For my DTC 336 Design & Composition class, our first project was to create a dynamic poster design using Adobe Illustrator CS6 for an upcoming event in the Washington State University Visiting Writer Series. The event features three innovative contemporary poets at a reading titled “Experimental Poetry in Action.” We were asked to only use typographic elements (the text for the event provided at the end of this handout) in our design to highlight the idea of experimental writing.

 

The goal was to make a composition that draws the viewer in and captures the spirit of the event, but also employ our knowledge of how letters, words, and texts can function as point, line, and plane to achieve a balanced composition. We were to create three original designs, and ultimately choose one we felt was our strongest design. From that, we were to add one single letter that would be emphasized in the design and work well with the design as a whole. 

 

Objectives:

• Understand the relationship between point, line, and plane

• Recognition that all shapes can be regarded in an abstract sense when a composition is evaluated in terms of visual language

• Begin to establish sensitivity to letterforms and typefaces

• Sensitivity to balance and positive/negative space through change of scale, position/orientation, and framing/cropping of forms