What I did
- Drafted my literature review
- Annotated print projects that I am inspired by
- Handed in my ethics review
What I plan to do
- Where can I market the project? Locally will be best
- Prepare for conversations with Alistair Hall
week7
Week 7: Ethics Review
Feedback from Susanna
After seeking further advice from Falmouth and my line manager please see the info below.
* this is particularly for Anna, Alice N and Alice M but could apply to others.
If you are going to be working with community and social groups or those deemed as vulnerable (children, elderly, those with disability or illness)
- you should have a standard DBS check that you can seek yourselves (or equivalent if in another country)
- Seek specialist advice from experts/ people who work in these areas but don’t have vulnerabilities themselves such as
- Local voluntary services
- Charities
- Professors/ experts in health/ medicine
- Social services
- Local council
- Consider the use of service design tools to remotely record – a cultural probe – set of questions, mobile devices that people use to record their day for example so you are not first hand collecting with vulnerable groups
- Adhere to local rules and legislation
- Create a focus group of experts from relevant areas to maintain regular checks and advice as your project progresses and checks every stage of delivery/ interaction to ensure the correct procedures are followed and documented.
So all of your ethics approval forms are good to go – but you must ensure you follow the above throughout your projects and communicate with Stuart and I regarding development.
Some of your consent forms will need adjusting once you have gained expert advice from the focus group/ experts in your field of investigation, as will some of your methods for gathering your research and user testing your work.
Great – this is really helpful. I need to change my forms slightly and write up my Workshops and send those over to Stuart and Susanna
Week 7: drafting my Literature Review
At the end of week 8, I have to hand in a draft of my literature review. Here is where I got up to at this point:
How does vernacular typography contribute to a sense of place and belonging in the community of Walthamstow?
Visual communication is ubiquitous in every environment that we inhabit, from private space to public spheres, in the form of signs, advertisements and arts. Furthermore, humankind’s instinct for language unites us, allowing us to express ourselves and our cultural identity, whether orally and aurally or through language’s written form: type and lettering.
Stowe Framework seeks to explore the vernacular typography in Walthamstow, an area of North East London, and highlight how the typography informs us of the changing demographics and builds the area’s culture. This literature review will present the history of the area and its communities before it considers how current academic studies apply in this instance. Finally, the review will consider how Stowe Framework can bridge academic study and community engagement to enhance awareness of, and safeguard our visual history.
Walthamstow
History
Located in the northeast of London, UK, the Domesday Book recorded Walthamstow as “Wilcumestou”, or the place of welcome, from which Stowe Framework derives its name (Mills, 2010). It remained a rural area until the nineteenth century, when train travel allowed office workers to live in the borough and commute to work, boosting the population. The population rise was echoed in the 1980s when the Victoria Line of the Underground extended to reach the area.
Through the centuries,
Examples of Typography in Walthamstow
Walthamstow has three areas that can be considered commercial centres: the first, Walthamstow Village; and the High Street and Wood Street, both of which formed as a result of the transport links to the area.
The link between Typography and Culture
“Typography is more than legibility, and more than aesthetics. It is the search for greater power in the written word. It is the embodiment of a culture’s identity. It is the celebration of humanity” (Blankenship, 2003).
“Type does not exist within a vacuum, it is predicated on cultural change and motivated by underlying social structures that may not be readily apparent to an observer looking in” (Snodgrass, 2018).
Studies on typography
In 2006, Gaydos launched a project called Visual Scavenger Hunt that asked people around the world to photograph objects in their environment. He had the goal “to have individuals focus on how visual communication can make our communities similar, and also how it makes them unique” (Gaydos, 2007, p.93). He compiled the submissions from 25 people from 20 different cultures that focussed on a list of subjects such as a business card, a restaurant menu, and a piece of graffiti to create a “contrast between variable and control [that] made for an exciting cross-cultural comparison” (Gaydos, 2007, p.93). The study was as broad as it could be, with the instructions translated into thirteen languages, and gave Gaydos insight into a wide variety of cultures.
