Designed by Marci Hohner

1) What is the text about and what mood is being conveyed?

2) How do you understand the visual hierarchy presented by the broadside?

• Does the broadside attract your attention from a distance? Why or why not?
• Does the broadside keep your attention once you approach it? Why or why not?
• How do smaller parts relate to larger parts?

3) Are the chosen type styles appropriate for the text?

• Does the type style used for display level text seem appropriate?
• Does the type style used for running text seem appropriate? Is it easy to read? Are lines overly long or short? Is there excessive hyphenation? Have special characters/glyphs been appropriately replaced? (If it’s hard to read, is there a conceptual reason?)

4) Make sure to consider spatial aspects of type in relation to questions above:

• Size/scale
• Alignment
• Line spacing (leading)
• Letterspacing (tracking)
• Kerning
• Marking of sections/paragraphs

5) Do any other design decisions affect your interpretation? (Such as paper size/proportion, color, texture, layering, balance, use of positive/negative space)

Mood

The text, “The Eight Pillars of Yoga”, is about the eight pillars, or limbs, of yoga which together “outline a plan for living that flows from action to knowledge to liberation.” Each paragraph talk about different limbs and how the are “the spokes in the wheel” of enlightenment. This instantly creates a feeling of fullness and completion.

The mood that the text alone immediately creates is spirituality. The journey from dark to light that is spoken about in the text lends to this feeling and also contributes a feeling of transition or change.

Hierarchy

There is absolutely visual hierarchy within the broadside, however it is used non-traditionally. Rather than leading the viewer from top to bottom as traditional broadsides, newspapers, and other generic prints do with large titles and smaller paragraph text, Marci doesn’t have a top-centered title but the title is immersed within the text and spread out among the whole broadside. This lends to the idea of change as the title changes weight, darkness, and horizontal/vertical position. I am especially attracted by the the word “Yoga”–recognizable and relatable–as it is also the largest and most prominent part of the broadside.

The actual literary portion of the broadside leads you through each of the pillars in yoga which, as a whole, lends to one’s personal enlightenment–suggesting transition. This transition is further suggested by the title “the eight pillars of yoga”. The first three words are center aligned and at the top of the broadside, colored light grey and carrying light line weight. the next part “of” is the same shade of grey but larger, sharing the same line weight. This is all overshadowed by the larger, darker, heavier part of the title “yoga”

The fact that the word “yoga” is positioned behind the last paragraph and stands out the most is due to the fact that one must practice all 8 pillars of yoga, thus actually reading through the whole broadside to have a well-rounded understanding of ALL the pillars.

Text

Marci’s display level text is appropriate as it immediately looks and feels light, natural, and unique. The fact that she uses dots and rounded shapes in the bowls makes each letter feel natural, balanced, and happy. The dots and shapes almost give the letters humanistic qualities like eyes and smiles, contributing to the overall natural, healing feeling that is produced by the broadside.

The type style used for the running text, is an old style type which gives the text a long-lasting and trusted feel. The fact that the older-feeling running text is much smaller than the larger, happier, more natural-feeling display text allows for both text styles to live in harmony while contributing to the old-to-new, dark-to-light, nature of the text.

The line spacing for the running text is consistent throughout which sets a steady, easy-to-read pace for this portion of text. The justified quality of the text creates flow while going from line-to-line is easy due to the small type size and type box. All other aspects of the type anatomy such as kerning, tracking and paragraphs create an enclosed, nicely-spaced piece of text.

Other Design Decisions

The way in which the broadside was produced–on special paper and not digitally                 printed–continues with the natural tone already set by the other elements of the broadside. The fact that the content in the broadside is constrained to the middle and far away for the physical edge draws the distant viewer in while containing ones eye and their attention for the intimate viewer.