Week 2 — Assignment “Typographics Toolbox”
[Project 1 1A]
Discuss + Studio due Sunday (end-of-day). Replies to other people’s posts due Tuesday.
Project 1—Multimedia variations in the typographic study of a word and typefaces through imaging. Exploration of type form, pattern, color, texture, rhythm, sequence, and motion.
1/
Discuss:
Watch the talk by Crystal Zapata: SPACE—An exploration of process, material, and a cross-disciplinary design approach from the 2022 Typographics Festival. Please respond to the questions below, as a comment to this post (200 words minimum). https://wordcounter.net/
Questions:
1. How does Zapata discuss “space” in her talk? How does she relate it to graphic design?
2. What is the project that she presents which uses modularity?
3. On a personal note, what inspired you about Zapata’s talk and work?
Reply to at least two other people’s posts (below). Due Tuesday.
2/
Studio: Choose an 4–5 letter word. Create a “toolbox” of graphic letter compositions—different experiments framing individual letters by hand, and capturing these with your camera. Work with different typefaces, weights, slants, case, orientation, and degrees of legibility. In the next weeks ahead, we will work from these typographic studies, to incorporate color and texture, and to create graphic patterns and installations.
1. Select an 4–5 letter word (not your name).
2. Working in Indesign (8.5 x 11 in format) —typeset and print the letters of your word with enough space around them individually— I recommend three rows and three columns see demo in class. Explore lots of choices for the typography—possibilities of case, weight, slant and typefaces. Investigate multiple typefaces that are sans, serif, slab serif.
3. Use a handmade paper cropping frame—two “L” shapes of paper—to “crop” the letters into a small “composition”—revealing various orientations, scales, and abstractions of the optical qualities and details. Make “crop” (make a photo) and move on to another approach with the same letter and then on to another letter.
4. Make quick photographs of each of your compositions, in the moment as you make them. Upload these photos into a folder, unedited.
“Touching and moving each element around the space opens up the way of seeing, and breaks the barrier of it otherwise being confined to the screen.” —Crystal Zapata
6. Next, working in ONE FILE in Illustrator—create several 3 x 3 in artboards for your individual compositions—(re)create a few of your photo compositions with typogrpahy and using your photos as a guide in the process. Set the letters, scale, and rotate them to match your photo guide. Make refinements or new compositions as you go. Convert typefaces to outlines where needed—might be useful for scale change. See demo in class.
7. Upload all of your unedited photos to Week 2 in your folder on onedrive, and your packaged Illustrator file and a PDF of the 3 x 3 in comps. Include a link to your Week 2 folder in the comment area below. What word are you working with, how was the process, and what were your type selections?
++
Links:
Crystal Zapata website
SSense
“POSE”
Math Revealed
Renata Graw
Normal
Fonts:
BADASS LIBRE FONTS BY WOMXN
Google Fonts
My Fonts
1. Zapata discusses “space” in her talk by talking about how she grew up in dance, and because of this she was able to gather an understanding of spacial sensibility that has applied in her life as well as her practice as an artist. She talks about how a person’s understanding of space determines how they will interact with the environment around them or even the one that they create. She says that compositions can be created as movements in space occur. A blank page is a space
2. The project that she presents that uses modularity is The School of Many Questions logo that she produced. This project addresses movement through the units of space that she is exploring in a sort of grid-like design.
3. On a personal note, the thing that inspired me about Zapata’s talk and work the most was how she stated that she treats each design opportunity as a chance to explore new practices/techniques. I felt like this was very evident in her work as no two pieces really looked the same and there always seemed to be a new element that she was exploring. I found her combination of typography with the natural world and her exploration of everyday objects as a form of delivering information to be incredibly intriguing.
Link to my Week 2 One Drive Folders: https://uncgmy.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/EvrXgQrvuf5LjoJ2o8zGzjABsYrOHeozLRXD_B3kPxIn6w?e=M0IF3e
Hi Hayden! Zapata’s connection between space and a blank canvas is really interesting to think about, encouraging us to start looking at visual design in the same way we would a dance. This understanding of design allows us to think about our creations more deeply, with the understanding that our compositions will affect viewers in a similar way to the physical space they occupy.
Hello Hayden, I also found it inspiring that Zapata treats every project as an opportunity to try out new ways of creation. I also appreciate the diversity of her work. I really like the expansiveness of your pieces. Your bold letters taking over the majority of the space is very satisfying.
