‘Written In The Signs’ Type Specification
Alice Robinson
Content Strategy ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 Grid ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 3 Typography ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 9 Body Text ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 11 Page Folios ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 11 Captions •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 13 Page Titles •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 13 Pull Quotations •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 15 Chapter Openings ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 17 Image Treatment - Colour Accent ••••••••••••••••••••• 19 Image Treatment - Pink Tint ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 21 Illustrated Features ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 23 Page Backgrounds ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 25 Cover Design •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 27 Paper •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 29 Finishing ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 29 References ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 31
Strategy
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Intro, Aim & Audience
‘Written In The Signs’ is a celebration of the women’s march on Washington that took place on January 21st 2017 just one day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the President of the United States. The march sparked a new wave of feminism that has continued throughout the year since. This book aims to highlight the work women started one year ago, show their journey in organising the march and how their achievement should be remembered in history. It is aimed at people interested in feminism but particularly young women who are new to understanding feminism.
Initial Ideas & Development My ideas came from
extensive research into the march itself, feminism and protest culture. I was writing about the topic for my dissertation so this gave me a large body of written work to use as the content for my book. This made the book have something different to say and be an in-depth discussion of the event I am marking the anniversary of. I was able to discuss more of the photographs of the protest signs than in my dissertation so that I could further the content.
Context Too often is feminism associated with the man-hating,
bra-burning acts of protest that are deemed negative and annoying. The book examines the new wave of feminism that started on January 21st 2017 and set off a more inclusive phase of feminism that worked for causes not exclusively affecting women and praises how women and men came together for a physical protest in a time where most disputes play out online.
Content The book is split into six sections that documents the
build-up of the march, the march itself, the reaction and the future
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of feminism after this movement. Explaining the significance of the march using voices from different backgrounds and associations to the march to give a complete picture of the march. This book uses the signs that were carried during the march to analyse how their messages varied in message and tone and how they contributed to fourth wave feminism.
Design Context The protest signs are so varied in style I
needed to present them in a way that united them visually. By making them all black and white or tinted in pink; this put the focus on the written message on each sign as they are what places those signs in the particular time. The book uses the concise colour scheme of black, white and magenta pink to both make things clear and cohesive and reference the use of pink at the women’s march as they were ‘unapologetically feminine’ in their approach. The title typography is a bold and striking serif, ‘Eczar’ that represents the power that women embodied at the march and the body and folios are the legible ‘Work Sans’ typeface which with its many weights allows for the varied use of highlighting different elements.
Conclusion The book looks at the effectiveness of the march
as we reach the one year anniversary and whether anything has changed because of or even in spite of the march. It uses the very words of the marchers as well as those who have analysed and critiqued the march to create a well-rounded account of its impact. In conclusion, together with the in-depth written content, the bold typography and consistent visual treatments this book presents the women’s march as something to be remembered and marked on it’s one year anniversary.
Grid Page Size
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Each page size is 190mm x 250mm. I chose this size to fit horizontally into the ‘pussy’ hat that slides over the book. It is wide enough vertically to poke out from the bottom of the hat to display the book title.
Margins & Grid Lines 1 - Head Margin 13 mm 2 - Foot Margin 13 mm 3 - Fore-edge Margin 13 mm 4 - Gutter Margin 13 mm 5 - Hanging Line 39.5 mm 6 - Exclusion Line 36 mm 7 - Column Width 19.75 mm 8 - Gutter 4.25 mm 9 - Bleed 3 mm
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Grid Use of the grid
The grid allows for a varied layout design to keep the content interesting and not monotonous. The body text always sits on the baseline grid of 15pt leading and other type and image elements sit as close to the baseline grid as possible. The images can vary in size according to the column widths which makes for constant changes in the reading experience. As this is a content heavy book, this is important for it to feel fresh.
Spreads 1 : 3 - 4
2 : 43 - 44 1
3 : 45 - 46
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Grid Use of the grid
There are several spreads that differ to the majority of the content. These I felt were necessary to break up the monotony and were needed to make some of the content larger so that the reader could see it in more detail. For the contents page I wanted each chapter title to be large and the layout to be different and more expressive than the bulk of the book content. Pages that had little to no body text meant that I could be more playful with images and/or quotations. There was an opportunity between talking about the reaction to the march and what the future of feminism could be; that I felt needed a double page image that represented the achievement the march was.
