70 79 EMP DESIGN BOOK
DESIGN BOOK EXTENDED MAJOR PROJECT (VCM603) NATASHA RAY BA VISUAL COMMUNICATION MAY 2012 HTTP://BLUE-KID.TUMBLR.COM
This zine explores, analyses and evaluates the creative process of my Extended Major Project, from initial ideas and formal learning agreements to the final piece; a zine created from interviews with four individuals I know personally, about their experiences in the 1970’s. I have always been interested in history and sociology and the two subjects inspire my projects, enhance my concepts and widen my knowledge of different areas. I have also become recently interested in the ways history and sociology cross paths and the similarites in which they record information. My research into both will be discussed in this zine. I find modern social history important as I passionately believe that it creates a context for our lives to compare different generation’s experiences, lifestyles and views. I wanted to reach new audiences in a medium they were comfortable with.
INTRODUCTION
brainstorming an idea
When I was given the brief, my first step was to brainstorm my passions and inspirations. These ranged from designers whose work I’m drawn to, such as Abram Games, and movements like Bauhaus, to culture I enjoy in my spare time, like zombie films and graphic novels. I then began to reduce and refine these ideas into those that I thought could become solid concepts, such as communicating social movements and print design. I am also interested in recording history and ways that history is traditionally recorded. During my A Level History and Sociology classes in college, I was taught to question every medium that used historical facts as every author has an automatic bias depending on their personal social status and background. History is written by the winners, and it’s only recently that individuals who had to deal with the everyday repercussions are being heard. Forgotten Voices of the First and Second World War by Max Arthur uses interview recordings from the Imperial War Museum to create two books that bring together survivors to share their experiences in a frank and honest way from those on the frontline on both sides, to those affected back on the homefront. Due to this style of recording, the author bias is reduced to what he decides to include and allows those who lived through history to speak for themselves. At first, I wanted to concentrate on a particular social movement, such as the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s but it was the realisation that I knew barely anything about the 1970’s and that I could collect my own interviews easily about the decade that drove me to that direction. The 60’s and 80’s are often debated and analysed especially as the Conservative Party are running the country again. The 1970’s are often overlooked or blurred into the previous or succeeding decade. I’m also interested in people’s stories and the way they communicate them by their speech. This has been fuelled from my Final Major Project last year; a newspaper that explores if the spoken word can be fully translated without losing any communication, such as accent, into the printed word. For this I used a speech by Ricky Tomlinson. The way somebody speaks can say more about their emotions and personality then what they’re actually saying. However, I didn’t want to follow my previous work, but instead take inspiration from it. It was with this in mind, that I decided to make a typography-based piece.
INITIAL IDEAS
“recalling
experiences forty or fifty years after the event can lead to occasional inaccuracies, but
what cannot be taken away is the feeling that comes from these interviews... these are their words
–
i have been but a catalyst”
–
max arthur
I am passionate about social and political history as a subject. With this in mind, I wanted to merge this interest with further exploration and experimentation, following on from my research and final piece for the unit ‘Professional Project’, on typography and documentation of information. My proposal for this unit is to create a socially accurate (but not necessarily historically accurate) biography of the 1970s decade using sociological methodology and interview techniques. My final piece will focus on typography to communicate the personal stories I will have collected. I am particularly interested in how individuals remember their every-day lives when looking back through a historical era. Following on from recent research, I believe visually communicating these stories in a way that attracts a different audience than the obvious (such as ‘Maus’ by Art Spiegelman whose work has attracted those interested in the historical content, and those interested in its medium of a graphic novel) can widen a subject’s appeal. History from an every-day view is becoming very popular as a way to connect to older generations and to see points of view that may or may not be heard in traditional history books, such as Max Arthur’s work with oral history. With this as a focal point, I will be asking my subjects to share a portion of their lives with me. This will include, where appropriate, objects and photographs that may or may not be included in the final design. However, they will be an important part not only to my research, but to the interviewing process. I am so passionate about this subject as I feel generations of people do not get taught recent history and do not learn about social or political curves in society unless they teach themselves. The target audience, therefore, is wide. It will be for people interested not only in history or design, but in narrative and biographies. The final piece or pieces will be designed with appropriate grids, baselines, margins, paragraph and character styles (but will allow for more expressive typographic techniques) and professionally printed and bound if appropriate. methodology
To make my research and final outcome more in-depth, I intend to research books that use oral historical methods, such as Max Arthur’s ‘Forgotten Voices of the Great War’ and ‘Maus: A Survivor’s Tale’ by Art Spiegelman. I will also study historical methodology and theory, including historiography and the definition of cultural history. I will also include research on sociological interviewing techniques, based on the understanding of bias and fair questioning. This is important to understand as it is standard professional practice to be aware of issues that may arise and hinder the creation of a fair and unbiased body of stories and interviews to work from. All interviewers and interviewees approach the interview with some bias, unfortunately, but it will be my sociological research that will keep this to a minimum. This research will also include in-depth memory theory to clarify the different style of stories I might collect. I intend to experiment with typography and research into contemporary typography design. I will also research the 1970’s as a decade, concentrating on the design from that time. This is to give context to my final piece or pieces and a possible source of inspiration for my final designs. This project will use both primary and secondary sources of research, including the interviews themselves, telephone interviews, post questionnaires and secondary research such as books, magazines, documentaries etc. It will be important to repeatedly refer to this synopsis to fulfil my brief to the highest professional standard.
