This is the Scale and Axis lecture for
the Beginning Typography class, and in
this lecture we will discuss effective
use of scale and extreme scale, as well
as the use of axis to activate and
create interesting layouts. Both of these
will apply to sections of the Type
Fundamentals Book. Scale is an important
tool we use to create strong hierarchy
and a clear focal point. It is probably
the most common method to creating
hierarchy and when exaggerated we refer
to it as extreme scale. It's really an
essential tool that we use as designers
when we create layouts. When we want to
create something that is interesting we
often times are seeking variety, and by
playing with scale and juxtaposing
different scales whether it be
typography, or imagery, or illustration,
we're able to create a lot more interest
for the viewer. This goes all the way
back to the beginning if we look at
examples of letterpress or playbills and
posters and things from the Victorian
Era, we see this emphasis on scale. And
this desire to use scale to draw the
viewer in, to emphasize what they want
read, and to help direct the order of how
the hierarchy is read. We also see this
in modern day or contemporary editorial
design like this example. This booklet
that has interesting scale play that
helps us see these titles, these sub-
heads. There's pull quotes that are
slightly larger than the body copy. All
of these scale juxtapositions allow us
to see a clear prioritization of content.
Here's another one with this large pull
quote over the face of Aaron Draplin
that really draws you in, and then this
title on the right hand side that then
leads you into the Q&A itself. We also
see scale play with imagery. This is a
great example of a spread from a
magazine that's at a hotel. And you'll
see this play of images, where there's
images that are juxtaposed and different
scales and sizes and it really creates
interest. If all of these images were the
same size they wouldn't be quite as
dynamic. This layout would not be quite
as interesting to the viewer, but it's
that scale play and that juxtaposition
and prioritization of images that
creates interest. Here's another example,
these exercise spreads. You can really
see strong scale play here, from the
headline, and then to the
captions, and then the pull quotes and
the different sidebar information.
There's really strong hierarchy here
that lets us really see what information
needs to be read in what order, and it
really helps prioritize and create
interest. These different components and
different scales of typography are
really what makes this feel interesting
to the viewer. Here's a simpler one,
another hotel magazine or newspaper
where you see on the left this "urban
stay." Large bold typography that draws
you in, and then smaller type that keeps
you on the page to continue to read more
content. We see this in packaging as well,
hierarchy is very important in packaging.
It helps us establish what we're looking
at understanding the different varieties
or types of packages that are in a set.
But here it really helps us understand
the priority of how we should read this
information. It helps us understand what
this product is, and why do we care about
it. And is it the correct one that we
potentially want to purchase or buy.
We've talked about menus in the
hierarchy lecture but those become
really important when we're talking
about scale. A lot of times menus rely on
scale to really draw you in and help you
see these different sections. You know
we're looking at this menu for Russ &
Daughters we can see noshes, and boards, and caviar, and herring, and platters, and
eggs. That's really gonna help us define
and hone in on what section we're
interested in looking at. And then we can
look at the different items and
determine ultimately what do we actually
want to order. So it's a wonderful menu
design by Kelli Anderson, you can really
see the emphasis of scale that's really
helping create strong hierarchy here, and
letting us understand how to navigate
this menu. Sometimes scale can be more
subtle and sophisticated, like with this
example, this wine card. You can see that
there's not a lot of scale play, the
largest type is not too much larger than
the smallest type. But this creates a
more sophisticated typesetting. It
creates something that's a little bit
more quiet, not quite as loud. And that's
sometimes what we're after, sometimes you
really want to create a small
juxtaposition in scale to create
something that's maybe a little bit more
delicate, a little more elegant. As
opposed to this, where we're really playing
with large type this 'D' 'O' 'W' 'N'   for down.
