Project 2: Word Connotations

Professor: Nancy Mata
Art 244 Type II
Millersville University
Project #2: Communicating
Different Meanings of a Word

This is my CSS file. It will not link to my HTML file.

Does anyone see where I went wrong?!

I have been having trouble getting my word connotations site to work. Once I started trying to stylize my elements my browser stopped reading my code! It is driving me crazy. I swear that I did everything right. I have double checked my code about 5 times now and even re-did it all in Komodo and Text Wrangler!!!

This is how my code is translating into my browser. It wont apply the css styles.

Assignment 1

Georgia vs. Courier New

The first thing that I notice when comparing these 2 fonts is the difference in the stroke weight. Courier new has thinner strokes than Georgia and they are consistent throughout the entire typeface. where as Georgia's strokes vary in thickness within each letter. Courier New seems to have more space in between each letter and very straight serifs with no bracketing. They both seem to have about the same lowercase x-height. The Terminals on Georgia make it more legible than Courier New. Both have large bowls.

Georgia vs. Times New Roman

Georgia is much more legible for screen than Times New Roman. Georgia has more space in between the letters whereas Times New Roman's letters nearly touch in some place. The descenders on Times New Roman do not extend very far from the baseline of the text. Also the counters and bowls are much smaller in Times New Roman than in Georgia. The lowercase x-height is also shorter in comparison. Times New Roman's letters also have smaller apertures than Georgia's making them harder to read in smaller sizes.

Impact vs. Arial

Impact is a very bold, condensed typeface. For screen, this would only be legible at large sizes and in short phrases such as a title. It has a large lowercase x-height as does Arial. Arial is much more legible for body copy than impact. both are san-serif typefaces. Arial's stroke thickness stays consistent throughout the letterforms. It also has large bowls and counters which lends to its legibility. 

Arial vs. Verdana

Arial and Verdana are very similar looking typefaces. Arial seems to be a bit more elegant and legible than verdana. Verdana's letters are spaces further apart than Arial and also has a thicker stroke than Arial. The descenders do not descent as far from the baseline in Verdana as they do in Arial. The counters and bowls in both typefaces are very large as are the x-heights. 

Optima vs. Verdana

Optima has much thinner stroke widths than Verdana. Its strokes also vary within each letterform whereas Verdana's stay consistent. There is not as much space in between the letters of Optima as there is in Verdana. Optima has a large lowercase x-height thought not as large as Verdana still. Optima seems to have larger bowls and counters than Verdana, or possible they are just more elegant because the stroke width varies. Both are sans-serif fonts. Optima's descenders extend further than Verdana's. 

Baskerville vs. Georgia

Baskerville has a much shorter x-height than Georgia. The letters in Baskerville are also much more condensed than they are in Georgia. Baskerville's terminals are more subtle than Georgia's. Both are serif typefaces. Baskervilles descenders extend further than Georgia's. Both have large bowls and apertures. Georgia has thicker strokes and larger serifs than Baskerville. Georgia is definitely more legible for screen than Baskerville.

Journal 1

Writing For Visual Thinkers

I guess I missed the memo about only reading the "writer's toolbox" portion of our first reading for this week's journal entry. So about 100 pages later I am blogging about what I've learned. I actually dont regret wasting the extra hour studying and taking notes on this text because it was all really helpful. My biggest problem that I have when designing is that I get so stuck in my head. My creativity flows around in my brain with no outlet, or I get that "AHA!" moment at the worst times, like merging lanes on the highway during rush hour. I think that the writing method that seemed most appealing to me was freewriting. I like the idea of just writing a narrative as your mind expands around an idea. I've never really had much success with mindmaps. I actually feel like they suppress my creativity in some way. I get frozen when I try to branch words of the other and they dont really seem to lead to any conceptual conclusions. Anyways, I had one of those "aha" moments last night as I was trying to go to sleep around midnight. I usually would have just ignored the creative pang in my head but I decided to exercise my writing skills and let it all out. So I got out of bed, went downstairs, busted out a sketchbook and just started rambling in illegible text all of the ideas that were floating around. I actually ended up creating a pretty solid gesture drawing of what I was trying to visualize.

It's About Legibility by Allan Haley

This article was a great type refresher considering It has been over 2 years since I took type 1. I have become re-familiarized with words like "bracketing", "counters", and lowercase "x-heights" that I had forgotten about. I feel like I have a better understanding of what makes a typeface legible and readable. Large lowercase X-heights, small subtle serifs (if any), and large counters are key. I liked the metaphor of the type being like "a crystal goblet" which allows content to be more important than the container. That's an insightful way to look at typefaces. 

Georgia and Verdana: Typefaces Designed for Screen (finally)

You would have thought that Matthew Carter was naming garage bands that way that he came up with these typeface names. I never would have thought twice about their origin had I not read this article, but a headline about alien heads in Georgia led to this typeface's identity. Why that article? 

Verdana was easily readable on the screen but I didn't particularly like the style of this typeface. It almost seemed like there was too much space in the counters and it was too tall. It just felt very bubbly to me. It was interesting to see how much thought went into the development of every component of the letters so as to make them legible on screen. The lowercase x-height being 1 pixel taller than the uppercase was impressive. He paid such minute attention to detail.

Georgia was much prettier to look at. I liked that it reflected more traditional typefaces and didn't seem so large and overpowering. I have never created a typeface, nor do I know the process so this article left me wondering what a bitmap was?

Matthew Carter

Inspiring. It's amazing how ones existence can revolve solely around letters. I think it is amazing that he is still alive and designing :) he must be what? 76 now. It is interesting that he has evolved through all of progressive stages of typography over the last century.