INTRODUCTION TO TYPOGRAPHY

Introduction
Typography plays a big role in graphic design and can be one of the hardest things to get right. My aim here is to introduce some of the basics and the most common areas of typography that will be important in your graphics design work.

Typography plays a big role in graphic design and many designers are very passionate or opinionated about it. For this reason it is a very hot topic in design circles.

Developing your own skills in typography will take time and it can be one of the hardest things to get right. It is best to get a solid understanding of the basics as soon as possible in your education and career. However, it is a complex subject with a massive amount of detail which cannot be explained in just one article. So my aim here is to introduce some of the basics and the most common areas of typography that will be important in your design work.

So what is Typography?
Typography is an art form that has been around for hundreds of years. Words and text are all around us every day in almost everything we do. In every piece of type you see, somebody has considered how the letters, sentences and paragraphs will look in order for it to be read by us, or make us feel a certain way when we look at it. Sometimes it is done well, others not. Often it is us graphic designers who are the ones deciding how it will look, in our brochures, our logos, our websites and so on. The better we are at this, the more effective our designs will be.

Good typography comes from paying attention to tiny details as this can make the difference between graphic design work that is just acceptable or really good. There is more to it than just choosing fonts and making copy look good though – it is also about making things legible and readable (some of most basic functions of good typography) as well as making layouts look good in an aesthetic way.

Typographic basics
The following is an explanation of some common areas of typography. Learn More About Typography in Our Graphics Designing Course

Typeface or font?
Let’s get this one cleared up straight away! Designers are often unsure of the difference between these two, as they are both well used terms for the same thing. Actually, a typeface is a family of fonts (such as Helvetica Regular, Helvetica Italic, Helvetica Bold, Helvetica Black, etc.) but a font is one weight or style within a typeface family (such as Helvetica Regular).

Typeface classifications
There are many different classifications and sub-classification of typefaces, but the most common two types you will hear of are: Serif – these typefaces are the more traditional ones. They are distinguished by a short line or finishing stroke on the end of character strokes and stems (shown in the anatomy diagram below) and; Sans-serif – as the name suggests, these are distinguished by their lack of any Serifs. They only became popular in the nineteenth century and are considered modern as a result.

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Global Viewers!

Media  (TV, video, games, Internet, music, mobile phones) has brought about a substantial change in the experience of youth in our society. These changes leave many parents unprepared for the challenge on how to regulate their child’s behaviour and language with such technologies. These changes at times can have such drastic impacts that the complete behaviour pattern is changed.

The use of abusive language amongst the youth is a byproduct of films and television. The youth is being exposed to so much violence and abusive language in the form of names of films, songs or publicity of dialogues that leave an impact in the mind of the youth. The youth uses abusive language not only as trend but also because it is understood easily and thus leads to group acceptability.

The influence of western culture can be traced from the attitudes and behaviour of young adults. This varies from food habits, fashion statements, acceptance of violent behavior to sexual orientation. The emergence of music channels in the line of MTV has created significant changes in youth‘s language and their music preferences. Soap operas, movies and now days- the reality shows -made the youth increasingly aware of fashion and trends.  At present at least two among the five soap operas in Hindi as well as regional channels deal with the issue of premarital and extra-marital sex. Heavy viewing of foreign television programmes leads to the acceptance of western sexual norms like dating, live-in relationships. The present generation of young people, unlike their predecessors, lives in an increasingly globalizing world that is being transformed by a wide range of technological innovations. Language isn't just about communication; there is a strong cultural, social, political and emotional charge to it. The language of youth has changed, and now, television content must adapt to keep up with the younger generations' new interests and ways of communicating.

Arati Kamath 

www.dgmcms.org.in

Arati Kamath is a core faculty member of DGMC.

Online Communities

Involvement of citizens for better governance is a very innovative idea. BJP has started this drive to form online community to get inputs from the citizens. These inputs will be forwarded to the government for action.

These inputs will be very significant to the government for deciding guidelines, prioritizing issues to take action, but the major concern is how many people will get involved? Especially in Indian scenario, where 60% citizens are in rural areas and don’t have connectivity to internet. The youth will contribute and that too of urban areas.

