Hierarchy Excercise

The in-class assignment was to create 20 variations of using leading, indent, weight/style, and scale. This was a bit of a challenging assignment for me because I am still trying to get used to the Tabs menu in InDesign, plus in the past I just used multiple text boxes when I wanted a different location or style of text. But I forced myself to only use one text box per variation; so it took longer than expected. Also, I did not realize how difficult designing of text can be when one is limited to how the text may be manipulated. It helped to show me that emphasis can be put on design with minor changes such as leading, indent, weight/style and scale. Shown below were my four favorite, below each prompt is my favorite variation of what I designed. I was not a huge fan of what I designed due to time restraints, but I feel that I learned enough during that time that I can accept not having created the best designs.

1. Leading (vertical relationships): Using one text size with a right reading, flush left, ragged right alignment, explore hierarchy through adjustment of the vertical space between lines of text (leading). Choose the left edge where the text begins and keep that same placement through all 5 compositions.


2. Indent (horizontal relationships): Using one text size and leading with a right reading, flush left, ragged right alignment, explore hierarchy only through indentation of text using “tabs”. Choose the top edge (y-axis) where the text begins and keep that same placement through all 5 compositions.


3. Weight/Style Using one text size, explore hierarchy through the use of bold, italic (oblique) or roman (normal) styling. You can freely apply leading and indent throughout the compositions.


4. Scale Use three type sizes to explore hierarchy. You can freely apply leading and indent throughout the compositions.