LETTERED: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO TYPOGRAPHY

Bringing the aesthetic and the utilitarian aspects of words together is what we know as typography.

Words are an unavoidable part of our life.

As basic units of communication, they exist in everyday existence in all sorts of forms: spoken, written, and even thought!

From the newspaper you read with your morning chai, the number of the bus you take to work, to this blog words, letters and numbers are by your side constantly.

Naturally, due to this ability of transference, they play a crucial role in design as well.

Good design, it is said, must effectively communicate the idea that the designer wants to convey to the audience.

And as basic units of any means of communication, words are an indispensable part of design.

What is typography?

Typography is, in simple words, the art and technique of arranging written or typed text in a way that makes it easy to read and understand, as well in a manner that is appealing to look at.

The term is also applied to the style, arrangement and appearance of individual letters, numbers and symbols – thereby associating it with type design, which is the art of designing such written characters for use in written text.

Typography involves a number of aesthetic and technical aspects such as selection of typefaces (commonly known as font faces), letter and text sizing (font size), line lengths, line spacing (called leading; rhymes with wedding), the space between characters in a line (tracking), and the gaps between every pair of characters (kerning).

Originally, typography as an art was practiced by specialists who created hand-written manuscripts.

With the invention of printing technology and automation, it became the work of typesetters and was used by book publishers and newspaper houses.

As the years passed and the digital age came to be, the applications of typography have expanded greatly.

Due to its aesthetic appeal, it is often applied beyond strictly text-based media. Today, book cover illustrators, graffiti artists, comic and manga illustrators, film and theatre art directors, and graphic designers too find use for typography.

And it’s not just limited to physical media – there are brilliant examples of typography on the internet as well.

Using typography effectively in design

Design is a visual means of communication, combining images with words (whether written or implied) to pass along a message. It is around us on paper and in virtual space.

From coins we use to make our daily purchases to advertisements broadcast on the television and printed in the newspaper, videos we see on our mobile screens, websites we visit or the books we read, design is an essential part of our lives.

Around 95% of content on the internet is comprised of text, making it invaluable to know how to shape and arrange text in an effective way so that the end user can easily find the content they are interested in.

In typography, the beginning lies in planning out the overall arrangement of the text.

This is called macro typography, and is similar to the discipline of information design.

In this stage, we decide on the arrangement of the content: how many columns, where there should be space for images, column width, where there should be white space, etc.

Effective typography follows the basic principles of design and is readable, appealing to look at with harmonious individual elements, and has a balanced arrangement.

Once the arrangement of the chunks of text on the page is fixed, we move on to the aspects of micro typography.

The most obvious of these is the appearance of the text itself, which is defined by the font face or typeface.

A common concern is the number of font faces that may be used. Typically, two or three different font faces are more than enough.

The point to keep in mind here is harmony.

The fonts should be different from and still complement each other.

For instance, if the heading is a serif font, the text of the body could be in a sans serif font to add contrast and still maintain harmony.

Alternatively, the heading could use a bold or italic variant of a font while the body uses a regular variant of the same font.

Using standard fonts makes it easier for readers as they are more likely to be familiar with the font face.

Capital letters are better avoided, especially for the body of the content.

Just as too little text can hinder the message being communicated, too much text is also not helpful.

It is important to find a balance between text and white space.

As a general rule of thumb, gaps for leading and kerning should be around 125%-150% of the corresponding line of text to avoid the words and letters looking too cramped or too spaced out.

Lines should not be too long, nor should they be too short. Shorter lines, however, are acceptable for mobile layouts (more on that in a bit).

Colour is another element of typography that could be a perfect choice or end up horribly wrong.

Contrast is always welcome, but inverse contrast (such as white text on a black background) can make reading a tedious experience.

The key, again, is to use complementary colours for different parts of text.

Smaller text should have a contrast ratio of at least 5:1 against the background, while for larger text the recommended minimum is 3:1.

Lastly, since typography is a universal art, cross-platform layouts have to be kept in mind.

The average user accesses content on a desktop as well on a tablet or mobile phone.

These have different screen sizes, and maintaining equal readability requires that the text be rearranged to suit each of these platforms.

As a result, most web content is designed in two layouts: full-size for a desktop and reader-friendly shorter lines for mobile phones and tablet computers with smaller screen space.

The same applies for print media design: a smaller canvas often needs text to be resized to be readable in the way it would on a larger sized printout.

Rearranging often follows to maintain the design aesthetic.

A lot of websites, like Google or eBay treat text as the primary user interface.

