Lecture 01: Memory and Line

In this lecture we were shown an early cave painting and were asked if we knew why these markings were made- surprisingly majority of people thought that they were documenting their life and the animals they came across or hunted and then some people thought that it was a way of storytelling to their young- however I personally feel that these paintings and engravings were solely produced as a creative outlet and possibly as a way of entertaining themselves just like we doodle on desks and notebooks when we’re bored. But just like everything that dates back to early the early ages of human evolution we can only make conclusions based upon presumptions we form and it is only through interpretation of what we see that we can make assumptions upon. Cave paintings and engravings are probably one of the early forms of line we can reference back to, we may not fully understand what these lines or mark making collate to then but within these lines memory is simultaneously documented and captured within them.

This Lecture swiftly moved onto how the element of lines in our modern day life is prominent in different ways- we created mind maps (which are line forms within themselves) about what lines we consider to be prominent in our lives’, a few obvious ones cropped up for example; transport lines, writing and drawing but also less we spoke about mathematical/geometrical lines, biological lines and lines of memory and how each of these relate to one another.

Memory relating to Lines was an area which we spoke in-depth about, as its an analogy that varies individually from person to person. For example some of us pictured memory as a structured and systematically ordered including inputs, outputs and processes but we also envisioned memory as an intricate network of interlinking and intertwining map much like an tangled network of made of thread. I personally see my memory as the latter- but regardless of this I think the direct correlation of memory and line form is something we can’t deny and is very important to the lives we lead.

Point, Line and Form

We did a point, line and form exercise in our workshop time. It was called a ‘basic typographic composition design’ exercise. The objective was to allow ourselves to visualise the basics of a design using only compositional typography as an element of point, line and form.

We had to draw ten 200mm squares then using the squares as a frame we experimented with pleasing, eye catching and readable arrangements which used the type provided in combination with a black circle to make compositions within the space. The circle represented the point, the type represented the line and the paragraph of text represented the form.

I found it difficult at first but once I cut out all the relevant pieces and started to experiment with different compositions in the frame it was easier to visualise want works and what didn’t. I didn’t stick anything down at first so I could change it if i decided something could be improved in the composition. I also experimented by cutting individual words and letters to make a more interesting and eye catching composition.