Project 2: Typography Poster
Research and Drafting:
In this project, I chose the Joanna typeface which was created by a famous typeface designer, Eric Gill. I began researching about the history and technique in the creation of the Joanna typeface. Joanna was based on the old-style serif model of Renaissance, but with its sharpness and minimal stokes, the font was more modern and resembled the 20th Century.
When getting to the drafting stage, I created two versions of the poster:
Version 1
Version 2
After getting feedback, I decided to go with version 1. In this version, I changed the vertical texts to horizontal to make it easier to read the texts. In this draft, I went with a modern cover page style. This is because Joanna was and is currently used for mostly published books and covers. I also went with the decision to emphasize the "J" to show the sharpness and curves of the letter and the overall modern feel of the font. In regards to the color palette choice, I went with green as the main color as reference to the the book, "The Sonnets of William Shakespeare," where Joanna was used for the cover page in the color green.
The choice of placement for the alphabets and the set of numbers (0-9) was to furthermore emphasize the vertical-ness of the "J". Moreover, I didn't want the poster to feel cramped, which led me to place the numbers in its specific order.
Along the sides of the "J", I had individually place each triangle to add an abstract feel to the poster. When researching the art trends during 1930-31, abstract art was growing during that time period. To really connect this piece to its history and the time the font was created, I decided to add this abstract component.
Final Version
Overall, when creating this poster, I especially wanted "Joanna" to be the center piece as it is the focus of this project. The "Eric Gill" text was purposely made smaller in contrast to the size of "Joanna" because while the creator the font is just as important, I am focusing primarily on the usage of the typeface. The poster references its history and the trends during its time, while also joining it with the modern style.
