Background

​The goal of this project is to choose a quote from Shakespeare and present it to its destinated audiences with expressive typography. The audience is determined by students based on their chosen quotes. Since such a poster attempts to present classic literature engagingly, the audiences of this poster would be literature enthusiasts who are new to classic literature or casual people who just want a brief taste of the classics, and the purpose is to introduce Shakespeare's works to these audiences.

Figure 1, final poster design

Results

The teaching stuff suggests that the solution is rather cool and the design received a letter grade of A at the end

Design Considerations:

To make the design visually pleasing and to convey classic quotes visually, the quote "at the first sight they changed eyes" from The Tempest Act 1 Scene 2 is chosen.

To introduce classic literature to the audience and to create a pleasing visualization, the quote "at the first sight they changed eyes" from The Tempest Act 1 Scene 2 is eventually chosen. The word "At" and "E", which are modified to mimic the shape of the eyes, form the centre of interest for the poster. Such composition not only shows the action that the quote describes but also reminds the audiences that classic literature is not just plain texts, where they are composed with vivid visualizations.

In terms of the colour composition, a black and white composition is used to represent the classic, and a yellowish tone is applied to the white background to convey a sense of antiquity.

Alternative Solution Explorations

Before coming to the final solution, two alternative solutions are also explored and they are shown below. However, they are not chosen because their visualization is less direct compared to the final solution.

Alternative Solution 1

Figure 2, alternative solution 1

The first alternative solution shown in figure 2 chooses the quote "That rude sea grew civil at her song" from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act 2. Scene 1. This solution visualizes the quote by gradually decreasing the chaoticness of the typography

Alternative Solution 2

Figure 3, alternative solution 2

The second alternative solution shown in figure 3 chooses the quote "Oh how this spring of love resembleth the uncertain glory of an April day". This solution visualizes the quote by mimicking the form of a fountain with the word "spring". It shows that the spring of love is pouring out like a fountain.

Final Thoughts

This project is rather interesting since we can draw by hand, and drawing by hand is always an enjoyable thing for me. The use of expressive typography, which was a requirement, actually fits Shakespearean plays well since many of them are already rather expressive. Visualizing such texts gives me great pleasure where I feel that this is ultimately what the author wants to achieve.

Go Back to Top