Cooper Black
Typographic Zine
PG 1 / FRONT COVER
PG 2/3
PG 4/5
PG 6/7
PG 8/9
PG 10/11
PG 12/13
PG 14/15
PG 16 / BACK COVER
DESIGN DECISIONS
TYPEFACES
As a zine designed to commemorate the features and characteristics of the Cooper Black typeface, and its ability to transcend and retain popularity through centuries, it's only fitting that it's the only typeface utilised within this zine. To maintain a retro, 70s aesthetic Cooper Black was utilised for all typographic elements, including headings, sub-headings, and body text, while also being utilised for all background visuals.
COLOUR
Within the restrictions of only utilising two colours within this zine, I have chosen a retro-style colour palette, of blue, orange, and white as the paper stock, to link this modern typographic zine to the era Cooper Black represents; the 1970s. These colours assist in emphasising the groovy, hippy aesthetic of the time and are bold and contrasting to engage the reader and give off the bubbly charm that the typeface offers.
HIERARCHY
The zine has been designed with basic content and only incorporates headings and body text. These typographic elements are distinguishable from each other, as all headings are set to a significantly larger font size, and have occasional special type treatment to engage the reader and link to the content about to be presented within the body text. All body text is distinguishable as it is scaled to a significantly smaller size than the headings, left-aligned within a text box, and incorporates a paragraph of information. All body text does not incorporate any specific type treatment, as to not distract from the engaging visuals and playful headings, but still large enough to signal the audience to read the information as context to the visuals presented.
ALIGNMENT
The alignment of text for each spread is designed to be playful and interact with the large visuals and background images, to create a cohesive zine design. All body text is left-aligned within the corresponding text box and placed methodically to engage with the design elements and link the content presented to the visuals on each spread.
LAYOUT/GRID
A simple, three-row, two-column grid was utilised to form a grid structure and organise the content for the 16-page typographic zine. This minimalistic grid was selected as it offered more flexibility in the placement of textual elements and allowed a more free-flowing, playful layout to mimic the friendliness of the typeface.
GRAPHIC ELEMENTS
All visuals throughout the zine were developed from typographic elements within the Cooper Black typeface. Each page and spread incorporates the three colours from the chosen palette and a large letter from the typeface as the background as a visual guide for the placement of content. The large letter also incorporated a copy of a thin outline of the letter to create depth to the spread and add a more interesting visual element to engage the reader.
REFLECTION
The simple decision decisions made have resulted in a significantly cohesive, and aesthetic typographic zine. The colour palette works harmoniously within the context to create a link to a retro, 1970s style while retaining modern and applicable to the 21st century. The Cooper Black typeface is bubbly and playful, and the grid structure and loose layout assists in emphasising these characteristics to the reader through the zine's bright personality shining through the visual elements. The Cooper Black zine presents informative knowledge and interesting qualities of the typeface to inform the reader of how far the typeface has come, and how its unique features have maintained its popularity till today, and hopefully for even longer in the future. Cooper Black, here to stay.
REFERENCES
Barclay, J. (2020). Free Magazine Mockup. Jan Alfred Barclay. https://janalfredbarclay.com/a4-magazine-mock-up-free
Forss, M. (2015). Ultra Clean Free PSD Magazine Mockup. Behance. https://www.behance.net/gallery/30923259/Ultra-Clean-Free-PSD-Magazine-Mockup
Heck, B. (2017). Cooper - Designed by Oswald Cooper. Font Review Journal. https://fontreviewjournal.com/cooper/
Vox. (2020, June 16). Why this font is everywhere [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu91meda2I8
Nadia Leonforte n10480641 DVB201 Typographic Design
