Project. Process Poster

Purpose. To design a lucid description of a particular process using the vehicle of the poster. To further refine aesthetic abilities in the typographic structuring of information. To explore the inter-relationship of typography and photography. To consider the dynamic use of space in relation to format. To explore the possibilities for typographic variation while maintaining maximum clarity as your primary goal.

Assignment. This two–part senior level problem deals with the clear typographic structuring of information in describing a specific process. Research and analysis result in a distillation of essential steps for a given process. Emphasis is placed upon semantic clarity with the simultaneous goal of exploring and understanding space. The design process includes thumbnail investigations and an expansive range of typographic morphology, using the Macintosh computer as the primary tool. Initial typographic studies are done within a fourteen inch modular format. Once the final module is achieved, it is then introduced into a 24 X 30-inch poster, that operates on a standard grid. Fusing the two formats and grid treatments becomes the new design challenge. This is a two-color assignment.

Format. 24 X 30 inches (60 X 76 centimeters)

Time. Four Weeks: Classes meet twice weekly for 2 1/2 hours

Christopher Ransom, Associate Professor at Kent State University, completed a Bachelor of Art degree at the University of Texas at Austin in 1975, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at Philadelphia College of Art in 1982, and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography at the University of Delaware in 1993. He has taught at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and the University of Delaware. He joined the faculty of Visual Communication Design at Kent State in 1996. Ransom has maintained a freelance business, Christopher Ransom Design Ltd., since 1984. He has specialized in Identity Programs involving a wide range of corporate and institutional clients and has earned multiple certificates of excellence from AIGA/Philadelphia.

Christopher Ransom’s work has been published in Graphis, Print and Architecture Magazines. His photographs are represented in The Library of Congress, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and in numerous private collections.

www.kent.edu/cci

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