The heart of the project is very similar to Stowe Framework in that looking at the visual culture can represent the communities around us. From there, a researcher can conclude the similarities and differences between the visual responses and, therefore, those societies.
In comparison, Stowe Framework focusses on one area, Walthamstow. Firstly, the encompassing borough of Waltham Forest “is one of the most diverse areas in the country” with more than a third of its population born abroad according to the 2011 Census (Waltham Forest Council, 2020). As such, the area could be viewed as a microcosm of our global society and functions as a concentrated ground where “cultures hybridize and reinvent themselves” (Gaydos, 2007, p.63). Stowe Framework aims to highlight and honour the many strands of the Walthamstow community.
The control of the physical area opens up the research to a broader selection of typographic examples than the Visual Scavenger Hunt. However, a list of potential examples does support study participants whilst they conduct research.
Research methods
I have my own bias
Can I look outside, given that I moved here only recently?
Given the wide range of people, there will be different views.
Resources
Mills, A., 2010. A Dictionary Of London Place Names. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gaydos, B., 2007. [Ethno]Graphic Design. Richmond, VA: Virginia Commonwealth University.
Blankenship, S., 2003. Cultural Considerations: Arabic Calligraphy and Latin Typography. Design Issues, 19(2), pp.60-63.
Snodgrass, N., 2018. Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role In Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design And Research. Master of Fine Arts. Kent State University.
Walthamforest.gov.uk. 2020. Statistics About The Borough | Waltham Forest Council. [online] Available at: <https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/content/statistics-about-borough> [Accessed 31 October 2020].
Week 7: Publication development
Thinking about my final outcome, I’ve spotted some design treatments from around the Web that inspire me.
Week 7: Process
Organising all my contacts
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!
Week 7: Filo’Type
I am developing an exciting new app aimed at people obsessed with type, filo’type. Our world provides us with abundant typographic inspiration to capture and save for future reference, and we want to be able to store those images separately to our selfies and everyday photos. This is where filo’type is perfect. Upload snaps direct to the app, tag the location and away you go. Add information such as type of font, serif or san serif, colour, effects, and how it is used, that is saved with the photo and displayed on a map.
See what others have discovered, and pull together boards for reference for a new project, whether for a printed publication, website design or set design.
Take time to explore the local area by going on guided walks with a theme and stories of the context of each piece of type.
Week 7: Global Studio
The Challenge
Based on some of the debates and discussion covered so far, outline a series of ideas that could help you to work in new and more exciting collaborative ways.
- What media and communication platforms could help support this? (This might be to help you collaborate with new design partners, introduce yourself to a new network or culture or area of investigation.)
- Present your ideas as a one minute elevator pitch video (with the aim that you will develop one of those ideas further next week).
media and communication platforms
Looking at the different platforms (to come)
- Sticky notes
- Craig Oldham’s online portfolio for students
- https://www.trytriggers.com/approach
Ideas for Collaborative Tools
Filo-type
Rather than typing it all out again, please go to this post, where I explain the idea for a typographic sharing system.
Virtual Workshop
Zoom is magnificent! It has transformed the way we communicate in this tough time of Covid-19 lockdowns and can be used across software platforms. We’ve made it work how we can for we need it do to, and I think it can be levelled up. Say you’re in a workshop or meeting, and you want to divide into groups. With this programme you can do this. Here’s a metaphysical representation of what it would look like:
- Meeting mode: your standard online session where everyone gathers in one room for a big chat with a meeting host. This can form the start or end of the meeting or workshop.
- Group conversation mode: the group is split into smaller groups, either by predetermined lists or by the host clicking and dragging attendees together. There is a group leader who can steer the conversation, remaining in that smaller group, whilst the meeting host can tour around the groups as they please.
- Workshop mode: Set-up beforehand, the meeting host can introduce tasks that can be rotated between the groups after a set period of time. The groups can write their thoughts on a virtual board for each task as a recording of the task.
- At the end of the workshop or meeting, each group leader can present a brief overview of the tasks to the all attendees.