Here is the link to my files! :^)
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/ER69kZ_oE39NhpvKcd8640gBXXCgAd9Kj2DmaSG__35DZw?e=2fFebx
Crystal Zapata’s talk, SPACE: An exploration of process, material, and a cross disciplinary design approach, really stood out to me. Based on her known body of work and what has been written about her, it’s clear that when she talks about space, she’s not just referring to negative space or layout in a basic graphic design way. She treats space as something more active and expressive, almost like a stage where forms, textures, and materials interact. Her use of scanned textures, hand-drawn elements like oil pastels and charcoal, and a blend of analog and digital tools shows that she thinks of design as something alive and evolving. Although I couldn’t find the exact modularity project mentioned in her talk, her design approach overall seems to use a modular mindset where visual elements are built, repeated, and rearranged in thoughtful ways. What really inspired me about Zapata’s work is how personal and experimental it feels. It made me realize that design doesn’t always have to be super polished or perfect. Her process reminds me that embracing texture, messiness, and movement can lead to designs that feel more real and connected to the viewer.
I enjoy how you explained that she uses space through the lens of expression. It really ties in with her dance background and how that influences her art.
1. Space is how we relate to what is around us, how we move among the environments. Connecting the way, she thinks about space with her upbringing learning dance. How dancers move and how choreographers envision the space needed to make the piece. Through movement we better understand our place in space. She relates this to a blank page creating designs utilizing space. Leading into a new understanding of design.
2. The project is the school of many questions project she had done. Using the blocks that make of the design come together to swirl into a new form. This represents a path of inquiry, understanding the teaching methods of the School of Many Questions into the design.
3. Her work is phenomenal; I love the fact that she connects different mediums into her work. Being dance, illustration, and typography to make her work. Each work adds onto the previous one. The way she uses different ways of making a design, such as listening to albums trying to recreate what she hears into her design is something I would like to try. The colors, types, and designs she does capture the feeling of the piece of art or event she is designing for. But also, they can be more complex but simple design is what is needed.
Project: Word- Live
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/Documents/_Rachele%20Riley/teaching/F%202025/ART%20392/Sarah%20Hines/week%202?csf=1&web=1&e=XKzp0R
Hi Sarah! Your compositions are really interesting to look at! I particularly like the “i-03” one, it’s very complex-looking and doesn’t at all immediately read as an “I.” I also like the “e-02” composition.
Discussion:
Zapata discusses space through her experience with dance. She compared the body to space, and she often uses that space to interact with the environment. Zapata uses that understanding of space and applies it to her design philosophy. She also compares the choreography of dance to that of a sequence in design since both are used to show a type of movement. Her design process is dictated by physicality as Zapata uses physical patterns, prints, and other elements together to see what works and what doesn’t.
The project where Zapata uses modularity is The School of Many Questions. The logo is made of squares that are arranged into spiral forms. The squares are representative of foundational elements and the spiral shape that they create represents potential paths of inquiries.
I really enjoy the way she processes design using physical elements. Working on something that you can physically touch is something I find extremely valuable and much more engaging than working on a screen. I also like how clever her designs are. Zapata briefly mentions a series of images that display information through related but unconventional ways. Some of the images displayed were an invitation to an event written directly on an envelope and a 420-poster made up of rolling paper for smoking.
Studio:
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/r/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/Documents/_Rachele%20Riley/teaching/F%202025/ART%20392/Mar%20Alvarado-Escobar/Week%202/Disk%20mar.indd?csf=1&web=1&e=reaceQ
Love the variety of types of fonts used for the word “DISK”.
Love the variety in upper- and lower-case letters in addition to the variety of fonts that are picked
Hey Mar I really enjoy your studio portion for this week. I think that there is a very cohesive style that you have in your works that showcases your design personality. I really enjoy your use of curves to add an additional “flavor” to the work.
1. When Zapata talks about space, she’s really focusing on the area that she is working within as a designer. For her, the blank page becomes the starting point, a place that holds endless possibilities for experimentation and expression. In graphic design especially, space isn’t empty, it has weight and meaning depending on how it is filled. Zapata makes it clear that how a designer uses space directly influences how the viewer experiences and interprets the work.
2. One of the projects Zapata presents that uses modularity is the School of Many Questions logo. This project shows how modular elements can be pieced together in multiple ways, creating flexibility while still holding a strong identity while maintaining structure.
3. What inspired me most about Zapata’s work is her dedication to experimentation. She doesn’t confine herself to the strict rules of typography, but instead pushes boundaries by asking how words and ideas can be communicated in different, unexpected ways. Her project Bricktown Sound Party is a great example of this. despite its repetitive nature, she uses it to show how type and rhythm can be expressed visually. I really admire how fluid and adaptable her design process is. It feels freeing to see someone who allows their work to evolve without being boxed in by tradition. This makes me want to take more risks in my own projects for this class and not be afraid of trying out ideas that might feel unconventional at first.
