Final Digital Fabrication Post Cards

When thinking about digital fabrication, the use of patterns and modules comes to mind.  The main motive in the design for these post cards was to illustrate practices of fabrication through the use of words.  Not only were patterns used to create letters, but also to lay out the information in a systematic way, creating hierarchy and balance.

Through the use of Adobe Illustrator, the post card below focuses the viewer on the topic of the discussion.  The repetition of the letter "x" was utilized to create large individual letters.  Once the phrase was completed, it was copied and overlaid to develop the interesting pattern within each letter seen below.  To further the concept of pattern and repetition, the entire phrase was copied and overlaid a few more times with various layers of transparency.  The title and motive thus jumps out at the viewer and gives a glimpse of what digital fabrication may be about.  Additionally, each line of phrases gradually moves from left to right, developing a balanced composition that works to illustrate a supplemental pattern to the design.  The name and location of the lecture is given hierarchy over other information with the utilization of placement, size, and color.

The following post card was constructed in wordle.com, an online tool that generated "word clouds" with the provided text.  In this instance, color, size, and centrality create hierarchy for the topic of the lecture.  To keep with the concept of patterns to develop a composition, I chose to utilize the "half and half" option within the site which created a pattern of horizontal-vertical-horizontal placement of information.  Weaving the words across the page is a reflection of a popular technique within digital fabrication.

For the hand-drawn post card, the combination of squares to create letters developed a distinct and pronounced title.  These squares continue down the post card and lead the eye to a pattern of alternating short and long phrases to form the whole.  The use of color further distinguishes between the two types of phrases.  A clean and methodical advertisement is thus created, aligning with the ideals of digital fabrication.