From the course: Graphic Design Foundations: Ideas, Concepts, and Form
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Expressive typography
From the course: Graphic Design Foundations: Ideas, Concepts, and Form
Expressive typography
- Type doing double duty works best when it isn't too forced. As we saw previously, a lowercase h that resembles the roof of a house is clever and appears effortless. That doesn't mean that all typographic ideas need to follow the straight and narrow, sans serif, minimalist route. Expressive typography is another approach to using type to communicate an idea. These are forms that might be less rigid and more elaborate, or they can be hand-drawn and fluid. It's the difference between a minimal black suit and a plaid shirt. Let's start with an example from Herb Lubalin using an image of a man with a beard where the type below is unnecessary. For a book on beards, Lubalin crafted letter forms that become the beard. Forms ask the viewer to imagine the word as an image. Lubalin's brilliant skill with the drawing and shape of the letter forms makes this solution so successful. When CBS wanted an advertisement that…