Wherever You Go

I have a fascination with space and the moon in particular. I had a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut which was eventually squandered by my dislike of math and bad eyesight, but I still geek out about the moon at any given opportunity. When I came across the quote "The moon is the same wherever you go," in Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, the sentiment resonated with me. The main character has endured some traumatic events in his teenage years but finds comfort in the constant presence of the moon. Because I have been reading this book for several months, I decided to choose this quote for my typography assignment. My process was discovering fonts first, then thinking about color schemes, and then determining the layout of the words on the poster.

Moon Poster #1, 7"x5"

In my first piece, I was trying to evoke a storybook-like quality, and I was stoked when Ken mentioned that the piece gave him that vibe. I think the traditional, serif font, combined with the use of muted primary colors and the fact that I tried to create the shape of a half moon, something present in many children's books, created that feeling. I used leading and kerning to create the moon shape, and right-aligned the word on the center of the page to disrupt the sense of balance in the hopes that the viewer would see the text as a shape.

Moon Poster #2, 24"x24"

The second piece I created was my large piece. I am naturally attracted to using thin, delicate-looking fonts, so I tried to challenge myself to use some bolder and thicker fonts. 

Soviet Space Race Propaganda poster. I was inspired by the design elements and color schemes of these posters.
Credit: Russia Trek, https://russiatrek.org/blog/art/propaganda-posters-of-soviet-space-program-1958-1963/ 

I thought these fonts would lend themselves well to the color scheme I found present in many Space Race-era Soviet propaganda posters. These posters interested me, as I would not otherwise assign such warm, bright colors to space in my mind.

NASA's old "worm" logo, used from 1975 to 1995, credit to NASA.gov

NASA's current logo, credit to NASA.gov

I thought the fonts, particularly Monoton, the font of the words "the same," created a similar retro-futuristic feeling, also reminding me of the old NASA logo. The layout of the rounded text was also inspired by the current NASA logo. I had the layout of this design planned in my head, and had to learn how to create what I wanted in Photoshop, which was an interesting and ultimately satisfying experience. In deciding which of the words to put in the center band in the Monoton font, "the same" lent itself well to this placement, not only because this phrase was at the middle of the quote, but because the meaning of the words would reflect the repetition of the font. Many of my classmates identified that this work looked like a logo of sorts, and I was glad that it was eye-catching. 

Moon Poster #3, 11'x8.5"

For my last piece, I saw the font Codystar and knew it would translate well to the space theme. I contrasted the background, a deep purple, with text in mint green, almost reminiscent of those glow-in-the-dark stars they used to have as decorations for children's rooms. This font is interesting because it relies heavily on the negative white space, almost requiring a high contrast color scheme. I used the concept of the grid, and tried to balance the words on either side of the central dividing line of the page, with the exception of the word "wherever." The word was too long to be aligned in the same capacity as the other words without disrupting the design, but I liked having it emphasized on its own. I attempted to create a leading-line design with this, making the reader's eye travel down a windy path, emulating the concept of travel present in the context of the quote. 

Poster display in class.

In displaying my posters together, I chose the kitchen, near the window. I thought this space was well lit, but also thought that being near the window might call people to look outside and up at the sky. Overall, this assignment was challenging but ultimately extremely satisfying. I feel like I have a much stronger understanding of Photoshop already, and I am excited to learn more!