularity could be a nice subject for our type symposium. I think that challenging the viewers ability to read the text is a great way to grab their attention and really get them asking questions on typography's potential to be more than a font or a page of information. We need to show them that typography is visual language in itself, and can be used in many different and interesting ways. By using a common color scheme, their designs, although differing significantly in terms of arrangement of type, are all unified. They are simple with typography as the main interest, and rely on composition to grab the viewers attention.

I didn't really enjoy the Walker's identity as much as the others. While their concept of stringing together a system of words in a linear order is awesome, their graphic execution is a bit boring to me, and reminds me of caution tape.

All in all, these were great reads, and I hope our symposium's identity turns out just as unique and successful.

Type 4: Symposium Titles and Definitions

So here are some definitions and titles to consider for the type symposium.

Definitions:

Typography is applied in all media, and becomes overlooked. Today, design is taking typography to new places and generating it in all new ways. In this symposium type will be rediscovered through a series of experiments, activities, and processes.

Between the worlds of type and digital media, typography has been pushed beyond the baseline and the norm. In this KCAI design symposium, you will be introduced and interact with a wide range of typographic experiments and take part in open dialogue discussing the world of type and how it's made.

Titles:

Alternate: A New Typography

Blurred: Typography as you’ve never seen it

Oasis: New Typographic Applications

Double Take: A letterform symposium.

Odyssey: A typographic exploration.

Skeletal: The structure of a letter.

Ascender: New Typographic Processes

Under the Baseline: Experimental Typography

The New Font: Type Generation

Illegible, Legible: The Typeface Evolved

A Certain Character: Typography Beyond the Norm

Type Writer: Modern and Expressive Typography

100% Vitamin T: An Overdose of Typographic Expression

Two Faced: The Other Side of Typography

Type 4: Type Symposium Project

So for Type 4, we are going to put on a Typographic Symposium for a crowd of high-school students and the KCAI freshman. The symposium will be educational and entertaining, showcasing a different type experiment from each student in our Junior class at the design department. To start the creative and planning juices flowing, we've started with a series of concept webs, which we have combined into a giant one. Pulling all the ideas together.