For the studio this week, the word I was working with is “hey”. I chose this work because it’s heavily used in my daily vocabulary, and I felt that the different font options for the letters would work well for this project. The process of finding fonts for each letter variation was my favorite part, and seeing it all printed out looked like a piece of art in its own right. I also really enjoyed the cropping aspect. Finding beauty in smaller sections of a singular letter was fun and fascinating. My type sections were bold fonts mixed with script and sans serif fonts. I think they all blended together very nicely
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/EhSqw8L0OMRBtG9ZjMa64ugBHVrtuhem35MDRv9s6Pw9aA?e=RVKtMD
Hi Ava! I really like your compositions. I like how you did some with black on a white background and white on a black background. The variety there and in the typefaces themselves makes them all stand out from each other!
Crystal Zapata explores the idea of space as more than empty areas around design. In her talk, she explains that space is an active part of design that creates balance and rhythm. She’s saying that the space in the background has meaning. Zapata discusses that instead of seeing it as a background, she treats space like a material that forms how we interact with graphic design.
In Zapata’s project with modular design, she created foldable pieces that interlock in order to be rearranged into different forms. This system of modules allowed her to play with structure. But it also helped her with flexibility and research in her project. Her work showed how modularity can make design fun to move around with, and not feeling stuck in a final form.
What inspired me the most was how Zapata doesn’t limit herself to one medium. She explained how she experiments with different materials, space, and processes. Through her work, she shows us that her design decisions feel playful but intentional. It made me think about how design can be more than just 2D visuals on a screen. Design is able to live in environments and experiments too. After watching Zapata’s talk, I started thinking differently about how space works into a design.
Hi Kristina!
I was also inspired that Zapata doesn’t limit herself to one medium. Often times I like to think of myself as a multimedia artist that loves design and so hearing another artist express that they like to explore different mediums was very interesting. She also changed my perspective about space and how I incorporate it into my artwork.
*Christina
Hi Christina! This is a really good way of looking at and utilizing “space” in our own designs. It personally helps me to remember not to just keep adding elements to a composition to make it look nicer, but to really look at how I can more effectively move those elements in the space they exist in. In this sense, space becomes an integral element in and of itself in the design!
Hi Christina!
I also loved how Zapata experimented with different materials and spaces, and drew on her dance experience to incorporate into her graphic design work.
1. How does Zapata discuss “space” in her talk? How does she relate it to graphic design?
Zapata discusses space in her talk by explaining how space is up to the person that’s inside of it. She uses dancers and having steps for their dances going through space as space. She also states how in the medium of graphic design is that space is the basis and the beginning of the craft.
2. What is the project that she presents which uses modularity?
The School of Many questions logo is what she used to represent modularity.
3. On a personal note, what inspired you about Zapata’s talk and work?
A large thing that really inspired me about her work is how wide the variety of style is in her graphic design practice. When talking about the Bricktown sound she showed all the different ways she came up with the same end goal while having no 2 that really looked alike.
What word are you working with, how was the process, and what were your type selections?
The word I’m working with is “Jars” simply because I was going to use my name but then one of the restrictions was no proper nouns, so the closest thing visually to Jon is Jar but i needed 4 letters so i ended up with jars. Overall the process went pretty seamlessly after the first couple compositions. It was a little different trying to fit my not so square cropping into squares but it came out pretty well in the end. A lot of my type selections were extremely varied and simply all over the place. I had a couple sans, and sans serifs in there but also some very loose almost cursive type faces snuck there way into the work as well.
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/shared?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fr%5Friley%5Funcg%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2F%5FRachele%20Riley%2Fteaching%2FF%202025%2FART%20392%2FJon%20Johnson%2FWeek%202&listurl=%2Fpersonal%2Fr%5Friley%5Funcg%5Fedu%2FDocuments&login_hint=JAJOHNSON3%40uncg%2Eedu&source=waffle
Hey Jon, I also appreciate Zapata’s variety in style, I think it’s very useful to take influence from because of how often fall back on the same sort of designs. I think the use of “jars” is very interesting because of how structured yet fluid your letters ended up.
Hey Jon! I found Zapata’s wide range of styles to be incredibly unique and diverse. With her talking about treating each new project as grounds for experimentation, I can definitely see how she has explored many avenues in creating digitally and also bringing in elements from our real world to push her work even further. As you mention the variety of her style is just super cool and impressive. Great job!
Hi Jon!
I love how your work turned out! The variation in font styles really intrigued me, and your compositions looked so intricate depending on the letter you were working on.
1. Zapata discusses space in her talk by giving us examples in her life that had space and how it has impacted her work. For example, she talks about how when she was younger, she did dance which helped her developed spatial sensibility and has persisted in her work. she states that ” entering any space is a dance by nature and your interaction with space determines your interaction with the environment. She expounds on her statement by giving a quote from a choreographer that compared dance and architecture similarities in space. She relates it to graphic design by expressing that a blank page is a space.
