Team Helvetica

I will admit I do have a bit of an obsession when it comes to fonts. Not in that I love them all or use many of them, but in the sense that I am very particular about which ones I use and what they can bring to a project or even take away. Helvetica is one of the fonts I used most often and have grown to admire over the years. I believe for me it started back in high school when I worked on the yearbook staff. For the first time I was really exposed to the world of graphic design and started thinking about typography.

It doesn’t get much better than Helvetica. I love clean lines and for things to be perfectly organized, and Helvetica does that for me. For example, the thin sleek simplicity of Helvetica light is an amazing achievement in my opinion. It evokes a feeling of class and style. It’s chic.

As Michael Bierut stated in the film, Helvetica, it is much more than just a font. Helvetica is a vehicle for saying what you want to and getting the message across to people. It’s nothing more and nothing less, it doesn’t get in the way and it’s isn’t messy; it’s just your message.

But even with my appreciation for typography and fonts, their origins aren’t something I’ve ever really thought to consider. Of course I can recognize many of them in various designs, commercials, advertisements, etc. As the young graphic designer, Tobias Frere-Jones talked about in the film, once you begin working with typography and it’s something you understand and are aware of, it can begin to take over your life in a way. For instance, his example of how he remembered one specific restaurant was because it was located near the drycleaner with the horrible font on their sign. It’s things like that which you become more aware of and stick out in your mind when you work with typography.

But why all these fonts were created in the first place and how they have been used historically hasn’t ever crossed my mind. If find it very interesting that Helvetica is 55 years old, that’s older than my parents! I suppose I never realized what the production process of things like ads and magazines was like before computers and modern printers. The film Helvetica really opened my eyes to how old the fields of graphic design and advertising are and where my future career actually originated.

Helvetica was created in 1957 and developed by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman in Switzerland. Never in a million years would I have guessed that Helvetica’s first name was Neue Haas Grotesk, or that it was later named after the Latin word for Switzerland “Helvetia.”

But I definitely have come to agree with designers like Massimo Vignelli and his take on Helvetica. It’s something iconic, yet simple, it changed the world of advertising and graphic design. It’s something that yes, may be over used but that’s only because Helvetica is such an amazing font!

So yes, you can count me in! I am pro-Helvetica and all that this unique and modern font has to offer to those typography nuts like me!

Character Introductions: Maus v. Essex County

In Maus we learn a lot about Vladek through his own words as he describes memories from his past during the war. His son, Artie, wants to know more about his aging father's life experiences and their dialogue reveals more about the father/son relationship they have. For example we lean that Vladek was a successful businessman and owned his own company before the war, as well as more about his religious beliefs and ... during his time as a prisoner of war. 

In Essex County, Book One we learn about Lester through his dialogue with the other characters he encounters. Because he is new to the 'farm life' and has just recently started living with his uncle, he is meeting many new people in the town and as he gets to further know his uncle as well as his surroundings many things are revealed about his character. Take the scene at the beginning of the story when Lester travels to the gas station and is treated to a comic. While at the gas station he meets Jimmy and through their conversation we find out more about Lester's comic interests, and later his uncle tells him more about Jimmy and his past. 

What is common in both stories though, is that there are other individuals within each story driving the further development of these two main characters. In Maus Artie is trying to get information from his father and through his questions and their interaction it brings out more about Vladek. And in Essex County the new people Lester meets are trying it get to know him and through doing so we get to know him as well.

Comic Transitions: Maus

The six types of comic transitions as explained by Scott McCloud (pg.74) in Understanding Comics are...

1. Moment to Moment

2. Action to Action

3. Subject to Subject

4. Scene to Scene

5. Aspect to Aspect

6. Non Sequitur

In Maus, Art Spiegelman uses moment to moment transition when Vladek is recalling how his father would put him on a diet so that he would appear unhealthy for his army medical examination. (pg.46) Showing his father preventing him from eating so much at the table and then how hungry and exhausted Vladek was and then him being examined by the doctor. 

Use of aspect to aspect with map of Poland to give the reader a better understanding of what Vladak is experiencing as he's recalling memories of traveling during the war. (pg.60)

Spiegelman uses scene to scene transitions each time Vladek begins a story about his past or recalls something about the war. Like when Artie and Vladek are sitting at the table while he is counting all of his pills and medications and he starts to talk about Artie's mother, Mala and then goes into the story about her communist 'boyfriend' before she married him. We shift not only scenes but time periods as well as Vladak tells his story and paints a picture for Artie and us readers. (pg.26-27)

I feel as though Spiegelman uses mostly moment to moment transitions in Maus not only in the memory sequences that Vladek is telling his son Artie about but also in the present day dialogue between characters and their interaction. But scene to scene transitions also are required to tell the story in both present day and past time periods. Each time Vladek recalls his past or starts to tell Artie a new story we as readers must "travel back in time" as Vladek tells the story, changing scenes. 

