Acute reader

Laconic Reader

Visual reader

Books Still...? - different types of 'reader'.

By using the categorisation above I am able to 
truthfully assign attributes to my type and layout 
that will reflect the way in which the audience read.

Rather than try and change the way people read, I want
to acknowledge that people read differenttley and 
accomodate this through one grid.

HOW DO I DO THIS USING ONLY TYPE?


Visual reader:

Laconic reader:



Acute reader:

Qubik.
Heavy body copy in small columns look
challenging yet manageable.

ISTD, Classic essays / Excerpts

The Battle of the Ants

from Chapter 12 of Walden, or Life in the Woods, by Henry David Thoreau

You only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns.

I was witness to events of a less peaceful character. One day when I went out to my wood-pile, or rather my pile of stumps, I observed two large ants, the one red, the other much larger, nearly half an inch long, and black, fiercely contending with one another. Having once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled and rolled on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in my wood-yard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying, both red and black. It was the only battle which I have ever witnessed, the only battle-field I ever trod while the battle was raging; internecine war; the red republicans on the one hand, and the black imperialists on the other. On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet without any noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never fought so resolutely. I watched a couple that were fast locked in each other's embraces, in a little sunny valley amid the chips, now at noonday prepared to fight till the sun went down, or life went out. The smaller red champion had fastened himself like a vice to his adversary's front, and through all the tumblings on that field never for an instant ceased to gnaw at one of his feelers near the root, having already caused the other to go by the board; while the stronger black one dashed him from side to side, and, as I saw on looking nearer, had already divested him of several of his members. They fought with more pertinacity than bulldogs. Neither manifested the least disposition to retreat. It was evident that their battle-cry was "Conquer or die." In the meanwhile there came along a single red ant on the hillside of this valley, evidently full of excitement, who either had dispatched his foe, or had not yet taken part in the battle; probably the latter, for he had lost none of his limbs; whose mother had charged him to return with his shield or upon it. Or perchance he was some Achilles, who had nourished his wrath apart, and had now come to avenge or rescue his Patroclus. He saw this unequal combat from afar--for the blacks were nearly twice the size of the red--he drew near with rapid pace till be stood on his guard within half an inch of the combatants; then, watching his opportunity, he sprang upon the black warrior, and commenced his operations near the root of his right foreleg, leaving the foe to select among his own members; and so there were three united for life, as if a new kind of attraction had been invented which put all other locks and cements to shame. I should not have wondered by this time to find that they had their respective musical bands stationed on some eminent chip, and playing their national airs the while, to excite the slow and cheer the dying combatants. I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men. The more you think of it, the less the difference. And certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment's comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed. For numbers and for carnage it was an Austerlitz or Dresden. Concord Fight! Two killed on the patriots' side, and Luther Blanchard wounded! Why here every ant was a Buttrick--"Fire! for God's sake fire!"--and thousands shared the fate of Davis and Hosmer. There was not one hireling there. I have no doubt that it was a principle they fought for, as much as our ancestors, and not to avoid a three-penny tax on their tea; and the results of this battle will be as important and memorable to those whom it concerns as those of the battle of Bunker Hill, at least.

I took up the chip on which the three I have particularly described were struggling, carried it into my house, and placed it under a tumbler on my window-sill, in order to see the issue. Holding a microscope to the first-mentioned red ant, I saw that, though he was assiduously gnawing at the near foreleg of his enemy, having severed his remaining feeler, his own breast was all torn away, exposing what vitals he had there to the jaws of the black warrior, whose breastplate was apparently too thick for him to pierce; and the dark carbuncles of the sufferer's eyes shone with ferocity such as war only could excite. They struggled half an hour longer under the tumbler, and when I looked again the black soldier had severed the heads of his foes from their bodies, and the still living heads were hanging on either side of him like ghastly trophies at his saddle-bow, still apparently as firmly fastened as ever, and he was endeavoring with feeble struggles, being without feelers and with only the remnant of a leg, and I know not how many other wounds, to divest himself of them, which at length, after half an hour more, he accomplished. I raised the glass, and he went off over the window-sill in that crippled state. Whether he finally survived that combat, and spent the remainder of his days in some Hôtel des Invalides, I do not know; but I thought that his industry would not be worth much thereafter. I never learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war; but I felt for the rest of that day as if I had had my feelings excited and harrowed by witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage, of a human battle before my door.