2. Zapata expresses that her work creating a logo for the “school of Many Questions”. Through modularity it configures individual building blocks that transform into a spiral, which represents the foundational elements that “open the path” to inquiry. In her talk, she said that the logo represents growth and process.
3. One thing that inspired me about Zapata’s work is that she wasn’t afraid to show her interests and other disciplines. To help increase her understanding of typography, Zapata would even use physical media to aid in her comprehension. In the video she expresses how she learned to multiple approaches to iterating on the same concept. I thought that using body movement as a tool for graphic design was very interesting, she uses it to “illustrate typography through motion”. Another statement that stood out to me was when she expressed that a poster isn’t defined by the medium it takes on but rather its ability to communicate.
My Work:
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/Documents/_Rachele%20Riley/teaching/F%202025/ART%20392/Charity%20Bowling/Week%202?csf=1&web=1&e=yL8JJC
For this assignment the world that I chose was “gold”. I experimented with many different fonts but was fonder with the bold fonts. When I think of the word gold i think of something strong and sturdy, but I also think of something precious and fancy, so I tried to use fonts that incorporated both ideas of my thought process.
Hi! I like how you used bolder fonts and I think the way you cropped the images was really nice. I like how I can still tell what letter each one is for most of them and how you still incorporated the feeling of the word “gold”!
Hello Charity! Thank you for sharing your process about how you got to your font choices. It’s interesting how you matched your word with your ideas for your fonts. Great job. I’m excited to see how your final project turns out!
Week 2 Studio:
The word I chose was “rain” and the process was very tedious.
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fr%5Friley%5Funcg%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2F%5FRachele%20Riley%2Fteaching%2FF%202025%2FART%20392%2FChristina%20Kibler%2FWeek%202&ga=1
In her talk “Space An Exploration of Process, Material, and a Cross-Disciplinary Design Approach,” Crystal Zapata talks about space in a way that really stood out to me. She doesn’t see it as just “blank” or “empty,” but as something active that shapes the meaning of her work. It is interesting the way she explains how space can be physical, visual, or even conceptual, and in her design process, it becomes just as important as the text or imagery. This is how she connected with the idea of Graphic Design. It allows her to build rhythm, create balance, and let the eye breathe. It made me realize that what we leave out or leave open can be just as powerful as what we put in.
One of the projects she shared that uses modularity was her system of letterforms made from repeating parts. She demonstrated these modular units could shift, expand, and adapt depending on the format; whether it was in print, digital, or installation.This consistency made me think this was a clever way of showing how design can be structured but also flexible at the same time.
What inspired me most about her talk was her focus on experimentation and process. She doesn’t limit herself to just the traditional tools of graphic design; instead, she draws from dance, collage, sculpture, and even everyday materials. Her work gave me a reminder that creativity can come from anywhere. It encouraged me to be more open in my own design practice.
Love the variation in fonts in addition to cleanliness of the photography work
1. Seeing how Zapata talked about “space,” there are things I probably would not have thought about before. She said her background in dance made her more aware of space, like how movement writes on it. She also compared choreography and design, saying a blank page is its own kind of space. I never really noticed how design could feel like moving through a room. You cannot get the same idea if you only think of design as type and images. It’s more about interaction with space itself. I never really thought of a page that way before, but now it makes a lot of sense.
2. The project she showed with modularity was the logo for the School of Many Questions. She said it used building blocks that made a spiral into a question mark. I thought this was interesting because it could be one whole form or broken apart. It showed learning and growth. You definitely can’t get the same effect if you just make a flat logo. It stood out to me cause it kept feeling like it could change and keep unfolding.
3. What inspired me personally about her talk was how slow she works. She said she spends time moving things around by hand and not rushing. I liked that cause I usually think design is about speed. But she made me realize patience is part of the process. Also, I liked that she uses craft like weaving or collage. You cannot get that raw, handmade feel if everything is only on screen. That experimental quality sticks with me.
Hi Clint,
I was also drawn to Zapata’s handmade and experimental qualities found in her work. I also like how you mentioned that she moves slowly when she is working. I feel like taking your time to work through a project or piece is important and it’s something we are doing now for this current project.
The compositions you made where you cropped into the pixel distressing is very neat. The inverted ones especially start to feel like something more than just a simple letter. Lots of character in those.