They serve as good examples of what to and no to do with text.

If you’re running out of inspiration for creative text arrangements, you can take a trip to London and explore the graffiti on Lake Street.

Or simply visit Maac Kolkata Centre and check out the graphic design courses on offer.

Multimedia – An Important Career Option

In our today’s blog, we will be discussing Multimedia and how is it an important career option.

A multimedia is a form of a content type for human communication through computer vision.

It is used to visualize and understand information from one to another. Multimedia is the way of communicating through text, graphics, audio, and video.

The most important element of Multimedia is the computer, without a computer, the coordination with visuals and audio can’t be possible.

Multimedia is a part of the Animation field.

The Animation & Multimedia industry has matured in India and has moved on from being just an outsourcing facility to a creator of indigenous intellectual property as well.

There are more than 300 Animation studios that came up about three to four years back only.

Multimedia is required in every field nowadays, whether it be an online presentation or a business conference.

Multimedia plays the most vital role in advertising.

It required in print as well as electronic media.

Firstly, they are prepared in computers using software and then it is shown to the ultimate audience.

Multimedia is used in print media like journals, magazines, newspaper etc.

Nowadays, we not only see text but photographs too in newspapers. Multimedia is also used in the field of education.

In the last ten years, we have seen a vast growth in the usage of computers in schools.

Computers make studies more interesting.

There are different visuals and pictures used to incorporate the study matter in a child’s mind.

It is scientifically proven that it is easier to understand something when we see it visually.

In many companies, presenting information to business professionals is a required form of communication.

Applications are already available for creating great-looking presentations, and through multimedia, these applications will become even better and more effective.

There is a vast scope of career options in the field of multimedia.

MAAC KOLKATA offers such courses which help you to master multimedia and it makes you ready to take up multimedia in any required field.

Multimedia is present everywhere, the phones we use, the T.V. we watch, the newspaper we read, the games we play.

Multimedia is required everywhere. The games in our mobile phones also contain multimedia.

There are different career options related to multimedia, some of them are:

Advertising manager, Creative Director, Media director, Web Designer/Developer, Multimedia Designer, Animator, Game Programmer , Game Tester, Photographer.

 Lately, there were no such scholastic courses in multimedia but nowadays many big colleges in the country offer degree courses in multimedia.

There are courses like a Diploma course, Bachelors Degree in Multimedia etc. Many software companies are offering for many types of software.

These professionals are also recruited in film companies, schools, universities, business companies etc.

Multimedia professionals generally work on creating digital images for the purpose of Animation, creating digital images for the purpose of Animation.

Multimedia can be pursued with any stream. A commerce student can also opt for this in college as well as the students of other streams.

The Multimedia specialists design and create information technology based multimedia products such as websites, DVDs as well.

Some key skills that are most importantly required to be in multimedia professional are:

A good eye for Design, Layout, and detail imagination and Creativity, Time management skills, Organizational skills.

The companies/agencies that employ professionals as:

Advertising agencies

Local authorities

Retailers

Software/multimedia houses

IT consultancies

Computer games companies

Manufacturers

Publishers

Educational Organisations

The average pay for a these professional in this country, India is about 3,90,000 per year.

There are not that much of a promotion scheme when it comes to Multimedia, that is why people are generally not promoted to other designations but they do get the bonus.

This is very valid too, as when it comes to multimedia, it becomes very different from other jobs.

Multimedia is maybe the only field and the only job that requires creativity, unlike the other jobs.

Once your creative power is lost (which happens very rarely with creative people) you cannot do anything, not even a promotion or an extra pay can help you save your livelihood.

Usually, the salary in this field  depends upon the skill and knowledge of the respective person.

The contract can be temporary like a one or two month’s contract. It can also be a contract that requires only the fulfillment of only one project.

For example, there are companies that hire professionals to work on their product design and once the product design is done, the work and the interest of the company in the professionals are also over.

It is very useful and advantageous for multimedia professionals as they can work with different companies at the same time.

It is also useful for the young and budding media students who wish to gain experience as they can work with some small startup companies on a temporary basis.

It is a very good Career option and also good way to have some extra earnings and part time jobs for people who are more interested in some other field than Multimedia.

After gaining experience in this field one can start up his or her own Business and work independently.

Maac Kolkata is one of oldest and renowned Academy in India for providing training in Animation, Vfx and multimedia.

MAAC Kolkata provides a comprehensive, 360 degree learning opportunity for extensive job-oriented training in responsive web design, 2D Animation & print.

