Thursday, April 4, 2013

Documentary Review



This film directed by Andrei Severny was based on the Professor Inge Druckrey who was a professor at the university of Arts. She had a profound influence her students as well as others she came in contact with. Her way of thinking revolutionized the way of treating type and writing. Her techniques involved looking beyond the form for a deeper understanding of the world around you. She taught that you need to train you eye to see your surroundings as abstract shapes rather than just objects. Her techniques were translated very well into the activities she tried with her students. These included simple black and white pallets in which she used two squares, which could be arranged to convey different emotions and mood. A great example of this is a poster she made for an orchestra exhibit of Beethoven where the letters were hidden across the page as a sort of design challenge for other students.
            Inge also studied the Roman Capital letters. She examined their geometric forms as being composed of one or more vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. The act of making letterforms is supposed to be rhythmical rather than just muscle memory. According to the video our hands crave to be expressive. However even when being completely accurate and consistent when creating type it is almost impossible to make all shapes the same proportion. This is because there is a difference between geometric and optical accuracy. According to Inge there are three major factors to creating a typeface. First is that letters must have common structure. Second they must be distinct from each other for readability. Lastly they need letter spacing, which creates rhythm.  Creating type is both challenging and rewarding because it creates design problems, which force us to view the world from a new perspective. 

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