Conan O'Brien Typography Video

 

Remembering the typography video we viewed in class, I wanted to look into it futher. I think this video shows incredible talent and depicts qualities of Conan O'Brien himself throughout the animations. The text used and the effects between the pieces of his quote are essential in presenting his purpose and providing his farewell.

This typographic creation of O'Brien's goodbye was designed with the audience in mind. He was stating these points to show his appreciation for NBC as a whole and the opportunity he had with them. He includes his personality in the speech as he adds humorous lines, and these traits are portrayed through the typography. The video uses contrasting elements to reflect the content of his words.

This is the overall "storyboard" of the video and it is really interesting to see the pieces of the video without traveling through it virtually. The different turns and directions of the words all help the flow of the video itself. It turns with the type and loops around the board. Each of the word groups are separated by borders, or "walls."

It is also apparent that this overall layout of the type video is not in shades of grey and orange. The colors are key components to the creation because the consistent shades help keep the flow of O'Brien's dialogue. Orange also helps to highlight the images placed in the video. 

Diverse type included in the typography video helps convey the feeling of each word said. Above, the simple circle with basic type keeps the short sentence to the point and "matter-of-fact." It is not sugar-coated and does not need to be in fancy format. The context of the sentence is reflected.

This is another example of how the type is connected with the content of the speech. The bolded text in all capital letters portrays that he is speaking in a loud and distinct tone as if he is addressing an audience. 

 

This part of Conan O'Brien's announcement stands out because of the lines included. Each of the curls at the ends of the type and the lines leading out of the statement are light and can reflect the happiness that NBC and the Late Night Show has brought to O'Brien. It reflects on his accomplishments and uses a lively type to do so.

The video emphasizes Conan's emotions as he addresses his fans and viewers. Putting together the video, it is clear the creator, Justen Renyer, put great effort into presenting the talk show host's voice and personality by using type.

Designer Sean McCabe

 

I chose to look at the designer Sean McCabe who does a lot of designs dealing with hand lettering. The work I found on his page was so intriguing to me because I had not really thought about the process of hand lettering. His work has such strategic details that, at first glance, I would have assumed it was printed off the computer. The attention to detail that is required to create such professional pieces is apparent in the finished product.

The typography illustrations that he creates has different emotions portrayed within them. Sean experiments with bold and thin types and pays close attention to the spacing between each of the words so they are precise. I saw on his page that he begins with guiding lines to keep the type separated, then when the details are added, he removes the lines to come up with his finished products. They ensure punctual spacing.

Similar to each of the pictures above, he utilizes lines to create a distinction and separation between words, or boxes around texts. Some letters are thin depending on their purpose within the illustrations and others are bolded to attract the eye. Shaded shapes, as shown in the second image, emphasizes pieces of the creations. He consistently uses contrast in order to make his work more interesting.

I think Sean's designs have a lot to teach about typography. Their diversity in nature and the contrasting qualities of each of his creations seem to tell a different story. When I first looked at them I thought of them in a way where the words could be translated with voices and tones depending on if they had serifs or if they were bold. For example, the first creation puts "life" in cursive. This makes a simple word appear to be more thoughtful just because of the type. Also, the way Sean makes the third project appear to be a machine or science experiment makes the illustration more appealing.

His work is detail-oriented and even the smallest shaded corners complete the designs. Sean McCabe is an extremely talented designer that has experimented a great amount with typography.

Public Service Announcement Using Typography

I found this public service announcement while I was doing research online. It stood out to me immediately due to the use of typography in order to convey the main message. While many of the texting and driving ads or PSAs are difficult to observe due to their gruesome qualities, this particular design conveyed the message immediately.

The typography in the advertisement is crucial to the message as a whole. Using specific words, they are important because they are shown in "text message language," meaning they are shortened and abbreviated as many would find in a text message. Their arrangement across the windshield and lack of space contribute to the main idea. Due to the clutter of the words, the advertisement gives the illusion that the vision of the driver is construed. This design presents the message that texting while driving is extremely distracting.

Font within the announcement is very specific as well. While it is a simple font, it contrasts bold and condensed words in order to fill the spaces in the area. Also, the smaller and larger sizes make certain words draw attention more than others. The consistency of the black helps the words pop out among the green and blue background.

Overall, I really appreciated the typography used in the announcement. The creative use of typography helps create a memorable public service advertisement that proves a strong and important point. It is a lot different than most designs promoting safe driving. Below is an example of a very diverse design with the same agenda in mind.

Emory Douglas Soundslide Project

The designer I chose to research for the Soundslides project was Emory Douglas. He stood out to me because his designs were used in the Black Panther Party Movement in order to fuel the fire for change. His work was shown in pamphlets and newspaper that the party produced in attempt to gain supporters, and reflected the struggles of the time period. Douglas' art often ridiculed political leaders and challenged certain aspects of society.

Douglas used colors and cartoon-like designs that often contained leading lines. I chose to incorporate these aspects into my Soundslides project. Deciding on red and black for the master page colors, I thought these would reflect the theme of my project the most. The two colors together are powerful as was the movement of the time. The background black was a piece of old notepad paper edited on Photoshop. The red lines start on different parts of the slides. I then used a white font to make the key points prominent among the slides. I found the font I used on DaFont.com, labeled "Jungle Fever" because it was similar to the font found in a lot of Douglas' work. There are slide headings on the top of all the slides as well to introduce the subject and add repetition. Each of the pictures put into my project were pieces of his artwork that were designed to illustrate the revolution.

After creating the pages for the project, I placed them into Soundslides to compile them. In regards to the song, I picked the version without words because I did not want it distracting from the slides. "Lose Yourself" by Eminem had the perfect sound because it has an intense beat to it, which reflects the movement itself. The song needed to be powerful and "Lose Yourself" picks up in the middle.

 I enjoyed learning about Emory Douglas' works of art. All of his pieces have meaning and purpose behind them. Today, he even works for great causes to keep his passion going. He is a very successful designer and his work is a key part of our history.