You will be introduced to the latest trends in the web & publishing industry like digital publication, augmented reality, mobile apps & interactive web content.

So it is a great career option for young aspirants who aspire to be successful and keep their creative mind alive at the same time.

People who do not wish to get a job and work 9 hours a day and feel like robots, multimedia is the perfect option for such people.

PICTURES AND WORDS: VISUAL STORYTELLING AS A MULTIMEDIA TREND

In our blog we will discuss the visual storytelling as a multimedia trend.

Human beings have been fascinated by the idea of stories being represented in a visual form since time immemorial.

Any and every history book attests to this fact, telling us about people from prehistoric times recording their lives and stories in the form of cave paintings, of ancient Egyptians with their pictograms (hieroglyphs).

Papyrus scrolls, or Europe with the vast number of art pieces inspired by oral and written storytelling traditions, or even sculptures and carvings in temples or stained glass window paintings in churches.

These visual depictions of stories have endured through the years, and to this day there are people who study them to try and understand the story behind the art.

Despite being rooted in the fine arts, this trend has evolved in the past few centuries into more obvious formats such as the motion picture, while traditional hand drawings on paper or canvas have transitioned onto their digital counterparts in the field of multimedia.

Before we delve into the digital world, however, let us understand what visual storytelling is.

As noted earlier, visual storytelling is the representation of a story or narrative through some form of visual media and multimedia.

Also known as narrative storytelling or a photo story, it ignites imagination, inspires emotion and encourages the development of aspirations in the viewer.

While the concept has existed for centuries, the term is relatively new and has gained traction in the past decade or so with the advent of digital and new media.

Visual storytelling often includes a series of images or a video in order to portray the core message.

In today’s context, visual storytelling is a term most commonly found in the marketing and communications world.

Can be described as a marketing strategy that communicates powerful ideas in an interactive and immersive manner by means of a compelling story arc that will appeal to the potential customer.

The key points here are interactivity and customer (or consumer) immersion, and an underlying narrative to the presentation that enforces the central idea behind the product or service.

The main goal of visual storytelling today is to create profitable customer engagement for the marketer. The reasons for this are manifold:

Population boom, leading to demand for more content.
Dramatic increase in content production, as a result.
Decrease in human attention span, due the increase in engaging content.
Faster processing of visual image-based input in the human brain; research shows that images are processed several thousand times faster than      text.
Information presented in the form of a story is more appealing to the human mind.

People today are more interested in experiences, rather than simply products or services.

Take a moment and think of your smart phone.

It’s the easiest example of a product that gives you an experience: from communicating with family, friends, or colleagues, playing that latest game, surfing the internet.

Keeping up with the news, watching films and television shows, taking photographs, navigating the roads and exploring new places.

All of it is possible on that pocket-sized device.

So that urge you feel to change your smart phone when a newer, more ‘feature-rich’ model is released is because of that driving quest that we post-modern humans have for new and pleasurable experiences.

Another good example is VR gaming.

Virtual reality allows the user to step into a different world, so to speak, by ‘changing’ their surroundings into whatever is being projected into the headset view.

Game developers have taken this to the next level by integrating motion capture technology into game controllers, allowing the player to experience the game as though they are a part of the environment.

To better understand how it works, you can read our recent article on VR kits.

For the marketer, all of this means that the challenge lies in creating content across all multimedia platforms (digital, as well as print and broadcast) that will engage and satisfy the needs of the potential customer.

Companies today are shifting more aggressively to audience-oriented policies of action.

Since the thirst for an impactful story has remained ingrained in our nature for thousands of years that is the road to take.

In addition to simply telling a story, including elements of social change and positive environmental influence create vulnerability and highlight the humane side of a business, which boosts the image of the marketer to a great degree by inspiring trust and empathy in the audience.

For successfully telling a visual story, it is absolutely necessary that proper planning is undertaken.

From the message that needs to be delivered to the viewer, to the presentation of the content, every step needs to be planned properly keeping in mind the goals of both the medium and the marketer.

Inspire emotion and invoke trust in order to create a connection, and then cater to the audience’s needs through the product or service being marketed.

The internet serves as the most prolific platform for information exchange in the world today.

As a result, marketers are experiencing the need to keep up with the flow and transition to the digital world.

Most of the multimedia like print media, electronic, educational institutes, hospitals and other product and service providers has a digital presence in addition to their physical one.

A lot of businesses operate almost entirely on digital platforms, and many are devoted to establishing digital presences for others.