The session can be predetermined by the host and can move between any of these modes at the time or after a set period of time. A host can build the session exactly how they want before, adjust it throughout, or let it flow freely.
The session can be recorded and marked under each task/group for people to have a record of the work they have done.
Pass-a-line
This is nothing more than a diversion tool for teams! With friends, when we’re talking about hard subjects, sometimes we use a technique of additive drawing. We start with a blank sheet of paper, and as we talk, we take turns to add to the existing drawing in whatever way we like; the theory being that a shared activity can bring us together and provide a distraction when talking about really tough shit. To put a virtual and positive spin on this, it could form a creative way for people to come together to create something virtually – as long as it has nothing to do with the meeting – the more abstract the better! There would be some restrictions; it would be a line drawing app, no import of images or text.
Mode one: everyone gets a blank square on the website to doodle whatever they like on for the duration of the virtual meeting. At the end, a checkerboard would form to show all the squares, anonymously, of the meeting.
Mode two: everyone takes a turn for a certain amount of time and has to draw a line that starts where the last person finished at the edge of the page, and at the end of their turn, return the line to a different edge. The result would be continuous line through the meeting and challenge people to use one line only. At the end a wandering path would be displayed, and again it would be anon.
Networking Safari Supper
Getting to know people in the industry can feel like an expedition in the jungle. Will that frightening company head be a secret softie, and will that other newbie be a poisonous *****? At a traditional networking event, it can be anyone’s guess. Introducing the Networking Safari Supper, where if you’re involved you gotta be at least a bit friendly. Like its predecessor, the Safari Supper, the NSS groups people together for each course of the meal, splitting and growing for each course until they converge at the same venue for drinks. Smaller studios in Shoreditch would host sets of participants in their space, starting with nibbles, dividing the group and joining at bigger studios for some lush nosh, then at the megaliths to indulge those with sweet tooth and finally heading to a local bar for an almighty industry piss-up. No, sorry, a final debrief.
People starting out in the industry will have the chance to meet people like themselves and see a range of different studios where they can meet the people who work there. Ticket prices would have to be looked at to ensure a price that is accessible for everyone, but with the talent potential for the studios, it would be an opportunity for an industry-wide collaboration.
The safaris would be limited to an area of a city, for example, Shoreditch, and they would take place in studios rather than homes for safeguarding. It might take some walking or tubing to get between studios, but you would always be with someone from your previous course, plus a member of the previous studio to guide you on your way and show you the local area.
Elevator Pitch
Filo-type
I am going to take this idea forward, and present it as an elevator pitch. It was really fun to play around with AfterEffects to make this, and I learnt a lot. I did want to make it even more jazzy, but I decided to keep the animations simple so that I can reveal a UI later.
Go to this post to see the elevator pitch.
Week 7: Content Review Redux
This is a new version of this post. I’m going in a new direction and want to start afresh, keeping old work separate.
Studio Practice
- Research methods to structure and edit a written document.
- Analyse methods available to designers for self-publishing.
- Deliver an A3 landscape format interactive PDF to present your initial design ideas (typeface, colour, format, print / digital production) about the design of your article.
- Document your research, ideas and visual development on your blog.
- Participate in and reflect on the debates raised on the Ideas Wall.
Essay
- Deliver the first draft of your 3,000-word article, which is to be saved as a Word or Text Edit document.
Well, this week is going to be fun!
Research methods to structure and edit a written document.
All the sources from this week say to really know what your project is about and why you are doing it. What is the question I am trying to answer? This is it:
Printing
Analyse methods available to designers for self-publishing.
OK, so this exploration is in this blog post, so that this doesn’t get too bogged down.
I like the idea of using lenticular-style media to tell different parts of the story, like this garage door in Walthamstow:
OS Maps could create this effect, and I could get them printed here.
Deliver an A3 landscape format interactive PDF to present your initial design ideas (typeface, colour, format, print / digital production) about the design of your article.
Participate in and reflect on the debates raised on the Ideas Wall.