It's becoming large, it's almost playing
inside of the image to create something
that's really interesting, and then some
more standard skill play on the right
that really helps draw us into this
article. So we also have what we call
extreme scale, and that's where letterforms really become so large that they
become imagery. Here's this example again, the 62 – 72, where this type becomes so
big that it bleeds off the edge and it
really becomes imagery. And this is a
powerful tool and something that you'll
want to explore on this assignment. We're
gonna really explore scale and extreme
scale, so as you're sketching and
creating these compositions we want to
see both being explored. Here's another
example of extreme scale that we've
seen before. This really large 'K' 'a' 'f' 'e'  that
bleeds off the back. The type becomes
image based, it bleeds so much that
you're really looking at the details of
these letterforms. We can still read it
but it's almost becoming image as it
integrates with the cup and the other
coffee stains. Here's some work from Fred
Woodward, a very famous art director, one
of the masters of editorial design. So
here we have again extreme scale with
this "big shot" they've even played with
this tire or inner tube that is
substituting for the 'O' that's really
playing up that strong big scale of
typography. So it's very playful, but a
great example of extreme scale. We'll see
more of his work as well. Here's some
word from the New York Times where
they're really working with this
condensed typeface that was commissioned
and used for this section specifically
to get the type to be as large as
possible. Because when we have condensed type we're able to make it even bigger
because it takes up less space. Especially in a vertical format like a
newspaper, and this is really about real
estate, this is about New York City. So
it's about skyscrapers and tall
buildings, there was an emphasis to
really want to have this very very large
play of typography inside of the
magazine. Here's another example where
the 'P' is so large it's actually becoming
a container. So we're actually setting
type inside of this 'P' really interesting
solution utilizing extreme scale. And
some others from the same magazine.
Here's some where the letterforms are
large and sometimes the letterforms
don't have to be that big, it's more
about the juxtaposition to the smallest
type. So here there's a nice extreme
scale play between these large letterforms
and then these smaller pieces of
type. Here's another one, where instead of
the type going inside of the letter, it fits
within some of the negative spaces
between the letters. Between that 'L' and
'U" there's this nice little band of
body copy. But again this large 'P' 'L' 'U' 'M'
that really becomes the extreme scale
that creates interest, creates imagery
out of the typography. So scale creates a
lot of interest for the viewer it's a
really important tool that we use. And
when pushed to the extremes large type
becomes image and allows us to
appreciate the intrinsic details
designed into every letterform. So axis
is a method that can activate a layout,
It gives movement and can even feel
chaotic. Using tight gridded type can be
important to making axis layouts
successful and readable. And this first
example is a great one, you can see how
the type really interlocks. The designer
specifically used complementary angles
so that things line up. The way that the
"Portfolio by David Bailey" is on an
opposite angle to "The New Beat Poets" and
then that same angle from "David Bailey"
is utilized for that little bit of body
copy that starts with "GQ presents an
exclusive collection." So there's really
locked these things together and that's
a really good technique when you're
playing with axis, and something that I
definitely want to see explored in your
layouts. Because often times axis can feel
chaotic, and to give it rationality and
to make it feel more organized we often
play with defined angles. We want to
avoid arbitrary angles as much as we can.
Using 45 and 60 degrees and 30 degree
angles are really ideal because they're
not quite as extreme and feel more
intentional. This is Paula Scher, she's a
partner at Pentagram in New York and is
a master of using axis. Much of her work
involves heavy use of typography, and
frequently we see a lot of axis work.
Here's some of her famous work for the
Public Theater, where you can see this
interlocking of typography in this fun
axis play that creates a lot of energy
for these pieces. It's a really good use
of axis because the subject matter is so
energized in this "bring in the noise,
bring in the funk" that we really want to
play up that through the typography and
the way that these pieces are designed.
Here's another one of our pieces that's
maybe a little bit more subdued, but with
this
wonderful axis work that connects all of
these names together. Now we're not
playing here it's such diagonal axis, but
this still counts as axis and is really
successful for the subject matter. Here's
more of Fred Woodward's work. So you can
see this play with axis this "Cool Jerk."
