Design Principles Session 5: An Introduction to Type, Task 4 - OUGD404

Within this session we where looking at type hierarchies and how this effects a piece of deign or not. 

TASK 4 - Type Hierarchies

Within the session - To chose a page from a newspaper and cut out the type in order that stood out to me:

I started with taking out the headline as this is what drew my attention first. The reason for this was due to it being a heavy line weight and was central on the page:

Secondly was the 'international' headline due to again its composition and the fact it was bold:

 

I then looked at the captions within the article that were quotes, as this is what stood out to me due to them being what my eye followed on the page from the headline:

There were another two main stories on the page I chose. The next thing that grabbed my attention were the headlines for them. The reason for this was again, they had a heavy line weight:

 

 

After I cut out the headlines and captions, the things that stood out to me where the journalist name, this is where I started to find the task more difficult, as I couldn't tell which name grabbed my attention first. They were all in the same typeface, point size and weight and this is where my confusion came from. I then thought about were my eye naturally fell when reading a page and how it was lead along, from this, I was able to cut the names out:

 

After the journalists names, I found the task quite difficult as there was nothing that stood out, the last kind of type that was left was body copy, which all seemed to blur into one. There was nothing defining the page. I thought about how I read a page and where my eye naturally fell. I first cut out the paragraph of body copy that was in the upper right corner, as when I turn a page this is the first place I tend to look:

I then took out the first body copy of the main article on the page as I thought this had more definition in how it was positioned, due to it being shorter on the page compared to the paragraphs it was alongside of:

The body copy was blurring into one and I was finding it harder to see what was standing out. I opted for the rest of the body copy in the main article. I decided this because of the main image was leading my eye to this: 

After using all the body copy up and placing it on the sheet, we were discussing the hierarchy of type and information. It was interesting to think about how pages are displaced and have considered layouts to sell something on a page. We discussed about the information having a hierarchy and from this was set another task.

The task was to re-arrange the information we had put on the sheet, but instead of considering what stood out, organise it in terms of how we would read the information. I then moved things like the headlines up on the sheet and all the body copy at the bottom, as this is the order you would expect to read first to last:

Within the 'Introduction to type' sessions I have learnt a variety of terminology as well as  more knowledge and understanding of type itself. After the sessions I have looked into a couple of type related websites which have interested me and that have further increased my understanding:

http://ilovetypography.com 

http://www.fontsmith.com