Week 2: Story Told

For this week, I am going to define and analyse my research into local typographic language and experiment with new letterforms. I am also going to see how social, provenance and history interplay when designing for a globally significant event.

What have I been up to?

I have attended an event for Creative Dyslexics, 'Thinking Sideways'

Notes:

Mark Lainas (00:04:34) works for a charity called 'made by dyslexia'. 2 tests for dyslexia diagnosis: spacial awareness (strength) and retaining information (weakness). Ability to visualise the answer before working it out. He talks about the first time he starting embracing dyslexia and telling his work placement that he sees it as a strength, which brings me to my online presence - why haven't I mentioned in my website that I am a dyslexic designer? I mentioned wanting to rebrand as a dyslexic designer before Christmas but never got around to it. Would this ruin my job prospects or improve them?
Campaign for 'made by dyslexia'. Only 3% people see dyslexia as a strength. Steve Jobs is Dyslexic? 40% self-made millionaires are dyslexic.

Amanda Gorman - a co-insidence she has turned up in this talk because she is also in a mock-up for Stu.dent logo and I didn't know she was dyslexic. Dyslexic Poet. This reminds me of the first module where I was required to visualise a poem using type, and I think one of her poems could have been really powerful as a workshop challenge - might do this for next week's side project ;)
00:23:15 Dyslexia friendly e-reader that makes reading lists readable. Dyslexics are different: some process information better through audio (me), whilst others cant concentrate with audio. A platform that customises spacing, background, typography ('open dyslexia' is specifically designed for dyslexics), real voice audio with a visual of the person reading it (I find computer audio difficult to retain information, and from this MA course I have found visuals alongside the audio very helpful), ruler mode to help people not lose their place in reading, timer for focusing or goal setting (this only helps me if the time setting is less of a count-down and more of a time-space reserve). Another project idea I could do is a form of promotion for this brilliant (free) platform because as an ex-student mentor I love sharing useful resources - maybe I could reach out on LinkedIn to offer free design work?

This is a typeface specifically designed for Dyslexics by Abelardo Gonzalez, which contains unique bottom-heavy letterforms to make it more difficult to confuse letters (better than comic-sans). I love the small difference they made with the zero, the amount of times I've looked at the wifi password and got it mixed up with 'o' - coding definitely needs to be more inclusive in terms of spacing and making the letterforms more unique from each other. I wonder if I could redesign a children's book and replace the comic-sans, or maybe this would be the perfect typeface to use in next week's side-project (dyslexia poem). Or maybe we need to go deeper and make this typeface a default setting on laptops and computers (a dyslexic computer), so even the internet can be easy to read rather than a select few e-read documents. It turns out there is an app that can alter a website's font, spacing and colour, which I have started using and the only criticism would be the lack of variation in sizing because you can't tell where the title is - it is also difficult to view google results. It effects the flow of information and hierarchy of design, so it makes me wonder whether there is such a thing as inclusive design that looks beautiful?

00:34:07 An interview with Steve Harrison. If you read 5 books on advertising, you will be the top 10% most well-read people because people don't read anymore- 10 books is obviously better. Dave Trott and Harrison books recommended. Advertising industry isn't interested in talking about how they could help in this time of crisis (economics, job hunting, etc), which is interesting to hear because I've seen advertising that talks about government guidelines but no topics concerning social solutions.

Job search tip: the more you know about the person you are applying to, the more time they will give you. In my experience spending the time to write a cover letter means that I get a reply from them, even if it's a rejection it means they haven't turned you down straightaway. I would however consider spending the time to write down ideas on how I could help them because when you have lack of experience, it is useful to give them a visual on how you would respond to a brief set by them.

00:51:12 Brittaney Kiefer hosts interview (Campaign magazine).

Pr. John Stein (Dyslexia Trust) - 'dyslexics can see patterns at a glance and they can see missing bits'.