Will the government get clear picture of the important issues through these online inputs? or is This innovative initiative is too early for Indian scenario?

Shubhangi Dharma

www.dgmcms.org.in 

Subhangi Dharma is a permanent faculty member at DGMC. She is a senior faculty and heads the Mass Communication Department at DGMC.

Net Neutrality!!

Nowadays there is a debate on “Net Neutrality” between Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom operators, regulatory bodies and content providers who are also referred to as OTT (Over The Top) players.

Net Neutrality is defined as the principle that all internet traffic has to be treated equally by ISPs, irrespective of content, sender, recipient, device or platform of data consumption.

It also says that ISPs cannot adopt a differential pricing strategy to its subscribers and that all subscribers should be treated equally by the ISPs in terms of quality of services provided by them.   

I hold the view that ISPs should be allowed to adopt differential pricing in a scenario where there is scarcity of spectrum which leads to network congestion. Especially when spectrum is auctioned at very high prices because it is a finite resource. Let’s equate the ISPs to a courier service provider. The courier service provider delivers shipment in an express mode by charging higher to the consumers. Whereas shipments of consumers, who pay regular ordinary charges, are delivered through normal mode. Or for that matter when one books a Tatkal ticket he is charged more to jump the waiting list.

Similarly ISPs should be allowed to adopt differential pricing based on quality and speed of services provided to the consumer.

On the other hand I agree that Net Neutrality has to be enforced to ensure that all internet traffic is treated equally irrespective of content, sender, recipient, device or platform of data consumption, which I believe have no relation with the quality of services provided by the ISPs.

Even the demand of telecom operators for a revenue share from OTT players is unjustified. There is no logic in that. It’s like the ISP asking an e-commerce portal to share its revenue from the sales done to an online shopper!! The shopper is buying products, services or content from a particular website because of the offerings made by that website which has no relation with the quality of service provided by an ISP.

Vishal Desai

Faculty

www.dgmcms.org.in

Vishal Desai is a permanent faculty member at DGMCMS. He is an alumnus of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. He has experience of 12 years in marketing, sales, product management and key accounts management at key positions in leading entertainment companies like Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd. (Reliance Entertainment), Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. and Milestone Interactive Group. He has managed mega entertainment brands like Slumdog Millionaire, Dhamaal, Chandni Chowk To China, Bal Ganesh, Spiderman, Batman and many more.

Offline to Online - Is it for real or is it a bubble?

The e-commerce space has seen lot of action in the past few weeks. Amazon has committed an investment of USD 2 billion for India. Flipkart got a funding of USD 1 billion. Alibaba’s IPO is the biggest in the world so far. It is in talks with Snapdeal for picking up a stake. Quikr and OLX have got Venture Capital funding as well. All this even when e-commerce accounts for less than 2%  of the total retail market. Out of that 70% comes only from online travel bookings.

Flipkart posted a loss of Rs 281 crores in 2012-13 with sales of Rs 1180 crores .This makes me wonder whether such kind of investments in the online space are viable.

Though e-commerce is growing at 30% CAGR (88% in 2013) against a global rate of 8-10%, is it the right time to pour in such huge amounts in the online space. Is this a pure valuation game in which private investors would eventually exit making a moolah while putting retail investors at risk.

Agreed that Indian e-commerce market, which is worth Rs 78,000 crores, will get a push from increasing penetration of smart phones and internet. But I see two challenges as follows:-

a)      Managing on ground logistics in a country where the population is scattered over hundreds of towns and thousands of districts. This calls for several brick and mortar fulfillment centers across India. Plus the density of population in semi-urban areas is not as high as urban areas, which increases delivery costs.

b)      All the frills that the e-commerce sites offer, like free returns, rock bottom prices, same day delivery, etc eventually lead to erosion of profit margins.

c)       Most of the online sites operate on a market place model. The major disadvantage of this model is that the shipping cost is higher because multi-product orders are fragmented across vendors and shipped separately. And this in turn may lead to customer dissonance because a customer won’t receive his entire order at one time. This may also lead to non-compliance of delivery timelines promised; reasons being cross state barriers and non-availability of stock with the vendor, order cancellation, and loss of consumer trust.