Spreads 1 : Contents
2 : 13 - 14
3 : 19 - 20
4 : 41 - 42
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Typography
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Work Sans
For the body text and folios I wanted a clear sans serif typeface family with various weights that I could use to indicate a hierarchy on the page. Work Sans is most popular in the US and it has similarities to classic American fonts such as Helvetica. As I am talking about a protest based on American issues it felt appropriate to use. I used the weights ‘Regular’ and ‘Bold’ as the heavier weights are recommended at larger sizes and for screen based work.
Eczar
I wanted a bold and quirky typeface that worked at larger sizes as well as smaller as it was designed to impart a strong mix of personality and performance at both text and display sizes. The sharp angles reminded me of the stencilled type that was common on the protest signs. Eczar was designed to bring liveliness and vigor and I felt that, that ethos fit well with the protest context.
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Work Sans Designer: Wei Huang
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 0127456789 ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 0127456789
Eczar Designer: Vaibhav Singh
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 0127456789 ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 0127456789
Body Text
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Aligning to the baseline grid, the body text sits neatly across three columns with a clear column in between the sections of text. This allows space between the large amounts of text and shouldn’t read as too busy. When appropriate to the content, the body text begins in SemiBold to introduce the topic. On several pages that feature mainly black and white elements the body text is in the magenta pink. This changes up the flow and keeps the spread vibrant.
1 : Work Sans - SemiBold - 10pt / 15pt leading 2 : Work Sans - Regular - 10pt / 15pt 3 : Work Sans - Regular - 10pt / 15pt
Page Folios After various drafts I toned down the page number and chapter heading on each page. Before, they were at larger, bolder sizes with additional glyph elements. I found that it was taking away attention from the body and photographs and these features should be the last in the hierarchy and only used if the reader needs to navigate the book.
4 - Chapter Indicator : Work Sans - SemiBold - 10pt / 15pt 5 - Page Number : Work Sans - Regular - 10pt
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Captions
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The captions for the photographs are at a smaller type size to the body text as an optional addition for people reading the book. They are usually on the page with the majority of the text so that it is kept more neat. However, when necessary it is below the image and can be surrounded by a pink and white text box. The feature of a pink colon : in the caption adds a distinguishing feature.
1 : Work Sans - SemiBold - 8.5pt / 15pt leading
Page Titles The titles of pages that acts as an introduction to the page are at a medium point size and vary between being pink and black. They are often quotes from the signs carried in the march.
2 - Eczar - SemiBold - 24pt / 32pt leading
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Pull Quotes
These are a frequent device throughout the book to provide other voices to the book and allow another reading device if they decide not to read the full body text. They act as a visual element because of how expressive and bold the typeface is. I was not happy with the quotation mark the font ‘Eczar’ had ( ) as it wasn’t decorative enough. Looking at my body font ‘Work Sans’ I found the quote mark was different, playful and eye catching as a visual device (❞). But after some experiments it was too distracting so I made it an outline ( ) This acted better as the visual device for the quotes. Another element is the pink or black ‘greater than’ symbol ( ) to indicate who said the quote.
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1 : Eczar - SemiBold - 14pt / 20pt 2 : Eczar - SemiBold - 14pt / 20pt 3:
Eczar - SemiBold - 24pt / 32pt 4:
Eczar - SemiBold - 24pt / 32pt 1
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Chapter Openings
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With the six sections of the book I open up the particular topic with a large heading, an introduction, a quotation and/or an image. This creates a clear divide between the sections and provides a better flow and pace for the reader.
Eczar -
SemiBold - 24pt / 32pt
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Image Treatment Colour Accent
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What started as an experiment to make a typeface out of lettering from the signs turned into the main design device for the book. The typeface I made was interesting and eclectic but it just didn’t suit the tone I was hoping to achieve as it ended up looking too informal. However, I was making these images along the way to document my process. I decided that they gave me the ability to use all of these different people’s photographs with such varied colours, styles of protest signs and messages and put my own spin on them to present something new. My written content is all about what the messages on their signs were and so by highlighting individual letters it was asking the reader to focus on the wording and not on what colour pen they used. This lead to the book title change to ‘Written In The Signs’.
