Once in a blue moon, my college scrounges up enough people to form an advanced typography class. It’s not offered on a regular basis, and there has to be a big enough group to form a class for it to be offered. Despite some quarrels early on with my professor, I enjoyed my first typography class and signed up for the sequel. For some reason, the professor who teaches the typography classes has a reputation as a bitch and is “hated” by a lot of the student body. She is challenging, she makes you think, and she can be demanding and intimidating to a certain extent. My own personal opinion is that far too many people in the design program are lazy and ignorant as to what the design world is really like outside a classroom. My typography professor teaches as though it were a real studio, and not just a classroom. Because of her higher expectations, I think she filters and weeds out a lot of people who wouldn’t make it otherwise. When I tell people that I am taking advanced typography from this professor, often times they are completely bewildered and ask, “Why would you ever want to take a class with that teacher?” I like to reply, “Because I’m a sadist and I like pain.”

The first typography class is very basic in terms of type and design, which is understandable seeing as how it’s an entry-level foundation course required by all design students. My biggest complaint was having to cut, paste, and photocopy all my projects. Thankfully, advanced typography introduces (and allows the use of) computers. What can I say? I prefer CMD C and CMD V to x-acto knives and rubber cement, at least for some things.

Our latest assignment was to choose an event in history and create various typographical layouts. The layout had to have a title, the day, the year, and the “story” about what occurred. The assignment had three parts and, as with any project, there were some stipulations:

Part A:

• Only text may be used to convey the feeling or mood of the historical event. No images!
• Only the Univers font could be used, though you could mix, match, and use any of the 21 variations.
• Everything within the layout must be the same font size.
• The title, day, year, and story must follow certain hierarchies designated by the instructor.
• Only 2 PMS colors may be used, though various percentages of those colors may be used (20% red, for example). White may also be used, as it is the color of the paper, but does not count as one of the two required PMS colors.
• The composition should convey the feeling, mood, or emotion of the historical event.
• The final composition must be 9″ x 9″.

Part B:

• All the rules from Part A except more than one font size maybe used.

Part C:

• All the rules from Parts A and B except that one image may be used. The image must be one of the two PMS colors chosen.
• The image should be subtle and not a “dead giveaway” in terms of the historical event. (For example, a fellow classmate did Amelia Earhart’s final flight and chose the sky for his image instead of a photo of Earhart herself or her plane.)
• The image must be your own work (no stock photographs or images off the Internet).

I chose the Apollo 13 oxygen tank explosion on April 14, 1970. (Yes, I’m aware that the explosion happened on the 13th using EST but the 14th using UTC, which is what my source material referenced.) My colors were Pantone 1815 red and Pantone black. Red to convey the panic and chaos of the explosion and black for the vast emptiness of outer space.

Click for larger image.

This was the final layout that I turned in for Part A. We had to do six different compositions, and I think that this was the most successful one. The master alarm inside the Apollo capsule is a red square, which is why I used them over and over again. Like the oxygen, the squares explode outward in a chaotic manner. The exploding squares also form the shape of the Apollo capsule. The hierarchy for this layout was:

1. Year
2. Text
3. Title
4. Day

Although I like this piece, the leading of the text bothers me and needs fixing. It’s far too close together. At least it’s a small and simple fix.

Click for larger image.

Here be the layout for Part B. The “missing lunar piece” in the title represents the lost moon of the Apollo 13 mission. Explosions in outer space are different than those on Earth because the debris and material from the explosion essentially travel outward in every direction forever. The day explodes outward and off the page to represent this. The exploding day lines also represent the Apollo capsule’s parachutes. The hierarchy for this layout was:

1. Title
2. Year
3. Day
4. Text

Click for larger image.

Here’s the layout for Part C. I think the “Apollo 13 Explosion” is harder to read on the screen than the printed version. It looks much better when printed out. I created the outer space star field and oxygen mist in Photoshop. The oxygen explosion from Part C borrows the same shape from Part A. The “missing lunar piece” title from Part B is also used again. While Parts A, B, and C are separate compositions, reusing these elements helps convey the sense that all three parts belong together. The hierarchy for this layout was:

1. Title
2. Day
3. Year
4. Text

This has been one of my favorite classes yet. And InDesign is now my new best friend.