Aidan McClure (ECD, Wonderhood Studios) - Extra sandwich recommended by school for extra concentration. He mentions how he was asked to spell his name which was the starting point, however, for me my name was hard to spell in the first place and it didn't help that even the teachers spelt it wrong. It brings me back to how Benedict Phillips talked about the many ways things are spelt and questions whether there is ever a right way- at the end of the day, spelling is coding system that is specific to a culture or society of people and I don't think dyslexics should be defined by their cultural understanding of spelling. Deadlines or time pressure exposes dyslexia more, which in my experience slows you down because you are placing emphasis on what you are not doing and you pay more attention to what other people are doing. I would say working remotely helps because no one is physically around you to monitor your progress and you are able to take wellbeing measures at home such as meditation. He mentions how he has trouble googling a word because of how wrongly it has been spelt, so maybe there should be a database of dyslexic spelling so the computer could suggest the 'correct' word along with the definition - each time the google dictionary comes up, it will ask you how you spelt it and will be added to this database (see mock-up below). Something similar on https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/finding-the-blank-spots-in-big-data/ was discussed regarding gaps in the AI database.

Joe Staples (ECD, Mother, LA)- Dyslexia minds are perfect for advertising. He understands where his ideas came from (genealogy of ideas) compared to non-dyslexic colleagues. It's easier as a director to help unpack someone else's thought processes. Teaches non-dyslexics how to think like a dyslexic! He recommends meditation and/or exercise to slow down a bit during stressful deadlines, which suggests that its not the question of thinking too slowly, it's thinking too fast and/or not giving yourself the headspace to think of the project because you have other things on your mind. I think I can definitely relate to this. Obviously my knitting would act as a form of meditation, but I also think having a notebook helps remove information you have retained and you are able to make room for something else. I have recently found that side-projects help as well because it is a form of creative exercise where you can look at the other project another time and have a fresh perspective when you come back to it. So far I would say it has acted as a power-up for when I am doing my study work.

Kate Power and Kathy Forsyth - wrote two books for dyslexic child. Reading-out-loud was noted in primary research as the worst part in school. People are happier to speak openly about their dyslexia as they go higher ranking in their industry because people already trust you're abilities.

Books recommended:

The illustrated guide to dyslexia and its amazing people. Kate Power and Kathy Iwanczak Forsyth.
The bigger picture book. Amazing dyslexia. Kate Power and Kathy Iwanczak Forsyth.
Dave Trott and Harrison books recommended

2. Underdog Competition: Stu.dent logo

Stu.dent is a platform for students in training or higher education for them to gain advice and inspiration. It was challenging to see if there were any potential ideas that didn't involve the stereotypical book or graduation hat (as requested by the brief). Century Gothic Pro has been used to fit the geometry of the iconic target board, but also to have a professional yet sincere voice.

The spacing in the variations look different, however, I have double checked and it's just the trick of the eye. I don't know why there is a dot within stu.dent, which was interesting obstacle because I would have liked to have played with it a bit more if I had known the context. I presumed that these posts were being created by the admin team, so I suggested a collection of serif typefaces that can be paired up with the brand if they decided to make their own posts.

Even though the brand is currently re-sharing other people's instagram posts, I created a few rough examples of what the posts what look like in their brand. This would make their instagram look cleaner and more consistent with its aesthetics.

RESEARCH //

Ryman Eco

Sustainable typefaces that use 33% less ink than standard fonts. Less ink makes it easier makes it easier to recycle and less ink cartridge production. This is not a new concept as the Eco font program puts holes in typefaces.

Dan Rathigan is the designer of Ryman Eco and Monotype's Type Director.

B poster- Richard Hogg is an artist, illustrator and graphic designer. The B is bowing and showing respect for nature.

D poster- Ash Reyksen is a conceptual designer and illustrator. Used a natural colour palette to reinforce the environmental aspect of the font. The form of the tree also reinforces the idea of saving the planet.

I chose these posters because as mentioned last week, I have a love for illustrative type. I especially love the fact that this wasn’t originally illustrative font, but has been repurposed as a piece of artwork.

