Butterick’s Practical Typography is an excellent, free, web-based guide to typography.
You should begin with “Typography in Ten Minutes”, which gives you five basic rules for typography.
After reading that, try “Font Recommendations”, the “Summary of Key Rules”, and reading through additional topics of interest from the table of contents.
Read MoreThis text is adapted from John Krygier and Denis Wood’s Making Maps (2011, Guilford Press).
“Effective type in [landscape representation] requires understanding the basics of typography. Of particular relevance are kerning, tracking, leading, and alignment. Careful design of type will make your [representation] more functional and beautiful.”
Kerning
Kerning adjusts the spacing between particular pairs of letters to make them look uniform and less distracting. (Compare to monospacing.) Kerning is automatically adjusted with most digital type placement algorithms in drawing software, but can also be set by hand.
+ Evaluate type on your representation that may need kerning.
+ Kerning is more important for larger type sizes.
Tracking
Tracking changes the spacing between all letters.
+ Avoid negative tracking (scrunched-up, hard-to-read type) in most instances.
+ Sometimes increase tracking slightly for a more open, airy feel in a block of text.
+ Increase tracking by using upper-case letters to label area features.
Leading
Leading adjusts spacing between lines of text.
+ Evaluate type on or around your representation that may need leading.
+ Maintain a consistent leading for similar features labeled on a representation.
+ Avoid reducing leading to reduce the space utilized by a block of text; use a smaller type size instead.
+ Avoid excessive leading within labels or blocks of text, as that may result in such labels being read as multiple labels.
Alignment
+ Avoid left-right justification if it causes distracting spacing problems. (A jagged right edge is generally more visually pleasing than crisp edges with distracting spacing in-between.)
+ Ragged right alignment is the norm, but too much ragged is distracting.
+ Use hyphenation sparingly in text blocks (note that hyphenation is often on by default in InDesign), and avoid it entirely on annotations and labels.
+ Ragged left alignment is difficult to read in blocks, but may be used for annotations referring to symbols or features to the right of the annotation.
This text is adapted from John Krygier and Denis Wood’s Making Maps (2011, Guilford Press).
Ongoing formative evaluation is as simple as asking yourself whether the representation is achieving its goals throughout the process of making the representation. Formative evaluation implies that you will “re-form” the representation so that it works better, or maybe even dump it! It is never too late to bail if the representation is not serving your needs. It is a good idea to ask others to evaluate your representation as well: What do you think of these colors? Can you read the type from an appropriate distance? Does what is most important about the representation actually stand out?
Ask yourself:
+ Is this representation doing what I want it to do?
+ Will this representation make sense to the audience I envision for it?
+ How does the representation look when printed, projected, or viewed in the final medium, and what changes will make it better?
+ Are the chosen scale, framing, coordination system, and/or map projection appropriate?
+ Do the layout of the representation and interpretative annotations, including the legend, look good? Could they be adjusted to help make the representation look better and easier to interpret?
+ Does the most important information on the representation stand out visually? Does less important information fall into the background?
+ Is the representation too general or too detailed, given the intent of the representation?
+ Do chosen symbols, hatches, and patterns make sense? Are they legible?
+ Is the type appropriate, legible, and is its size appropriate, given the final medium?
+ Is color use logical and appropriate, and will the chosen colors work well in the final medium (printed, projected, etc.)?
+ Do I want a series of simpler representations, or one more complicated one?
LAR 5304G Digital Landscape Representation I: Drawing, Cartography, and Notation
Assignment 05: Notation
Description
Working with the drawings produced in the previous assignments as base material, construct a drawing annotated to explain the movement of water through the study territory in both space and time.
Workflow
Work between whatever combination of AutoCAD, Photoshop, and Illustrator you find most appropriate for producing the necessary linework and annotations you will utilize in this drawing.
Deliverables
+ A single drawing (which may be a composite of multiple smaller drawings, as in a small multiples series) showing the movement of water through the study territory as it would be effected by the construction of the control infrastructure proposed by CWPPRA.
+ Utilize at least one of the eight basic techniques for notating movement described in the Week 12 handout, however you may not use arrows in your drawing except as part of a field (technique 2).
+ Include:
+ attributions, including citations for data, projection method (if appropriate)
+ graphic scale, north arrow
+ legend
Sources
Throughout every assignment for this course, you are expected to demonstrate good sourcing practices, for all visual, written, and intermediate products. This means both tracking your sources as you research and properly sourcing on all presented products. Sources should be clearly attributed directly on drawings.
LAR 5304G Digital Landscape Representation I: Drawing, Cartography, and Notation
Assignment 04: Cartography
Description
Beginning with the large-scale orthographic base map produced in Assignment 01, construct a map showing topographic, hydrological, urban, infrastructural, and ecological conditions within the full extent of the area affected by the study restoration project. Students will learn basic operations in ArcGIS and continue to explore Illustrator and Photoshop.
