Thursday, June 27, 2013

Let's talk about type, ba-by

Okay, so I love typography. It's truly amazing how a typeface can evoke emotion. Design can also evoke emotion and create hierarchy. That's pretty powerful.

I know it's not clear, but I didn't want to distract the presentation with a flash. Plus, I Instagrammed this - I can't help myself sometimes. 

Tracy Collins is a phenomenal presenter. He kept us interested using humor and audience engagement. From the 10 Commandments of Type with background Gregorian chanting to putting us in the "hot seat" by asking us whether we liked certain designs and why, he made a three-hour presentation fly by. 

I absolutely relished the opportunity to see the papers and yearbook pages that some of my fellow participants worked so hard on. I was super impressed! Bonnie's newspaper design especially stood out to me. I can only hope to design a publication of that caliber! 

From Collins' presentation, I learned about designing stories in "modules" to increase readability. I also learned that when you have a heavily designed story, you don't need a specialty font. I loved how he taught us using lots of examples. I try to do this in my classes as well. And the longer I teach, the better the examples I accumulate. I think it is important to always be thinking about finding examples and filing them away as you find them. 

Meghann Peterson
Chanhassen High School
Chanhassen, Minn. 



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5 comments:

  1. UnknownJune 27, 2013 at 11:08 PM

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    1. UnknownJune 27, 2013 at 11:10 PM

      I so agree with you, Meghann! This presentation was powerful, productive and such a resource for us to take back to our individual classroom to demonstrate the impact a line of type can have in the overall look of a page design.

      I, too, have always been fascinated by type styles. I believe the importance of its use far exceeds the emphasis we give it in our layout designs. It is as effective as a photo and as meaningful as content on any page.

      The control a journalist has to get their story out to the world is enhanced by the ability to effectively use design elements. We can move and manipulate and motivate our audience in ways unimaginable with the proper usage of every element necessary to display our stories.

      A late-night commentator said you should sing anything wonderful to the tune of Jingle Bells, "Neat, neat, neat, neat, neat, neat, neat..."

      Try it.

      Maureen Barton
      Sedona Red Rock High School
      Sedona, Ariz.

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  2. UnknownJune 28, 2013 at 1:21 AM

    I too agree that Tracy is an amazing presenter with mad skills in design. I learned a ton about manipulating text and layouts. I seriously cannot wait to put the information from this presentation into action.

    My paper is for sure going to be even better next year than it was this year and it was already better this year than last. That is such a fun thing about teaching journalism - there is always so much more to learn and ways to improve.

    Greg Cantwell
    Sheldon High School
    Eugene, Ore.

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  3. Lisa ShapiroJune 28, 2013 at 8:05 AM

    I loved this session not only because of the way he presented it but also for the info. So vauable. He also had a great sense of humor.

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  4. UnknownJune 28, 2013 at 8:32 AM

    I love your headline Meghann! I agree this was the most memorable presentation for several reasons!

    Jill Burns
    Robinson High School
    Tampa, Fla.

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