Another interesting typeface designed by Monotype was Dominos (Pizza Press Typeface) because I have only just noticed how they have incorporated ink saving techniques within the type. In the ideas wall, we were questioning whether companies like McDonald's would ever use in saving typefaces, and I thought McDonald's in particular would do this because they have been known to greenwash in the past, and I see the company itself as being a cheap brand that would want to save as much money as possible. Dominos however, I see as a higher quality than McDonalds. I don't see Dominos as ever trying to greenwash or claim that they are good for the environment, which is why I didn't notice any social impact of this type. I am impressed with how the brand has made it their own without making it look like green-washed.

Colophon Foundry

Smorgasbord was the designer for the previous type 'Cymru Wales Sans' in 2017 but collaborated with Colophon Foundry to create a new type for Welsh identity.

Colophon Foundry is based in London and Los Angeles, and designs custom typefaces. This project was commissioned by the Tourist department of the Welsh Government, so they had to consider the history as well as revealing a contemporary side.

I found it interesting how the Welsh language uses ‘dd’ to make a ‘th’ sound. The Welsh language contains eight digraphs like the one shown above, which have been turned into ligatures to connotate the pairing. Not being native to this 'alien' language, the agencies worked with Burdus Access and Applied Wayfinding to make sure the digraphs were legible for their Welsh audience. The consultants gave neutral advice rather than aesthetic steering.

The agencies avoided cliches whilst maintaining a sense of Welsh identity by using small details from Celtic and Gaelic typefaces, showing the traditional craft of stone letter carving.

This reminds me of Creative Review's podcast (no.14) because they were taking about how the best advertisements for countries focused on less cliches and show a quirky or interesting side. However, they also pointed out that completely stepping away from cliches (what the place is known for) makes you lose what made that place special in the first place, so the cliches need to be shown in a new and interesting way that isn't too obvious. I think this also creates a sense of familiarity to the branding and sense of place. Letterforms for example are designed to look like part of a family because we have adapted to know what each letterform means, so if they were to change too dramatically it wouldn't be legible or easy to navigate. A sense of place is the same thing. It feels alien to us when we don't experience a familiar element.

This has given me an idea of introducing the Cornish language into my typeface because even though this language is rarely used, this county sees itself as independent, which can be seen in the Cornish flags that are proudly hung around Falmouth (fælməθ) and the Cornish colours are emphasised within the university's branding.

Opentype coding allows end-users to switch back and forth between English and Welsh language. The whole font family including special characters can be placed into one file rather than separate ones, thus, taking up less disk space and loads faster online.

I am very new to coding so the only understanding I have of AFDKO (Adobe Font Development Kit for Open Type) is that it is set of tools for building OpenType font files. However, I think once I get further into my coding book, I will have a better idea of how it works.

Mexico Olympics 1968

Lance Wyman entered a design competition in 1966 and could only afford one-way tickets. He didn't know anything about the Mexican culture so he started visiting museums and was amazed with how contemporary the culture was with their geometrics and bright colours. The Pre-Columbian patterns in particular reminded him of Opt-art, a form of art that generates energy and movement through geometry, contrast and other tricks. You can see in the image below how this movement is created through the continuation of imagery, which Wyman mimics in his stamps.

I find it amazing how much the identity of the Olympics has regenerated the whole city and improved the way it was navigated. He created cultural icons for easy navigation during the Olympic Games, which was later used for the Metro railway systems. It reminds me of how the Architecture from last week’s research acted as an entrance to a station, but then influenced the railway’s identity. It also reminds me of the London regeneration during the Olympics.

However, he didn’t see the protest movement growing around him as he was focused on work. Economic growth didn’t benefit the poor- clash of new and old Mexico (middle class and students). Students were shot during their peaceful protest. They used the identity of the Olympics to show people that the soldiers were killing the bird of peace.

I think this case study shows the importance of considering the locals within a specific location.

In contrast, a new development took place in London's Canada Water to create a new neighbourhood opportunity. They development team engaged with locals to see what they valued, which included the not so glamorous shopping centre. Gentrification has been a factor in past developments. I admire how designers are starting to engage more with the community, which contrasts with past developments, for example, even though the Mexico Olympics design was used by the poorer community, there was no consideration for them and the designer wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. I think this is why locals were miffed as to why someone with no knowledge of Mexico is designing something to represent their identity; he was only paying attention to the past when he should have considered the present as well, which is what last week’s workshop touched on.