Workflow
+ Display base layers at scale within ArcGIS.
Useful sites for downloading GIS shapefiles for Louisiana include:
+ Louisiana Economic Development Data Download
+ Louisiana Geospatial Metadata Catalog
+ LOSCO Data Catalog
+ Export raster and vector layers from ArcGIS to Illustrator and Photoshop.
+ Clip and edit raster layers in Photoshop as appropriate.
+ Combine raster and vector layers in Illustrator.
+ Finish drawing with appropriate annotations in Illustrator.
Deliverables
1 Regional Map: an orthographic plan showing the full extent of the area affected by the study restoration project. The map should:
+ effectively communicate the topography of the depicted area
+ show the bounds of the effects of the study restoration project
+ show the position and extents of, identify proposed elements of the study restoration project
+ show the context of the study restoration project by depicting at least (2) of the following (6) conditions:
+ hydrology
+ human land use patterns
+ transportation infrastructures
+ ecologies
+ soils
+ geology
+ make effective use of the formal elements of cartographic representation:
+ line
+ value
+ hue
+ pattern
+ symbol
+ text
+ include:
+ attributions, including citations for data, projection method
+ graphic scale, north arrow
+ legend
Sources
Throughout every assignment for this course, you are expected to demonstrate good sourcing practices, for all visual, written, and intermediate products. This means both tracking your sources as you research and properly sourcing on all presented products. Sources should be clearly attributed directly on drawings.
Location: 601 Prince Street
Time: We will begin at 7:30 and finish by 10:30.
Prints: All drawings assigned thus far (except animations, which only Mandi will have at this point) should be printed and pinned up. The short edge (minimum dimension) of prints should be at least 24″. (For Intermediate Assignment 03: Storyboard, all of the storyboard frames should be arranged and printed on a single sheet of paper, as described in the assignment.)
Schedule: Each student will have at most five minutes to present, allowing a minimum of ten minutes of comments. To ensure that we finish on time, each group should be fully pinned-up at the start of the scheduled pin-up time (e.g. Group 1 should be fully pinned-up at 7:30).
Group 1
07:30 Brian
07:45 Mahkam
08:00 Lama
Group 2
08:30 Yasaman
08:45 Dasha
09:00 John
09:15 Mandi
Group 3
09:45 David
10:00 Eliana
10:15 Navid
Notes:
1. I recommend carefully reviewing the instructions for each assignment to make sure you are producing drawings which meet the requirements of the assignments. Your grades will depend on doing so. If you have any questions or are uncertain about what a part of the instructions means, email me. The assignment instructions are:
Basic:
01 Detail Plan
02 Section-Elevation
03 Perspective
Intermediate:
01 Network Plan
02 Axonometric
03 Storyboard
2. In general, I will be looking for drawings that are:
+ Beautiful
+ Creative
+ Selective and judicious in deploying color, texture, and lineweight to emphasize important aspects of the landscape being depicted.
+ Clearly annotated — particularly in drawings such as perspective and storyboard where annotation is often not used.
3. For intermediates, given that we have focused in class thus far primarily on working in Rhino and 3ds Max, it is particularly important that you not only output renders from 3ds Max, but also overlay those renders with additional information in Adobe CS to produce finished drawings.
4. After Thursday, you will need to submit your work to me digitally by placing it on the server. (We’ll go over the location for this when we meet Thursday.) Once I have your work, I will give you interim grades and feedback on the drawings. You will have the opportunity to revise your drawings based on the comments you receive at the midterm and the feedback I give you. (Final drawing submissions will be after the final review.)
Read MoreLAR 5304G Digital Landscape Representation I: Drawing, Cartography, and Notation
Assignment 03: Perspective
Description
Construct a perspective drawing which illuminates the experience of inhabiting, passing through, observing, or working within the restoration project site selected for study. The location depicted within the restoration project site may be freely chosen, but should be selected for its relevance in explaining the restoration project as a landscape, particularly when considered in relationship to the plan and section-elevation drawings from Assignments 01 and 02.
Workflow
Students will construct a perspective drawing in Photoshop using collage techniques and overlay annotations on that drawing in Illustrator.
Deliverables
1 Perspective: a perspective drawing at or near standard human eye height. This perspective should:
+ be reasonably perspectively accurate (see the assigned readings for Week 08)
+ use human figures and collaged landscape elements (such as vegetation) to aid the viewer in understanding scale
+ make use of overlay, diagramming, and annotation techniques to aid the viewer in understanding the depicted landscape
+ include a title, key plan, and scale
You may also consider:
+ the role of lighting, weather, and atmospheric conditions in landscape experience
+ temporal change and seasonality
+ the use of human figures to indicate landscape program and use patterns
Sources
Throughout every assignment for this course, you are expected to demonstrate good sourcing practices, for all visual, written, and intermediate products. This means both tracking your sources as you research and properly sourcing on all presented products. Sources should be clearly attributed directly on drawings.
