Chapter 4 and 5

Chapter 4 was about the grid layout in graphic design. In the chapter, good points are made such as how placement of typography on certain sections within the layout might give the viewer a different feeling of what is going on, on the page. For example, the book gives the example of setting a letter type at a forward tilting angle but close to the edge of the page layout could signify velocity. I agree with that statement as a lot of abstract graphic design involves making meaning of objects on the grid based on where they’re placed on the grid. The one thing I think the chapter fails to touch on is that this way of seeing in the grid is a more standard way and fails to think about the postmodern ways of designing which might not always use normal grids and might instead use the entire canvas to form abstract art as well as use full bleed images or text on the pages. Nonetheless the chapter does a fine job at identifying common sets of grids that are tried and proven to work. Designers should in my opinion always start with one of these grids before venturing off into more unconventional ways of laying out type and images, as this will help the designer better understand what he is doing in his design while being mindful of how his changes in his adaptation of the grid might influence the viewer, as some radical changes might not be interpreted like the designer wants it to be interpreted.

 

Chapter 5 talks about another element of graphic design and that is syntax and line placement. Letters alone don’t form meaning, but it’s when you place them together that they put on meaning and begin to fully utilize to their full potential. The chapters start off by talking about how letter types alone can be used together or separately to express meaning, but that they can also be mixed with other letter forms within each other or next or combined to get meaning. An example of this can be in the logo for the channel A and E, they sometimes combine the A and the E but we still know they represent the initials to the channel network and that its done for stylistic factors of the logo. The second portion talks about line spacing and weight and how those two combined can also help form meaning and hierarchy within the syntax on the page. The chapter says that just as you can form hierarchy through using the grid, text at the top of the page has more meaning thus sits higher on the hierarchy chart, syntax in the middle of the page but with a denser weight might put more emphasis on that text thus placing higher on that hierarchy chart even though it is not at top of the page. Using correct placement of syntax with different weights within the page needs to be perfect in order to not confuse the viewer or reader from what’s important and what’s not so important on a page.