Arguing and Empathy is an e-book designed around three connecting articles written by Don Johnson. The three articles are “The Real Reason we get into Arguments,” “Your Opinions are not Facts,” and “How the ‘Verbal Aibido’ can help you avoid Stupid Arguments.” They have a common focus of arguing. He believes the root of all arguments is a lack of empathy.
During this project, I learned a lot about typography and how to typeset text while evoking the emotion from the words. I Explored and took many risks with this project by playing with different weights of text and the indentation of each line. There is also a lot of dialogue in these articles, which I wanted to make clear to the reader.
To the left is an example of the body text where I utilized indentation and body weight to emphasize key elements of the ‘Verbal Aibido’. The reader can clearly distinguish the processes of the ‘Verbal Aibido’ being addressed and the quote example along with the explanation.
I also used consistent imagery of the exclamation point and comma throughout the publication as visual stimulation for the reader and to keep the reader focused on when Johnson is talking about a wholistic perspective of relationships and how to address tough situations.
My design process started with research. After reading the articles and learning about Johnson’s perspective on arguments and empathy, I wanted to find a typeface that applied to both concepts. Montserrat was the best fit for this project because it has 18 different styles and a geometric system. The wide range of styles is also essential for the body text. This typeface gave me the freedom to play with the letterforms and explore the words as if they were arguing.
During my image research, the two colors that surfaced most frequently were red and blue. Red for arguing and blue for empathy. Red has strong associations with emotion, passion, and anger. Blue is known to be associated with calmness, security, sensitivity, and the truth. Although blue and red are predominately political colors, I did not want this project to have associations with politics. I played with these colors and added a dark purple and light tan color to the pallet to compliment the red and blue. I also took these measures to sway it away from any political relations.
Arguing and Empathy is an e-book designed around three connecting articles written by Don Johnson. The three articles are “The Real Reason we get into Arguments,” “Your Opinions are not Facts,” and “How the ‘Verbal Aibido’ can help you avoid Stupid Arguments.” They have a common focus of arguing. He believes the root of all arguments is a lack of empathy.
During this project, I learned a lot about typography and how to typeset text while evoking the emotion from the words. I Explored and took many risks with this project by playing with different weights of text and the indentation of each line. There is also a lot of dialogue in these articles, which I wanted to make clear to the reader.
Above is one of the many park signs I worked on. I would make a few of these depending on events or depending on what the conservancy wanted to emphasize. I learned a lot about interactive design and how visitors respond to this type of signage. Specifically, using typography and the brand identity’s hierarchy to create a sign that is most effective, clearly communicates the message, and is easy to read.
The process of creating these signs was very beneficial to learn because, other than designing the signboard, I also was responsible for working with the company VSEEN directly to send all the files to print.
I would start the design with a blank template file from Pentagram; then, I would place the text into InDesign and categorize it with the hierarchy to create the signboard. Once all the text was in place, I went through all the typography with a strict eye to make sure all the typography was correct, and the text was the most optimal for the audience to read. Once this process was complete, I sent the file for review, and it would go through a few rounds of iterations.
The DEI brand visually embodies diversity, equity, and inclusion. Equity as fairness: to allow everyone access to what they need despite differing circumstances. This is displayed by the different heights of each rectangle with the help of another rectangle to allow every column to be equal in height. Diversity through the changing shapes and colors of each piece of the square, and inclusion through all the pieces coming together to form one single unit.
My process of creating this identity started with researching other DEI businesses and how to properly incorporate all three concepts into one icon. Big themes throughout my research were overlapping shapes, lots of colors, and the concept of puzzle pieces coming together. After the informational and image research, I made 100 sketches; below are four of the final sketches I chose to develop further.
