Apertures: Thesis Excerpts

Apertures

Apertures

A thesis publication submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design.

School of Visual Arts

College of Fine Arts

Boston University

May 2023

Sophia Viviano

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the author.

Dana Clancy, Director, School of Visual Arts

Kristen Coogan, Chair, MFA Graphic Design

Christopher Sleboda, Chair, BFA Graphic Design

Boston University College of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts

855 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02215

Apertures

THE INTERMEDIARY FUNCTIONS OF GRAPHIC DESIGN AND TYPOGRAPHY 2020—2023

Sophia Viviano

December 2022

June 2022

October 2022

April 2023

February 2022

March 2023

March 2023

A DESIGN THESIS IN CONTEXT

April 2022

May 2022

December 2022

September 2021

April 2023

January 2023

March 2022

A DESIGN THESIS IN Writing

SUMMATION

Apertures Abstract

The term aperture has several multidisciplinary uses. To photographers, the aperture is the space in the lens through which light passes. In typography, Monotype defines the aperture as “[t]he partially enclosed, somewhat rounded negative space in some characters such as ‘n', ‘c', ‘s'…the opening to the counter space." 1 Put simply, an aperture is a hole or gap.

Apertures exist as fixed systems in otherwise liminal spaces, and have an affecting influence on the content that passes through them. The camera aperture influences light, just as graphic design mediates the space between content and audience. By varying the width of the aperture in a camera, a photographer can choose to have more or less influence on how light is translated into the final image. Analogously, charged with presenting a particular piece of content, a designer can influence whether their process has more or less visibility in the final outcome. My interest in process historically manifested itself in my affection for puzzles and unfinished works of art. I am fascinated by these visual representations of systems that would otherwise go unnoticed. This same fascination has motivated my exploration into typeface design. My thesis is a mechanism to explore the influence of these exposed systems in my own work, and to develop a methodology for making and thinking about how graphic design functions as an aperture. By using design as an aperture for content I will apply my interest in exposed processes to further illuminate the relationship between design and audience.

1. Monotype provides the design assets, technology and expertise that help you create beautiful, authentic and impactful brands that your customers will engage with and value, wherever they experience your brand, now and in the future.

IDEATION

Dear Boston University Graphic Design Faculty,

I am both excited and apprehensive to begin engaging with the development of my Master of Fine Arts thesis. While I know that the content behind my thesis will evolve, I am hoping to use this letter as an opportunity to establish a framework for inquiry that thoughtfully directs the process.

My original understanding of the design thesis was that it served as a culmination of ideas from the past two years; a final, climactic presentation of our experience as graduate students of graphic design. Now, as I’ve begun to think about the design thesis as being for me rather than from me, it is not so much a summation as it is a transition. My current conceptualization of and hope for my design thesis is that it be the intersection of where I am coming from as a designer, and a launch pad for where I want to go.

The questions that immediately follow from this rationalization of thesis are: where have I come from as a designer? And: where do I want my design work to go? For me, these are the questions that fast track to the core of the thesis, but to answer them unequivocally requires hours of conceptual grappling, and several other questions to be posed first.

Of these questions, some that I’ve begun to relate to my process are: how can I convey structure through materiality? What tangible elements exist in transition? How can I uncover human solutions to design problems? In what way does the digital inform the material, and vice versa? And, where does craft persist digitally? It is my hope that posing these questions to myself as I begin my second year work will help guide my design perspective towards a consistent and thoughtful thesis.

My most successful work in the program thus far has been through craft-based, or analog deliverables. I believe that being intentional and replicative with materiality produces work that feels consistent with and improves upon what I’ve already done. However, I want to use the thesis to transition my work into areas of design that are outside of my comfort zone, while drawing from processes that have become a necessary part of my practice. To do so, I would like to consider how to relate dimensionality and craft in the digital space, as well as draw relationships with any physical work that I continue to develop.

I would also like to continue to emphasize typographic exploration; the past spring semester I began to develop a typeface that I would like to incorporate into typesetting my thesis book. Although form-based decisions will come much later, I generally trend towards more editorial or minimal styles—something that I would like to handle intentionally when approaching aesthetic decisions for my thesis.

I would like the purpose of my thesis to be intertwined with the questions that I hope to answer, and the methods/tools I utilize. If the thesis is representative of a transition from my academic to professional goals, then my hope is to convey this through my methodology by transitioning from physical to digital outcomes. In tandem, I hope that I can develop a line of inquiry on transition—both in relation to design practices and in the broader socio political, environmental, and/or technological climate: what are we transitioning from? What are we transitioning to? Though this may evolve, I am currently interested in directing the positions I develop from these questions towards architectural and structural transitions of the future; how they parallel social necessity, and their evident correlation to art and design movements.