Zapata discusses space in her talk through her interests outside of her graphic design practice. Zapata studied the discipline of dance growing up and the way choreography utilizes space inspires her to use through graphic design. The same way dancers experience space through their bodies, Zapata also tries to experience it. In the medium of graphic design, Zapata thinks of the empty paper as space that needs to be embraced and experienced as well. The project she shows to show modularity is a logo for the School of Many Questions. They host workshops on candle making, lamps, and caning. The studio uses craft as a spring board for further studies. The logo uses modularity through many building blocking that create a larger spiral shape subject. This allows us to look at it from one large form or two holistic forms. I enjoy the modularity because it reminds me of her entire work. There is a sense building community, especially in her works with music artist Nick Hakeem. The way she uses a collaboration of art to create her typographic voice is very inspiring. I think it shows her journey as well as the accumulation of said growth. Her work is something that young designers such as my self can take into account.
For the Studio assignment I used the word “warm” I wanted to have letters that were similar but still a healthy dose of variety. I used a lot of sans and fonts that were more “business professional” I wanted to see how I can create geometric and organic shapes from the letters and how a font that is not extremely decorative can bring a more artistic side.
Hi,
I really like your font choices especially the fonts for the letter “m”. I also like how you decide to explore/ be creative with a font that’s sort of on the simple side. I think you did a good job at capturing this idea especially in your framed photos.
I enjoyed the letters you used where you cropped very close. I can’t tell what is the negative space and what isn’t which adds a lot of interest. It might be neat to see the word formed in a way where you only recognize parts of letters like in those.
1. How does Zapata discuss “space” in her talk? How does she relate it to graphic design?
Zapata says that entering a space is inherently a dance and that ones understanding of a space informs their interactions with that environment. Zapata says that a blank page is a space, an environment to be experienced. Similar to how choreographers plan paths through space, the graphic design prepares the space of the page.
2. What is the project that she presents which uses modularity?
The school of many questions project utilized modularity, representing all of the individual components that make up inquiry. Modularity is symbolically treated as a path rather than a construction. Zapata forms a question mark out of modular units exploring the different styles of paths could be used to arrive at the resultant symbol.
3. On a personal note, what inspired you about Zapata’s talk and work?
I enjoyed how Zapata has a common motif of subversion in their work. Interrupting the expected with tiny intrusions of inappropriateness to add visual interest or deliberate meaning such as the case with the 420 Bricktown Sound poster piece. In that same work, the combination of hand drawn and digital media together is a very interesting approach, with very curated graphic design balanced against the very loose hand drawn hands. It feels a legitimately “wrong” decision, but synergizes with Zapata’s ethos of keeping honesty and a stronger physical connection between the subject and the material designed around it.
For the studio I chose the work ‘myth.’ I made a selection of both calligraphic and modern typefaces and worked with basic cropping and changes in orientation to see how I could maximize the way negative space interacts with the flow of forms in unique ways.
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/Es6ybLALvLZFgUprW_Nt7OYBVVsDO063IWpAxkiY05KDdg?e=Wf5Ksf
VIDEO RESPONSE:
1) Zapata mentions how she used to do dance and mentions that choreographers have their own visual system for planning out choreography, which is in and of itself a kind of design. She discusses how for architects, space is where form emerges and is constructed, and how it’s similar to how the blank page is a space for graphic design. She mentions how she will print out her work sometimes to get a better understanding of its form.
2) Zapata used modularity in her project making the logo for The School of Many Questions. She created a question mark that also works as the path leading up to the question mark. The logo works as both one singular form, and two forms joined together.
3) I really enjoy her work. It’s all incredibly creative and unique, and makes me want to just stare and take it all in. It made me really inspired to try and get more creative and out there with my own designs. I especially like the project where she had to make a different poster for the same event over and over again, and how she was able to experiment with so many different designs all for the same topic.
–
PROJECT LINK: https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/EiqmP60TbfREjn2w0Iw-EpcBbL7RwvVKhU9N6qVOeLH7Bg?e=ejhpqZ
My word is “DARK.” I chose 5 of the cropped versions I took to recreate in Illustrator. I found their forms particularly interesting, but I also tried to use a variety of letters and fonts. The fonts I used for my letters in order are: Freckle Face, Akronim, Rubik One, Aguafina Script, Press Start 2P, Ewert, PortagolTC TT, BioRhyme, and Parisienne. I found the square pixel form of the Press Start 2P typeface particularly interesting to crop, as it resulted in forms that weren’t as immediately recognizable as some of the others. I found the experience fun and interesting, and I look forward to experimenting more with these compositions.
Zapata discusses space in her talk at the 2022 typographics festival as the following, space is described as three dimensional, In graphic design a bank page is a space. Zapata studied dance during her childhood which provided her with a spacial sensibility that has stayed with her and persisted in her work as a designer. She says entering space is a form of nature and understanding of space determines you interactions with the environment.
Zapata talks about the project for the logo for the school of many questions a studio and educational platform that uses craft as the foundation for an expanding range of studies uses modularity to configure individual building blocks into a spiral shaped form representing the foundational elements that open up a path on inquiry. Using typography as a image the question mark is the path itself.
