Objective:
For this project, you will develop systems of visual organization and learn more typography skills in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. Research your typeface's history as well as the typeface designer. Write a short paragraph about your typeface and its designer that you will use as copy on your poster. It should provide information about the typeface and fit with your design concept to help 'sell' the typeface.
Sketching my ideas was probably the most challenging part for me as it was hard to create something that didn’t clearly display what I wanted it to be. Being a perfectionist, the squiggled lines, unsymmetrical shapes, and imperfect circles were hard for me to get past. Not to mention I also had no idea what I wanted to do. Instead of focussing so much on the small details, I began sketching larger and simple shapes in order to create a simple layout to be my base. I mostly began focussing on the main shapes I wanted within the art piece and went from there.
Although some aspects of this project came to me easier than others, for example, the colors and word "xants," I struggled to fill in the empty space in the right section of the poster. Some areas seemed to be too much for the eye while there was also seemed to be an excessive amount of negative space in other areas. I wanted variety, yet not too much that the focus of poster would be missed.
These photos display a summary of my process while creating this project. I first began focussing on creating the font name. Within the font name, I searched for common shapes I saw within the letters such as circles and triangles. I wanted a variety of the three basic shapes: triangles, circles, and rectangles since it is a Bauhaus design. With these different shapes in mind, I played around with different elements such as size, angles, and colors. The three primary colors are of the Bauhaus design as well. I decided on more earth toned colors for the yellow, blue, and red because when researching the history of the Xants font, the font was created in order to convey a “blend of Swiss elegance with Italian charm.” I wanted the colors to be more rustic and represent the original architecture which was more earth tone colors rather than a modern feel which might be displayed through a pure white with brighter and bolder colors.
Inspiration for my final design:
If you read closely, there are words on the poster that are relative to the Bauhaus history and influence. Bauhaus art focuses and illuminates ideas like “form follows function, influence in architecture, color theory, theory and practice, and gesamtkunstwerk.” Each of these themes were taken from researching and studying what the Bauhaus art truly was. In order to illustrate these themes, I wanted the form in my poster to follow its function which is why the word “form” follows the word “function” vertically on the left of the page. I also intentionally placed the word “influence” within the word “architecture” in order to display their phrase “influence in architecture.” The word “gesamtkunstwerk” probably doesn’t mean much to you as you may not even know how to pronounce it. This word is by Walter Gropius who was the founder of the Bauhaus school. His idea in architecture was to create “comprehensive work” or “gesamtkunstwerk.”
Another piece of inspiration was the different dates the Bauhaus building was built in different locations which is shown in the bottom right corner. The enlarged circle in the bottom right with the dates from 1919- 1933 and the names Weimer, Dessau, and Berlin is meant to be a time display of the different dates and cities that Bauhaus buildings were placed. May design was to be like a clock that displayed these dates and cities in chronological order of their construction.
Finally, the giant “t” was made to look like a building in order to show the simple geometric shapes that were used in Bauhaus architecture.
