Cierha: November 2009

_What are the advantages of a multiple column grid.?
Gives the designer a more possibilities for their work while also maintaining order. This also can provide grouping for different information. Things can be aligned to one another, you can vary the width (flexible).

_ How many characters is optimal for a line length? words per line?
around 45 to 75 characters. (60 average)

_ Why is the baseline grid used in design?
It creates order and helps the reader understand the text easily.

_ What is a typographic river?
When a composition of text is put together and spaces within line up creating a white line down your text distracting from the content.

_ How can you incorporate white space into your designs?
White space can be achieved by not filling the entire page in type color or graphics. Leaving this extra space gives your eye a break while also making your design more visually appealing. This is so a page will not be completely filled.

_ What is type color/texture mean?
means the boldness or weight of a typeface. To get this you could increase the tracking or leading,

_ What is x-height, how does it effect type color?
x-height is the size of the font. a smaller x-height will look lighter then a font with a large x-height.

_ In justification or H&J terms what do the numbers: minimum, optimum, maximum mean?
minimum, optimum, and maximum all refer to the space between words. minimum being the least and optimum being the best possible.

_ What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?
a new paragraph could be in a different color, have a different alignment, kerning, etc.

_ What are some things to look out for when hyphenating text.
you have to be careful what type of dash you are using. an en dash is used for years where as an em dash is used if you need to change a thought. A hyphen should only used in words and line breaks.

_ What are ligatures?
it prevents letters from interfering with another letter's space

_ What does CMYK and RGB mean?
CMYK stands for the colors cyan, magenta, yellow, and black
RGB stands for the colors red, green, and blue

_ What does hanging punctuation mean?
can be seen in quotation marks on the outside as to not disrupt the structure of the text itself.

_ What is the difference between a foot mark and an apostrophe?
a foot mark is a strait hash usually indicating a measurement whereas an apostrophe has a curve, usually used in words to show a contraction

_ What is the difference between an inch mark and a quote mark (smart quote)?
an inch mark would be a foot mark (strait) and quote marks are curved.

How Good is Good is a great article about Graphic Design and what it really means. Many of these thoughts I have had myself, but never could actually think of it in such words, which made this short read very interesting for me. This piece throws out thoughts in comparing 'good' design to 'bad' design. Saying good design with a bad purpose will equal a bad outcome and bad design with a good purpose probably wont do that well either. But it also gets the reader to think about exactly what it is that they are designing for; should they rather be called a 'commercial designer' that sells an idea, or a 'Graphic Designer' that makes people aware. A lot can be said through that last sentence. Graphic Design has a major impact on people and used in the right way can be a very moving and strong pull on society. I think it enlightens designers to do work hard making a good desing that means something to them and can make a difference rather than creating some useless or destructive piece of design.