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<p>Illustrated Book of Quotes</p> 08.25.2005

As an exercise in the illustrative qualities of type, we were given the task of creating an illustrated book of quotes.

Client

n/a

Description

Typography involves so much more than point size, leading, columns, and hyphenation. Type has an illustrative quality to it, in addition to the rudimentary qualities we often associate with it. This project is an attempt to play around with the illustrative qualities of type to convey emotion and reinforce the mood of written material.

The quote I chose for my part in the project comes from a song named “Umi Says” by the hip hop artist Mos Def (specifically, the song is from his album titled Black on Both Sides):

I don't wanna write this down I wanna tell you how I feel right now I don't wanna take no time to write this down I wanna tell you how I feel right now Tomorrow may never come For you or me Life is not promised Tomorrow may never show up For you and me This life is not promised I ain't no perfect man I'm trying to do, the best that I can, With what it is I have I ain't no perfect man I'm trying to do, the best that I can, With what it is I have

I chose this quote because of its relevance to my life at the time. Essentially, I’m not the perfect person that I see broadcasted on TV or in the magazines that adorn the shelves of bookstores all across the country. I have flaws that I am not afraid to admit to, and in light of these flaws I still try to do the best that I can when it comes to living my life, doing my work, helping others, and being true to my word.

The middle verse of the quote (“Tomorrow may never come, for you or me life is not promised”) also reflects my desire to not waste any time wallowing in pity or fear or hatred. In order to progress in life, I think it is essential to maintain a positive outlook on life and not to worry about the negative things that exist in the world. Since “life is not promised”, it makes no sense to waste it worrying about what could have been. Instead, life should be spent achieving what you know you are capable of.

The other quotes were provided by classmates. I found that as the quotes became longer, it was harder to do ‘alternative’ types of typographical manipulation on them, and in one instance I gave up on attempting to do something creative, and decided to rely on the design of one particular typeface to get the point of the quote across (as opposed to using many different typefaces as I did in the other designs). I tried my best to vary the content of the designs while putting in just enough elements (“title” heading and “written by” subheading) to reinforce a common theme throughout each design. This consistency was assisted by the use of similar colors & identical paper (a parchment derivative that I created in Photoshop), so although each page has its own unique design, each page is still related to one another.

Tools Used

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe InDesign

Samples

Painter's Song

Umi Says (I ain't no perfect man)

Trees