Week 7: Visiting Paekakariki Press
This morning I spent a delightful two hours chatting to Matt Mackenzie of Paekakariki Press in Walthamstow. He set up the printing press in 2010, buying the unit and the land, and has presses, type and casting machines from throughout printing history. The press also works as a publishing house, where he publishes sewn handbound works of poetry and literature to a select audience.
He is studying for an MA in Local History, for which his dissertation is on the correlation between rising literacy rates and the printing industry in East London.
His father was a printer in New Zealand. He worked in sound in West End Theatres until redundancies coincided with his wish to reduce days.
When the screen has called for printing machines, he has played a consultant role to ensure the actors use the machine correctly and look like they know what they are doing! He helped on the filming of Pennyworth (Batman spin-off) and Paddington 2.
Some further questions I’ve asked Matt:
The name Paekakariki is a Maori word – why did you decide to name your press this and what significance does it hold for you?
paekākāriki – perching place of the little green parrot
pae – perching place
kākā – parrot
kākāriki – little parrot & green
I’m a great fan of alliteration: Paekakariki Press also I have a house there.
Whilst I was visiting the studio, you had two students on placement with you from university. How do you think this kind of training helps with their design training?
It’s a very good discipline having to arrange physical blocks of letterforms and seeing how it affects the design. I had a little discussion on that subject as they were leaving today and that is what they found.
How does it differs from the traditional print apprenticeship?
The traditional apprenticeship was 7 years, so it in no way reaches the same level of skill and competence. You just can’t hope to meet and resolve all the physical issues that might occur or come up against all the design problems in 5 weeks.
How were you taught printing and letterpress?
My father taught me a great deal at his Bibilo press at VUW NZ. Subsequently I have learnt from various retired practitioners who have very kindly shared their skills and knowledge.
What is your favourite part of your printing process?
What is unusual here is that I have to be able to do all the tasks that would have been split between many different people and commercial companies. Obviously that means I cannot approach the technical excellence of my predecessors who were specialists. I do not attempt four colour photographic reproduction! Sadly the skill level in general has generally declined to that of the 1880s and very few could hope to emulate the work displayed in the Penrose Annuals from the early 20c.
Why is printing important to you?
I suppose because I grew up with it. It’s also very creative in a human way rather than the way Graphic Design has gone with the reliance on the computer.
What advice do you pass down to new printers?
I am trying to uphold the standards of the 1880s and rather advise against the current fashion of printing for the blind
Would you design your own letterforms? What would they look like?
Interesting. I often wonder whether the world needs any more typefaces, but then find one that I feel needs a little tweaking to make it perfect…
What does a typical day in the studio look like for you?
The good thing is that there is often not a typical day. There are so many different things that need doing: book design, casting, imposition, printing, binding. And then all the commissions that clients ask for which are often outside what I would normally do so provide a learning opportunity for me.
Favourite typeface? (difficult to narrow down I know)
Somehow Garamond features quite often.
Piece of typography you’d like to create?
Sometimes I think I would like to do some Kurt Schwitters like creations, but never seem to have the time.
Typographers/designers you admire?
Jan Tschichold, Berthold Wolpe
Favourite piece of type history/equipment?
The Hoe Type Revolving machine
Piece of type history would you most like to own?
I suspect I have most of it, somewhere.
Week 7: Content Review/WRITE THE ESSAY
Studio Practice
- Research methods to structure and edit a written document.
- Analyse methods available to designers for self-publishing.
- Deliver an A3 landscape format interactive PDF to present your initial design ideas (typeface, colour, format, print / digital production) about the design of your article.
- Document your research, ideas and visual development on your blog.
- Participate in and reflect on the debates raised on the Ideas Wall.
Essay
- Deliver the first draft of your 3,000-word article, which is to be saved as a Word or Text Edit document.
Well, this week is going to be fun!
Research methods to structure and edit a written document.
All the sources from this week say to really know what your project is about and why you are doing it. What is the question I am trying to answer? This is it:
How has being part of a host and legacy borough of the London 2012 Olympics affected the community of Walthamstow?
