Parallel of writing to designing

So lets hope I did this right ;)
I read an article a while back that talked about how art and design schools don't focus enough on the writing process and it's propper techniques. The author talked about how they were implementing courses in the curriculum where a design program such as ours, whould have a class specifically focused on propper writing techniques that were directed specifically towards the field, in order to make the students better designers. They talked about how writing is a visual process and the paralells between writing and designing.
Do you think that our ability to write well affects our ability to use type?? Do designers really need to be able to write well to be a good designer?

Crumbling Structure

Ok, so we all joked that my entry would be long with lots of tedious reading...that's only half true!! With the miracle of hyperlinks, this entry is going to be short and sweet....with a little tedious reading on the side *evil laugh*.

Go here: http://www.designobserver.com/archives/020476.html

This is an article written by Jessica Helfand entitled "The Not-So Golden Age of Zero Tolerance". In it, she explores the relationship between restriction and resolution; that is, whether or not guidelines and steadfast "design rules" are good or bad, and how they affect the work that is produced. I pulled together two points from this article that I thought we could discuss.

1.) Do you think you produce your best work (let's talk type) with restrictions and guidelines, (eg. "You are only allowed to use X font.") or do you produce your best work when you have no restrictions at all? How do project restrictions affect your type? (eg. "My type in Project X sucked because Joan said I had to design for Company Y, which is a very conservative company.") Why do you think that is?

2.) What, if any, is your idea of "perfect" restrictions? This can be as simple as "none", but could include certain points as well (eg. "I think we should ban all other fonts and use exclusively Gadget and Curlz")?

Enjoy...*another evil laugh*

-Nick

type3kcad: Mixing Serifs and San Serifs

type3kcad: Mixing Serifs and San Serifs

I also agree that type can be very difficult. I Don't have a favorite combination of Serif and Sans-Serif. I do find myself using certain fonts more than other, such as Futura and of course Helvetica. What I enjoy is taking on the project and then finding the fonts that seems to fit the project. Moreso than having a particular combination.

Mixing Serifs and San Serifs

You know it is your worst fear as a Designer. Feeling like a Serif doesn't quite match the San Serif that you've already fell in love with. Change one? Change them both? Some avoid it all together and others aren't afraid to make mistakes in order to learn, and others just seem to do everything right. What fonts do you love together.......yes we all know Jason loves Comics Sans with a touch papyrus for good measure.....but what are your true favorite combinations?