Several investment advisors believe that e-commerce valuations are being driven more by investor demand than by any significant improvement in their financial performance. A day will come when investors will start expecting positive returns on their investments. This is when valuations will become more realistic.

Also currently there is inorganic growth rather than organic growth that is based on business fundamentals, which may not be a right strategy.

Hence the next 2-3 years are very crucial for this space. If these e-commerce portals survive for next 2-3 years, we will have a e-revolution in retailing.

Vishal Desai

Faculty

www.dgmcms.org.in

Vishal Desai is a permanent faculty member at DGMCMS. He is an alumnus of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. He has experience of 12 years in marketing, sales, product management and key accounts management at key positions in leading entertainment companies like Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd. (Reliance Entertainment), Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. and Milestone Interactive Group. He has managed mega entertainment brands like Slumdog Millionaire, Dhamaal, Chandni Chowk To China, Bal Ganesh, Spiderman, Batman and many more.

Metaphor of Darkness

The period of about seventeen years from 1941 to 1958 in the context of American cinema tells us the similar story of a rebellious, highly eloquent and symbolic journey of cinema against so- called bourgeoisie and its hollow propaganda of borrowed heroism, lackadaisical society and opportunistic politics. The darkness that covered in the lives of the common man and the discrepancies faced while meeting the faces of survival disturbed equilibrium of relationships which came out as the bitter truths of life. American life was dwelling in the realm of doubt, despair and quest. The times after World War II laid the same tracks of manipulating the common man. A disillusioned mind and was fed up of walking in the dark as there was no proper path to be followed where these fundamental queries met their solutions. The ‘age of doubt’ has injected lethargy in the mindsets of the people who were grappled in the dichotomy of orthodox values and never dying patriotic spirit. But this darkness then bounced back with profundity through dark cinema after the war in America, famously known as ‘film noir’. Although it is one of the most vibrant, technically remarkable and aptly contextualized movements in the history of cinema; it still remained the less talked about as compared with that of the Westerns and Gangster films. The very questioning of the structures and disregard to the presumed conventions helped film noir to come out like a trait of modernity in the context of post war American cinema.

                                  

The typical low key lighting shots, passionate camaraderie with the darkness, shady locales in the cities and the characters voicing the manipulated, enthralled psyche of the common man came out as a modernized way of looking towards the harsh and the real face of life. It can be said that the movement of ‘film noir’ not only showed the new way of perceiving the reality but also represented this face of life through unique characteristics. The best example can be the femme fatale. The powerful, seductive woman who takes on the corrupt world to establish her own regime and succeeds in practicing her own terms and conditions. A treacherous woman, using her sexuality was new to the screen and was received with a great curiosity in her image and also in the thought which substantiated it. This was considered as a modern depiction of women on screen as these images stood not only for their emancipated nature but also for transgressing stepping in so called ‘male’ territories. It is observed in urban Indian cinema where an accomplished woman takes on her male counterpart to seek redemption of her orders or desires. In case of Indian films, we have seen the traits of this treacherous woman in number of gangster movies. But she had a fixed plan when we locate the loss of her authority and ideals in this immoral world. She has been struggling hard with the harsh face of reality and making terms with it.

        

In Jism (2002), Sonia played by Bipasha Basu followed all the possible traits of noir and it succeeded in translating the similar codes of sexual explicitness. The strong, seductive, adulterous femme fatale Sonia played by Bipasha Basu manipulates a lawyer Kabir Lal (John Abraham) to conspire the murder of her business tycoon husband (Gulshan Grover). Kabir who falls prey to her ways, gets entrapped in her love succeeds in killing her husband as per the plan but comes across the double standards of Sonia’s ruthlessness. Lack of social inclusion and moral freedom has been symbolized by the incapability of Sonia’s husband in loving her. This is why she steps out of her sphere.

In recent example of Hate Story (2012) and its sequel Hate Story 2 (2014) we come across such a new age rebellious woman who defies norms of traditionalist right wing politics to restore the order of her love life. In its prequel, a woman conspires for avenging her fallout in ruthless competition of corporate world. The sequel speaks about her bitter rising above her fears of the manipulative patriarch.