Another case study is Paris's 68 new Metro stations managed by BETC, expanding the idea of Paris beyond the old city and into the suburbs; only the inner city is advertised to tourists. And the ring road around the city centre acts as an informal border between ‘old’ Paris and suburbs. This feels like a familiar city structure – Coventry or Norwich I believe. However, even when the poorer population is being considered, the spirit and character of the neighbourhoods at risk during developments. This makes me think of the Falmouth locals being out of view from tourists (Beacon estate). I think the lack of communication from tourists has brought less money to the local stores and pubs within that area as well as having less of a budget from the Council to improve housing. It is a place were most people know each other when they visit the local pub and I believe the spirit of the community would change if it were more convenient for tourists to visit this area.

WORKSHOP CHALLENGE //

Characteristics:

1. Circus. Display lettering. Metal. Rustic. Tall x-height. Caps.

2. Negative space. Tiles. Geometric. Caps. Sans-serif.

3. Handwritten. caps. Humanist. Cheap. Soft. Uneven strokes.

4. Painted. Rural. Sans-serif. Soft/rounded

5. Art Deco. Shapes. 1940's. 3D. Architectural. Display.

Copan typeface

This Copan typeface was shared on the ideas wall, which I thought was inspiring because of how it reminds me so much of Falmouth's wooden signs. I would like to incorporate some of Falmouth's texture within my work. I also think experimenting with ink saving (like this typeface) would communicate the town's environmental values, which is expressed through local cafe menus (veganism and local produce) as well as community beach cleans run by Plastic-Free Falmouth. Or maybe I could experiment with re-used material surfaces.

Cornish Language

Only 1% population speak Cornish but the language is currently being promoted using 'Strategy 2015–2025'.

To start off my workshop, I started playing with the type I usually see in Falmouth ( Art Deco Caps - see Palacio Lounge typeface amongst photos) because I wanted to try and get a visual idea on what diphthongs looked like if they were caps; I can only see the Cornish diphthongs as lowercase, so I have to guess what the caps would look like.

I was inspired by the photoshop brushstroke that has a similar appearance to a triangle. This would create an Art Deco rural aesthetic.

This is me trying to mimic the basic DNA of the photographs I've taken. As you can see, I've added the curve of the 'A' onto the top to create 'ae' diphthong. I quite like the tile type because it can be used to save ink in printing and it is easy to use as a template for more letterforms.

Mixed inspiration between the Art Deco and negative space created with tile type

Concept 1- The sea

After looking at the town's museum, I realise the importance of the town's relationship with the sea and how it plays a role today. I was hesitant to use this concept because my research suggested that cliches were a bad thing- I think I need to play with this concept in a way that doesn't completely base the town as a generic coastal town and add some character to it.

Forms I could play with:

Fal river shape
Look into coastal cultures
harbour symbols
Tall sails event (boat racing) - watersports

Concept 2- Alehouses

Falmouth consisted of mainly alehouses during trading, which ensured sail men were refreshed with beverage. Based from the visual research I collected last week, I can see that most of them were connected to a alehouse in some way. The fountain is in-front of an alehouse, the chintz was once a brewery yard and the boathouse is a local pub. Even today, these spaces form community, whether it being for students, sails-men, locals or tourists.

Concept 3- Trading

Falmouth still trades via sea, but local businesses have always been highlighted (creative as well as produce). Maybe I can show the theme of independence but also make sure it looks part of a community - This reminds me of something I saw on the ideas wall (see below).

Materials:

Screen-printing
Wooden stall surfaces
Stencil created with everyday home essentials - supports the economic situation of past and present.

Concept 4- Creative meets Marine industry

James Doods brings the marine history to life by painting and linocutting Falmouth's working boat collection, which I think is a great way of showing the creative side of Falmouth as well. I really like the style of his paintings because they are really precise and they remind me of the tile typeface I collected.

