Typography

Legibility

When it comes to typography, you need to ask yourself a question. How do you want it communicated?

I have two different examples of typography. However, I can only read the one. They are different type faces, and this is the impact typography has, there is such a broad choice when it comes to choosing the correct one. You need to no what impact you want to make, do people need to read it? If yes then it is obvious you need an easy to read typeface like Helvetica for example.

It isn't only in art where this takes place, it is in books, documents etc. There are standards and rules in place on the size of the font. typeface and spacing, this is all to make the font legible for the readers.

Colours are also a big decision. Some colours do not work well together where as others do, for example, and the most obvious, black and white. Its the most common use of type, black on white background. Im using it right now, and it looks good, its legible, easy to read. 

No problem. 

However, if say you change the black writing to yellow, it will become illegible and people won't be able to read it so it will be a big waste of time. So, basically don't use yellow type on a white background, put yellow on a black background, sure that works, but not white. Capeesh!

Visual Hierarchy 

In the design industry, you will here of the term, visual hierarchy. Basically this means, what the designer wants you to see in what order, and this is done in many of ways.

1. The size of the images.

2. The colour of the images.

3. The amount of images on the page.

4. The placement of images.

Ok, she size of the images is probably the most important, lets take the top campaign. What do you see first? 

1. The car.

2. The ash under the car.

3. The typography.

This is all happened in about 1.5 seconds for me, it is different for other people. The designer has power on the audience.  The designer decides what you see first, second and third. The bigger the object is, the quicker you see it and more tempted to look at that.

The colour is important, the first colour I see is the orange glow from under the car, although it isnt what I see first, it was the first colour I taken in. It stands out and it is vibrant, this gives you an understanding on what the campaign is about. There is only one image on the page which makes it more striking and pleasing on the eye, and also the placement. It is slightly off centre but balanced out by the typography on the other side. So why is the type so small? Simple, the image itself is strong enough by itself. It is a powerful image therefore the type isn't really needed. It gets the message across quickly. 

Smoking is expensive. Buy a car instead!

The other image I have used is a 'Where's Wally' poster. I have used this to show how different it makes the image when you don't have a visual hierarchy. Your eyes don't know where to look, in this case, that is the whole point but in an actual campaign, this isn't a good option to use. It keeps the piece in order and you have a stable design that is managed.