Chapter 6 Reflection-Katelyn Pesola

Chapter 6 Typographic Message

                  Chapter 6 was all about the typographic message, which is commonly taken for granted and not even noticed at all by the common person. But after reading this chapter I realized that the typographic message is very important within a design, especially if it is a design that needs to clearly communicate a message quickly. Many times when reading a sign or poster we don’t realize all the time and effort that went into making that sign or poster effective. We don’t usually stop and think about the choices that a designer made. Like the typeface, or the size or color but many times that is what makes a sign or poster effective.   

                  In this chapter the authors make a point to stress that typography is both in a sense of hearing and seeing. It is both important to have the words that are expressed to make sense when you look at them as well as when you read them. I think that this is sometimes a hard part of designing. Many times designers want to make something that looks great and exciting but sometimes forget that you also have to make it legible and make sure the typographic message is clear. The authors mention that there are many possible typographic solutions but making sure that it is appropriate for the situation is most important. I agree with this idea because it really depends on the situation first before you find the design solution. If you know that whatever you are designing needs to be clear and concise then that is how you start to create the solution. But if you know that there really are no rules, then you are able to be slightly more creative and worry less about being 100% legible.

                  An example of a design that would not work well in terms of function but looks visually pleasing is a map of Paris that I found at my Dad’s condo. While the design of this map is very interesting to look at, as an actual map it would be next to useless. Even if didn’t think about in terms of size, it still wouldn’t be a good map to use. Traditionally when you think of maps we want something that will get us to point A to point B easily. We want to be able to read it clearly and quickly and this map would not be able to do that.