Color & Motion Graphics

This Starbucks commercial had what I thought was good use of color within a motion graphic video. I've always loved Starbucks' advertising campaigns and the videos they create to go along wit each of them. What I find particularly interesting though, is that very few of their videos feature actual people in them. I believe Starbucks utilizes motion graphics and creates modern and inspiring videos that motivate their audiences and effectively convey their message to the masses. 

In this video there is a reoccurring rainbow color scheme. But it's also done in a somewhat muted color palate, which I think makes the shapes and powerful imagery less threatening and helps create a positive feeling about their message. 

Maus & Understanding Comics

So far in my reading of Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman, I have come across a few concepts that are presented in the first few chapters of our other reading, Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud. What McCloud has done is create an entertaining way of not only teaching his readers about what comics really are, but he does it in a clever way which makes it all the more enlightening. 

By producing just what he's talking about you get a feel for his sense of humor as well as his expertise on comics and communication in somewhat unconventional forms. I first started off reading Understanding of Comics: The Invisible Art, in order to give myself a bit of background and to have in mind a few concepts to look for when I began reading Maus. One of the more apparent concepts I found was in chapter two The Vocabulary of Comics where McCloud discusses how text is a type of icon that we recognize, and it can be used to enhance the meaning of a comic. In Maus, the story is told mostly through the dialogue and conversations between characters with added narration which helps the reader to get a sense of context within each scene. 

Take the scene from page 12 of Maus, the son is trying to convince his father to tell him more about his life and experiences during the war in order to write a book and tell his father's story. The use of narrative in square text boxes versus the conversation in speech bubbles is a contrast that I found helped guide me through story. In my mind I unconsciously read the narration in a different way, as though it had it's own voice (like in a movie). The text throughout the comic also stands to tell us more about the story. The font alone conveys hand-writing, as though the son is writing the entire story down frame by frame of his father's memory. The close up shot framing the son between the father's arms while bringing attention to the numbers on his arm from the war also serve as a type of icon and give meaning without any words. Also, the round frame moves us into the father's memory as he's recalling events from years ago with text in square boxes to narrate this transition. 

After only reading the first few chapters of both of these works, I can already start to get a sense for how complex comics really are and I have a new found appreciation to what goes into these works of art. It's much more than just drawings and speech bubbles, the concepts these writers and artists seek to create in order for us to have an entertaining experience is amazing. 

Design Elements: Starbucks

For this assignment I looked specifically at Starbucks commercials and YouTube videos. I noticed that there is consistent branding throughout all of there advertisements in color scheme as well as similar background textures. The main video I'm going to focus on for it's use of motion graphics, however, is their 2010 advertisement about fair trade coffee.

The use of stick figure-like coffee cup images allows for a simple easy to view graphic that you follow throughout the video. These Starbucks cups are used to show relationships between topics as well as representing individuals and the numbers of people that this issue affects. There are lines in the beginning of the video linking two cups together with the text "have you heard?" meant to represent old fashioned tin cans and string used by children to play telephone. Lines are also present in the way the text is positioned. Stacking of the cups to not only represent individuals but also to serve as lines to lead your eye from one frame to the next help the viewer remain engaged and follow the relationship between issues. The selection of the upbeat, whistling music also serves to create a positive mood while addressing somewhat serious political issues. The background textures and images change during the video, but help to convey their message. For instance, when Starbucks talking about making choices and choosing to purchase fair trade coffee, the background looks almost like math symbols, which for me brought to mind weighing the pros and cons of a situation and calculating the right choice.

For a look at more Starbucks advertisement videos see links below.
Cafe Estima Blend
Are You In? 
Vote
Green Coffee Extract

Baking Beginners

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aspiringmike/2969277593/sizes/m/in/photostream/

One of my many interests and hobbies in life is baking. It is something that I have loved doing since before I can even remember. Spending time with my grandmother in the kitchen as a child making cakes, cookies, and various experimental creations (some of which turned out edible) are my fondest memories. Now while I in no way consider myself to be an expert in the realm of baking, I do enjoy it quite a bit and I believe it is a way for generations to bond through creating and, most importantly, enjoying these sweet treats.

One day I hoped to be as blessed with talent as my grandmother is in the kitchen; making all sorts of elaborate cookies and fruit pies from scratch. But, I have at least found a few ways to somewhat live up to her expectations, by cutting some corners and using store bought ingredients. I realize that not all of us are Top Chefs and some may view the kitchen as a foreign place, this is why I have decided to choose baking as my topic for the semester. As college students and young adults, learning how to not only cook but to bake is a useful skill that I think everyone should have. I plan on putting together simple, beginner level recipes that just about anyone can master, as well as some useful tips for new cooks in the kitchen.