DMA 384: Reflecting on Project 3

This is a part of a series, consisting of reflections and analysis of work created in the Digital Media Arts 384: Typography Course at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY.

Project 3 was a doozy, a culmination of a large section of the typography class material, with the target of building a brand spankin’ new Digital Media Arts course outline. I originally decided on a two column view, with the roadmaps on the left and course list on the right. This worked until I found I had loads of white space. I then moved the professor section to it’s own column, and inserted some copy directly from the DMA Canisius site. This added a more descriptive warmth to the piece, to counter the cold numbers and roadmap of the other sections. I felt that a 3 column view would also offset the upper title, which felt like it threw the balance off as it hovered directly over the left side column. It was difficult to balance the entire piece, especially due to the overwhelming size of the paper. Lots of students decided to flip the text and go vertical for one column, however this seemed to be too easy a solution, and thus very common. I figured adding copy and professors to the paper would help mesh the entire DMA program together, as well as the piece. The lack of color in the project, shows what one can do with hierarchy without color. This also serves a practical purpose, of making the sheet cheaper to print, which helps to make it more abundant. Maybe this cost could help make the weight of the paper, heavier.