Try to simplify the Cooper Black for Children 5-7 years old
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Cooper Black
Oswald Bruce Cooper designed Cooper Black, an extra bold roman face, based on the forms of his earlier typeface Cooper Old Style, which appeared with Barnhart Brothers & Spindler Type Founders in Chicago. Copper Black was produced by Barnhart in 1922 and acquired in 1924 by the Schriftguß AG in Dresden, where it was later completed with a matching italic. Although Cooper Black appeared in the first third of the 20th century, it still looks comtemporary and it can be found on storefronts in almost any city scene. The flowing outer contours create forms that are both strong and soft, making Cooper Black an extremely flexible font.
The story behind the typephase
20 years after Cooper black was designed a big tragedy struck was followed and was dropped from public's eyes. In 1920 Cooper Black when was first created was really popular to the public but it didn't took long for it's ground breaking. In 1940 Barnhart died and with him gone things turn to a different level for Cooper black when in 1966 Beach Boys released their rock n' roll album 'Pet Sounds' with the cooper as the main typephase. After that unable to resist representing the rock n' roll it moved to a really downfall when was desperate for work and was used for drugs, pills and cocaine. In the middle 80's Cooper Black hit the bottom when in the 90's fought for its survival by trying to show to the world why it was designed. Today is a hit for advertisers because of is friendly, simple and bold design.
Oswald Bruce Cooper designed Cooper Black, an extra bold roman face, based on the forms of his earlier typeface Cooper Old Style, which appeared with Barnhart Brothers & Spindler Type Founders in Chicago. Copper Black was produced by Barnhart in 1922 and acquired in 1924 by the Schriftguß AG in Dresden, where it was later completed with a matching italic. Although Cooper Black appeared in the first third of the 20th century, it still looks comtemporary and it can be found on storefronts in almost any city scene. The flowing outer contours create forms that are both strong and soft, making Cooper Black an extremely flexible font.
The story behind the typephase
20 years after Cooper black was designed a big tragedy struck was followed and was dropped from public's eyes. In 1920 Cooper Black when was first created was really popular to the public but it didn't took long for it's ground breaking. In 1940 Barnhart died and with him gone things turn to a different level for Cooper black when in 1966 Beach Boys released their rock n' roll album 'Pet Sounds' with the cooper as the main typephase. After that unable to resist representing the rock n' roll it moved to a really downfall when was desperate for work and was used for drugs, pills and cocaine. In the middle 80's Cooper Black hit the bottom when in the 90's fought for its survival by trying to show to the world why it was designed. Today is a hit for advertisers because of is friendly, simple and bold design.
Sunday 14 March 2010
The Experiment
It has been long time since my last post because of my horrible internet connection. However I would like to inform you about my recent activities on my project.
Two weeks ago I visited a primary school at Sheffield to do an experiment with children around the age of 5-7. The experiment it was created in such way that children would feel comfortable and be suitable for their age. The experiment was split in 3 parts and was tested to be no more than 20 minutes.
First part: For the first part of the test I used six different fonts (serifs, sanserif, 3D, rounded, Bold, Italic) with the letter "A" printed each one of the letter in black on a A4 paper. The papers were placed on the board so all the children would be able to see them in a distance.
Each child had to stick a green sticker on the letter "A" that liked the most and a red sticker for the one that didn't like. The children were really excited as the test was designed to fit their age and look like a game in order to know better how a 5-7 year old child react and how different they see some things from a grown up.
Second part: The second part was a similar to the first test but the only difference was that the letter "A" was in different colour to see if the children choose a particular font because of their shape or the colour and if colour play an important role in their life.
I was really impressed when the I saw the results from both tests that were the same and that the children picked up Cooper Black font as the best one through out all. The answer why the chose that particular font is because it looks more like an A and its shape is really fancy and happy.
However the font that didn't like at all was Bauhaus as I thought that children would love it because of its friendly round shape. The reason why didn't like it because is really rounded looks like an unfinished A, reminds them of an umbrella and is not beautiful and happy.
Third part: The third part of the experiment was a simple questionnaire asking the children to highlight or to draw in a circle the word that thought look better, the size of the word, how bold they prefer the word and six colours that they like.
The children more or less highlighted the same ones.They prefer the size to be big, bold letters and serif font like cooper black.The colour section was confusing as the boy chose dark colours like blue, green and black when the girls chose yellow, orange and red.
The experience was great and helped me to understand how children think and react in order to help me create something educating and creative for children.
