Week 3 Blog Post 3 Part ONE

Required Assignment 1

An example of interesting design that does not follow the rules of the sins listed in Chapter 4 is seen in the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis is a memoir for adolescent students that discuss growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. I selected this design because I have previously used this novel in the classroom and have been very curious about the authors choice in layout. While reading Persepolis with my students, the graphic images raised several questions in my head and as I began to read White Space in not your Enemy”, I thought about some of the very important rules in design

Corners & Clutter: This novel is very intense and perhaps succeeded in being effective in breaking this rule. The entire page is entirely filled and results in an extremely cluttered appearance. It is arguable whether the choice that Satrapi made was unappealing however it is at time certainly confusing thus, readers often must refer to the visuals and reread the text and designs. The clutter results in a lack of direction for a graphic novel and as a reader I am forced to scan the page multiple times. Some may perhaps argue that this cluttered visual representation can perhaps exhibit the protagonists conscious and uncertainty. Perhaps Satrapi wanted to make readers reconsider her visual messages.  

Centering

The graphic novel masters this frequently committed sin. Although the layout is not centered, the eye certainly bounced around in search of the next entry point as the text states. The composition of the graphic novel directs the eyes to the image before the writing. Because the novel has a story line, this can serve as beneficial because students can grasp a visual image then focus on the writing

Audience: “White Space is not your Enemy” discusses good graphic design as planned and organized for communication. The author describes good graphic design as the ability to capture the audience’s attention. Persepolis qualifies as good graphic design as Satrapi controls the eye movement across the page with making pictures and words work together in each box. All the text located on the top of the page making it relatively easy to navigate. She captures her audience’s attention by creating vivid black and white images and utilizing the whitespace appropriately. She allows the audience to capture images and conveys a message although at times it might be a little overwhelming. Rebecca Hagan argues that should an image not have enough space they start to fight with each other. In the case of Persepolis, although Satrapi is mindful of her audience, there are instances in which the visuals and written components collide.

Fonts: Persepolis uses many fonts to convey a message when using word bubbles, there is a very animated font used that is very childlike. This font is successful and portraying the innocence of a child and the joy and reading graphic novels. Satrapi allows the audience to vicariously live through the protagonist not only in her ability to display visuals but also in her ability display font. The font used allows the audience to feel sensitive to the hardship she endures. According to the text, it is ideal to use Certain fonts for businesses however Satrapi is justified in using the fonts that she Chose thus showing her ability to master the design.

Negative space: The graphic novel utilizes the positive and negative space by creating a balance between the white and black space. The images are consistently in black and white. The images specifically show a woman drawn and filled in black and next to her another character drawing and filled in white. The details include hair and outfits which allows for our attention to be drawn on both sides of the image.

Type Emphasis: Persepolis commits several of the font sins as described in white space is not your enemy. Satrapi uses all capital letters in her work which requires a little extra decoding the text. It would have a different effect if the letters in the novel were lower-cased.

Reversing: Satrapi neglects this rule as her title chapters and top of her images tend to have white letters outlined in black as opposed to the letters being in black. Although this maintains legibility, the reverse font is often difficult to read and distracts the eye.

 Busy Background: The novel frequently includes visuals in smaller squares next to each other and although there aren’t images in the background or foreground overlapping. The visuals are quite busy and overwhelming.

Margins: Margins are appropriately portioned and measures space is in between each graphic design making an effective use of margins

 Boarders: Satrapi uses her borders to allow readers to know they have completed the readings in the confined space however she uses boarders as a method of emphasis which can at times be overdone.