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Monday, Sept 25

Critique, Exploration
Adobe Illustrator
Consider everything an experiment.

Crit and working in class.
Picking most interesting 3 to build in illustrator and create variations of.
Glyphs (show and tell demo next class)
Stroke, Serif (components), Round Corners.

Start process book, final is digital. Take a photo or all your sketches (you can use your phone)  
Make sure you rotate your images so they are right reading.
Process book examples

Document Grid. It is important and turns out to be extremely useful if you take the time to adjust the document grid to work for you. This way you can use the snap to grid option in Illustrator. Will keep your vectors clean and consistent. 
Watch: Snap to Grid

Use the template it sets you up for success when we move to Glyphs.
Use the document grid and snap to it.
Extend the art board or create as many artboards as you need.



HOMEWORK




Choose the 3 most successful/interesting studies of
H, E, N, A, O, D, G /or/ n, h, e, a, o, d, g, and recreate them in Adobe Illustrator.

In Illustrator start by recreating the modules you need to build your letterforms. If you have round corners start them off square then round later.





After you have recreated your 3 sets in illustrator try variations of the H or n. Make the letter taller, wider, heavier, rounder (be selective on what you make round. (how can you make the letters better, more interesting?). *this is a key step in making your letters different from everyone else in the class -- you have to explore options.



From those studies on the H/or/n pick out 3 (any three from any of the sets you have made).
Three that you like and then do the full set again in that variation H, E, N, A, O D, G /or/ n, h, e, a, o, d, g.

Play out at least 3 variations in total.
If you didn't use serifs can you add serifs?
Can you change the serifs?
Can you change the proportion of the letter?
Can you change the weight of the letter....
lots of options!

repeat of directions...
1) draw the 3 original sets in illustrator (even if you use fontstruct recreate them in illustrator). Set your baseline grid. Create the modulars and draw them in a smart and clean way using snap to grid.

2) take the H or n from each set and play with variation EXPLORE (at least 9 variations of the H or n)

3) from your H or n variations studies pick 3 different ones build them out to the rest of the letters H, E, N, A, O D, G /or/n, h, e, a, o, d, g

recap
for Wednesday you should have 3 original sets drawn nicely in illustrator, exploration of H or n for each set. Create 3 more sets from a variation. In total you should have 6 sets total in illustrator to choose from. The variation is your opportunity to explore how far you can push the modular/rational letterform.

Print everything out for class crit. And Save as a pdf for your process book.

Something to start thinking about is how you are going to put this all together in a process book so you don’t have to do that in the end.

Consider everything an experiment: Treat each design endeavor as an opportunity to explore, learn, and grow.