In the beginning of the talk Zapata talks about growing up in the dance world, I too grew up dancing. With that dance background she talks about choreography in relation to the page and how that relates to her design work. I relate and feel like planning a peice or project feels very similar to choreographing a peice. I love hearing from people in the design field with dance backgrounds.
Studio:
I worked with the word “SING” with S,I,N,G being the letters I used. It was quite an easy, straightforward process to this assignment. Though because of how many parts were to the assignment, I needed to work on my time management. As for what I did during the process, I chose a lot of custom fonts I wanted to use for this assignment, but included some pre-installed fonts for the letters too. I played around with the 2 Ls and the paper, experimented, and tried to see what angles and parts cropped I liked the most. The same thing was for the making the compositions: a whole bunch of experimentation and playing around, especially with the reverse colors. I will say, this was probably the most annoying and tedious part. It was worth it in the end though, cause I really like how they turned out.
Link to my project:
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/Ereoo2XMv3xFqaUsRgleHu4Bzs-x3DLTYBQvUn8nyhI-qQ?e=hcVQEK
Hi Clint! I love that you chose the word sing! I think that’s really playful, and a fun word to explore because of the e=amount of how much we connect that word with an action, I was excited to see what you did! I love your explorations, I would love to see you draw the bridge between forms we associate with sound, music, performance etc, such as fonts that make you think of the stage or maybe a time in history that your sining relates to. Awesome work!
For my studio project I chose the word “zesty” to work with. I used the fonts Herculanum, Brush Script MT, Comic Sans MS, Copperplate, Luminari, Patrick Hand SC, Phosphate, SignPainter, and Trattatello.
Here is a link to my work:
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/Eob0gBDg_NxJtnDF1B1SIZMB0P08Bi5acD9E0qnNfREtZQ?e=7DwNYE
WEEK 2 WORK LINK
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/Documents/_Rachele%20Riley/teaching/F%202025/ART%20392/Chris%20Pierce/WEEK%202?csf=1&web=1&e=MuxeKL
Zapata discusses space by relating it to her experience of dance, which she studied during her childhood. This provided her a spatial sensibility that stuck with her until now as a designer. She states that entering any space is a sort of dance by nature and that one’s understanding of space determines their interactions with the environment. The space in which the choreography takes place is considered a blank page the same way a blank page is considered space in graphic design. Zapata relates this to her process as a designer, where she moves elements around in space and pays attention to how her works interact with each other. The project she presents that uses modularity is a logo she worked on for the school of many questions. The logo uses modularity to configure individual building blocks into a spiral-shaped form that represents growth and process. What inspired me most about Zapata’s talk and work is how she really goes in depth in understanding her creative process. I think that the more work an artist makes, the more they understand themselves. Zapata does a great job explaining this and not being afraid of creating things that are messy. Through her exploration, you can tell she works with a range of mediums and always finds different ways to combine different elements together, which I think is really inspiring.
I am working with the word “silk,” and the process for this week’s assignment wasn’t too bad. I had fun finding different fonts and finding ways to frame each letter.
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/EY2Wh9pkLt5DitOPT3ro7NoB3VAIIfMfKto2uoU_3IAszw?e=cb0QQB
Hi Andrea! I love what you said about the more work an artist does, the more they could understand themselves, I think that’s a special way to find yourself and your intimate personal ways of the process!
Zapata starts off the talk by briefly discussing her background in dance and her relationship with space as a creative concept. She explains that choreographers have their own “systems for movement notations to illustrate a sequence of positions and motions.” In other words, the dance floor (space) is their blank canvas. In a similar way, a designer’s blank page is just empty space that will ultimately involve the body (like in dance) or the environment (like in architecture). Ultimately, she compares design elements, like the “hierarchy of imagery versus information,” to a dance in a physical space.
She explains that she utilizes modularity in the project where she was asked to create a logo for a creative school. She used repeating blocks that she created as building materials for the rest of the logo’s form. These blocks become a sort of “brush” for her to construct the question mark form and the rest of the shapes/textures that make up the logo.
As for me, I love the tactile, analog nature of Zapata’s works. Even her digital projects feel so hand-drawn and real, having so much heart to them. Her idea of design as a dance shines very clearly through her work, and I especially enjoy how she balances simple/free canvas elements with typographic placement.
Studio link: https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/EqonujGMWb1PsXmAkiMhY8UBSXVyV_-_f83Hd42Gvx4PFA?e=cD1QbD
I’m working with the word “BREW,” and the process was pretty satisfying. I enjoyed experimenting with different fonts and perspectives, of which I landed on Minion Variable Concept Italic Bold (R), Milky Juice (W), and Modern No. 20 (B and E).