Analyse methods available to designers for self-publishing.
OK, so this exploration is in this blog post, so that this doesn’t get too bogged down.
I like the idea of using lenticular-style media to tell different parts of the story, like this garage door in Walthamstow:
OS Maps could create this effect, and I could get them printed here.
Deliver an A3 landscape format interactive PDF to present your initial design ideas (typeface, colour, format, print / digital production) about the design of your article.
Participate in and reflect on the debates raised on the Ideas Wall.
Week 7: Challenge Layout
Studio Practice
How do you approach research methodologies for your academic journey?
- Choose an object you feel has a story to reveal.
- Write a 300 word text acknowledging the texts that link to your writing.
- Upload an image of object with the title of your written precis onto the ideas wall, and further elaborate in your blog.
- Design your object and 300 word text, with references, as an editorial piece to be seen in print or on screen.
Sewing has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I made my first dress on my mother’s hand-cranked Singer sewing machine at the age of twelve. Sewing clothes for myself has given me freedom from ill-fitting mass-produced clothes, but is it always the case?
The industrial revolution in Great Britain saw rapid expansion in the development of tools designed to ease the manufacturing purposes, which had positive and negative consequences for the working classes of all industries.
Thirty years after Thomas Hood wrote his poem “The Song of the Shirt” highlighting the gruelling conditions under which piece-workers sewed garments, and subsequently, the sewing machine gained popularity in England, the invention was proving to benefit capitalists further up in social strata rather than the workers using the machines. Where seamstresses could expect to receive “threepence-halfpenny” for a shirt before the introduction of the sewing machine, after, that amount reduced to “one penny and threefarthings” (The Sewing Machine and its Victims, 1875, p. 220).
In 1863, The Eclectic Review raised concerns that “in an establishment where, two years ago, two hundred women were engaged to work, only some forty are now kept … the displaced women must often hover about the workhouse steps” (The Charities of London, 1863, p.169). A wider study was done by the London Journal in 1875, and it summarised that the sewing machine “in the hands of capitalists has proved to be more of a curse than a blessing to those whose fate it is, and has been immemorially, to work … and the promise with which its general introduction was heralded, like many another, worse than an airy nothing” (The Sewing Machine and its Victims, 1875, p. 220)
In the middle class of the age, Lance proclaimed that “any lady of ordinary ability can learn the use of the sewing machine in half a dozen lessons” (Lance, F., Social Subjects, p.365) and it benefitted women who chose to use the machine rather than learnt as a necessity. Much as my sewing machine benefits me, today, as I choose to make my own clothes.
The research will be based on qualitative methods to assess how women of different social strata were affected by the advent of the sewing machine, and draw from periodicals, reports and advertisements of 1840s–1880s London whilst critically assessing the sources. As a point of further exploration, the research will extend to a comparison between the textile industry of nineteenth-century England and the global textile industry where similar exploitative practices can be seen.
Self-sewn clothes on the washing line
Editorial layout
Resources
THE CHARITIES OF LONDON. 1863. The Eclectic review, 4, pp. 167-183.
LANCE, F., 1874. SOCIAL SUBJECTS. London society: an illustrated magazine of light and amusing literature for the hours of relaxation, Jan.1862-Dec.1886, 26(154), pp. 365-374.
THE SEWING MACHINE AND ITS VICTIMS. The London Journal, and weekly record of literature, science, and art, Mar. 1845-Apr. 1906; London Vol. 62, Iss. 1599, (Oct 2, 1875): 220-221.
Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1895; Bartleby.com, 2003.
Week 7: Critical Research Journal
Lecture: Martin Hosken, lecturer in critical theory at Falmouth
The aim of the lecture was to unpack research itself and the difference between method and methodologies and to place an emphasis on instinctive curiosity rather than spending too much time unpicking academic lexicon.
The exercise this week is to encourage us to explore an find out more about a subject, join information and draw analysis from data not previously joined, and to promote new understanding of a subject. I’ve thought a lot about making new connections between data and situations and hope to use this in this week’s task.
