Rather than relying on notebooks, I have gathered all my contacts into a spreadsheet to keep organised. Looking for email addresses (hidden for privacy purposed for this screenshot) has unearthed a lot of other people to contact.
This is proving most helpful, and I can filter contacts by what I would like to approach them for. For example, Gerry Leonidas will be great for giving me typographic history advice but not so much for local community help!
I like breaking things down by using post-it notes and laying it out. To work out how I was going to structure my workshops, I used this technique and video-ed it. Here’s a video of it:
I’ve spent some time drawing glyph forms fom inspiration I’ve found around Walthamstow. These are my sources images:
From there, I outlined the shapes I wanted and created some letterforms:
I’d like to go further and make a typeface inspired like this, but it’s not a top priority right now. These examples can be used for workshops to show participants how they can approach their tasks.
As part of my research, I’d like to send people out to conduct an area survey of sorts where they take photos of typography in the E17 postcode that interest them. As a break from the screen, I decided to conduct an area survey to address the tasks I would ask participants to do and what questions might come up.
In the E17 postcode there are three commercial hubs: the famous high street that is the longest in Europe, Wood Street and the Village. On a run last night, I ran along Wood Street and would like to go back, but decided to go to the Village today. For an Area Survey, I don’t expect participants to cover these areas, but thought that people would be drawn to those areas and where the typography would be intended to lure people/customers in.
I set myself a few rules:
https://www.strava.com/activities/4241676639/embed/091b62a1317824e183f584fa864a9968ed54399e
At first I wanted to take photos of everything, to record every piece of type. This was not possible, and with lots of people around I felt self-conscious and intrusive. I started to edit, and pick what I thought was interesting, thus following my own bias. On my own, I can never portray a nuanced account of typography in Walthamstow and participants from other backgrounds are essential to see what I overlook.
An hour is about right to capture a wide range of typography in about two miles without being too physically taxing or time-consuming. The area and demographics change significantly between streets and this can be captured in this hour.
I’d like the participants to take as many photos as they can, before choosing their favourite five, like our geo-type challenge. This means that they are exerting their insight and curatorial bias and many things can be told from that.
Although I can’t read other scripts apart from Latin, I’d like participants to feel free to record all and any scripts they find.
Once they have submitted photos, I would like them to answer some questions, some of which I have drafted below:
Looking at your photos, did you start to favour certain types of typography? Can you guess why that might have been?
Did you stick to a rough route, or did you let yourself wander?
What drew you off your expected route?
Did you find the typography you were expecting?
What surprised you?
What do you think the typography tells you about the area you surveyed?
What would you like to see more of?
Continuing on from last week, I shall further define and pull together my project based on these tasks:
Susanna recommended that I keep organised, and especially as this project is progressing I need to show this. I also want it to be outward facing to show the examiners what I’ve done, so I feel this blog is a good word processor to record things in, pull information from and draft submissions before refining my words in InDesign.
I am also going to be using Zotero to keep a record of formal references.
Report outline / plan is to be refined, and logistics of running your studio, practice based project must be defined (project management) as two A4 text documents
Experimental work and testing for your Studio Practice should be clearly presented and peer reviewed by a relevant external critic of your finding (creative directors, design studios, writers, journalists from within or beyond the subject), as befits the needs of the area of your proposal.
So, I hope that I’ll be able to get feedback from Artillery Arts, who run sessions in Walthamstow and are behind the wildly popular E17 Art trail. I’ve been waiting for a response from them for a while, and they have just replied to say that they have just managed to receive funding that will allow them to work again. I’ve arranged a 1-2-1 with them on 8th November, and need to get work to them before this to get feedback.
In addition to the case study presentation you need to provide an A4 written draft literature review that has academic integrity, a bibliography, a clear structure and role of appropriate histories and theories that contextualise and support your idea.
I’m starting to pull together references for my literature review and am starting with Alison Barnes, above, and with two references I found for my Artefact submission last term:
Or if you are writing a business orientated essay / report, make sure you integrate relevant market intel and data to support the positioning and viability of your project.
I want to get a test of a photo walk done before Week 8 as I think it will allow me to reflect on my methodology before presenting it. I’m hoping to get my flatmate Jess, who is not involved in typography and has English as her second language, involved as she answered my consumer research for the artefact and indicated that she would like to hear more about it.
Talking about that list, it’s probably time that I email the list of people who wanted to stay informed, and ask if they would like to be involved any further too.
I am trying to figure out how to academically describe my research methods. I started with planning out workshop ideas using post-it notes.
Alistair Hall of We Made This and I are going to have a chat week of November 8th, and I have got in touch with Joe again to see if he will help.
In our tutorial, Stuart suggested that he could put me in contact with a type designer called Maria Geals, who designed a typeface for her final MA project that “inspired by, and designed for, Wales and the Welsh to help facilitate the use of the declining language. Its aesthetics are culturally expressive yet practical and include the full set of glyphs required for bilingual typesetting. It is designed for long, immersive reading in both print and screen-based media.” (Quoted from here)
He also suggested that I look for people working at the Eye Magazine who specialise in typography writing, and I will do so.
