Intoduction to Typography

In today's lesson we have carried out the exercise for Typography, what Typography is and how the different types and styles of font convey a meaning within a magazine article and the different ways to use effects within Adobe Illustrator. We analysed the generic conventions of a magazine article in groups of 2's, where we identified the Columns, Gutters, Grids and the Header, also to identify which fonts were such as the modern font used which is sans serif or the more traditional typography which is serif. We also discussed the different types of fonts and their meanings. whereby I now understand that every font has it's purpose and meaning, for example, the font cooper black was originally used for mother care, where as the font Tekton was designed for fashion, therefore this font should only be applied to texts about fashion, through this I learnt how fonts are used specifically for a specific meaning. Also I now understand how to identify the generic conventions of a magazine therefore I can now apply this to my own assignment, I can identify the different types of font's which can help when deciding which different fonts I will be using throughout my magazine.

Then we furthered on to doing an exercise within the programme Adobe Illustrator whereby we learnt about different effects on a wide variety of different styles of font to see how the effects were displayed. Firstly I chose the font Niagra Solid and typed this into a text box, as our first exercise within the class whereby I altered the font by using the 3D Bevel effect to create dimension on the font which makes it look bolder and as if there is a shadow on the font, I feel if I applied this to my magazine, it would stand out and the target audience may be attracted initially to this clear, bold font. Then I went on to creating my next effective font, again creating a text box and using the font Trajan Pro where I clicked on the effects bar and chose the effect Distort Transform, then choosing the 'roughen' distortation effect and applied this onto the font, this creating a sharp jazzy effect, which again stood out, however using the 'roughen' effect too much, can diminshe the ability to read the font, therefore I felt I won't apply this effect onto a font within my magazine as it's not clear as a mathead .