[Unnie Talk] Why Korea?

Hello my friends! As you might have seen in the previous posts, I shared that I am starting a podcast project just to share my voice and experience in studying in Korea. So here is my first episode titled “Why Korea” were I share the story behind choosing Korea to study abroad. I hope you enjoy it and share it with your friends who want to study here.

Unnie Talk Podcast

An Essay on Typography by Eric Gill

Design Book Notes Series

An Essay on Typography by Eric Gill

The Book in 2 Sentences

1. It talks about the unspoken rules of book printing in short essays by Eric Gill one of the pioneers of modern typography.

2. The book is divided into 9 short essays about the challenges that the typesetter was facing during the industrial movement were Eric Gill shares his arguments on what makes a type a good one, what is the designer role and how the creation of the machine has affected the craft of typesetting.

Impressions

I was reading this book while studying Megg's History of Graphic Design and it was interesting to understand the effect of the creation of printers and how it shifted the rule of the typesetter. Before the designer was involved in all aspects of developing type and printing books.

I think what made this book fun to read is how Eric Gill was roasting everyone. He had such high standards and arguments about design and what makes a type a good one. One of his argument that I hooked me to continue reading the book was his definition of an artist. He said and I quote:

"We affirm that the word Art means skill, that a work of art is a work of skill, and an artist one who is skillful at making things. It would appear therefore that all things made are works of art, for skill is required in the making of anything. And in spite of industrialism this remains true. But, as we have said, the ordinary workman has been reduced to the level of a mere tool used by someone else. However much skill he may have in his fingers and conscientiousness in his mind, he can no longer be regarded as an artist, because his skill is not that of a man making things; he is simply a tool used by a designer and the designer is alone the artist."

How I Discovered It

I discovered An Essay on Typography by reading about typography and the industrialism era in Europe in Graphic Design History A Critical Guide.

Who Should Read It?

I believe that if you are a graphic design student you should read the book to understand the shift in typography caused by the invention of printing and mass production.

However, if you are interested in typography and book design then you defiantly must read this book. Eric Gill shares his knowledge on the process of printing a book from choosing the right size of type to the right size of the book in a very logical and simple explanation.

My Top 3 Quotes

• Typography, like house building & sanitary engineering, is one of necessary arts - a thing to be done well.

• Our argument here is not that industrialism has made things worse, but that it has inevitably them different; and that whereas before industrialism there was one world, now there are two.

• before the divorce of the designer from the workman, before the workman had become intellectually irresponsible and the designer technically incapable, show a liveliness and variety otherwise unattainable.

Denotation of A Graphic Designer

"Eman, we need to break the artist in you and build a designer"

When you have work experience for more than 4 years in design and then get back to learning design you feel a bit arrogant about your skills and abilities. Yes, I said arrogant and not confident cause there is a fine line between the two.

Little did I know that I have a huge way to walk and learn from. Graphic Design 2 was taught by a famous and well-known Korean Graphic Designer, a professor that shifted my way of thinking about design.

I still remember his words when we had a one-on-one meeting to improve my skills, ways of seeing, and thinking about design. "Eman, we need to break the artist in you and build a designer".

In the beginning, I did not understand what he meant by that. I am not a designer? Then what was I doing in the past years? Here is where we go back to the fine line between confidence and arrogance.

Week by week and class by class I started to understand what he meant when I let go of my arrogance and know-it-all hat. Listening to his feedback not only about my work but how he advised all the other students with me I started to see the development in my work.

Our professor told us at the end of each class "You are not people who create beautiful imagery, you are designers who think and create solutions for your clients. Bringing them something different and unique."

Here is a question for you: What makes a graphic designer?

A sneak peak to what we worked on during the course.

1. Denotation Project:

Starting Point

End of the Project

2. Connotation Project

Starting Point

End of the Project