Schedule
06 Th 2.20 Section-Elevation
Receive: Assignment 03: Perspective.
08 Th 3.20 CRITIQUE
Covering Assignments 01, 02, and 03.
LAR 5304G Digital Landscape Representation I: Drawing, Cartography, and Notation
Assignment 02: Section-Elevation
Description
Construct a section-elevation through an engineered object, delineating its tectonics and surrounding landscape conditions, such as geology, hydrology, soils, vegetation, and other constructed landscape objects. Students will continue to explore AutoCAD, Illustrator, and Photoshop, focusing on lineweights, collage techniques, and scale.
Workflow
Students will construct a basic section-elevation over site plans in AutoCAD, import this section to Illustrator to refine lineweights, add texture and collage elements in Photoshop, and produce a final document in Illustrator, including both technical and illustrative labels.
Deliverables
1 Section-Elevation: a section-elevation cut through the engineered object proposed by the restoration project you have been studying. This section-elevation should:
+ make clear how the object is constructed
+ represent the material properties of the object (for instance: the use of concrete, steel, and wood in building the object) using texture and collage techniques
+ show the landscape context of the object, such as hydrology, geology, soils, vegetation, and significant adjacent landscape objects (such as a levee or road that the engineered object crosses)
+ use human figures and collaged landscape elements (such as vegetation) to aid the viewer in understanding scale
+ have both technical annotations (spot elevations, dimensions) and illustrative annotations
+ include a title, key plan, and scale
Sources
Throughout every assignment for this course, you are expected to demonstrate good sourcing practices, for all visual, written, and intermediate products. This means both tracking your sources as you research and properly sourcing on all presented products. Sources should be clearly attributed directly on drawings.
Schedule
05 Th 2.13 Detail Plan
Receive: Assignment 02: Section-Elevation.
06 Th 2.20 Section-Elevation
08 Th 3.20 CRITIQUE
Covering Assignments 01, 02, and 03.
LAR 5304G Digital Landscape Representation I: Drawing, Cartography, and Notation
Assignment 01: Plan
Description
In this assignment, students will first construct a large-scale orthographic base map and then zoom in to produce a detail plan showing an engineered object (or set of engineered objects) within a larger landscape. Students will learn fundamental operations in AutoCAD, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
Study Projects
Students will select from one of five proposed but incomplete restoration engineering projects administered by Louisiana’s Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority in the Mississippi River delta:
> Diversion at Myrtle Grove
> Sand Mining at Scofield Island
> Sediment Delivery System at Bayou Dupont
> Siphon at Maurepas Swamp
> Terracing at Bayou Bienvenue
J.B. Jackson once defined landscape as a “synthetic space”, stating that landscapes are territories constructed by “speeding up and slowing down the processes of nature”. Each of these projects utilizes engineered landscape prosthetics to construct synthetic space; in these prosthetic landscapes, environmental processes and machinic elements collaborate and become co-dependent. Consequently, they are excellent sites for experiments in the representation of constructed landscape objects, engineered landscape processes, and background environmental conditions.
Workflow
Students will export scaled satellite aerials as raster files from ArcGIS, overlay engineering drawings at scale on those aerial images in Photoshop, place base plans at scale in AutoCAD, create line work in AutoCAD, export linework to Illustrator, refine graphics and add color in Illustrator, and add annotations and labels in Illustrator.
Deliverables
1 Base Plan: a Photoshop file overlaying engineering drawings at scale on an aerial image exported from ArcGIS
2 Detail Plan: an Illustrator file focusing on an engineered object (or set of engineered objects) key to the operations of the study project
> A line-and-field drawing, utilizing distinctions in line weight, hatches, symbols, and fields of color as the primary means of delineating landscape conditions.
> Additive rather than subtractive or blanket use of aerial textures: this drawing should not use the base plan as a full-bleed background, but may judiciously utilize cropped components of the base plan or produced Photoshop textures to highlight key landscape elements.
> As a hybrid technical-illustrative drawing, this drawing should include both technical annotations such as measurements, spot elevations, contours, and underlying geometries and illustrative annotations such place names and descriptive labels.
Sources
Throughout every assignment for this course, you are expected to demonstrate good sourcing practices, for all visual, written, and intermediate products. This means both tracking your sources as you research and properly sourcing on all presented products. Sources should be clearly attributed directly on drawings.
Schedule
01 M 1.20 MLK Day (no classes)
T 1.21 Classes Begin
Th 1.23 Base Plan
Receive: Assignment 1: Plan
02 Th 1.30 Conversion
03 Th 2.6 Exercise: Axonometric Overview
04 Th 2.13 Detail Plan
08 Th 3.20 CRITIQUE
Covering Assignments 1, 2, and 3.