Hi Callie,
I appreciate the typefaces you used and how they all have strong bold lines, and how focused on cropping tightly to create almost a zoomed in version of your letters. I also like the font you chose for the “W”. The curves and the contrast of the black and white create an interesting composition.
Hi Callie! I also found the handmade aspect of Zapata’s work to be super intriguing. Her correlation and understanding of real world objects coupled with digital design knowledge made for a lot of interesting pieces. Great job!
1. Zapata discusses “space” in her talk by mentioning space in dance by the use of movement and filling space with the body. In terms of graphic design “space” is a blank page. Zapata mentions that the empty page is an experience.
2. The project she presents that uses modularity is The School of Many Questions logo project. The use of building blocks forms the idea of inquiry. She uses a question mark to represent growth, question, and movement.
3. I admire the poster designs of Zapata in general but particularly the ones she created each week for Bricktown Sound. I think it was a great way to see her range of design work, and a fun way to put design into different disciplines and interests. I can relate to her in that sense because I enjoy designing posters and animations for fashion and music, which are some of my personal interests. I also enjoyed her mentioning that she likes to use physical material and physical motion in addition to digital aspects of graphic design. The posters mentioned previously include aspects of mixed media that I like to include in my work as well. Overall, Zapata appears to have a lot of fun in her work and it really shows through her attention to subtle detail, color, and the way she describes each piece.
For the assignment this week, I chose the word “Star” . I liked that it was an even amount of letters and each letter contains various graphic dynamics. In terms of typeface selections, I wanted to pick out a variety of different ones while still including serif and sans serif. I enjoy the elements of handwritten typefaces and angular, bold typefaces as well. While photographing, I focused on areas where certain lines and curves of letters meet. I also liked focusing close up into the letter itself. After photographing I put my favorites into Illustrator. I wanted to invert the colors but had trouble doing that with the clipping mask, so all the letters are black.
Link: https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fr%5Friley%5Funcg%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2F%5FRachele%20Riley%2Fteaching%2FF%202025%2FART%20392%2FRuthi%20Temple%2FWeek%202&ga=1
1. How does Zapata discuss “space” in her talk? How does she relate it to graphic design?
Zapata had studied dance in the past and first compares how choreography has its own systems for movement notations to create a sequence of positions and motions. In relation to graphic design, she compares a blank page to space, and the composition that is built in graphic design is like the forms of movement that are added. Even in her own projects, she’ll print them out onto pages or as separate elements and touch and move them around. In doing so, she states that it breaks the barrier of being confined to a screen, as it opens up the way of seeing.
2. What is the project that she presents which uses modularity?
She had created a logo for “The School of Many Questions,” a studio and educational platform that uses the form of crafting as the foundation of various forms of studies. She incorporates their method of teaching and its materials as well as the process of learning, in relation to a question mark. In the form of a question mark, Zapata takes its form and configures it into blocks, representing the process of how multiple building blocks can lead to “a path of inquiry.” She also utilizes the motion of the spiral shape, where the question marks become the path/paths, representing the studio’s aspirations for growth and process.
3. On a personal note, what inspired you about Zapata’s talk and work?
What I find very cool about Zapata’s work is how she uses multiple mediums to apply graphic design and typography. She goes beyond the simple structure and material of a poster and searches for new materials that help contribute if not relate to the meaning of the design, such as an envelope, which is also commonly used as a form of communication. Her work is also incredibly experimental, as she plays with the structure of typefaces and even utilizes her body as a tool to illustrate typography through motion. Her talk and works served as a reminder to myself to really explore the physicality and structure of graphic design and typography, and to consider what methods and senses that I should begin to incorporate next into my own work.
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/Documents/_Rachele%20Riley/teaching/F%202025/ART%20392/Cindy%20Pham/Week%202/rain%20illustrator?csf=1&web=1&e=ybVuBY
I chose to work with the word “rain,” as I wanted to focus on the curves and fluidity of each individual letter. I used more serif than sans-serif fonts as I wanted to experiment with the perspective, angles, space, and legibility of the letters and how they all communicate in relation to each other as a whole. For the next assignment, though, I’ll probably try to integrate and experiment more cursive fonts, as after I finished this one, I hardly used any without noticing :/
Hi! I really like how your letters turned out and I think the way you framed them came out unique. I can tell the fonts you chose were interesting, my favorites are probably the fourth and eighth page!
Hello Cindy! I also chose the word “rain,” and I think it will be interesting to see how our projects turn out in the differences and maybe even the similarities. I would agree with you, though. I also wanted to explore the way each letter flows in my project, like comparing it to raindrops. Thank you for sharing!