Here we have even extreme scale because
we're running this tiny type within the
letterforms, but then this wonderful
slight angle that runs this text across
the spread. Here's another one for Tracy
Morgan, this really playful type on the
right. This is another one that I would
consider more chaotic. Again, they're not
playing with the complementary simple
angles. It's creating something that's a
little bit more crazy. Or something like
this that's more subdued, more of Fred's
work from GQ magazine. You can see the
way they're running type up to reference
the skyline. This was for when the very
first Spider-Man movie came out, Here's
a wonderful piece by Bethany Heck, where
really if you look at this most of the
type is on the same angle. We're just
really dealing with two angles. And if
you can imagine, it's almost like the
entire thing was turned 90 degrees. And
that could be a good strategy to use for
this as well. Maybe you want to design
something in a straightforward way, lock
everything together and then rotate it
as one piece. Maybe on a 45 or a 90
degree angle, and you'll find you get
really interesting effects. Here's some
pieces that we saw before that involve
axis. The one on the left, where there's a
radial axis as these things run across,
right, all of these shows that they're
referencing. "Arrested Development," "Lost,"
"The Office." Or on the right, this table of
contents that again plays with
complementary angles. These things lock
together in a nice way that allows all
the white space to move to the outside
it allows this image area in the middle
to become really interesting and
activated. So it's something again that's
important, those complementary angles and
how you connect these things together to
make them feel like a cohesive whole.
Here's one that was fun, a cover of a
magazine where they actually ran the
title up the side. It's a really
interesting way to make it feel a little
bit more odd, a little bit more funky. And
it has a very nice appeal for the
audience of this magazine. This was a
poster for "Inside Man" a movie that came
out quite awhile ago, but it was very
striking poster when it was first released
because it really relied on axis. Again,
we're seeing those complementary
angles. We're seeing this locking up of
content to the middle, and then this
wonderful use of white space. The
decision to have all of these different
diagonal elements meet together in the
middle, really activated the white on the
outside of where all the imagery and the
typography is. And it was really striking
it really stood out when it was released
because it looked nothing like any of
the movie posters that were out or
really have come out since. This is an
example of one that really is using
access to create chaos, and that's
something that you might want to explore,
but for the most part we're really after
readability and legibility on this
assignment. So we want to make sure that
things are readable, but this is a great
example where you can see that although
they're using complementary angles, by
pulling these pieces apart, by not
locking them together, by keeping things
spaced out in an unusual way like "wire"
how there's weird spacing between those
letterforms. That plus the axis play is
really driving to create something
that's a little bit more disjointed, more
deconstructed, more chaotic. As opposed to something like this, that's more
functional and rational. Here we have a
very simple small piece of axis play
where we're running these city names on
a 90 degree angle. So "San Francisco"
"London," "Stockholm" and that's really to
solve a space issue. They're able to fit
a longer word if they run it vertically
like that, than as opposed to running
it horizontally. So here it's really
solving a specific problem which axis
often times can help us with. Here's one
where we're locking up type. Often times
we'll see this when we're playing with
axis. All of the letters are locking
together, all these words are set in a
way that they connect and create the
square like shape. And then it's just
slightly rotated and put up in the
corner of this packaging for wine. This
label is really interesting in that it
really relies on axis and this locking
up of all this type together. Or on this
tag, really interesting use. Where part
of the tag is running horizontally and
then the part at the bottom runs
vertically. And that's really useful here
because when you first arrive at the tag
you're gonna see the vertical type at
the bottom, the "37" which is the size and
that's really the first piece of
information you're gonna want as you
start looking at this pair of shoes. But
then if you're interested you can turn
it around and read the material and the
other kinds of information that are
important about the shoe. So here
the axis is also really working with the
orientation of the tag and how the
viewer would interact with it, and then
ultimately determining the order of how
they'll receive this information. So when
working with axis is important to make
clear decisions, again you want to work
with clearly defined angles. Angles like
30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees. We want to avoid slight angles as it will create
more chaos. We also want to use angles
that complement each other when working
with multiple angles at once. We want to
avoid having arbitrary random angles
mixed together because again that's
gonna create more chaos, and although
that's something I'm interested in
seeing you explore, for the most part
we're going to want to pick and select
layouts that are a little bit more
functional and readable than the ones
that are gonna be more chaotic for this
section. So hopefully that helps and gives
you some information and ideas to help
you start working on these two sections
of the Type Fundamentals Book.
