Weeks 14 Overview

Over the past weeks, I have tried to follow the advice given to me in the halfway feedback: to make videos to introduce my activities. This is great feedback, and I appreciate how much the videos presented throughout this course have enabled me to engage with the content and the activities. Some people don’t like reading, or like reading for extensive periods, and by making videos I have the chance to present myself and my project and give people a sense of me. By seeing my face and me taking about my project, it gives me a big opportunity to grab people and encourage them to be involved.

scripts

I want the videos to be really slick and for me to come across like I know what I’m talking about, so I wrote scripts. I know the activities, I know the context but sometimes I babble. I don’t want this babble to put people off or confuse people. I want my videos to be as clear as possible. This is what I want to say:

Introduction video

Video 1: Brief Introduction

[SF logo and introduction]

[Video of me]: Hi, my name is AnnaI live in E17 and I am studying for a Masters in Graphic Design. I want to ask the Walthamstow community, to ask you, about your views about the typography and lettering in the area.

[Slide saying typography]So what is typography?

Lettering, basically, is letters of our alphabet and how they are formed. Typography can also be called lettering, and I will use the term lettering from now on. 

[Speech bubbles drawing conversation] Lettering is how communicate visually with each other and share information without speaking.

Lettering can be simple, or decorative and anywhere in between. [Simple and decorative]

Everyday we see hundreds of examples of lettering in the world around us. We see door numbers, road signs, advertisements, street art, timetables. If it has letters or numbers, it is lettering.

We don’t usually pay attention to this lettering unless we need to, but every piece forms a part of or community. It tells us a story of who we are and our history.

For example, walking down Walthamstow High Street, there are lots of shop signs in English, in Polish, in Bulgarian, in Tamil. This is because Walthamstow is one of the most multi-cultural boroughs in the country, and people coming to the area are welcomed to the community. The lettering we see on the high street is reflective who we are.

Lettering goes beyond this: it is not just the language, it how they are displayed. Are the letterings big and bold? Are they in bright colours? Do the letters have loops and flourishes? What are they made out of – metal, wood, vinyl?

[Video of me]In this project, I would like you to take notice of the lettering in Walthamstow, E17, and tell me what you think of it. You don’t need to be an artist, or a designer, or know anything about lettering – you only need to think about what the lettering in Walthamstow means to you. Maybe some lettering feels welcoming, and others imposing. Some lettering might brighten your day, and some might annoy you.

If you’ve lived in the area for some time, what are your memories of the place and what you got up to in your free time? I’d love to here your 

I am creating some workshop activities that you can do in a Covid-safe manner and on your daily exercise walks. To find out more, click on the Workshops link at the top of the website.

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing what you create!

[End with links to Instagram and website]

Treasure Hunt

Video 2: Treasure Hunt

[SF logo and introduction]

[Video of me]: Hi, my name is AnnaI live in E17 and I am studying for a Masters in Graphic Design. I want to ask the Walthamstow community, to ask you, about your views about the typography and lettering in the area.

This is a video explaining the Type Treasure Hunt workshop. I’ve made a video explaining about the project and you can see it on the Homepage of my website.

[Slide saying Type Treasure Hunt]

The Type Treasure Hunt is an activity of exploration and looking around you in E17! What I would like you to do is to take some time to look at your environment on your daily walk and spot examples of lettering. I have some prompts for you, so I would like you to find examples of lettering that fit that prompt.

You’ll need a camera or a camera on a phone and the worksheet that you can download below and take out with you.

Prompt Number one is “a handwritten piece of lettering”. Maybe you go out and see a notice in a newsagent, or on a chalk board. Take a photo on your camera and mark it as done. Then move onto the next one. You can do them in any order your please, and take photos in one go or many goes.

Some lettering that you see might fit more than one example. For example, this lettering is handwritten and in all capital letters. Take the photo for one prompt, say hand-written, and take another photo for CAPITAL Letters.

The first fifteen prompts ask you to look for lettering that has certain characteristics and the next five ask you to find lettering that makes you feel something. Walthamstow is said to be a very welcoming place, so is there a piece of lettering that makes you feel welcomed. 

As an example, for me, this lettering makes me feel joyful because it is bright colours and makes me laugh.

I have a few tips for you! When taking your photo, try to go into the lettering as close as possible, like this, rather than far off. Look up at the sky and down at the ground to appreciate things you might not have paid attention to before. Also, don’t include people In your photos if at all possible!