Through directed exploration and developing content/methods simultaneously, I would like my thesis inquiry to evolve into a cohesive narrative on the effects of transition across themes of personal progress, design process, and cultural influence.

I imagine the content and form that my thesis takes will evolve drastically from my current conception. However, it is my aim that the thematic structure I have outlined in this letter will help direct the work I develop in the coming semesters to produce intentional and cohesive lines of thesis inquiry.

Sincerely,

Sophia Viviano

QUOTES ON IN-BETWEEN

“Change is situational. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological. It is not those events but rather the inner reorientation or self-redefinition that you have to go through in order to incorporate any of those changes into your life. Without a transition, a change is just a rearrangement of the furniture. Unless transition happens, the change won’t work.” —William

Bridges

“The future is always all around us, waiting, in moments of transitions, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.” —J.

Michael Straczynski

“All I have to do is work on transition and technique.” —Usain Bolt

“The public is more familiar with bad design than good design. It is, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what it lives with. The new becomes threatening, the old reassuring.” —Paul Rand

“I like to step into areas where I am afraid. Fear is a sign that I am going in the right direction.” —April Greiman

Grilli Type’s GT Sectra as a specimen and in use. Inspiration for typeface design and presentation.

Poster designed by Elin Matilda Andersson for For The People poster series. Design for good.

Poster designed by MM Paris. Used as inspiration for marriage between human elements and digital design. The Centre Pompidou. Architectural inspiration for structural transformation.

Rene Magritte; The False Mirror. See Bibliography.

Posters designed by Studio Helmo. Analog and digital representations.

Grilli Type’s GT Sectra as a specimen and in use. Inspiration for typeface design and presentation.

Poster designed by MM Paris. Used as inspiration for marriage between human elements and digital design.

1.

7.

8.

JESS GOLDSMITH LAURA ROWLEY KRIS SOWERSBY

View-Finding

KRIS SOWERSBY

Kris Sowersby founded Klim Type Foundry (Klim) in 2005, based in Te Whanganui-a -Tara/Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Since releasing Feijoa, in 2007, Kris has received numerous awards and accolades for his work. In my first few weeks as

“Every designer, eventually, harnesses their hand in all work they make.”

Founders Grotesk—Klim Type Foundry

a graduate student at Boston University I chose Sowersby's typeface Founders Grotesk for a specimen project, and have been significantly influenced by his work throughout the remainder of my grad tenure.

The Art of Letters—Kris Sowersby

Sohne Collection—Klim Type Foundry

What are the main ways you consider your audience when designing a retail font?

Fonts have two audiences: designers and readers. We firstly try to appeal to designers by making compelling, weird campaigns and trusting they will get it. We assume intelligence and competence, and don’t use trite marketing. Secondly, we appeal to their working lives and conditions by making fonts that will work in their given contexts. Good craft, basically. And this craft is ultimately exposed to the end audience, which is the reader.

On several occasions you’ve discussed the presence of the designer’s hand, or ‘fist’ in their work. Is the visibility of this character/styling something that should be continually present, or does it require mitigation depending on the project? To what degree can designers harness the visibility of their hand?

It is simply impossible to have no character and styling. Even the most extreme minimalists/modernists have character and style. Every designer, eventually, harnesses their hand in all work they make. It can be a double-edged sword, sometimes designers will end up being known for a specific style in a specific context, and struggle to break out. However, they might be totally happy in that niche!

You’ve mentioned that the process of type design generally reaches an emotional neutral, because projects often span several years. What would an emotional typeface look like? How would designing something like this differ from your usual process?

Maybe a typeface can never look emotional. Emotions can only be experienced by people, I don’t think I believe in anthropomorphic typefaces. Of course, they can make you feel certain things, but those feelings are not fixed across different people, or even the same person. Sometimes ‘Times New Roman’ can make you feel excited, other times it can really get you down.

What role do you believe software plays in digital craft, and to what extent (if at all) is this translated into the audience's reading of the work?

Software is the invisible presence in all our work. We use it to make work, we use it to ingest work. I am not sure, really, what an audience would read it as. Sometimes I get tired of reading digital things on digital devices, but I'm quite attuned to it.

In your Azimuts 43 interview you said that type design has a concrete end when everything is drawn/spaced, kerned, hinted and mastered, and you’ve also mentioned the design process ending in a ‘denouement of exhaustion’. As someone who has trouble knowing when to step away from a project I’m curious: over the years, has your relationship to your finished work changed, and if so, how?

Damn, I said that? Yes, it’s changed quite a lot. I am more patient. Now that I’ve been around the traps a few more times, I know how long a typeface will take. I’ve lost the desperate urge to make a whole bunch, to “git gud,” to “prove myself.” I know that what I initially *want* in a typeface will change as it progresses, and I have to learn to appreciate what I *get*. I stop pushing so hard and let it guide me towards what it wants to be. I have also abandoned typefaces with tens, maybe hundreds of hours in them because I know they just aren’t working.

