[period]

Even that I have always preferred sans serif typefaces over the serif one, I still find myself really interesting in Garamond. Because even it is a serif typeface, Garamond still looks very pleased to the eyes when reading. It both have the curvy element and strict element. Looking at the sentence written in Garamond is like looking at the ditch, you can see the flow of the water but it still flows in the very discrete stream of its own. Garamond brings out that same feeling, it’s has the flow of well hand-written form but also looks neat with all the strong strokes.

About its history, Garamond typeface was designed by Claude Garamond, a punchcutter, in 16th century. After Claude Garamond’s death, the punches was sold to Christopher Plantin in Antwerp, which helped Garamond font to be used widely in Europe. In early 20th century, Garamond typeface was revived and digitalized.

And I’m not the only one who love Garamond.

One of the initial goals of the literary journal Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern was to use only a single font: Garamond 3. The editor of the journal, Dave Eggers, has stated that it is his favourite font, “because it looked good in so many permutations—italics, small caps, all caps, tracked out, justified or not.”

After looking through all the posters in the site, I’ve thought of choosing a dynamic one but at the end, this complex yet simple piece is stuck in my head so I decide to write about it instead.

The first thing we can see in this piece is its complex lay-out. The branches from the trees in both side draw a natural frame for the picture. It gives out a tangled feeling but still holds a protective area as it wraps itself around the two figures in the centre. Adding more to the complex are the birds on the branches and the strings with words hang across the picture. There’re seem not much whitespace in this piece but it doesn’t mean that the piece gives out the cramped vibes. Otherwise, the complexity combine with the silhouette of the figures make us feel like looking back in the part of someone’s memories. 
The style of drawing in this piece also contributes quite a lot to the “part of memories” theme. The creator uses mostly simple curly lines for the branches and nature shape for the leaves. Therefore, the piece has a very feminine, girl-like feeling.
Because the picture itself has a quite complex lay-out, the colour used is in monotone with the light cobalt blue. The colour helps to balance the piece and conveys the feeling of the creator. Blue is the colour of peacefulness but it also hints a tin of sadness. The colour blue puts the final touch of nostalgia vibes to the picture.
But what I love most about this piece is how the words is put in the picture. The way the words is like hanging on the strings adds the liveliness to the words as they have the souls of themselves. The words look hand-written to fit with the nostalgia theme. Moreover, the way to put the words across the picture and fill the whitespace makes it a little bit hard to read the words but the creator has his/her own reason to do so. It makes viewers have to pay more attention to the picture and find the words within. It makes us feel like catching the part of memories after reading the words out of the tangled branches.

Overall, I love this piece for its simple yet complex beauty. It represents thoroughly the concept of memory which is always not really clear and ordered but still remains in your head for a long time.

Hi !

My name is Tran Phuong Thuy and I’ve just turned 19.

At the moment, I’m a Design student in RMIT Vietnam. Other than the time I’m at school, I spend most of my time reading books and sketching. In days which I don’t have any class and no assignment need to be finished, I usually watch movie at home or in the cinema.

Since I first received a box of crayon and a sketchbook in my 3rd birthday, I’ve thought that when I grew up, I would do a job that I could draw everyday. So, here I am, choosing Design as my major. It’s not like I dream to be a best designer in the world or making fabulous things that dazzles people. I just want to be able to draw everyday and have fun doing it.