With the visual analogy of shadows and a backdrop of the socio- political turmoil; we are able to draw upon the significant cinema of depression. The films openly dealt with the impulses and tendencies of the mind which were discussed in isolation in a ‘low key’ lighting tone. But film noir had the audacity to present the society as it was and was extremely influential, inspiring for the cinema of the coming generations. There are many instances of the films after 60s and 70s which went back to these works or straight away influenced by them, following the trailing shadow of their precursors. According to me, there are very few film movements in the history of cinema which have made a profound impression through both - their cinematic styles and codes and the contemporary epoch they addressed to. The greatness of film noir thus lies in its modern element. The films of ‘neo noir’ followed a postmodern trait like incredulity of the preset conventions but the main difference can be viewed in case of the Indian noir films of the recent times that in order to be incredulous the conventions, we are setting new conventions for new age identities. These identities- mainly of women making their way through a difficult ways find their expression of freedom. They add a new parameter for darkness on screen.

Amol Jadhav

Assistant Professor

www.dgmcms.org.in  

Amol is an independent filmmaker with an academics specialization in film language, criticism & technique. He owns an independent production house that produces short films documentaries & features films, which have been featured in various reputed film festivals across the globe. He has combined cinema on academics and professional levels thus giving it a new paradigm.

Indian Television- Witnessing Change

The Indian television space which was heavily dependent on soaps for its TRPs is now witnessing change. The programming pattern, in the last 3-4 years, has changed gradually with a heady mix of reality shows, soaps, thrillers, mytho dramas and other non-fiction programming. The saas bahu soaps are not about one to one rivalry any more. Also, story concepts are now about families from smaller towns. However most of the reality shows are Indianised versions of popular international reality shows. 24, the thriller series starring Anil Kapoor, was also based on an international TV series. Thus there is need for indigenous programming as far as reality shows are concerned.

The larger question though is that does the current programming have longer shelf life akin to yesteryear television content like Malgudi Days,Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Surabhi ,Rajni, Udaan and of course Mahabharat. My honest answer is NO .The fact that some of the popular TV series from the 80s like Malgudi Days and Yeh Jo Hai Zindagai have also been released on home video is a testimony that they still live on. The nostalgia continues.

All said and done the small screen is now bigger than the big screen and it will become even more bigger.

Vishal Desai

Faculty

www.dgmcms.org.in

Vishal Desai is a permanent faculty member at DGMCMS. He is an alumnus of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. He has experience of 12 years in marketing, sales, product management and key accounts management at key positions in leading entertainment companies like Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd. (Reliance Entertainment), Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. and Milestone Interactive Group. He has managed mega entertainment brands like Slumdog Millionaire, Dhamaal, Chandni Chowk To China, Bal Ganesh, Spiderman, Batman and many more.

Decoding a film from its posters

The saying goes “Never judge a book by its cover”, but today’s design philosophy works the other way. A cover page must convince people to buy the book. The same philosophy is valid for films as well. A film’s promotional posters and ads intend to communicate exactly what they want the target audience to know without revealing much of the story. Lets decode an upcoming film “Finding Fanny” from its promotional poster.

What does the overall look and feel communicate? 

• Stamps & handwritten feel suggests that characters might be expressing themselves through old-school writing of letters. 
• The choice of costumes suggests presence of Indian-catholic culture. 
• This also suggests a Portuguese-Goan feel. 
• Overall, it gives a very ‘classic’ feel. 
• It is an urban story that is set away from urban location.

Let’s do some character decoding:

• Arjun Kapoor seems like jobless guy with a serious personality. He is definitely not a ‘bubbly’, ‘chocolaty’ hero. He maybe jobless but definitely has his own bit of dignity. He surely does not look like a ‘chhichhora’/ a jerk. 

• Deepika Padukone seems like a sweet and innocent girl, who seems a bit vulnerable. Nothing different than any average Bollywood girl role. Atleast this poster doesnot seem to portray any unique, distinct personality. 