I have also contacted the Bishopsgate Institute, Waltham Forest Archive and St Bride’s Foundation to see if I can chat to one of their archivists about typography and place.
Here we move onto phase 2: Define, Test and Prepare. What do I have to do in this phase?
These past couple of weeks feel very excuse-heavy, and I haven’t been concentrating much on the course. This is mostly due to stress and anxiety due to Covid-19 announcements and being unsure how life is going to change under them. In Week 6, I have a week off in Walthamstow that I will be using to focus on Stowe Framework and build towards the assessments above.
This week I helped Alice Neve to master Indesign as she felt that she needed a few tips and tricks to help her. It was incredibly satisfying to be able to help someone take the next step and ease their burden. Yes, there are tutorials over the internet, but I gave her a quick look over the features that she would be able to use rather than her grabbing various bitsI think she will use this as a springboard to further her skills.
I’ve already established that I need to scale down this project, and make it a testing phase for a project that is run as a full-scale project. I made a table that breaks down the elements of the project and how I can achieve them.
| STOWE FRAMEWORK “AT LARGE” | MA LEVEL |
| What do I want to do? | How can I test this? |
| Photo walks with adults | Small walks with a few people doing it independently with survey at end |
| Adults asked to look for typography they like | Small select group of adults |
| Target wide demographics to reflect Walthamstow | Make sure people are varied, but a smaller number |
| Adult asked to design glyph for themselves | This could be possible, but it will have to be independent rather than in a workshop and I would have to get more feedback about what went well and what needs improving |
| Area Survey photo walks | Go around myself to take photos like in GDE720 |
| Photo competition | Could this launch the beginning of the full project and be formed from feedback? |
| Talks online with local typography experts such as archives, Bracey, Angry Dan | Interview them myself and publish. Ask them to design type/glyph/describe their favourite piece of type |
My outcomes will therefore differ and be like so:
So, presentation week this week! I feel like I have overall graphic style nailed down, and a lot of the words written out that describe the project. I start from an old document:
… and then develop it. I add in a more structured design.
… to a timeline taking into account the new process and resources needed.
… to this
… to this:
Rather spiffy, eh?
I am looking to apply for funding from Waltham Forest Council under their Make It Happen scheme. There’s a lot to think about: what is the schedule of the funding? what if I don’t get it? How will I run it then?
These are the details of the scheme: http://wfculture19.co.uk/fellowshipfunding
Here are the application questions:
Project Title:
Provide a short description of your project:
Scoring criteria: Your idea (50 Words)
Tell us about your project idea; what do you want to do and why?
Scoring criteria: Your idea, experience and delivery, outputs (1000 Words)
Identify at least 2 Make it Happen Funding aims that your project meets and tell us how you will achieve them.
Aim 1: How does your project meet this aim?
(100 words)
Aim 2: How does your project meet this aim?
(100 words)
Provide a brief summary of your recent, relevant experience. Please also include information about lead artists, or key project partners:
Scoring criteria: Experience and project delivery (100 words)
Tell us how you plan on delivering the project. Please include details as much detail as possible, including information about venues/ partners/ accessibility/ sustainability:
Scoring criteria: Experience and project delivery (250 words)
Outline your marketing and press plan for this project:
Scoring criteria: Marketing and press (350 words)
How will you evaluate the success of this project? Include how will measure success against your project outcomes and how this work will influence your future plans.
Scoring criteria: Evaluation (350 words)
Should I go for it?
Before I got too far, I decided to ask the tutors what they thought, as the schedule of funding would really pressure my delivery for this course. Here is Susanna’s advice:
I responded that “I hear you and am really taking it on board. I’m going to say in my process that I am aware of the funding and have thought about it. But first, I’m going to stop, reassess and scale it down :D”
It’s great that I’m thinking big and real world … but I can’t be stupid about this. I’m going to scale it down and think about what I’m really doing.
For the webinar I have been asked to do the following:
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the webinar at the time because I was ill, but here is what I have posted on the Ideas Wall:
On the Ideas Wall, Susanna have me feedback for my research question, which at present stands as:
How does vernacular typography contribute to a sense of place and belonging in the community? By exploring the multicultural borough of Waltham Forest, I will build a framework that can be applied in a community, be it geographical or cultural, and aims to engage people in the visual and social history around them.
She said that:
She also went on to say:
Much to think about!
On Wednesday I attended an online session about applying for Make It Happen funding through Waltham Forest Council. To make my project work really effectively, I think that applying for funding will help me grow a lot more, but I can’t dream too big in case I don’t get it.
I’m going to start a new post about this as this will be an ongoing process.
I asked a few questions of Lucy Harrison about her projects:
Rendezvous Projects started with myself and Katherine running the Warner Estate project a few years ago as we both live in Waltham Forest. I moved here in 2009 but have been in east London since 1999 and Katherine has always lived here. I do work on other projects outside the area, but a lot of the ideas I have had in recent years are based on knowing about the place and the people.
All our Rendezvous projects, and most of my own as an independent artist, are funded in some way, so they need to be planned to a certain extent when doing the funding application, and there are certain things we need to try and aim for. Other aspects develop and some things don’t work out in the way they were initially planned which is just how projects involving people will always be I suppose.