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Image Treatment Pink Tint
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There were several photographs I wanted to include that didn’t have typographic signs but were important to the narrative. I also wanted to break up the expectation of all the images looking the same. I made some of the sign images have this pink tint as well when it felt necessary to change up the design. As pink was such a strong colour from the march; with most attendees wearing the now infamous pink pussy hats; I didn’t shy away from making reference to that. One of the organisers even stated that the march was ‘unapologetically feminine’ and the use of pink was only a positive representation of them as women.
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Illustrated Features
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1 - I felt it inappropriate for the target audience of young adults to have too many illustrations but there were a couple of instances when a diagram was needed to help explain details. I created a map of the US that indicated where marches took place across the country. I felt that this could show just how big the event was and wanted to create my own imagery even though similar maps existed so I made vector illustrations of the pussy hats for marking their location.
2 - I was then able to include the knitting pattern that was shared
online for the pussy hat and add illustrations to the instructions. I feel that these illustrations don’t lower the tone or are too different to the photographs as they reference the hats and the same colour palette. I could have made a few more diagrams to make them a more common feature of the book.
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Page Backgrounds
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Cardboard Texture Cardboard was such a frequent material
I saw in the march signs I felt that it was necessary to reference it as a visual device. It is a pale version and the distressed element doesn’t interfere with the content. There is never a body of text on this texture and is only used behind image content; most of which are of signs made from cardboard.
Black The black background breaks up the white space and diverts the reader’s eye back towards the written content.
Blush Pink The blush pink came from the amount of content
I wrote about how many young girls were being introduced to feminism as well as it putting a more welcoming and light hearted tone when the content can be quite serious.
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Cover Design
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1 - I wanted the reader to feel immersed in the march as they read about it so I thought including a pink ‘pussy’ hat into the package of the book would be a unique and engaging way of doing so. The hat was knitted by hand by my sister using one of the knitting patterns. Holding the tactile object of the hat and feeling an iconic part of the march with their hands could connect them to the content. The hat slips over the book but leaves the title exposed.
2 - To continue the interaction for the reader I designed the cover of the book to be plastic and ask the reader to compose their own protest using a whiteboard pen that can be wiped off. I felt that this would make the reader feel involved in the act of protest and encourage them to get involved in feminism themselves. Perhaps their protest changes once they’ve read the book once they understand how feminism is now a movement that involves many issues not exclusive to what was considered women’s only issues.
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Paper
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Cover Stock 300gsm Splendorgel which is a smooth white, matt paper that will be strong and sturdy to protect the book.
Pages Stock 115gsm Splendorgel which is the same type of
paper as the cover but a lighter weight. In my draft book I used a textured, heavier stock of 150 but found it was to tough to flip through the book and the texture affected the print quality of the photographs. My draft also included a blush pink paper that was too thick and affected the ease of handling it. The final book will have the pink printed onto the white paper so that it is cohesive. Both papers are Fedrigoni and the book is being printed by Ripe Digital as I have used them previously and their quality is great.
Finishing 1 - Binding The book will be perfect bound as it is a sturdy and easy to handle finish.
2 - Special Features For the plastic cover, Ripe are able to
do a gloss laminate effect on top of the 300gsm cover. My draft had a separate acetate wrap around but this was not secure and quite flimsy. By laminating the actual cover this keeps the cover neat. I have attached the whiteboard pen to the cover so that it is clear how to interact with the cover.