• Dimple Kapadia seems like a strong opinionated woman who is not scared to be a bit naughty at times. Although she is a strong woman, her character is not very intense.

• Nasseruddin Shah is an old man in search of love. Day seems like a very nice man, a bit of day-dreamer.

• Pankaj Kapoor on the other hand is bit courageous. He is not afraid of taking actions that land him in awkward situations. His role seems to be bit comic. 

Overall, the film seems to revolve around expressing love. Expressing love is not restricted to youngsters only and this seems to be communicated in this film. It is not a very intense film, but ‘the same old fun & light-hearted’ film in my opinion.

*Please Note that the 'Finding Fanny' film posters are sole copyright of the makers of the movie and have only be used for explanation purpose. 

Saswat Mahapatra

Assistant Professor

www.dgmcms.org.in 

Saswat is a design alumnus from Glasgow School of Art, UK. He is a British Council Fellow and comes with a diverse professional experience in the field of television production, animation, game design and illustration/graphic design. He has worked with brands like Walt Disney India, BBC Scotland, Channel 4 London, Cartoon Network India, Cambridge University Press UK and few others. His projects have been funded by British Council, Art & Humanities Research Council UK, Science & Innovation Network UK (British High Commission) and Scottish Institute for Enterprises. He has been involved in collaboration with Falmouth University UK and IIT Bombay.

Characteristics of an Innovative educator

Reflective – As an educator, it is important to reflect on what is working and what is not.  Even though it can be a little uncomfortable, we have to admit when a great lesson was really a flop.  We must constantly examine our processes and our concepts to make sure they are what is best for the students we teach. For example, we need to change tactics when we find that a particular task, however important, is not being done well by the students, and find a new way of doing it.

Learners- An innovative educator is always learning, reading, listening.  Every student, staff member, professional development opportunity is viewed as an opportunity to get better and be better in the classroom and in the education community at large.  They create local and global professional learning communities.  They take responsibility and initiative for their learning. For example, we need to learn to be on social media creatively and use IT enabled services and technology for media education.

Creative- When I say creative I don’t mean in the sense of artistic even though some innovative educators fall in this category.  I mean creative in their thinking and approach.  An innovative educator is very uncomfortable with doing business as usual, especially when it yields no result.  So they go to work brainstorming ways to make things better.  They may change up a lesson to make it more engaging or increase student motivation.  They may adopt a more unconventional approach to handling challenging students so as to develop a stronger rapport.

Connected- It’s hard to be classified as innovative when you are disconnected from your students and trends in the profession.  How can you know what your students need and what will be the best approach to use with them if you are not connected to them personally?  Innovative educators close the gap between the traditional images of teachers so he can determine what is best for each student.  In addition, because they are life-long learners, they are abreast of changes occurring in their field and how to best apply these new changes to their instruction. Every one of us must be 24X7 connected and have a multi dimensional virtual personality.

Collaborative- Education is one industry where sharing is necessary and vital to true innovation in the classroom.  When teachers work together to solve problems and share successes, our students perform much better in the classroom.  An innovative educator is always exploring topics with other educators, sharing what they know with others.  They are members of Professional Learning Communities where they learn and share with others.  They know that none of us is as smart as all of us. We must learn to collaborate among ourselves and with the industry friends to bring in value, content, assignments, projects, exposure, internships and jobs for our learners.

Inquisitive- How can I improve?  What did I do wrong?  When is the best time for this approach?  How should I adapt this for my struggling readers?  What can I do to extend this lesson for my gifted students?  What if I did it this way?  Innovative educators are always asking questions.  After all, it’s not about having all the answers; it’s about asking the right questions. We must change cases, examples etc in our sessions each year and add new facts and figures too.

Principled- Innovative educators live life according to strong values. They want to make a difference.  They believe that being an educator is a great way to make their mark in the world and they don’t take it for granted.  They believe in being a role model to the students they serve and look for opportunities to show they care by their actions not just with words.  They also care enough to make tough decisions even when it’s not popular and accepted.  They stand up for their beliefs. We must aim for productivity and not popularity and a uniformity in basic principles for all stakeholders.

Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury

Dean

www.dgmcms.org.in

Prof. Ujjwal K Choudray is presently the Dean of DGMC (Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies, Mumbai). He is a Senior Education & Media Consultant, Delhi, Kolkata & Kathmandu; President, Advisory Board, Whistling Woods School of Communication, Mumbai; Former Director, Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication & Dean, SIU, Pune; Former Media Adviser, Textiles Ministry, GOI; The Nippon Foundation; and WHO, India.

Genre: Meaning and Substance

There are occasions when you have to choose from the wide array of options to make certain choices. These choices somehow depend on or reflect on our positions. Where are we speaking from and who we are? Such selection marks a step in forming a specific meaning. The important aspect of this process is that these options and their selection, the exercise of their practices resonate with people. It decides the communication with the self and its tendency. These choices are definitive in order to generate a social response. But follow a specific mechanism of that has categories. The Greek word generous gave out genres- meaning categories, modes, options or tools. These options or categories form the set of styles in audio, visual, written or spoken mode of meaning. As these meanings add value and truth to any entity; genres come out as a crucial tool to differentiate and hence, evaluate the meaning.

It was Plato who came out with the concept of categorization depending on its nature and implementation. It began with the theory of mimesis that spoke about the imitation behind the work of art; as a painter ‘mimics’ scenic beauty and reproduces it with his impression on canvas. Plato states in Ion, that poetry is the art of divine madness or inspiration. Because the poet is a subject to this divine madness and therefore it is not his/her function to convey the truth. The truth that the poet or the artist finds is therefore removed from reality making a work of art a mere imitation. Plato’s categorization thus outlined the relation between work and its impression. The work of art had a specific realm in which it connected the codes of resemblances of behavior. The very act of resemblance provided a mirror image that evaluated the impression of art on its audience. It was Aristotle, Plato’s disciple and teacher to Alexander the great; who in 324 BC figured out the exact framework for this categorization based on the notions of tragic and comic components of the works of literature in those times. Aristotle linked the impact of these works and their psychological mechanism. The arousal of tragedy, response to comedy and influence of heroism has been used effectively to categorize their definitive impacts. This link has provided the necessary paradigm of the actions and impacts, rather than the impressions.

Genres then underwent a surgery that modified its references with their relevant impacts over the time. Characters were evaluated on the basis of particular ‘choices’ that derived their rise and fall. A certain kind of choices and their performances established a school of thought (or so to say) that formulated referent meanings. Douglas Kellner writes in his essay Television Images, Codes and Messages, that “[…] a genre, once established, dictates the basic conditions of a cultural production and reception.  For example, crime dramas have a violent crime, a search for its perpetrators, and often a chase, fight, or bloody elimination of the criminal, communicating the message that ‘crime does not pay’ […]” Similarly, all media- film, television, advertisements, so on and so forth; are based on texts, which all fall into various categories or genres.  The scholarly interest in genres has developed in recent years because we have become concerned about how genres affect the creation of television programs, like family drama, crime investigation and what are the social, cultural and political implications of different genres may be. These attempts of fixing and de-fixing of stories/ texts show how genres begin and evolve. Why genres are fused into one another to form a newer impression and why some genres, such as the western, died out after years of great popularity.  The evolution of a genre as a term of reference and its eventual dwindling is certainly a result of periodic amendment of choices. Genres, as categories or modes, change their routes and touch upon newer territories of meanings. Then why are we familiar with genres? It is because we are able to identify the similarities, distinctions and symbols that are born out of the codes which formulate our actions and their meanings. The actions, stemming out of these imitations align themselves in a pattern that maps and re- maps our understanding for certain thing. Then the subjects, conventions, settings and themes are defined where we find ourselves in them as characters. We find ourselves in this act of justifying actions, categories of certain behaviors and form a meaning.

Amol Jadhav

Assistant Professor

www.dgmcms.org.in  

Amol is an independent filmmaker with an academics specialization in film language, criticism & technique. He owns an independent production house that produces short films documentaries & features films, which have been featured in various reputed film festivals across the globe. He has combined cinema on academics and professional levels thus giving it a new paradigm.