learning agreement
My learning agreement concentrated on the passion I felt for my subject rather than what the final outcome might be, allowing me scope to explore where my subject took me rather than aiming towards a particular final piece. On reflection, my learning agreement was a good starting ground to my project. It gave me rules and freedom to build upon and came directly from my previous brainstorming. I’m glad that I didn’t specify how many interviews I would collect as my early predictions were a lot higher then what I actually accumulated. I used the quote from Max Arthur because I felt the core value of this project would be the personal stories I would collect. Just as Arthur declared he was the catalyst that brought the stories together, I decided that I would edit as little as possible and design focusing purely on the people, their personalities and the way they spoke. It was very important to me that the design allowed the stories to be the focal point rather than take them over. Like my Final Major Project last year, I wanted to share the stories how I received them.
INITIAL IDEAS
robert golden- ‘home’
I began my research into the 1970s with Robert Golden’s exhibition, Home, an exhibition about the daily lives of British industrial workers of the 70s and 80s. Golden photographed these workers during the fall of British Industrialisation (due to companies finding cheap labour abroad) and only realised years later what he had documented. These workers were losing their homes, both figuratively and sometimes literally. ‘Home is about how billions of people’s homes, villages, towns and even nations have been and still are being affected and often damaged or destroyed by decisions made by non-elected agencies and corporations.’ ‘Home is not just where you come from, but where you belong.’ I found these images incredibly moving and emotive due to the focal point of the people’s emotions being undisturbed by colour. I found black and white to create a factual tone to the portraits. They hold a historic power that is enforced by the tight compositions of the subjects. I decided to use colour wisely in my final piece as well as imagery. This research re-enforced the need to allow the people’s stories to speak with as little semiotic involvement as possible, in that I didn’t want to use generic images of the 70s as the stories would not be generic themselves. Golden managed to share the story of each individual in a single photograph and I found this research extremely useful towards my work. This also made me focus my research and interview technique. Although I needed to know the political and social states of the 1970s I decided against focused questionning during the interviews.
RESEARCH
family photo
This photograph is of my Grandad Ray (my mother’s father) and my mother as a child (I think). This is the only photo I own from the 1970s. From what I can tell from the ages of the subjects and the objects within the picture I can date this to around Christmas in the mid 70s. I included this into my research because of the information it gave me of the clothes, furniture and interior design of a regular British home in the 70s. On reflection, it was this photo that inspired the borders around the pages of the zine, as if they too were a polaroid and a captured memory. A photograph can only tell you so much and this also re-inforced my decision to focus my design on typography.
RESEARCH
social
&
historical theory
HISTRIOGRAPH- the study of history or body of work on a specialised topic (Furay and Salevouris 1988) METANARRATIVE- Post-modernist term. A story about a story, encompassing and explaining other ‘little stories’ that make the stories a whole. Lyotard, however, argues that the metanarrative has lost it’s power as they are being used to ‘legitimise’ truths that don’t exist. Instead, he believes there is a growing need to replace universal narratives with local narratives, creating a wider picture with a larger depth. CULTURAL HISTORY- “The study of a particular historical period in its entirety, with regard not only for its painting, sculpture and architecture, but for the economic basis underpinning society, and the social institutions of its daily life as well” SOCIOLOGY ‘C.A.S.T.L.E’- What Modernists believes creates our background and social standing and therefore our views, morals and behaviour. C- Class (Working/Middle etc Class) A- Age S- Sex (Gender) T- Time (Era of Birth) L- Location E- Ethnicity ORAL HISTORY- ‘Oral testimony can only become real history when it’s placed in a historical context’ INTERVIEW TYPESStructured: Quantitive research with the same questions asked to each subject, in the same order. Way to collect statistical data. Semi-Structured: Flexible interview with questions that mainly stay the same but new questions can be introduced depending on the content of the interview. Creates a ‘framework’ of themes to explore. Unstructured: Questions can be changed, depending on how the subject responds to the questions. More like a relaxed conversation, but must be careful to stay on topic. QUESTIONSClosed- Questions that can be answered with one word or particular answers (e.g. ‘Yes’ or ‘No’) Open- Questions that need a more in-depth response. ANTIPOSITIVISM- A social science theory that argues social subjects cannot be treated the same as any other science subjects. Focuses on using interviews, open-ended questions and conversation. HABITUS- An individual’s socially learnt set of dispositions, skills and ways of acting. It is a collective term for our morals, values, political views etc. It is our view of the world which can be changed or affected by personal experiences and secondary socialisation (socialisation outside of the home, which is primary socialisation). This is important to note due to INTERVIEWER BIAS, accidently or purposefully influencing responses from subjects. This includes leading questions. However, due to habitus, interviewer bias will always be present in studies regardless of any other precautions. It is dependant on how the interviewer and subject respond to each other, possibly based on C.A.S.T.L.E. These are judgements created through experience and secondary socialisation that neither the interviewer nor the interviewee can predict.
