THE PRINTED/ANIMATED POSTER PROCESS BOOK

MICHAEL FEAVEL

TYPOGRAPHY STUDIO II - GRDS 755

PROF. MERRICK HENRY

SUMMER 2011

I feel that my process is best expressed through my sketchbook that

I keep for each class. From this, you are able to see each step and

thought that comes into my head and works its way down to my

hands and finally onto paper.

Looking through numerous classical typefaces, nothing really

struck me until I came upon one accidentally. I ended up choosing

Cheltenham, a classic typface made in 1896 by American Architect

Gertram Goodhue. The typeface is used for books and newspapers. It

is characterized by high ascenders and low descenders.

The typeface was designed for high legibility in books and

newspapers. I began my process by trying to mimic the newspaper

and book layouts it was meant for, but many if not all of the designs

were weak. I also tried to take inspiration from the architectural

background of the type designer through his sketches.

This too led no where. It wasn’t necessarily the inspiration that wasn’t

working. It was the typographic layout. There was no hierarchy and

it was way too simple. I decided to go the opposite way and really

showcase the type. I made the type the image and constructed a neo

gothic structure from the characters and placed on an old texture.

MORE TO COME.... AFTER THE CRITIQUE

Once I finally got out of the boring box, I took more and more

inspiration from the neo gothic architecture and the textures of the

time in which the typeface was created, around the turn of the 20th

century.

You can see from my first designs that there wasn’t much going on.

No play with color and the layouts were too simple and did not utilize

the space well enough. Basically, I was uninspired and the designs

reflected this.

Finally, some progress and inspiration. Once I was able to let go of

the rigid and have some fun, more creative layouts came to fruition.

I began by trying to use one of Goodhue’s sketches, but found it

was too image driven and the text was once again secondary. This is

when I began to construct the church out of characters.

I played with the placement of the church but it was still too simple

and rigid. I decided to try and combine the newspaper and church

feel, but that didn’t work. I decided to focus on strictly the church

and characters and added intrigue with the angle of the composition,

a method often used, but still affective.

The next step was to take the final printed version and make it a

motion based poster that would convey the same information and

message.

I began by thinking about the elements of the poster that would

maybe change or that should be highlighted in the animation. I chose

to move some of the info into the typeface itself rather than making

it completely separate, to add some dynamics to the animation. I also

decided to show the architecture being built as part of the animation.

I want to keep the original feel of the printed poster and move

through it as the architecture is “constructed.” I began looking for

examples of typography and architecture with the realm of graphic

design and found some inspiration but nothing that would move

exactly how I want the animation to work.

I am debating whether or not to add construction elements to the

typeface. Not necessarily modern ones (since the typeface was made

around 1900) but perhaps some construction workers? That my take

away from the typeface...not sure on that one yet. I ultimately want to

showcase the verticality much like I did in the printed poster.

The verticality brings another question into play. I am debating

whether or not have the screen ratio of 4:3 or keep the

size of the poster as the screen size in which I will create

the animation...I say this because I want to show the whole

structure, but I’m not sure if this is necessary. The following

storyboards are in the 4:3 ratio option.

My animation did not stray far from my initial storyboards. To achieve

the building effect of the architecture, I used multiple masks.

The masks mimic the time-lapse building animations that many

architectural firms use to show a proposed building be constructed.

A large challenge was figuring out the spacing and paragraph

treatments for the small text within the negative spaces of the arches.

Much of the text besides the paragraph, was altered to fit in with the

timing and overall effect of the animation.

The title section changed the most. I initially wanted the title and

characters wanted to slide in from the sides and stop.

After seeing how I treated the other text, I decided to keep it

consistent throughout and faded everything in subtlely.