Kirby and Spence tell us that the battles of ants have long been celebrated and the date of them recorded, though they say that Huber is the only modern author who appears to have witnessed them. "Aeneas Sylvius," say they, "after giving a very circumstantial account of one contested with great obstinacy by a great and small species on the trunk of a pear tree," adds that "this action was fought in the pontificate of Eugenius the Fourth, in the presence of Nicholas Pistoriensis, an eminent lawyer, who related the whole history of the battle with the greatest fidelity." A similar engagement between great and small ants is recorded by Olaus Magnus, in which the small ones, being victorious, are said to have buried the bodies of their own soldiers, but left those of their giant enemies a prey to the birds. This event happened previous to the expulsion of the tyrant Christiern the Second from Sweden." The battle which I witnessed took place in the Presidency of Polk, five years before the passage of Webster's Fugitive-Slave Bill.

Originally published by Ticknor & Fields in 1854, Walden, or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau is available in many editions, including Walden: A Fully Annotated Edition edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer (Yale University Press, 2004).

And a lot more proposals such as:

Laughter by Addisson

Merch Research

Looking at expansion of range for band merchandise, 
along with promotional collateral.


For example, M/M (paris) had a huge infulence on 
the art direction for Bjorks 'Volta' album & promo 
collateral, from typeface design to tour posters. 

M/M have also recentley been commissioned for
Bjorks latest work: Biophillia.  This includes a heavy 
digital presence with regards to web and app interface.
 Visually, the work is something to be inspired, but 
from an economical point of view, it is clear that the 
Volta identity and range suits our brief much moreso.

   

Track - by - Track

A relevant and original solution to boring CD's.

Annoyingly I have no clue where this as come from
- aside from an anonymous tumblr post.
Though this doesn't matter all that much, it's still
inspired me for the Lyrical addition to the exhibition.

Riso possibilities

Stuart Geddes

'A head full of snakes.'

This publication exploits the printing possibilities 
of Riso on the same stock.  For example, you can 
see colour separation photographic images, duotone, 
overlays- purely text and purely image.  There are a lot 
of different aspects that will go on to inform our 
experimentation with this process.         I.  Am. Excited. 


'Museums Press', Glasgow

-  A good example of colour manipulation through 
   differentiating stock. 
   Alternately, below is simple monochromatic print
   with a side of coloured stock.  This application 
   really works in assigning structure to a fairly
   free image.  Something to remember for future 
   designs.

When considering this option it is important to 
remember that the coloured stock may end up costing
more than just adding another colour to the print.

Binding, layout: surface simplicity

[This is both relevant to my ISTD & Elements briefs.]

Yet another one from Graphic Thought Facility. 

- including the 2003 - 2006 season leaflets.

The juxtaposition of old and new in the photography is 

reflected in the colour scheme of the type.  

GTF have followed the concept of old and new by adopting 

a contemporary colour scheme alongside traditional type.  

The imagery is also designed with a traditional hint, but had 

overriding contemporary processes.

For this season, a more bold and simplistic approach 

has been adopted.  

This whole run has confirmed what I already know.  

If you're going to use imagery (more importantly

photography) within a publication, - it has to 

communicate just as much as the rest of the design.

For example, in all of these publications, the 

imagery heightens and reinforces the concept 

behind the design.

In short, you cannot polish a turd.  

  - if you use crappy imagery, the whole publication 

     will take a hit and you cannot escape it.

  

Elements: Riso Riso Riso

RISO RISO RISO

Such an obvious and surprising solution to our financial 
problem.  We need it to be as cheap as possible.  It is 
decided, we will now explore our resolution through
experimental use of riso printing.  

It is the process of print that will drive our design 
decisions, moreso than client or subject matter that 
have been the main focus in past briefs.  The reason
for choosing this print process is thatwe will now have 
to come up with an appropriate resolution that also 
forces us to get creative with what initially seems to have 
limited printed outcomes. 

Our initial decision to work with riso printing was of a
necessary financial one.  So out of this we aim to solve
the problem of communicating as effectively as possible
through innovative use of riso printing.


It's time for a quote maybee?
Yes.         - I have it on excellent authority that 'Footprint -
workers co operative' Leeds, are essentially the only choice 
for local economical riso printing.

In-house collator

Contemporary publication design

'Inventario is not a magazine, Inventario is not a book.  
Inventario is a new editorial initiative, casting a free- 
thinking eye over the design- scene.'