Brenna Gion

For this project, we were asked to use our knowledge of organizational typesetting, spacing, type contrast, and color contrast to create four different graphics with the information given to us. We were given two different prompts with both sets of information to challenge our creativity and create two unique graphics.

Above is my grayscale, left-aligned graphic. I chose to edit down a few extra words and break apart each sentence for easier reading. Then, I punched the words 'pangolin' and '1 million' by making them a lot larger than the rest of their sentence. I also did this with '1 million' by using a soft enclosure, and with 'most trafficked animal' by bolding it to give it more weight and attraction. I also included the least important information at the top so it's easy to find, but only for readers who are very engaged.

Above is my color-only graphic with center and right alignments. Initially, I chose the red color scheme because of its urgent and dire feeling. Then, I added back the words 'more than' because it avoided a widow at the beginning of that sentence. I changed the word 'pangolins' to a decorative font and put it in all caps to emphasize the central focus of this graphic. I also changed the enclosure to fit around the entirety of the statistic to have a more complete feeling. I also made the phrase 'ten-year period' larger to better connect that phrase and '1 million' for the readers. 

Above is my text-only menu graphic with both color and grayscale in the text. In the original text, both Tuesday and Thursday had fun gimmicks, so I added some to match for Monday and Wednesday. I broke apart the dates and put them into the title of 'meal deals' to make the list less wordy and more cohesive. I then chose to offset the list going from top-to-bottom and side-to-side, to use up the space I had without having cognitive overload. I then used all caps and a dark enclosure to emphasize the header of the graphic, while making the body text readability contrast through the text color and font choice. Specifically, the thinness of the actual deals allows them to fade slightly into the background, so only engaged readers will pick up on the deals. I added a disconnected enclosure to keep the list feeling like one as well.

Above is my visual list with images, mixed with color and grayscale text. I kept the exact same wording as I had in my first graphic, but changed the header text to a decorative font. I also still enjoyed the enclosure I had, but wanted less cognitive overload, so I had that as my main color of contrast against the white background. I then used the icons for each day as bullet points to create a fun and colorful list effect. Since the icons themselves have a lot of contrast and detail, I wanted to keep the body copy font the same and just change the color. I changed the prices of the deals to orange to create a complementary color scheme and to jump out at the reader along with the icons.

The book cover project was split between two ideas: symmetrical and asymmetrical. Our main focus was to create hierarchy, movement, and balance to envelope visually dynamic book covers.

I used my text to have the reader follow down the page, then back upwards diagonally with the hand leading to the knife. I punched the word knife as it is the symbol of the novel and represents the turmoil the main character goes through. Then, I led the reader to the phrase "never letting go." This phrase is a secondary focus through a drop shadow and is important because the protagonist's issue is that his world view is changing. Finally, I used the knife and the hand to give diagonal movement through the center-aligned text to juxtapose the stability and create a more jaded feeling within the cover. 

With my asymmetrical design, I wanted the physical knife to be more of a central focus on the cover. I chose to have the knife drooping down towards the person falling away to show the idea of letting go, as well as how overwhelming the entirety of what the protagonist goes through is. I punched the word 'knife' and phrase 'never letting go' again to draw the reader's eye, but then put the entire title on a slant to create a distorted and dystopic feeling. I focused on slight overlapping and allowing the different aspects of this piece to make it feel cohesive since it is so skewed and asymmetrical.

For this assignment, we had to create an HTML email with a header, promo area, cards for the "featured shows", a calendar of events, and a footer, all with rich transitions and visually appealing pieces to them. We could use any fonts in the promo area as it was an image, but the rest of the email had to contain web-safe fonts. Because we couldn't vary our fonts too much, we had to be creative in creating hierarchy within the typesetting and where to find contrast. Below is my desktop version of my email, and within it I use rich transitions and made sure to make each decision a conscious one. All of my fonts are different, yet tie together to create a cohesive theme. My promo area is elegant yet fun, setting the tone for the rest of the email. My cards look realistic and still give you all of the necessary information. My calendar of events is well spaced to avoid cognitive overload, but still has cohesion within the intraunit spacing. My footer is simple with good readability contrast, as well as a realistic hyperlink. Overall, I feel that this project really challenged my communication abilities through the limited web-safe font choices specifically. Trying to create hierarchy without being able to fully change the font or location of the text was difficult to achieve at first, but after this project I feel much more confident in it. With that, this project also helped me realize that I struggle with transitioning between units. Creating rich transitions was difficult to do, as I chunked out each piece as "separate" in my mind, but it helped me to realize how much of a singular piece that design really is.

My inbox is always open, you can contact me with the contact form here