In past interviews and writing, you’ve discussed how type design can have different accents - how overt or covertly do you believe these accents are communicated by fonts in use?

Some designers have a strong affinity towards local or culturally relevant fonts. As *very* broad examples: Franklin Gothic for Americans, Sabon for Germans, Helvetica for the Swiss, Antique Olive for the French, etc. I think some designers feel these accents and use them very naturally, like communicating in their own verbal language. Of course, it’s not just for this reason, but many other reasons as well.

What is your favorite thing about working in type design?

Autonomy is the main one. It’s wonderful to be at a stage where I’ve built a career and foundry that functions as a good business. Employing people feels great!

Do you have any final thoughts or specific advice for someone interested in establishing a design practice rooted in typographic communication?

It’s going to be a hard path. Not many people care about typography, it’s just something that happens to them, words are words. But that’s OK, there’s an ancient line of typographic practitioners who work the craft, making small steps, contributing to the literary landscape. It’s not flash, it’s not trendy, but it’s a good thing to do.

Left: Epicene Collection–Klim Type Foundry

Previous Spread: Founders Grotesk–Klim Type Foundry

A DESIGN THESIS IN

Context

INVENTORY

‘A Life’ Board Game

For this project, I chose to design a board game that focuses on the mundane moments of the everyday rather than major life events. In doing so, I wanted to celebrate the spaces between events we generally deem more significant. I chose to riff on the format of the classic game of Life, instead calling my version A Life (alive) when read quickly.

Instead of earning monetary rewards or credits in social standing, players earn Life Experience tokens as they move through the board. There are Action, Item, and Event cards to guide the game-play, although they never disrupt or penalize the experience accumulation.

50 Questions

This sculptural poster set was developed in response to a set of 50 questions regarding my progress and goals as a designer. The format depicts a marriage of analog and digital, while the use of the glass container represents the selection of questions and the elusivity/distortion of answers.

The techniques used to create this poster series were inspired by the work of Nancy Skolos and Thomas Wedell. The forms in this set were created using a glass bowl filled with semi-translucent slips of paper. The sculpture was photographed, printed, and rephotographed several times to achieve the final composition.

Strike Magazine Boston University Issue One

This publication showcases spread, layout, and overall editorial work done as Design Director for Strike Boston’s founding issue. The magazine and design choices focus on expression, and the juxtaposition between internal emotions and how they are represented externally. Strike Boston Issue I is both a physical and digital publication, released July 2022. The magazine in it’s entirety, as well as credits for the photography and body copy can be found on Strike magazine’s website.

Dimensional Experimentations

Graphic experiments in illustration and dimension. Printed on 11 × 17 paper using a Risograph printer.

Terms

Activate—to contribute to an entity or composition in a manner that adds a visually kinetic property Amelioration—the betterment of something. An improvement to it

Aperture—the partially enclosed, somewhat rounded negative space in some characters such as ‘n’, ‘c’, ‘s’…the opening to the counter space

Collaboration—to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor Craft—an occupation, trade, or activity requiring manual dexterity and/or artistic skill

Imbricated—to overlap or to cause to overlap. In-between—spaces that occur within or connect paralell ideas or properties

Ink trap—when strokes meet at certain angles, they can be designed more open or with a notched appearance, forming an ink trap. This can avoid a physical or optical ink blob in that area.

Intermediary—being or acting as a ‘between’ or connecting property for two entities.

Lenticular—lenticular images or objects give the illusion of depth (3D), movement and/or merge two different images.

Liminal—of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition

Material—of or relating to matter rather than form Monoline typography—letterforms drawn in one continuous stroke

Nascent—(especially of a process or organization) just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential

Ocularcentrism—a bias that ranks vision over the other senses in western cultures

Parlance—a particular way of speaking or using words, especially a way common to those with a particular job or interest

Plenary—encompassing; complete; absolute Process—a natural phenomenon marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result

Propound—put forward (an idea, theory, or point of view) for consideration by others.

Proprioception—cognizance of the movement and composition of one’s own integrated body

Repudiated—to not accept or be associated with. Or to not acknowledge the validity of something. S

Serendipitous—occurring or discovered by chance in a beneficial way

Somatic—relating to the body, especially as distinct from the mind

Structure—physical or theoretical constraints defined by a set framework

Subsumed—The state of having been absorbed by something else

Tangible—capable of being perceived especially by the sense of touch

Transition—a change or shift from one state, subject, place, etc. to another

Versant—to be experienced or practiced at a task/ methodology.

