Tomi Vollauschek (FL@33 / Stereohype) Workshop | ECV Aix – Year 4 / Master 1 (Design & Art DIrection, Alternance)

WORKSHOP
From Micro to Macro – A Comprehensive Typography Masterclass
970 avenue Pierre Brossolette, Nairobi
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28–31 October 2024
Monday–Thursday, 9:30–13:00 / 14:00–17:30
I would be happy to stay until 18:30 on Monday to make sure all students get to talk to me about their work and and concerns, and get encouraging and personal pointers and suggestions from me.

WORKSHOP EXHIBITION
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31 October 2024
Thursday: workshop exhibition and presentation of all projects.
Presentations start at approximately 14:30.
3–5min presentation per student.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE — ON DEMAND ONLY:
PORTFOLIO SESSIONS / Q&A
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30 October 2024
Wednesday, 17:30–18:30

If you are interested, please do let Tomi know on the day BEFORE 17:00. A chance to discuss your and/or our work and/or life after college. I suggested offering you the opportunity to discuss students’ work and/or our studio work, application do’s and don’ts and/or life after college. We only have approximately one hour for this, however – if you are interested. Please do try to organise as a group and prepare your questions and presentations accordingly.

WORKSHOP TITLE
From Micro to Macro – A Comprehensive Typography Masterclass

AIM
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This masterclass provides a comprehensive journey through typography, from the minutiae of letterforms to the broader aspects of page layout and book design. The structure balances theory and practice, progressing from micro-typographic exercises inspired by Swiss Style to macro-typographic challenges in contemporary book design. Students will develop critical skills in both micro-typography (such as kerning, tracking, contrast, and precise character adjustments) and macro-typography (including grid systems, page layout, and overall visual hierarchy).
___ By applying principles from historical movements to modern  design contexts, participants will gain a holistic understanding of typography's role in effective visual communication.
___ The workshop's hands-on approach ensures that students not  only learn typographic principles but also apply them practically, culminating in a final project that showcases their ability to harmonise a grids system and micro and macro typographic elements in a cohesive design.

WORKSHOP BRIEFING

BRIEF (ROUGH OVERVIEW)
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Exercise: Design a minimal Swiss Style-inspired black and white typographic mini-poster (content: song lyrics and song data). Optional songs provided (see Extra Info).

Main Brief: Develop a page grid system and design the first 5–15 pages of a French novel (1 single, 2–7 double-page spreads). Footnotes will be added as extra challenge. Optional novels provided (see Extra Info).

Extra Add-on:
Time allowing we will also create a typographic book cover

All is to be fine-tuned and ready for a Thursday afternoon presentation and exhibition.

A QUOTE
"Don't let yourself be governed by the grid, govern the grid." | « Ne te laisse pas contrôler par la grille, contrôle la grille » — Massimo Vignelli, Italian Designer 1931–2014


DAY 1 ASSIGNMENT – Tomi Vollauschek WORKSHOP | Swiss Style and Minimalism / Introduction to Book Design
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— Morning: Swiss Style and Minimalism
— Introduction to the workshop
— Crash course: Futurism, Dada, Bauhaus, and Swiss Style
— Focus on Modernism, Minimalism, Grids and Layouts,  Jan Tschichold, Josef-Müller Brockmann
— Discussion of Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Sequence

— Brief 1: An exercise. | Swiss-Style Inspired Typographic Composition
— Teams of 2–3
— Content: Complete song lyrics (min. 50 words), song length, performer(s), title, release year
— Choice of provided song lyrics or self-selected
— 1 identical song per team
— 1 Design per person (all designs within each team should be VERY different)
— Black and white only, no photos
— A4 portrait, single sans-serif typeface  (Helvetica, Frutiger, or Avenir)
— 2 sizes, 2 weights maximum
— 1 hour for initial designs, followed by discussion and refinement

— Afternoon: Introduction to Book Design
— Finish and refine Swiss Style compositions
— Introduction to main workshop brief: Novel spread design
— Explanation of book design principles: format, typeface selection, pairing, sizing, kerning, tracking, pagination
— Discussion on justified vs. ragged text, orphans and widows, contrast, white space

— Brief 2 (introduced on day 1 for novel text selection): Design the first 5–15 pages of a French novel (1 single, 2–7 double-page spreads)
   
— Same teams of 3
— To be able to start first thing in the morning: Choice of provided texts or self-selected French novel

DAY 2 ASSIGNMENT – Tomi Vollauschek WORKSHOP | Grid Systems and Typography
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— Brief 2 continued: Design the first 5–15 pages of a French novel (1 single, 2–7 double-page spreads)

— Develop grid systems for double-page book spreads
— Incorporate footnotes into spread designs
— Conduct type tests and make typographic choices
— Begin designing book pages
— Experiment with your layout compositions, contrast contrast contrast and the all importants white space
— Introduction to multi-column layouts for back cover 'blurb' text
— French typographic oddities compared to international typography

DAY 3 ASSIGNMENT – Tomi Vollauschek WORKSHOP | Refinement and Optional Cover Design
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— Continue refining book spreads
— If time allows, create typographic front cover designs
— Begin printing for Thursday's presentation and exhibition

