Response to Chapter 3

Chapter 3 was fascinating to me. I am a very visual person, to the point where I obsess over every detail. That's why I connected so much with what the shop keeper told his apprentice about how every space between letters should be able to hold the same amount of space optically. I like things to be evenly spaced, perfectly centered, or correctly in line. That's why the first part of the Chapter about the letter is such a hard thing for me to execute. There is no right way to do it. Space can be captured in a hundred different ways. I did love the part about unifying 2 letterforms into one, since that is all about curves meeting lines in a creative way that draws the eye across the form. However, the more white space there is the less concrete the best layout is. I loved the example of using the word camerata to represent the meaning of the word. Yes, it represented all the layers of the word, the letters, but it also spread out over the page the way people mingling at a party would spread out randomly across the room. I also loved the section about using lines to capture space, but I do feel that this is the section where it would be easiest to overdo it and create something too confusing and busy. If the lines contribute to an overall form, perhaps form the shape of what the message is portraying, then I think it is an extremely valuable tool, however if not, it could just destroy the aesthetic feeling of the piece. My favorite thing about this chapter was simply the endless possibilities to create an amazing layout. I love pages that are not dominated by boring text, and it's even better when the picture/placement of elements on the page add to the message. Just like was illustrated in the ITT Programming poster, it's important to remember just how influential simple shapes and lines can be in determining position in a composition.