This global transition to the digital space in the past few decades has created a need for different forms of digital content, also known as multimedia.

This includes text-based communication, audio-based media such as music and radio broadcasts, as well as visual media like photographs, advertisements, motion pictures and video and virtual reality.

The global community thrives on such content on a daily basis, and the very nature of visual media ensures that it will have an effect on people across all sorts of cultures and through time and generations.

For more information on multimedia and how you can use it for visual storytelling, do check out Maac Kolkata’s comprehensive courses covering graphic and web design, multimedia trends and more.

WHY MULTIMEDIA IS A BOOMING CAREER IN INDIA

Animation and Multimedia nowadays is not just an art of drawing cartoons but has emerged as complete industry with tremendous revenues.

According to report India’s Media, Entertainment, Animation Industry with multimedia has grown around 20 per cent in 2016, propelled by a 31 per cent growth in the VFX industry alone.

The release of films Fan, Shivaay, Bahubali, M. S.Dhoni the untold story, Sultan has given the VFX industry the much needed lift.

And with this increase in the revenue, so as job opportunities in this field has also increased.

So, why not grab this chance and make animation as your career.

Animation in India is vastly taking over the entertainment industry generating a number of career options.

An animator with experience with a hands-on experience earns approximately Rs.400000 to Rs.500000 approximately annually and a fresher earns approximately Rs.15000 to Rs.25000 approximately monthly.

Thus there are plenty of jobs in this field. The Multimedia Industry is huge and is expanding like ever.

The prime fields in multimedia Industry are Advertising, Online and Print News Media, Film & Television, Cartoon production, Theater, Video Gaming, E-learning animations, animation,2d as well as 3d and many more.

There are also professional opportunities for animators,graphic designer,gaming mobile application and gaming desktop software developers, cartoon artists,3d modelers, layout artists and many more available in the market.

To avail these fabulous career options one can attend certificate, diploma courses from recognized institutions.

These institutes sometimes also provide career assistance to students in order to get them on track for their bright future.

Job Opportunities in Multimedia Industry

A range of work profiles are there in this field. These are as follows:

1) Animator:

An Animator gives life to computer generated drawings and characters on screen.

2) Sketcher

The days are gone when sketchers used to sketch with theirs hands, now comes the digital pens which are used for drawing sketches on computers.

3) Designer or Graphic Designers

Designers design architectural setups for application specific forms, mostly part of these are web designing and graphic designing.

4) Planner

Planner in animation refers to who does the plan for backgrounds in games so that you can get the 3D image of this game’s setup.

5) Editor

The Editors particularly watches the content, analyses it, remarks the additional needs and edits the unwanted part. Yes you are the boss here.

6) Composer

How many of you remember the music of Mickey mouse or Tom and Jerry?

Yes, it is the music that makes watching the cartoons more fun….isn’t it? Thus the composer does the same job.

7) Movie Maker

Movie making is fun to do. Animators create movies based on stories and fables.

The animations short films are also becoming popular on internet.

8) Writer

The writing involves many things such as plotting, putting and outlining the contents of stories. If you are a good writer then you can go for these options as well.

9) Software developer

Software developer’s work involves designing, creating and writing and implementing computer programs for video games and other gaming environments.

10) Pre production

Preproductionhappens before the production of the animation project starts. The important function of pre-production planning is effective use of resources before an animation project such as films or games are produced. It includes building up ideas and developing proper plan of implementation.

11) Post production

Post production is done after the project is completely done. It usually involves editing scenes, various transition effects, adding voice to characters, background score, dubbing and many more. It is the final step of production of any animation project. Many More.

Courses offered by Institutes

Students looking for career in this field should have skills with Computers, Creativity, Imagination, Presentation, Drawing and modeling skills.

If you want to start your career just after 12th standard then you can do a diploma course.

These courses provide you knowledge of applying visual effects that is Vfx, flash, web motion, mixing, production, rendering etc.

Certificate courses in animation provide a wide variety of certification such as follows:-

Career Courses at MAAC KOLKATA

3D Animation Programs

Enter the exciting world of animation.

Improve your skills and career opportunities in the animation industry with exclusive 3D Animation courses.

 AD3DEDGE – Advanced Program in 3D Animation
D3D – Professional Program in 3D Animation
DAFM – Program in Animation Filmmaking
Design VizPro – Program in Architectural Design

VFX (Visual Effects) Programs

From flying cars to flying superheroes! Create high-quality visual effects (VFX) for films, TV, advertisements & games, with MAAC’s VFX courses.