It has been long time since my last post because of my horrible internet connection. However I would like to inform you about my recent activities on my project.
Two weeks ago I visited a primary school at Sheffield to do an experiment with children around the age of 5-7. The experiment it was created in such way that children would feel comfortable and be suitable for their age. The experiment was split in 3 parts and was tested to be no more than 20 minutes.
First part: For the first part of the test I used six different fonts (serifs, sanserif, 3D, rounded, Bold, Italic) with the letter "A" printed each one of the letter in black on a A4 paper. The papers were placed on the board so all the children would be able to see them in a distance.
Each child had to stick a green sticker on the letter "A" that liked the most and a red sticker for the one that didn't like. The children were really excited as the test was designed to fit their age and look like a game in order to know better how a 5-7 year old child react and how different they see some things from a grown up.
Second part: The second part was a similar to the first test but the only difference was that the letter "A" was in different colour to see if the children choose a particular font because of their shape or the colour and if colour play an important role in their life.
I was really impressed when the I saw the results from both tests that were the same and that the children picked up Cooper Black font as the best one through out all. The answer why the chose that particular font is because it looks more like an A and its shape is really fancy and happy.
However the font that didn't like at all was Bauhaus as I thought that children would love it because of its friendly round shape. The reason why didn't like it because is really rounded looks like an unfinished A, reminds them of an umbrella and is not beautiful and happy.
Third part: The third part of the experiment was a simple questionnaire asking the children to highlight or to draw in a circle the word that thought look better, the size of the word, how bold they prefer the word and six colours that they like.
The children more or less highlighted the same ones.They prefer the size to be big, bold letters and serif font like cooper black.The colour section was confusing as the boy chose dark colours like blue, green and black when the girls chose yellow, orange and red.
The experience was great and helped me to understand how children think and react in order to help me create something educating and creative for children.
Wednesday 24 February 2010
Understanding the colour importance in Children's books
Donna Hunt O'Brien Manager of Born to Learn Trainingconsiders that the level of expressive language a child has depends on how may begin to sort objects before labels items by colour in a very early age. Also she claims that 2-year-old children have enough language to put words together to create describing phrases such as 'my red ball.'
So by the time the kid becomes a preschooler, around the age of 3 to 5 years, is ready to experiment with colour and start recognise it. "[Children this age are] beginning to understand that there are shades of colors, and that two colors can be mixed to form another," Hunt O'Brien says.
Some examples of children's typography I found and colours that are used:
Through my research I found a list of hundred books selected by the National Education Association in 1999 and NEA's (National Education Association) survey of 2007 of best books as great reading for children. However I started looking some of those books to see how the look physical in order to schedule my experiment that I will have on Saturday at Sheffield with a group of 20 children between the age of 5-8.
1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
4. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
5. Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
6. I Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
7. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
8. Oh! The Places You Will Go by Dr. Seuss
9. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
10. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
11. Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
12. Thank You Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
13. The Cat In The Hat by Dr. Seuss
14. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
15. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
16. The Mitten by Jan Brett
17. Crunching Carrots, Not Candy by Judy Slack
18. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willlems
19. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
20. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
21. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
22. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
23. Corduroy by Don Freeman
24. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
25. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
26. Tacky the Penquin by Helen Lester
27. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
28. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
29. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
30. Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
31. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
32. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
33. Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park
34. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
35. Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
36. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
37. Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini
38. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
39. The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone
40. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
41. A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
42. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
43. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
44. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
45. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
46. Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
47. Olivia by Ian Falconer
48. The BFG by Roald Dahl
49. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
50. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
51. The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
52. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
53. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
54. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
55. Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
56. Bunnicula by James Howe
57. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
58. Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom DeLuise
59. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
60. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
61. Frederick by Leo Lionni
62. Frindle by Andrew Clements
63. Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
64. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
65. Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen
66. Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
67. Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
68. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
69. I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
70. Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino
71. Jan Brett’s books
72. Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr.
73. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
74. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
75. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
76. My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
77. My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
78. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
79. No David! by David Shannon
80. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
81. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
82. Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch
83. Swimmy by Leo Lionni
84. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
85. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Warner
86. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
87. The Empty Pot by Demi
88. The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop
89. The Giver by Lois Lowr
90. The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
91. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
92. The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
93. The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
94. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
95. The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau
96. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
97. The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
98. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
99. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
100. The Wide-Mouthed Frog: A Pop-Up Book by Keith Faulkner
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