• SUMMARY: 

For my fourth project in Typography: Type and Layout at Arkansas State University, I was tasked with creating my own typography glossary. Objectives for this project were to learn and understand the importance of design systems, understand the used of space and shapes, experiment with different artistic abilities, and become confident in the use of the Adobe software, InDesign. By the end of this project and various workshops, I had a physical typography glossary booklet to captivate all of the hard work that was poured into the multiple steps and brain storming sessions that this project took. 

 • GOALS: 

For this project, my main goal was to understand InDesign in a more complex way. I can confidently say I now understand parent pages, how to thread boxes to one another, how to create character styles that can be applied to multiple spreads, and SO. MUCH. MORE. This assignment started off relatively basic in designing elements but it was incredibly useful to my understanding of an Adobe software that I tend to avoid (and probably still might just a bit...). In addition, I wanted to push myself to design the front and back cover of this glossary. As will be shown soon in this thread, I had a difficult time settling on art that I felt fit the best with my overall design system, yet still had components of my personality. I am proud of myself for struggling through this portion of the project because it meant that I was achieving my goal of pushing myself beyond my limitations. Overall, my goals were met beyond my expectations and though I may not be an InDesign guru, I know that I have a greater understanding and appreciation for this software and all of the wonderful tools it provides for artists. 

• FONT EXPERIMENTS: 

» Exercise 1:

Throughout this exercise, we were tasked with creating a variety of design formats and getting comfortable with different approaches. Stylistic choices such as changing font styles, font sizes, and colors were attempted to get a visual variety. Furthermore, I played around with different tracking and leading settings for the body of the text, to get a more legible read of my overall layout. I referred back to our third project within this section regarding the use of tracking, leading, and kerning and how this can impact the hierarchy of a layout.

» Exercise 2: 

Furthering from the previous exercise, I took much bolder creative avenues and began to use more color. I used a variety of 10+ font styles and sizes. There is a great time and place for color use within page designs and I wanted to challenge myself to mainly use color, even if it was not my first go-to. Sometimes, creating concepts is about producing things we do not necessarily love...it makes us better artists and future employees. Our lesson on color from project three was something that I referred to time and time again, even after this exercise. As graphic designers, we must constantly reference printed material in the design process, but more about that later. 

» Exercise 3: 

As I began to get more comfortable with the process of creating these font experiments, I began to narrow down my styling options to realistic formats that could work for my glossary. Within this portion, I focused on designs that were legible and neat when it came to fonts.  Once again, I had a great awareness of hierarchy during this exercise and how the use of multiple typefaces can alter the entire design. 

• PRELIMINARY GLOSSARY BUILD:

For my preliminary glossary build, I designed a very chaotic glossary cover paired with a neat and clean. My reasoning behind this set choice was to have order amid chaos. This set is successful because it is not too strenuous for the viewer to read or look at. It is important to keep practicality at the forefront of our minds when designing...especially for something like a glossary that contains multiple components to it. 

In addition to all of the styling that went into this preliminary glossary, there were also new InDesign skills that were practiced. Students were provided all links needed in order to place images onto the glossary. Skills of InDesign were tested and challenged as students used a zip file and repeated places images into their designated positions. Once this was successfully completed, we created different character styles for terms, definitions, and typeface credit which would be applied to the overall design without having to do it one by one. 

FINAL FULL GLOSSARY FILE BUILD:

For my final full glossary file build,  I decided to stick with the style choices that I had used for my preliminary glossary build. I enjoyed the way in which this design looked over the course of the entire build. The subtle details such as color and tracking settings helped to make this layout look exactly how I expected. 

For the front and back covers of the glossary, I stuck with my Futura Medium font that was used in the inside of the glossary, therefore, creating an overall cohesiveness to the system. Multiple design choices were made in this build including: use of space, visual tension, and layering. 

As shown below, I had a hard time deciding on a final cover for this glossary. I had decided to go with my preliminary cover, yet, when I went into class the next time, I was not in love withe the design and I felt as if it was not my best work. 

Shown above are seven different variations of my glossary cover. I was set on the chaotic look of the cover, but in the end felt as if it was not turning out in the way I wanted it to. As I was developing in multiple variations, I had to take a break from the same ideas and I just threw something together (the green glossary cover) to get my mind off of the other designs for a minute. After doing this, I almost immediately whipped up my final glossary cover after a few places and color alterations. This portion of this project was very beneficial for me as an artist and taught me many lessons about the overall design process as a whole including good enough is not good enough. In addition, it is relevant to mention how important printing is during this stage of the design process. Without fail, designs will look different when they are physically in our hands. If it had not been for printing, I may have never changed my mind. 

• PRINTED GLOSSARY:

There is a major difference between designer spreads vs. printer spreads. With the computer, everything is neatly laid out for the designer and alterations can be made very quickly, However, printer spreads have proved to be more complicated than what meets the eye. Within this printing process, unfortunate complications arose, leaving students to think critically and practice their patience with peers. Once these complications were resolved, however, we were proudly holding our physical glossary booklets. Next, was the saddle stitch process that was relatively simple involving staples evenly spaced out on the 'spine' of our booklet. 

• KNOWLEDGE GAINED: I have learned an abundance of useful skills during the trajectory of Project 4. I understand the purpose of InDesign from a new perspective. Before this project, I would not have even been able to tell you to add another set of parent pages to a spread. Yet, here I am today able to thread boxes, create character styles for the entire page, place images quickly, and design paragraph styles in a cohesive and professional capability. This was a highly informative project that I will look back on in my academic years for reference when using InDesign in the future.