Hard to say… things that bring people together and make them and their stories feel valued, but it is quite a big question!
It varies with each project to be honest and each will have its specific successes and challenges
At present there is very little funding to do our projects. Lightboxes and Lettering had pretty much finished at the start of the pandemic, our other project Sweet Harmony had to have an event cancelled and we focussed on the book and website more. But at present we are just waiting for things to pick up now that funding streams are slowly starting to open again. We’ll have to see what the funding criteria and priorities are when that happens.
I really like how Rendezvous seem to have clear stages and aims when I see them online. Of course, looking at a project afterwards is like this, but applying for funding means that like them, I need to have a plan, but still have room for the project to breathe.
As Ben Evan James suggested in his lecture, I have downloaded Zotero to keep track of all my resources that I use during this project. I’m also rather old school with my notes: I like writing on paper and will use paper sheets stuck to a board to keep track of my notes before writing them on here. I have three massive wardrobe doors I will use as a post it station like I did last term.
I wanted to feel like I was heading in the right direction so I booked onto a tutorial with Susanna. She suggested building a panel of experts around me, probably so that I focus on people with the appropriate skillsets. Among the names were: Kelvin Smith, with worked under Alan Kitching, We Made This (Alasdair Hall), Will Hudson of The Hudson Group and The Other Box. She also recommended getting in touch with the adult voluntary services in Waltham Forest to see if they can help/promote with me,
Outside of typography and design, she suggests that I research projects outside graphic design and ones that are multi-disciplinary for public arenas such as Assemble (architecture).
I also told Susanna that I had looked into getting Fellowship Funding from Waltham Forest Council and that I had booked onto an application help session. She also advised me to formulate a project that I can run if any funding doesn’t come through, which is very wise!
My flatmate is the co-founder of Knots Arts, a non-for-profit that runs arts programmes for children and people with autistic spectrum condition. She is uniquely positioned to help me create sessions that will engage with people. Here are my thoughts of what I need to consider before my meeting with her.
Participants walk around Walthamstow and are given a set of tasks. For example, take a picture of a shop sign, of a non-latin alphabet, of a way-finding sign. They are asked to mark down where they saw them. They are asked to pick one or two other examples of typography they see that interest them. They are given a toolbox of words to help describe the typeface and why they have chosen it. They submit their images and where they walked.
For each category (i.e. shop sign) participants pick the ones we like the most and why we like them – use sticky dots
From the photos they took on the above exercise, or others, they start to identify shapes and patterns they can use to draw a glyph. On worksheets they create a single glyph which is saved and add to the bank
Participants can learn more about typography and the history of Walthamstow to inform them about local history
Physical activity using type – how does this type make you feel? Is it spiky, scary, safe, soft, fun?
What does Walthamstow mean to you? (or a more kid-friendly question)
What do you see a lot of around Walthamstow?
Can you daw a letter that reminds you of Walthamstow?
How do I gather data that will be Covid safe and fit tech-savvy people and people less-so?
My starting point is the Stowe Framework that I created for my Authorial Artefact for GDE730. Here is the PDF that I handed in:
It was inspired by several things. First, Cymru Sans, a project we encountered in GDE720, that was designed for the Welsh Tourism board.
I went around my area to capture hundreds of pieces of typography: not just of the highly designed examples but historic ghost signs and casual signs in shop windows.
A following project we did for that module taught me to draw on my strengths as a typographer by designing a type piece for Walthamstow, that took inspiration from the many languages spoken in Waltham Forest.
For the Studio and Entrepreneurship module, I had a small idea that I wrote on a post-it note:
That’s where I’m starting from. This week the course asks me to think about:
Let’s go back to basics.
I devised this project to delve into how people in my area see, discover and interpret the typography all around them and to build together a new typeface that shows our combined experiences in the area. It extends to showcase the typeface with a publication of writings from people about the area. From there, I can package a framework that I can sell to companies and communities in other locations.
Last module I conducted a survey for people about their view on typography and it was a good start but I could go deeper. My best bet would be to run workshops, either online or in person.
See below …
I think these three questions can be answered by running workshops with structured exercises. One could be to ask them to bring along examples of typography that they like about in the area and use it to draw a new glyph that I take in.
Narrowly, people in Walthamstow. Widely, everyone in Walthamstow. I want to engage people from different cultures, religious, backgrounds and ages in this project. There will be no right or wrong. The Black Lives Matter movement has shown us that we need to make the effort to encourage and enable everyone to see that design and publishing is for them. There are initiatives to involve people into workplaces, and I aim to encourage design discussion in a more grassroots way.
Typography is everywhere. As a visual species, we interact with typography constantly and we should be able to contribute to its design so that it suits the communities that it serves. By engaging the people of Walthamstow from school age to retired I can communicate with a wide range of people.
The goals for this project are community-based:
The project will take place in Walthamstow, East London, and its borough has one of the most diverse populations in the country, with 48% from a minority ethnic background.
The graphs show that the borough has a much younger population than other London boroughs and the rest of England and Wales, and that a wide range of languages, other than English, are spoken.
Anna Robinette 