Hosken posed interesting questions, which I paused the lecture to quickly answer:
- Is research a science, an art or a craft?
My first instinct is science, because research as I remember it was usually conducted in science and technology lessons at school. However, that wasn’t the case, as we researched artists, musicians, composers, writers, throughout school, and at university, I spent a large amount of time researching and studying for philosophy, social anthropology and English studies, albeit in a less structured form. It took art and instinct to push the boundaries into unexplored areas, however, there was a method that I developed and learnt. In conclusion, a craft seems the best fit out of the three.
- Is it primarily an academic exercise or an activity of life?
I feel we all naturally research every day, through living, and our decisions are based on either conscious research and looking outside ourselves, or based on our empirical experiences, whether we realise it or not?
- When was the last time I had to engage in research? (I am assuming outside of this course!)
Formally, it was when I was designing a book cover for a recent book, and I explored what already on the market for a book for a similar age group and with similar themes. I also looked into Pictish and Celtic art and typography to give the aesthetic an authentic feeling. Though, as I type this, I am beginning to recognise many other occasions at work where I have deployed research for design and creative purposes.
Hosken asked us to stop the lecture and to spend then minutes looking around the room to engage with my environment. This is similar to a grounding exercise that I sometimes do: name five sights, four sounds, three physical feelings, two smells and one taste. Like John, I wrote out my experience as a way to engage further. This can be considered a primary source of material because although I am typing it up later, I am not editorialising from the original written words.
I feel cosy sitting in a big blue chair with a blanket Cassie knitted. It’s peaceful, through the washing machine is annoying. The room has been repainted for us, an off-white. True white would be cold and cheap-looking but the magnolia adds warmth. There are already some marks on the wall from moving in. The alcoves on either side suggest a covered up fireplace, and the corner to the left has marks as if someone has rubbed against it. The ceiling is very high, which means the room doesn’t feel overly small, and we’ve hung some pictures up high. The furniture is mostly wood, not Ikea white like in my room. There are brackets up high to hand a washing line, or so we thought, but we talked to the neighbours and found out that it was because the lead tenant crammed in as many people as possible and the brackets held a privacy curtain. Laurel the cat has walked in and shaken her head, sounding the tiny bell around her neck. The window is pretty large for most rented property, and couldn’t be smaller else it would feel dismal in here. The room isn’t quite square, which is annoying for putting furniture in. The cat gives a pitiful miaow.
The etymology of the word research can be traced back through French and Latin roots, and I’m interested that a word primarily associated with mental activity has the Latin root meaning “to wander through”: a physical activity. The crossover between mental and physical space is a subject I have explored in depth as an English student and would like to continue studying from a design perspective.
I’m not going to repeat the rest of the lecture, instead, I will add what my response has been. I knew the difference between qualitative and quantitive data, but because I learnt the difference from a scientific point of view, I have always favoured quantitive research because the results are measurable. I’m not entirely sure why this viewpoint has held, though, because I have conducted so much research for my BA English that was entirely qualitative rather than quantitive. It was useful to hear that the different academics could approach research from different points of view; the example given was that a sociologist might approach a research question from a psychoanalytic methodology and a linguist from an anthropological one. Both can be useful, but one may be more appropriate than the other.
Hosken’s Guide to What Makes a Good Research Question:
- It is of academic and intellectual interest
- It is a full and nuanced question
- It is substantial
- It can be assessed
- It is clear and simple
- It is interesting: not too convenient, or too questionable.
Lecture – with Yuki Kappes
This was a fascinating lecture, and I was really taken by Yuki’s drive to play and to push one thing further. The Ace & Tate Saffron campaign where they used everyday objects into the shoot was great because it really showed me that you don’t need amazing sets and props to really make a stellar piece of work.
“Humans are absurd and amazing” – probably a paraphrase somewhere there!
Thanks, Ella for the Harvard referencing system guide!
- Laurel, B. (Ed) (2003) Design Research: Methods and Perspectives (Links to an external site.). Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Anna Robinette 