References

Andersson, Elin. "Elin Andersson," Elin Matilda, https://elinmatilda.com/.

"Atelier De Graphisme." Helmo, https://helmo.fr/.

Barnes, Alison. "GEO/GRAPHIC DESIGN: THE LIMINAL SPACE OF THE PAGE." Geographical Review, vol. 103, no. 2, 2013, pp. 164–76. JSTOR, http:// www.jstor.org/stable/43915981. Accessed 20 Apr. 2023. Goldsmith, Jess. "Jess Goldsmith!" Jess Goldsmith!, https://www.chickofalltrade.com/.

"Centre Pompidou Paris." Centre Pompidou, https:// www.centrepompidou.fr/en/.

"Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America’s Most-Trusted Online Dictionary." Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/.

Frascara, Jorge. "Graphic Design: Fine Art or Social Science?" Design Issues, vol. 5, no. 1, The MIT Press, 1988, pp. 18–29, https://doi. org/10.2307/1511556.

Goldsmith, Jess. "Jess Goldsmith!" Jess Goldsmith!, https://www.chickofalltrade.com/.

Goldsmith, Jess. "Typography &am Lettering Resources." Women Of Type, https://womenoftype. com/.

"GT Sectra – Typeface Specimen and License Purchase." Typeface Specimen and License Purchase, https://www.grillitype.com/typeface/gt-sectra.

Harland, Robert. "The Dimensions of Graphic Design and Its Spheres of Influence." Design Issues, vol.

27, no. 1, 2011, pp. 21–34. JSTOR, http://www. jstor.org/stable/40983241. Accessed 20 Apr. 2023.

Herrmann, Ralf. "Ink Trap." Typography.Guru, 12 Feb. 2022, https://typography.guru/term/inktrap-r64/.

Howard-Grenville, Jennifer, et al. "Liminality as Cultural Process for Cultural Change." Organization Science, vol. 22, no. 2, 2011, pp. 522–39. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20868874. Accessed 20 Apr. 2023.

Markussen, Thomas. "The Disruptive Aesthetics of Design Activism: Enacting Design Between Art and Politics." Design Issues, vol. 29, no. 1, The MIT Press, 2013, pp. 38–50, http://www.jstor. org/stable/24267101.

"Minnesota Publishing Company." Rodney K Press, https://rodneykpress.com/.

"M/M (Paris)." M/M Paris https://www.mmparis.com/

"Rene Magritte. The False Mirror. Paris 1929: Moma." The Museum of Modern Art, https://www.moma. org/collection/works/78938..

Rowley, Laura. "Illuminated Press: Indie Publishing. Illuminatedpress, https://www.illuminatedpress.org/.

"Self Publishing | Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing." Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazonkindle, https:// kdp.amazon.com/en_US/.

Skolos, Nancy, and Thomas Wedell. "Carter." Skolos + Wedell, http://skolos-wedell.com/carter.html.

Sowersby, Kris. "Klim Type Foundry Founders Grotesk Collection." Klim Type Foundry, Sept. 2020, https://klim.co.nz/collections/foun ders-grotesk/.

"Typography Terms and Definitions." Monotype., https://www.monotype.com/resources/studio/ typography-terms#:~:text=Aperture.,opening%20to%20the%20counter%20space.

"What Is a Lenticular?" Art Republic, https://artrepublic.com/blogs/news/spotlight-on-lenticular-printing#:~:text=Lenticular%20images%20give%20 the%20illusion,then%20interlaced%20with%20 other%20images.

"You’re Not Alone." American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2023 American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. All Rights Reserved., 17 Apr. 2023, https://afsp.org/.

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank my parents, Heather and Jamie Viviano as well as my sisters Grace and Pearl for all their love and their support of my move across the country to pursue what I love. And of course Ben, for keeping me sane and forever trying (and failing) to convince me to take more walks.

I’d also like to thank my studio professors Christopher Sleboda, Kristen Coogan, James Grady, and Nick Rock, for their guidance and feedback throughout my time at Boston University.

Thank you to Valeria for the unwaveringly sound advice, for your amazing friendship and perpetual patience. To Annabella for constantly inspiring me and getting me through the ‘unwell’ times. To Graham for brightening the studio space and for understanding all my references. To Jesse for the laughter and, of course, for introducing us all to Cody.

Thank you to Jingyi for always checking in and for helping Boston feel more like home. To Lauren for all the spontaneous Allston adventures, and to Nina for your friendship and always being willing to listen.

I’d also like to thank all of the incredibly talented designers in my cohort. I’ve learned so much from you all and I would not be the same designer without your feedback and support.

DESIGNED BY

Sophia Viviano viviano-designs.com @viviano_designs

TYPESET IN

Viviano Book

Viviano Italic

Aperture Sans Book

All typefaces designed by Sophia Viviano