ITAP; week 5, Principle 1 - Legibility

Principle 1 Legibility

The legibility of a layout, a form of textual information, or the use of colour co ordination, are of key importance when trying to clearly communicate an idea, a message or information to an audience, making it understandable through its clarity. The legibility is an insurance that the product, textual information, or colour co ordination is easily understandable to an audience, often leaving the design basis of the piece which is being communicated, to be quite simplistic apposed to leaving a visual impact, therefore making the design features and key elements less memorable because of the minimalist design.
   However, some pieces are made to illegible to create a visual impact, making the idea of aesthetics more interesting for the target audience. Elements such as the layout, the font size, use of colour or overlaying of textual information over imagery is often deliberate and intentional to change the legibility to produce a more creative approach when designing particular pieces. In addition to this, also the illegibility of a text can be often apparent to create a contrast to the imagery that it is accompanying, for example, advertising about people with hearing difficulties and using very small typography, thus enhancing the impact of the advertisment.
   David Carson is a prime example of one artist who deliberately uses illegible design element within his pieces, this causes the audience to question his work and look more deeply within each piece to depict the meaning and the understanding of the typography which has been distorted, or combined with visual photographic images.

 

   Examples of Carson’s work as shown above clearly demonstrate the illegibility of his work. With his mass use of techniques and formulation of layout, causing distortion to the text as the use of colour clashes with the outlining of the imagery which has been used as a background layer. Further more the combination of layers in both foreground and background causes the clarity of the piece to be some what vague, however because of the artistic nature of this piece it creates visual impact intriguing the audience to look closer at the imagery to determine what the pieces message/meaning is.
   His style of his “grunge typography” has become some what of an influence upon other graphic designers, and demonstrates the idea that legibility is often not essential when designing a piece, as distortion of visuals generating more audience attention through impact.

   Examples such as newspapers are prime pieces which demonstrate legibility, giving a clear structure working in columns of three to give condensable and digestible amounts of information in an organised manner.
    Despite the fact that the 9pt font appears very small and can often be difficult to read, this is the legible font size for a newspaper, also there is a consistent use of font which runs through out the news paper, showing the flow of the articles, and furthermore making it easy to understand due to the clarity of the typeface. Finally the use of colour within the structure of this piece makes it easy to understand, and it is clearly visible the messages which are being communicated due to the standard black typeface.

Things To Consider;
   Due to our group magazine being created of a more art based aesthetic, we could consider the influence of typographers to create visually impacting pieces which are illegible for effect, to give variety and variation to our completed piece. However, for the pieces of text which are to be used for and article, as a group we should consider the idea of legibility, this will allow the viewer ability to read the articles with ease, also using a column structure so that the layout is clearly structured, and can not cause confusion.