DAY 4 ASSIGNMENT – Tomi Vollauschek WORKSHOP | Final Preparations and Exhibition
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— Complete all designs
— Finish printing
— Set up exhibition
— Final presentations

EXTRA INFO:
I will bring a small range of Swiss Style and modernist book designs and typography books with me for reference throughout the workshop. Mise en page(s), etc. Manuel, Lexique des Règles typographiques, Grid Systems by Josef-Müller Brockmann, Flexible Visual Systems by Martin Lorenz, to name but a few...
___ Extra tutoring / mini-lectures for students will be incorporated throughout the course.
___ Guidelines will be given throughout for the design of grid systems to ensure consistency across projects.
___ Mini-lectures on specific topics (e.g., readability, font vs size choices, kerning techniques, footnote design) throughout Days 2 and 3.
Additional short critique sessions at the end of each day to provide feedback and guide improvements.
___ Day 1–3: I will try to add a few brief reflection components where students discuss their design choices and learning experiences.
___ Proposed book texts that will be provided to students: Albert Camus' L'Étranger and the more contemporary L'élégance du hérisson by Muriel Barbery. Groups can either use one of these or select their own.

Proposed song lyrics that will be provided to students:
Random selection od suitable contenders: Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division, Nightswimming by R.E.M., Where is My Mind by Pixies, Petit Pays by Cesária Évora and a difficult challenge with looooong lyrics: Calm Down by Rema (with Selena Gomez)

PLEASE NOTE:
Please ensure to address below points in your presentation.
— What was your starting point?
— Explain your process and how you challenged yourself?
— What was the most frustrating aspect of your project and what was the most satisfying one?
— Were there any ‘happy accidents’?
— Please comment on the achieved balance of the Power of Three..

DESIGN BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS (I will bring some of my English and French reference copies – and French copies of the novels of course)
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ESSENTIALS: Graphic Design / Typography

Pioneer of Swiss Graphic Design,
Josef Müller-Brockmann

Typographie / Typography,
Emil Ruder

Mise en page (s), etc. Fondamentaux, éléments de base, principes de grille, supports, études de cas
Damien Gautier / Claire Gauthier

Lexique des règles typographiques en usage à l'Imprimerie nationale
Massin

Le Détail en typographie: La lettre, l'interlettrage, le mot, l'espacement, la ligne, l'interlignage, la colonne /
Detail in Typography: Letters, Letterspacing, Words, Wordspacing, Lines, Linespacing, Columns
Jost Hochuli

Adrian Frutiger Typefaces. The Complete Works.
Heidrun Osterer, Philipp Stamm

Der Geist der Farbe – Karl Gerstner und Seine Kunst,
DVA

The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 1
Jon Wozencroft, Neville Brody, 1988

The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 2
Jon Wozencroft, Neville Brody, 1994

The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 3,
Brody & team, 2023

Designed By Peter Saville

Love Song
Non-Format

Saul Bass
Laurence King Publishing

The End of Print
David Carson

Typography Now
Booth Clibborn

ESSENTIALS: Grids and Flexible Visual Systems, Information Design

Grid Systems,
Josef Müller-Brockmann

Flexible Visual Systems – The Design Manual for Contemporary Visual Identities,
Martin Lorenz

Mise En Page Etc
Pyramyd

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information,
Edward Tufte

The Information Capital
London

Information Graphics

Geometry Makes Me Happy,
Index Book, various

Grids – Creative Solutions for Graphic Designers,
RotoVision / contributors

Golden Meaning
GD&

The Layout Book
Laurence King Publishing

+ PDF articles:
The Rule of Thirds and Filmmaking


ESSENTIALS: Think Globally (Act Locally)

The Politics of Design – A (Not So) Global Manual for Visual Communication,
Ruben Pater et al


ESSENTIALS: Food for thoughts

The Extreme Self,
Shumon Basar, Douglas Coupland, Hans Ulrich Obrist

Popular Lies* About Graphic Design,
Craig Ward

A Smile in the mind – Witty thinking in Graphic Design,
Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart

The Art of Looking Sideways,
Alan Fletcher

How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul,
Adrian Shaugnessy


MORE: Typography

The Visual History of Type,
Paul McNeil

About Face – Reviving the Rules of Typography,
David Jury

Exploring Typography, An In-Depth Guide to the Art & techniques of Contemporary Typography,
Tova Rabinowitz

The 3D Type Book,
FL@33 (Yours truly)

Lettering & Type,
Bruce Willen, Nolen Strals

Shape Grammars,
Janina Maroscheck


More: Graphic Designer Monographs and Showcase Books

Rational Simplicity – Rudolph de Harak Graphic Designer,
Richard Poulin

TD 63–73, Total Design and its Pioneering Role in Graphic Design,
Ben Bos

Lance Wyman: The Monograph,
Adrian Shaugnessy, Tony Brook

The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 3,
Brody & team

The Art of Work,
Milton Glaser

Designed By,
Peter Saville

V.O. Archive,
Vaughan Oliver

Lubalin – Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer 1918–81,
Adrian Shaugnessy

Ladislav Sutnar, Prague, New York, Design in Action,
Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague

Restart – New Systems in Graphic Design,
Christian Küsters & Emily King

(Andreas Uebele) Material – Monograph Volume 3, 2003 – 2016,
Andreas Uebele

Graphics Alive,
Victionary, various
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