website: www.joneschijoff.com

When you first open the page it takes a moment to load this grid, which first appears as a sketch of a brain. When you drag your mouse across the different boxes the sketch only magnifies until you click somewhere else bringing you back to the large boxed sketch of a brain. Next you notice the arrow….usually on a website that has some sort of graphic opening this means to enter the site or at least to take you somewhere new. Not the case. Clicking on the arrow flipped the boxes over and gave you these individual pictures. At that point an arrow appears on the other side of the graphics which only takes you back to the sketch of the brain. One could spend a very frustrating couple minutes going back and forth with these arrows wondering if the page has finished loading or will provide new information.

When you click on the pictures they are magnified with a circular arrow in the bottom left corner. When you click on that the picture is flipped over with some sort of tidbit about the company and the photo itself. For the average internet surfer who isn’t familiar with this company it would take three layers of clicks before they could get any actual/textual information. Even then, you may only get “Mantra Kitesurfingbar Simplicity is key. The MANTRA utilizes a co-molded polymer body with porting that allows for any debri to be flushed through. Water, salt, sun and sand may sound like fun but to a product its not.” This still offers no tangible information. The site offers no contact information, no mission statement or any information on the nature of the business. All in all- bad.

Good website: http://craigslist.org

It’s hard to have an ultra-modernist design when you have to pack SOOO much information into on page but I think that given volume of information craigslist needs to provide on its opening page, it does a phenomenal job. It isn’t littered with graphics and the many search categories are clearly organized making the use of this site simple to the newest of users.

New York City’s craigslist is clearly divided by borough along the top of the screen which you can use to narrow your search at any step in the process. You can search for different services in many very clear ways: 1. Along the side bar there is a search box with a drop down menu of various service categories you can search in. 2. There are 3 columns divided with large section headers (Personal, Housing, Jobs, for sale etc.) with sub categories listed beneath them.

Once you have chosen your search category you are given a simple list with hypertext links. Each link is the title page, and generally includes information on price, location and whether or not there is a picture in the link. There is always a box at the top of the screen for the user to adjust their search criteria. Along the top left corner of the window is a list of the criteria you have chosen. For example: new york craigslist> manhattan> for sale/wanted> furniture- by owner. Each of those items is hypertextual and can link to an entirely different layer of searches.

The option of posting to craigslist, accessing your account, help, FAQ, abuse and answers to legal questions is clearly accessable in the top right corner of the craigslist homepage.

Overall I would say that craigslist is a highly manageable and usable database. It’s easy to navigate and find what you need and they provide all the information you need about them/ their services up front. The site is not littered with advertisements or pop ups just clear, hypertextual information.

midterm

I chose to develop a typeface using the word “unnoticed” from William Carlos William’s poem, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. I thought the strongest message of the poem was one of the inconsequential nature of life. Icarus, like every arrogant child, ignores the wise advice of his father and flies too close to the sun ending in his own death. In Brueghel’s depiction of this Greek myth, as described by Williams, a busy world keeps working, Icarus’s death unnoticed. This story is universal and because of that becomes obsolete. Every child ignores their parents advice out of youthful pride and ignorance to the point of cliché. Because this concept is so unconsciously understood it goes unnoticed just like Icarus.

William Carlos Williams was an imagist. Imagism rests on three basic principles. First, a direct treatment of the thing being described whether subjective or objective. Second to use no word that doesn’t contribute to the presentation. Third to treat the verse like a musical rhythmic phrase but not to constrict it with the steady beat of a metronome. The imagism poetic movement valued precision of of imagery over sharp language rejecting sentiment.

I chose to sculpt letters out of wire and photograph them on top of natural-toned feathers. Just as Icarus falling from the sky went unnoticed I think that metal is such a fundamental building block of our world it too goes unnoticed in many settings. This goes along with the themes of direct treatment and lack of sentiment because of wire’s universal presence and its lack of emotional value. I chose to photograph the wire letters on a bed of feathers to maintain the natural atmosphere from Brueghel’s painting.

Equinox:
The font for Equinox gym is simple, sanserif font with even thickness and density to the strokes. The shoulders and bowls of the rounded letters are symmetrical and equally sized from letter to letter. The letters are also evenly spaced apart adding to the legibility of the word. The letters are colored in a sort of yin-yang style dividing at the center letter, I. this adds a feeling of balance and symmetry associated with the name which includes part of the word, “equal.” All these feelings one gets from looking at the title further the efforts of the business itself. It is a New York City gym where people go to get healthy, take yoga and relax in saunas; all things that add to ones own feelings of physical balance and feelings of weighted symmetry.

The cultural and literal suggestions from the name, m&m itself connote sweetness, childishness, and playfulness. The text reflects this by having organic rounded bowls and shoulders. Each ‘m’ is the same serif typeface encased in a large representation of an m&m candy giving each ‘m’ even spacing from the other. The letters themselves have uniform stroke weight and are very legible. Furthermore, each giant m&m is spinning on its axis making each different colored m&m visible from a different location at each moment further suggesting a certain playfulness that goes along with the candy.

This sign has a graphic serif font. The decorative style doesn’t detract from the legibility, it enhances it. The letters are equally dense with consistent stroke widths. The rounded spiraling serifs at each letters joint and end suggest the artistic flare of the dramatic arts. The rounded organic lines of the serifs and of the letters themselves further enhances the fact that an herb is part of the title of the theater.

Polonia Polish Restaurant is one of those staples of the East Village that is always open, you always walk by, and NEVER see anyone inside. I’ve lived near this restaurant for a year and not until the past month or so ever noticed what it was called. The font is awkward, tacky and abrasive. The pointed serifs make it difficult to read. The warmth of the red-lit letters combine with the large serifs make the letters seem much closer together than they really are. The black background seeps through the letters in awkward and uneven ways given the geometric or organic shape of the letters. The font is also very inconsistent. It has the letters O, P, and a which normally would all have rounded edges. Only the P maintains this circular shape while the O’s and the a have been given jagged, pointy serifs along the curves. All in all, the letters are awkward and inconsistent, much like the restaurant’s appearance itself.

Caracas is a very successful East Village arepas bar and restaurant; this isn’t relected in the typography of their sign. The name of the business is one word however the sign has it divided in two making it confusing and relatively illegible. While the letters have even strokes and similar curvature, they are all slightly different making the name seem further disjointed. There are two different styles for the letter A. one

makes the letter appear backwards and awkward to serve a graphical purpose connecting it with the C while the third A is normal. The two C’s are also different. One has a decorative pattern filling the bowl and a small serif coming from its back making the name further unbalanced. The letters are awkwardly connected making the spacing inconsistent as well.

Amato Opera House was a small opera run by a married couple on Bowery st. of East Village. If you look at the whole white building as the picture plane the placement of the sign is awkward and imbalanced. The title is on the bottom third of the plane defying the rule of thirds or any comfortable view for the building’s audience. The letters are densly packed together with uneven thickness in strokes. The dramatic serifs make the lettering seem tight and difficult to read. Because the serifs are much thicker than the strokes of the rest of the letters they add weight creating a top and bottom line that seems run along the words horizontally.

Design Project 1

The following 6 images are silhouettes copied from a photo of the Beatles. The different arrangements are meant to represent: anger, loneliness, serenity, business, growth and intimacy.

Here is the original image: