Postive/Negative Space explorations

Here is an example of the final result:

Instructions

Create a new document in Adobe InDesign (File>New>Document): 9″ x 9″. Margin will be “0”, gutters will be “0”. It will be a single page document. No facing pages.

Create guides for your document: (From the upper menu bar: Layout>”Create Guides”): 3 rows, 3 columns, no gutters or margins.

This will be your presentation document and what you will turn in. The file name will be 603_YourNAme_Ex4. The computer will add the format suffix— when you export your final document select “Print pdf” as your format from the export menu. (this is in the demo)

Next you will create a separate working document to create the 9 tiles that you will use to compose your final composition. Create another new document in Adobe InDesign (File>New>Document): 3″ x 3″. Margin will be “0”, gutters will be “0”. this document will be set to have 9 pages. No facing pages.

Make sure the workspace is set to Typography (from the upper menu choose “Window” > “Workspace” > “Typography.

Select the pages panel from the right side tool palettes. From the fly-out menu in the upper right of that palette and select “new parent” to create a second “Parent” page.

On the new parent page create a graphic frame the covers the page from edge to edge. Apply a fill to “black” from the swatches panel.

Now you can use this 3″ x 3″ document you create you individual type explorations. Use the default typeface in InDesign (Minion Pro) to examine details of the letterform.

On each of the 9 3″ x 3″ page position a single letterform based on what you find most intriguing about the chosen letterform and the positioning of the form in the space (positive/negative).

Make sure you convert the letterform to a shape (from the upper menu choose “Type”> “create outlines”. You will want to scale and rotate the form to find the portion you want to work with.

Some will be black letterforms against a white background and some will be white letterforms against a black background. It’s you choice how you set these up.

For example: