Graphic Idea Notebook

A Treasury of Solutions to Visual Problems

Jan V. White

• Publisher: Allworth
• Year: 2004
• ISBN:
  9781621535881
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Design History & Criticism

This updated edition of the much-heralded classic of page design offers surefire ideas and inspiration to anyone stuck with the task of designing cutting-edge printed material. This book is a collection of more than 2, 000 visual "idea generators"-illustrations and line art-that visualize the various abstract problems that page editors encounter. • Previous editions of this book (0-8230-2149-1 and 0-9356-0364-6) have sold more than 57, 000 copies • "Jan White's are the very best working and how-to and why-to volumes available on the use of graphics in books and publications."--Publishers WeeklyAllworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Ideas in type

Word pictures

Fonts

Numerals

Punctuation

The miracle of giving visible shape to MEANINGFUL NOISES, (words as speech), in the form of MEANINGFUL MARKS, (words as type), with a few pictorial images thrown in for good measure. Its charm and power lie in its pure, innocent, unspoiled, directness.

Word pictures

Stop, look, and listen. Type translates the human voice into visual marks. Listen to it. It can sound loud or soft, gentle or aggressive, important or by-the-way. It can insist that you pay attention, or just slide by. When you think of type as a visual medium (i.e., not just “text” to which you add pictorial illustrations to “make the page more interesting”), you discover a whole world of possibilities inherent in the words themselves.

Each typeface (“font”) has its own character. See it as variations of sound: an accent or dialect.

Drawing with words, figurative typography, concrete poetry, calligrams…a time-honored technique that melds thoughts-in-words with visual shapes.

“Mouse’s tale” Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865.

From “Winnie the Pooh,” A. A. Milne, England, 1926.

“A chalice” Aldus Manutius Venice c.1490.

Typogram Václav Havel Czech 1966.

“Il Pleut” (It is raining) Apollinaire French, 1916.

Mere placement can enable the word to become a “picture.” All that is needed is a horizontal, vertical, or pivotal datum against which the word is observed. Above, the words are shown related to a one-point rule, but it need not be an actual line. It can be implied by position, as in the headline at right.

The darkness is the datum

Direction lines easily indicate motion or action. But beware of curved ones, because they can be misinterpreted as whiskers growing out of the word rather than “lines of force.”

If the word is a bit unusual, setting it in a weird typeface is enough.

Words-in-type embody both meaning and image, and if the shape of the word can be combined with its meaning, startling effects can be achieved. They do not have to be funny or cute, though it is more enjoyable here to illustrate the technique and make the principle vivid with a bit of humor.

There is an endless variety of words that we all recognize a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Ideas in clichés
• Ideas in mime
• Ideas in time
• Ideas in fact
• Ideas in type