Design for Non-Designers
Learn why the unself-published life is not worth living. We’ll explore some of the new self-publishing tools, discover a few great clip-art sources, learn how to fight crimes against typography, and get tips on how to design a better flyer. The emphasis of this workshop is on design for print — at work, school, home, and all the places in between.
Card catalogue image generated on blyberg.net
Workshop led by Julia Lupton.
Sponsored by HumaniTech.
Wednesday, March 5, 1:00-300 pm
Humanities Hall 217
The University of California, Irvine
I. THE NEW SELF-PUBLISHING
Self-publishing on Lulu.com
Direct link to Lulu’s Home page
More on indie publishing by Ellen Lupton
TYPOGRAPHY FOR NON-TYPOGRAPHERS
1. A few good fonts
Choose one serif; one sans serif; and learn their virtues:
Garamond and Helvetica or Futura (for print)
Georgia and Verdana (for internet)
2. Keep it simple. Keep it real.
>No “word art” or gimmicks; no scaling (stretching or squishing) of type
>centered type = conservative and balanced
Example: centered type (pdf)
>left or right = more modern
justified type on Ellen’s type page
mix of types on Edward Tufte’s site
Crimes against typography:
real fonts and fake ones
3. Keep your eyes open for good type.
Blueprint magazine
FONT: Fling
Magazine design: Debra Bishop
III. CLIP-ART: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
Ugly: Word clip art and similar corporate cliches
Word Clip Art
Bad (actually, okay): Dover books and cds
Good (the best): Agile Rabbit
Google Image Search: a mixed bag ….
UCI’s Visual Resources Center has access to images and information, including a searchable database (UCI access only). Their fabulous page, Finding and Using Images on the Web, includes a list of fair use websites. Keep in mind that flyers are generally considered “publications” and do not fall under Fair Use.
California Digital Library Image Service
World Gallery of Art: a powerful resource
IV. DESIGNING A BETTER FLYER
FLYER EXAMPLES
The following flyers were designed entirely in Word, with photos treated very lightly in PhotoShop. Design for each took under an hour.
THE TRIPTYCH
large
Painting by Bosch, divided into two sections in PhotoShop, and then inserted into a table, 3 columns by 1 row, no borders, in Word. Set up page in Landscape, and reduce all margins to .5 inches.
Word doc
(File may have shifted during transfer!)
THE LAYER CAKE
Painting by Vermeer, sliced into even strips in PhotoShop, then inserted into a table of 9 rows and 1 column in Word. Make sure there are no borders. The final row is filled in with a color. Additional type added in two “text boxs” set to 100% transparency.
Word doc
THE MONDRIAN
Medieval map (in modern transcription) of the Holy Land, sliced into 9 equal squares and distributed in a 9 × 9 table. This flyer looks best trimmed to a square.
Word doc
Design by Chris Aschan in Microsoft Office
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