I have based my typeface from the grid of the painting because I was curious to know what it would look like and I wanted to base my type from something that mixes the new with the old falmouth.

The painting style of the artist inspired me to mimic the scratchy texture. I decided to include the graph in the background because I like the look of it, and I think it shows a tension between the new and old falmouth (the rough with the straight geometric lines).

To make this piece more physical, I traced the grid off the computer screen and started sketching over it to see how many typefaces I could make out of one grid system.

These two typefaces shared the same grid (top half vs bottom half). You can see how the thickness of the typefaces are different due to how the spacing in-between the lines get more condensed at the top of the grid. When both typefaces are shown together, you can also vaguely see the shape of a boat.

REFLECTION //

Currently, I have a lot of idea development to do, which will take place in my spear time because I don't won't to fall behind on week 3. I would like to play around more with the grid system and see how many different versions of letterforms I could make out of it.

I think I should have started off by categorising my ideas because the idea development would have been a clearer and faster process. The other thing that held me back was being afraid to play with the stereotypes or cliches because my research suggested that doing this was a negative thing.

Looking at the ideas wall combined with the research I have done, I have a clear idea of the different ways I can develop the design of my typography (once it's done) into a visual identity and build up a journey for the public. This could be achieved through a public installation, posters, the transport system, etc.

REFERENCES //

Side Project

Thinking sideways online event - recording. Leo Reader, Jan 2021. https://youtu.be/4tg76EpMyKQ
Dyslexia Sperm Bank. Ad Campaign for a charity called 'Made by Dyslexia'. https://youtu.be/G7ZaQf-woHg
Open Dyslexia font. Dafont. https://www.dafont.com/open-dyslexic.font

Research

Colophon foundry website - Wales custom typeface. https://www.colophon-foundry.org/custom/wales/
Smörgåsbord designs first digital typeface family for the Welsh language. March 2020, Jennifer Hahn. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/03/18/welsh-language-typeface-font-smorgasbord/
TYPO Labs 2017 | Dan Rhatigan | Variable Fonts: Progress Report. https://youtu.be/UOUWDGsT8DE https://youtu.be/UOUWDGsT8DE
Adobe Font Development Kit for OpenType (AFDKO) Overview. Afdko. https://adobe-type-tools.github.io/afdko/AFDKO-Overview.html
MEXICO 68. 99% iNVISIBLE. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/mexico-68/
The CR podcast 14: Making, changing and documenting places. November 2018. Creative Review. https://www.creativereview.co.uk/the-cr-podcast-episode-14-making-changing-and-documenting-places/
PAIRS GETS GREATER. October 2018, Eliza Williams. https://www.creativereview.co.uk/greater-paris-project/
Ryman website. https://rymaneco.co.uk/about.html
Watch: Monotype's type director Dan Rhatigan on the modern font. Jan 2015, Shona Ghost. https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/watch-monotypes-type-director-dan-rhatigan-modern-font/1328141
Pizza Press Typeface, 2014. Fonts in use. https://fontsinuse.com/uses/6746/domino-s-pizza-1

IDEAS WALL //

Things I've looked at

Group Font sees 37 very different creatives contribute a letter. Jenny Brewer, May 2020. It's Nice that. https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/group-font-raissa-pardini-typography-graphic-design-120520
Designer tweaks famous logos to use less ink. Jacopo Prisco, Nov 2017. https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/ecobranding-less-ink/index.html
Copan typeface. Julia Studio. https://julia.studio/stories/copan/
Getting hands on with TYPuzzle. January 22, 2017. Typograph.her http://www.typographher.com/blog/2017/1/21/getting-hands-on-with-typuzzle
Chinese Whispers by Ian Mitchell. http://ianmitchell.online/beaufonts/pssst/experiments.html
https://www.typography.com/blog/type-design-on-netflix

Things I've shared

Facts about tattoos: secret tattoo messages. Royal Museums Greenwich. https://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/facts-about-tattoos
James Doods, marine artist. Falmouth Quay Punt. Youtube. https://youtu.be/wrBPNRI0Tdw