MIT course: MAS 964: Expressive Typography and New Media


	January 1997 Lynn Basas Twig Gallemore Will Johnson's project Jesse Koontz's project Reed Kram Ifung Lu Drew Miller's project May Tse's project Yufei Wang January 1996 Ho Yin Au MinPont Chien's project Henry Chiu Peter Cho's project Elise Co's project Scott Faber Teresa Huang Joseph Reagle	Expressive Typography and New Media This was a course in MIT's Media Arts and Sciences department (which is the academic part of the Media Lab) during the IAP (Independent Activities Period... a wintersession-type month) of 1996 and 1997. Students ranged from undergraduates to graduates, from various majors. We met 3 times a week and critiqued every student's project. Each student created an experimental "book" using Vladimir Nabokov's short story "Signs and Symbols", by using the nature of reading on the computer to create expressive typography and reading structures that were metaphoric to some theme or themes in the story. In this way, it is hoped that the action of "reading" each "book" brings insights into the story. It is assumed that the reader will have already read the story, and that the student is creating a "book" that will aide the reader in further exploring the work of literature. Students' projects range from experiments in HTML, creating website "books," to activating typography with motion and color using Macromedia Director (these require the Shockwave plug-in). The results have opened up a lot of creative and sometimes very simple ways that typography in a computer medium can expose meanings and reveal new ways to look at literature. The names of those who finished the class are at left; they are linked to the student's website and/or project where the link is available. (Note to any of my former students: If you are on that list and I don't have any links for you, please email me (infoplease at my name dot com) and we can get your work up on this site.) Angelynn Grant Recommended Books I'm often asked to recommend books about graphic design. I have been reviewing books for the past 10 years for Communication Arts and for the past 2 years for Amazon.com. Below are some of the best of those new books that have come out in this time period, plus several timeless classics (some of which may be out of print -- scour the used bookstores for them, it will be worth the effort). This list is long and I will eventually move it to a page of its own; but for now, for the convenience of the many visitors to this page, I'll put it here. I've added links, when available, to a page on Amazon's site where you can order the book, if you wish. Those marked with * are especially good for anyone new to graphic design. Albers, Josef Interaction of Color MIT Press * Bain, Peter - Blackletter: Type and National Identity Princeton Architectural Press Bringhurst, Robert - The Elements of Typographic Style Hartley & Marks * Broos, Kees - Dutch Graphic Design: A Century MIT Press Carter, Rob - Typographic Design: Form and Communication Van Nostrand Reinhold Carter, Sebastian - Twentieth-Century Type Designers Lund Hymphries Publishers Cohen, Arthur - Bayer: The Complete Work MIT Press Craig, James - Thirty Centuries of Graphic Design Watson Guptill Craig, James - Designing with Type Watson Guptill Dowding, Geoffrey - Finer Points in the Spacing and Arrangement of Type Hartley & Marks Friedman, Mildred - Graphic Design in America (Walker Art Center) Abrams Gates, David - Type Watson Guptill Gerstner, Karl - Compendium for Literates MIT Press Gill, Eric - An Essay on Typography Godine Goldstein, Barbara - Arts & Architecture: The Entenza Years MIT Press Heller, Steven - Typology Chronicle Hendel, Richard - On Book Design Yale Hiebert, Kenneth J. - Graphic Design Sources Yale Hillier, Bevis - The Style of the Century 1900-1980 E P Dutton Hochuli, Jost - Designing books: practice and theory Hyphen Press Hofmann, Armin - Graphic Design Manual Van Nostrand Reinhold Kepes, Gyorgy - Language of Vision Paul Theobald (OUP?) Kepes, Gyorgy - Education of Vision George Braziller (OUP?) Kepes, Gyorgy - The Nature of Art and Motion George Braziller (OUP?) Kinross, Robin - Modern Typography Hyphen Press Kunz, Willi - Typography Verlag Niggli AG Livingston, A and I - Encyclopedia of Graphic Design + Designers Thames + Hudson Lawson, Alexander - Printing Types: An Introduction Beacon Lawson, Alexander - Anatomy of a Typeface Godine * Lupton, Ellen & Miller, J. Abbott - Design, Writing, Research Kiosk McLean, Ruari - Jan Tschichold: Typographer Godine * McLean, Ruari - The Thames + Hudson Manual of Typography Thames + Hudson * McLean, Ruari - Jan Tschichold: A Life in Typography Princeton Architectural Press Meggs, Philip - A History of Graphic Design Van Nostrand Reinhold * Moholy-Nagy, Laszlo - Vision in Motion Paul Theobald (OUP?) Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl - Experiment in Totality MIT Press Morison, Stanley - Tally of Types Godine Neuhart, John - Eames Design Abrams Pentagram Partners - Pentagram: The Compendium Chronicle Potter, Norman - What is a Designer: Things. Places. Messages. Hyphen Press Purvis, Alston - Dutch Graphic Design 1918-1945 Van Nostrand Reinhold Rand, Paul - A Designer’s Art Yale * Rand, Paul - Design, Form + Chaos Yale Rand, Paul - From Lascaux To Brooklyn Yale Remington, R Roger - Nine Pioneers of American Graphic Design MIT Press * Rose, Cynthia - Design After Dark Thames + Hudson Rosen, Ben - Type Van Nostrand Reinhold Ruder, Emil - Typography Hastings House * Ruegg, Ruedi - Typography (publisher?) * Smeijers, Fred - Counterpunch Hyphen Press Spencer, Herbert - Pioneers of Modern Typography MIT Press * Tanchis, Aldo - Bruno Munari: Design as Art MIT Press Tschichold, Jan - The New Typography University of California Press Thompson, Bradbury - The Art of Graphic Design Yale * Links Check out Juan Martinez's Waxwing page on Nabokov. He has some interesting quotes and links. Also, required viewing is Zembla, an extensive site dedicated to Nabokov and his work (I apologize for not adding this link here until now). Art & Culture maintains a great site (beautifully designed) for precisely those things, art and culture, and they have an execellent page devoted to Nabokov. In April 1999, CNN added a very thorough commemoration of the centennial of Nabokov's birth, Beyond Lolita: Rediscovering Nabokov on his birth centennial, to their website. It includes a pictorial of his life, drawings of butterflies he made for his wife Vera, a quiz on the first lines of his books, well written articles and a lot more. Another interesting site with expressive typography is Vispo**... "Dedicated to life, poetry and the ABC's of a new art." ::: angelynngrant.com ::: teaching ::: ::: email: infoplease at my name dot com :::