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Image Sources : 1 / Fight like a girl - Alanna Vagianos. 2 / Hillary / 31 Clinton cut out wearing Pussy Hat - Bastiaan Slabbers. 3 / Women for Trump - C, Somodevilla. 4 / Your laws will destory the dreams of millions - Alanna Vagianos. 5 / I will not go quietly back to the 1950’s - Alanna Vagianos. 6 / Women’s rights are human rights Damon Dahlen. 7 / Crowd of marchers - Mobilus In Mobili. 8 / Let history show America resisted Trump from day one - Getty Images. 9 / Map showing marches across the USA - Alice Robinson. 10 / Celebrity marchers - C, Sheppard. 11 / Marchers in the snow Robin Wood. 12 / I can’t keep quiet - Alma Harel. 13 / Woman in pussy hat - The Denver Post. 14 / Super callous facist racist…etc. - Alanna Vagianos. 15 / Make America love again - @malucamala. 16 / Not usually a sign guy but geez - Kylie Flett. 17 / Group of young women marchers - @oliviacardinale. 18 / Black women tried to save y’all - A, Arsenault. 19 / Little girls with dreams, become women with vision - Damon Dahlen. 20 / Girl Power - Damon Dahlen. 21 / White women: we have a lot to make up for - @ellevhall. 22 / A girl should be two things who and what she wants - Ben Steinberger. 23 / Pussy hat - Time Magazine. 24 / Nasty Women Make (Her) story - Damon Dahlen. 25 / Tax paying bad hombre - @dea_arthur. 26 / Ninety, nasty and not giving up - @emilylhauser. 27 / Nasty women love bad hombres - Getty Images. 28 / You can’t comb over racism - Getty Images. 29 / Grab ‘em by the patriarchy - @ luckytran. 30 / My neck, my back, my pussy will grab back - Alanna Vagianos. 31 / Pussy trumps tyranny - Alanna Vagianos. 32 / Tweet women with respect - @youngadventure. 33 / Keep your tiny hands off my rights - Getty Images. 34 / Hey Trump! Women are people too (hats) - Shannon Stapleton. 35 / Love is love, women’s rights… etc. - Steve Exum. 36 / There comes a time when silence = betrayal - Pacific Press/Getty Images. 37 / If you aren’t horrified, you aren’t paying attention - Getty Images. 38 / This is very bad - Ted Soqui. 39 / A place at the table for all - Orion Pahl. 40 / Collection of signs that have been saved - @thehungryhungrywanderluster. 41 / We can, we will, we did, rise up - Getty Images. 42 / Girl power - @
32 \ temerityjewelry. 43 / Watch out Trump, my generation votes next - Shannon Stapleton. 44 / Rights take might - Alanna Vagianos. 45 / Feminism is the radical notion that women are people - @ erinschaff. 46 / I can’t believe I still have to protest this fucking shit - Mara Hoffman. 47 / Women in pink pussy hats - Amanda Voisard. 48 / We need leaders not in love with money…etc. - @aresenac10. Research Bibliography : Bennett, Brit. 2017. “I Thought It Would Be Better for You”: A Mother, A Daughter, and Racism in America in 2017.” Vogue Magazine. / Bynum, Caroline Walker. 2017. “The Women’s March: New York, January 21, 2017.” Common Knowledge. / Clinton, Hillary Rodham. 2017. What Happened. / Dezelan, Tomaz., and Alem Maksuti. 2016. “Humanist Propaganda: The poster as a visual medium of communication used by ‘new’ social movements.” Donaldson, Mary Grace. 2017. “Millennial Voices from the Women’s March.” / Hessel, Katy. 2017. “How has Instagram enabled female artists globally to thrive?” It’s Nice That. / Kearney, Mary Celeste. 2006. Girls Make Media. / Krause, Sharon R. 2011. “Contested Questions, Current Trajectories: Feminism in Political Theory Today.” / Sbrissa, Claudia. 2008. “The Poetics of the Handmade.” The Journal of Modern Craft. / Siebert, Valerie. 2017. “Every woman just went, “I’m done”’: Amber Tamblyn claims that the allegations against Harvey Weinstein would have never surfaced if Hillary Clinton had been elected.” The Daily Mail. / Tambe, Ashwini. 2017. “The Women’s March on Washington: Words from an Organiser.” / Wagner, John. 2017. “Trump takes to Twitter to weigh in on Women’s March, TV ratings for inauguration” The Washington Post. / Wallace, Tim., and Alicia Parlapiano. 2017. “Crowd Scientists Say Women’s March in Washington Had 3 Times as Many People as Trump’s Inauguration.” The New York Times. / Wickman, Forrest. 2012. “A Rainbow Marriage - How did the rainbow become a symbol of gay pride?” Slate. / Zamudio-Suarez, Fernanda. 2017. “In Discarded Women’s March Signs, Professors Saw a Chance to Save History.” The Chronicle of Higher Education.
‘Written In The Signs’ Type Specification Alice Robinson