ADVFX – Advanced Program in VFX
VFX Plus – Professional Program in VFX
S3D – Job-Ready Program in Stereoscopic 3D


Graphic Design & Multimedia Courses

Build a career in web designing, graphics, and print & publishing. Join any one of our Graphic Design &Multimedia courses and explore opportunities in the national and international studios.

APDMD – Advanced Program in Digital Media & Design
DGWA – Programs in Graphics, Web and 2D Animation
DGA – Programs in Graphics & Animation


Game Designing Course

Make work as fun as play! Create your own games for PC, laptops, mobiles and tablets!

DGDI – Program in Game Design & Integration
Media & Entertainment Course

Get trained to join the media & entertainment industry with a comprehensive course, and explore career opportunities in India & abroad.

IPVAD – International Program in Visual Arts & Design
Short Term Courses

You can learn a new skill or sharpen your existing skills in one or more software. MAAC offers short-term courses to suit your needs.

MaxPro – Program in 3DS Max
MayaPro – Program in course in Maya
ADS – Certificate Course Advance Digital Sculpting
SMOKEPro – Program in SMOKE
DFM – Certificate Course in Digital Filmmaking
CE Pro – Program in Compositing and Editing
Advanced Compositing with NUKE, MOCHA, SILHOUETTE
Digital Photography
DP – Certificate Course in Digital Photography

Furthermore, only some examples are covered here.

Opportunities exists in private sector enterprises is tremendous.

So a booming career is waiting for you in the animation industry. There are number of animation studios both in India and abroad who work for clients.

An animator can be a freelancer as well who can earn very well in work from home scheme or they can start their own internet channels and post their animation works online and earn from it.

Multimedia Industry has a sky of opportunities stored in its kitty.

6 Top Job Opportunities For A Graphic Designer

If you are planning your career in graphic designing there are plenty of opportunities knocking your door? In our today’s blog we will discuss top 5 opportunities a Graphic Designer will get after successful completion of the course from Maac Kolkata.

Advertising Art Director

Next successful job you may take up will be as Advertising Art Director. If you are the advertising art director the basically, you’re the big boss in your own way. The advertising art director works along with the copywriter(s) to create effective visual communication for advertising agencies.  In India advertising agency are growing since every product wants it sales to go up and awareness in the market so this happens to be the best platform.

To add to it this job Advertising Art Director is not limited to an ad agency now days. Film production houses, studios, web design companies, graphic design companies, and even print & publishing houses hire Advertising Art Directors. This means ample job opportunities in the market for trained & skilled graphic designers no second thought about it.

Animator

Don’t be surprised. The basic job of an animator is to produce several digitally or hand-drawn images, and even puppets. Over a period of time, it has been noticed that good graphic designers make great animators because they have a very distinctive sense of visual appeal.

This is the most important requirement for an animator as it is their job to put different images in a sequence for impactful & unforgettable story telling. From 2D & 3D model-making to stop-motion and computer-generated animation, with knowledge of graphic design, you can choose to work in any type of animation you want or even multiple types at a time.

 Graphic Designer

Well this is what you basically train for. Based on the needs of a client, a graphic designer produces ideas & concepts to create a visual brand. As mentioned before, being a graphic designer allows you to work in different industries including advertising, magazines, computer games, websites, books, and corporate communication and so many arena you can actually explore.

Illustrator

This is the big picture! You can either choose to be just a graphic designer or become an illustrator at the same time. It is the work of an illustrator that takes a story or an idea forward by giving it a visual representation. These can be through drawing, photography or digitally created.



Printmaker


In this fast moving digital world, there is still a huge demand for graphic designers both in the field of print & publishing. This particular profile is best suited for those who are a little more adventurous, and like doing things with their bare hands instead of sitting in front of a computer. Woodcuts & silk-screens are two of the most common techniques used by printmakers to create images.

The designs are created by hand, and then transposed onto surfaces, usually with printing press techniques. You could be creating interesting book jackets for famous authors or unique invites for celebrities. It’s an absolute creative job. This industry also allows graphic designers to enjoy the best of both worlds. So what else you need. Instead of using traditional methods, you can adopt digital printing process to create great designs making them work closely with computer artists.

Own Studio

Dream Big and  chase to make it true..

Last but not the least you can always start your Own Studio; there lies the flexibility of being a graphic designer. You can rule and conquer your own business, since you are the best person with best ability to convert clients and deliver good graphic work.  So you can always start working as par time or full time freelancer.