1. How does Zapata discuss “space” in her talk?
How does she relate it to graphic design? Zapata previous experience in dance transferred over to her works in graphic design. Entering any space is a sort of dance by nature and one’s understanding of space determines your interactions with the environments. Choreographers have their own systems of moving in space. In graphic design, the blank page is the space while in dance the floor is the physical space.
2. What is the project that she presents which uses modularity?
Zapata describes her modularity approach to design as a complex yet simple one. Researching, interpreting then designing afterwards iterating the work. Zapata does talk a lot about the process of breaking subjects down into their elemental form. A part of the breakdown of Zapata’s work would also be here multimedia constructing building. Zapata likes combining her skills in drawing, photography, and moving during the creative planning. Sometimes Zapata makes physical prints to help decipher the work. Zapata often incorporates physical items and movement within her design.
3. On a personal note, what inspired you about Zapata’s talk and work?
Zapatas pacing within her workflow inspired me. Zapata talked about how she often meditates throughout the process of brainstorming projects. In Design I plan on being calm and present in the moment while also absorbing the prompts materials before starting a project. A single quote from Zapatas work also changed my perspective on design. The quote is “A poster is not defined by the medium that it takes on but rather its ability to communicate.” The artistic changed between working with multiple mediums to make a posters design look cool.
Week 2 Studio:
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/ElzJUUdpcAhOpfpu960kI0gBTKPKNIGxXH77szs9JZEBzA?e=eXaeJY
1. How does Zapata discuss “space” in her talk?
How does she relate it to graphic design? Zapata previous experience in dance transferred over to her works in graphic design. Entering any space is a sort of dance by nature and one’s understanding of space determines your interactions with the environments. Choreographers have their own systems of moving in space. In graphic design, the blank page is the space while in dance the floor is the physical space.
2. What is the project that she presents which uses modularity?
Zapata describes her modularity approach to design as a complex yet simple one. Researching, interpreting then designing afterwards iterating the work. Zapata does talk a lot about the process of breaking subjects down into their elemental form. A part of the breakdown of Zapata’s work would also be here multimedia constructing building. Zapata likes combining her skills in drawing, photography, and moving during the creative planning. Sometimes Zapata makes physical prints to help decipher the work. Zapata often incorporates physical items and movement within her design.
3. On a personal note, what inspired you about Zapata’s talk and work?
Zapatas pacing within her workflow inspired me. Zapata talked about how she often meditates throughout the process of brainstorming projects. In Design I plan on being calm and present in the moment while also absorbing the prompts materials before starting a project. A single quote from Zapatas work also changed my perspective on design. The quote is “A poster is not defined by the medium that it takes on but rather its ability to communicate.” The artistic changed between working with multiple mediums to make a posters design look cool.
Week 2 Studio:
https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/ElzJUUdpcAhOpfpu960kI0gBTKPKNIGxXH77szs9JZEBzA?e=eXaeJY
1. How does Zapata discuss “space” in her talk? How does she relate it to graphic design?
Zapata first talks about how she studied dance in her childhood and how from that, she developed a spatial sensibility that stuck with her and her work. She says that our understanding of space is determined by our interactions with the environment, she compares it to a dance.
She says that in graphic design, a blank page is a space.
2. What is the project that she presents which uses modularity?
The project she presents that uses modularity is one where she had to make a logo for the school of many questions. The logo uses building blocks and forms a spiral.
3. On a personal note, what inspired you about Zapata’s talk and work?
First, I was inspired by the posters she shows that she created for a biweekly dance party. Each poster looks so different compositionally even though the subject is the same. Zapata discussing her process also inspired me to take my time with my work and experiment more.
Week 2 Folder: https://uncg-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/r_riley_uncg_edu/EplmjK1UccJBn7ZcWqOGtnsBhnqKR4MkYkpBeONSW2oNFQ?e=iOWV89
While I am a bit behind and have not finished my studio work, here is my discussion reply;
1.
Zapata discusses space as something she can explore disciplines that exist in a in a three dimensional space. She then talks about how she studied dance throughout her childhood which contributes to the way she considers spatial sensitivity, as well as how that stuck with her as a designer entering a space as a sort of “dance” of sorts. Zapata also states that “One’s understanding of space determines your interactions with the environment.” Which I found interesting.
2.
The project Zapata worked on that dealt with modularity was the logo for the “School of Many Questions” Logo. This was a project where an almost pixelated collection of forms that are all connected, spiral and the form extends to form a question mark. The gif is rather simple, but manages to effectively push the mind to think about connections such as a spiral being associated with the idea of a continuous never ending cycle or form. I found it interesting because it reminded me a hypnotist.
3.
What inspired me about Zapata’s work was how she immediately was able to connect her passion and ideas to something that she was rooted in and exploring from such a young age such as dancing, I totally see that in her work as it feels dynamic, moving, and in motion wether the graphic is actually moving or not.