Design Elements, 2nd Edition

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putting it all together

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MERGING TYPE AND IMAGE

Two Things Becoming One In the simplest

terms, every design project incorporates

just two different parts—type and image—

and so the most important question to

address, therefore, is: “How exactly do I

put these two different things together?”

Getting type to interact dynamically with

imagery, in a unified way, poses a serious

problem for many designers. The challenge

stems from the fundamental differences

between type and everything else.

Sure, type behaves in accordance with the

same visual rules that apply to images (as

we have seen), but while images exhibit

formal qualities in staggering variety, type

is always type: graphical lines, making

patterns of other lines. And these lines are

all words—they mean something, which

inevitably creates a strange disconnect for

designers when trying to analyze its very

specific visual qualities relative to the

more intuitively understandable visual

qualities of pictures and graphical shapes.

The results of poorly integrated type and

image fall into two categories: The first

includes type that has nothing in common

with the images around it; the second

includes typography that has been so

aggressively integrated with image that

it becomes illegible or unnavigable.

Overcoming type’s stark, alien difference

from other visual material and, in so doing,

avoiding either of the aforementioned

Alternating dark and light typographic elements

in the upper portion of this brochure cover repeat the

dark and light value breaks in the landscape image.

ANDREAS ORTAG AUSTRIA

The text, inset images, and linear graphic forms are

organized on a grid of vertical and horizontal axes to

unify their proportions.

LSD SPAIN

Both the type and the spliced image are composed on a symmetrical axis; the

headline’s staggered overlapping, as well as the informational text’s deep rags,

echo this irregular movement in the image.

JUNE KIM/PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN UNITED STATES

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design elements

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graph, for instance, even while the para-

graph’s optimal width, being horizontal in

proportion, opposes the same foreground

element’s verticality. The fundamental

difference between type’s linear patterning

and the photograph’s continuous tonality

is unavoidable; even so, commonality is

present in at least one aspect between

them—shape—in similar, as well as oppos-

ing, ways. And, there are likely other such

relationships to be found as well.

So, to simplify matters for the sake of this

discussion, it’s easiest to break down these

two states of possible type/image relation-

ship—formal congruence, or similarity,

and formal opposition, or contrast—into

categories that concern only four differ-

ent attributes: shape, texture, value, and

rhythm. Initially concerning oneself only

with these attributes makes it easier to

integrate typography and image overall.

scenarios depends on finding more partic-

ular areas of common ground between the

limited formal qualities that type exhibits

and the more varied kinds among images.

Laying type into or across an image is a

quick way of finding visual relationships.

Their immediate juxtaposition will reveal

similarities among elements in each, as

well as opposition among others. The rag

of a short paragraph might have a similar

shape as a foreground element in a photo-

The staggered movement

and size change of the type

correspond to the vertical

movement of the sewing

machine needle—contrasting

it with horizontal motion—

and the flow of fabric through

the sewing machine.

VCU QATAR QATAR

Combining vertical and

horizontal positioning of type

elements helps integrate the

linear movement of both type

and image, as well as permits

the currency’s denomination to

be read when the bill is held at

either angle.

MARCIA LISANTO/

LAGUNA COLLEGE OF ART AND

DESIGN UNITED STATES

Both the wide callout on the left-hand page of this spread and the

group of shallow columns on the right share proportions with

elements in the image. The relative positions of the two groupings

restate the image’s major diagonal axis.

LOEWY UNITED KINGDOM

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