When you’re done, please send me the photos! Rename them to the prompt they describe, like 03.jpg and send them to me by email at hello@stoweframework.co.uk or upload them to the website at stoweframework.co.uk/submit-treasurehunt

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing what you find!

Letter Drawing

[SF logo and introduction]

[Video of me]: Hi, my name is AnnaI live in E17 and I am studying for a Masters in Graphic Design. I want to ask the Walthamstow community, to ask you, about your views about the typography and lettering in the area.

This is a video explaining the Letter Drawing workshop. I’ve made a video explaining about the project and you can see it on the Homepage of my website.

[Slide saying Letter Drawing]

The Type Treasure Hunt is a creative activity of exploration and looking around you in E17! What I would like you to do is to take some time to look at your environment on your daily walk and spot examples of lettering. I have some prompts for you, so I would like you to find examples of lettering that fit that prompt.

As I said in my introduction video, Lettering can be very simple, or very decorative. [Simple and decorative]

Lettering can be very ornate and include drawings of people, plants and objects inside or around them. You often see illuminated letters in religious texts, for example (Bible and Koran)

Illuminated letters aren’t only used in religious texts. William Morris, who grew up in Walthamstow, used illuminated letters in his books by his publishing press and the often included floral and leaf motifs. 

Louis John Pouchay lived in London and also decorated letters with things that were important to him, like fruit and agricultural motifs. 

These all look old-fashioned, so what would they look like if we decorated letters now? What I would like you to do is to decorate a letter with images of Walthamstow that are special to you. You can pick any letter of the alphabet and download a template below. Here is a letter that I drew earlier, in classic Blue Petter style.

For this letter, I am going to add some patterns from Walthamstow. We have lots of sawtooth roofs In the industrial parks and the pattern is repeated in the new housing developments too. In the shadow of the letter I have included famous William Morris patterns.

Here there is the Walthamstow tube sign, and the town hall clock surrounded by hearts. I’ve drawn a picture of the Saturday market. On the left I have birds and fish from the nearby Wetlands and a beautiful sunset that we’re lucky to have so many of. At the top I’ve drawn a rainbow because I’ve seen on my daily walks to thank essential workers for this year.

This letter has the sights of Walthamstow to show you all the types of things you can include, and feel free to draw what ever this area means to you!

I’ve started to colour it in a bit, with bright colours! I’m not much of a sketcher, I’ll be honest, so I’ve used pictures that I’ve drawn on my computer! You can draw in your letter, paint, collage, or a combination. 

When you’re done, please send me your letter! Scan it in or take a photo and send them to me by email at hello@stoweframework.co.uk.

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing what you find!

---

I think this is all rather neat and well put. Next week I’ll show you what I’ve got!

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Community Activities live

AREA SUrvey 

I devised the first activity of Stowe Framework and detailed the results of the first alpha test here. In the Area Survey, the participants are asked to take a short walk around an area of E17 and take photographs of typography (or lettering, as I described it) and remember where they took them. When they returned home, they choose five examples of lettering, mark the examples’ positions on a map of Walthamstow and answer some questions. One purpose of the activity was to add more examples to the photo archive. More than that, the underlying motive is to enable the participants to start thinking about how they undertake the challenge. In asking them to submit only five examples to me, they curate their experience rather than unthinkingly responding.

I have copied out the questions with my reasons for asking:

Looking at your photos, did you start to favour certain types of lettering? Can you guess why that might have been?

Here, I want the participants to notice patterns about their preferences and a reason for their bias. For example, a couple of remaining ghost signs feature advertisements for printing presses and typewriters, and the owner of a local publisher might find these fascinating. I intend these to lead to further qualitative research between myself and the participant.

Did you stick to a route, or did you let yourself wander? Did anything draw you off your expected route? What was it?

I am curious about the participant’s mindset: do they start with a rigid plan, or do they wander? How they react to unexpected stimuli? The questions are deliberately broken down into easy clauses to allow comprehension by many people.

Did you find the lettering you were expecting? What surprised you?

Like the questions above, I want to understand the participant’s preconceptions and if they are open to being challenged.

What do you think the lettering tells you about the area you surveyed? What kind of lettering would you like to see more of in E17?

Now, I am eliciting their opinion of what the lettering says about their area rather than speculating, and giving them a chance to shape the area in the future.