Grid: a subjective guide to designing publication series

There are billions of possible design solutions when designing a publication. Hundreds of thousands of graphic design means you could use. Tens of thousands of text and illustration alignments. Is it possible to find the best solution that would make it actually work?
There is one. Grid.



What is grid? Why medieval scribes needed to use it? What to do if you're not an illuminator from late 7th century and how can you use it? Click to find more!

Why use grid?

Have you ever wondered what designing a system is all about? It might seem strange to some of you that graphic design is also about systems. It's pretty obvious to the others. But why use grid?

More to come tomorrow!

Certificated!

I've just got mail from China International Poster Biennial with a shiny Selected award certificate. I was one of nine Polish designers selected to exhibit in Hangzhou, China, but up until now, I wasn't sure which of the posters I sent was chosen to take part in the exhibition.

It turned out it was the poster I designed for the Central Institute for Labour Protection poster competition back in 2010, Be a shining example. The poster took part in the exhibition in Warsaw in October 2010 and was also exhibited at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in January 2011.

Click to see the poster chosen for the exhibition.

Win Artavaganza products!

With Artavaganza team, we have just started a St. Valentine's Day competition for all of you creative people where you can win our fabulous neckties from "Tie me up!" collection.

To read more about the contest and its rules, visit our blog at:

http://artavaganza.blogspot.com/2012/01/fall-in-love-with-artavaganza-contest.html

 

Click to see what's in the Candy Box for the winners:

Hoptype

Hoptype is a screen font I designed during Ala ma font(a) workshop in Katowice. The workshop was led by Martin Majoor, Filip Blažek, Marian Misiak, Eben Sorkin and Ann Bessemans and curated by Ewa Satalecka. The typeface is designed especially for iPad applications for children who are not yet fluent readers.

Initial research into interactive books on the iPad showed that design factors I had to consider were:

• the amount of words per line, the length of lines and the amount of lines per page
• the resolution, which is much lower than printed text
• change of direction. With mobile devices, there is a possibility of switching the view from horizontal to vertical by rotating the device. The size of the text changes, so that provides an additional challenge
• harmony of image and text. Since applications use full screen imagery, text must work on a colored background

What was my design approach? Click to see more!

Coming up...

TAKK! RelaxAction in Katowice

Last year's August was a special time for me, for I had the chance to be a part of an amazing team, working on TAKK! (Tymczasowa Akcja Kulturalna Katowice) project in Rondo Sztuki in Katowice.

The idea behind TAKK! project was to engage the people from Katowice to take part in the workshops, concerts, exhibitions and other activities and to provide them with a platform where art, design, photography, literature, comic art and architecture meet.

I was in a team of designers (with Justyna Kucharczyk and Kasia Pełka), working on design workshop for kids. We called it "RelaxAction",  intentionally mixing two words that usually don't go together very well. Or at least most people think so... Click through to read more.

Ala ma font(a) exhibition

As I promised, I'm posting a couple of pictures from the opening of Ala ma font(a) exhibition.
In the following days I'll be introducing you to the basic design principles of my typeface, say a little bit more how it all started and what the results are. There's more to come, so keep visiting!

Ala ma font(a) publication & exhibition

I'm very excited to let you know that my typeface, Hoptype, will be featured in Lapikon, the publication summarizing the workshop focused on designing typefaces for kids, Ala ma font(a). The publication was designed by Zosia Oslislo-Piekarska.

The typeface will also be a part of the exhibition, which opens on January 11th, 2012 in the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice at Koszarowa 19.

If you'd like to see the publication on-line, click the link below:

http://issuu.com/warsztatgraficznyewasatalecka/docs/lapikon_3_jan_small?mode=window&viewMode=doublePage

After the exhibition opens, I'll be updating you with more pictures and details.

See you in Katowice!