social
&
historical theory
My research into social and historical theory allowed me to make my interviewing technique more in-depth and receive answers as unbiased as possible. I felt this research was really important to define my project. It was from this research and the following memory theory research that I decided I could not declare my project or the interviews I collected as historically accurate as it was based on information that could easily be questionned. Instead, I used the social and historical theory that I learnt to further enhance my interviewing skills and awareness. As I was interviewing a mixture of ages, gender, class and they all had lived in different places, the risk for interviewer bias was high. I felt this was tackled well by using subjects that knew me previously through family (like my Dad) and friends (the three other subjects interviewed were direct family of friends that I have met and spent time with before this project). If I had followed my earlier predictions of interviewing strangers or acquaintances the information I would have acquired may been a lot more biased then the information I had in the end. Another problem I was aware of was bias in editing. I did not want to create a false image for my subjects after I had gone to great lengths trying to find and visually communicate their personalities. I found it very difficult to edit the interviews, which were all about 8000-10000 words each. I didn’t want to edit out something that the individual would find important and keep something they would consider superficial.
RESEARCH
memory theory
Memory is a set of cognitive capacities where we retain information and reconstruct past experiences. Memory is one of the most important ways by which our histories animate our current actions and experiences. The human ability to conjure up long-gone but specific episodes is a key aspect of personal identity. Memory is a source of knowledge. Some memories are shaped by language, others by imagery. Different types of remembering are marked by grammatical, phenomenological and (some believe) psychological and neural differences. HABIT MEMORY is also known as PROCEDUAL MEMORY. This memory remembers ‘how’ to do things, such as playing an instrument or how to drive. PROPOSITIONAL MEMORY is also known as SEMANTIC MEMORY. This memory remembers ‘facts’ such as general knowledge like remembering the year of the Battle of Hastings or the start of World War One. RECOLLECTIVE MEMORY is also known as EPISODIC MEMORY or PERSONAL, EXPERIENTAL OR DIRECT MEMORY. These are personal memories that are naturally expressed with a direct object and can be generic or specific. Campbell (1997) and Hoerl (1999) argue that ‘the most characteristic feature of episodic memory is the way it brings us into contact with the particular past even which such memories are about and by which they are caused’. SEMANTIC and EPISODIC memories aim for the truth, and together are called DECLARATIVE MEMORY. We seek to track the truth. Brewer (1996) explains that episodic memory is a ‘reliving’ of the individual, phenomenal experience from a specific moment in their past, accompanied by a belief that the remembered episode was personally experienced by the individual in their past. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY is a memory system using EPISODIC and SEMANTIC memories to create ‘self’. Bergson (1908/1991) and Russell (1921) distinguished ‘recollective memory’ from ‘habit memory’ while Broad (1925) and Furlong (1948) further distinguished ‘recollective memory’ from ‘propositional memory’. Problems arising from trusting memory as a reliable source include errors and distortions in the memories themselves. They are natural consequences of the reconstructive process and individual experiences will be confused. Vicarious experiences will be remembered as personal, and the stories of many individuals will contorted in the story of one person. People can also become angry or emotional if their memory is questioned, especially if it is a declarative memory, much like how some individuals become angry during arguements where they remember something as a personal fact and the other disagrees.
memory theory
Memory theory gave me an in-depth knowledge of what to expect when interviewing my subjects. I became very aware that I could use this theory to explain my project further. Although the piece cannot be called a historically accurate biography of the 1970s, it is accurate to those individuals and their memory of the decade. I decided against comparing the memories with traditional historical documents such as books and documentaries and I wanted to only hint at certain images from the era to keep the personal attachment of the memories intact. On reflection this research was incredibly important to the concept and context of my project. It helped me understand what types of memory I would receive from these interviews, with a higher percentage of autobiographical memory and episodic memories.
RESEARCH
‘the
complete maus’ by art spieglman
Maus is a graphic novel about Spieglman’s father’s memories of the Holocaust. Using oral history methods, Spieglman recorded his father’s experiences and then wrote and illustrated the graphic novel. He also included how he accumulated his father’s memories, by creating a story within a story. This gives a unique look at the Holocaust, not just from the medium that’s been used but also the relationship between father and son and how this is communicated and connects with the past. It was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize due to its medium and content. This not only reaches audiences for comic books, but also an audience interested in war, history and the Holocaust. Like Robert Golden, Spieglman only uses black and white with no colour. The images are harrowing and again create the feeling that in black and white, they are factual beyond question. Even if Spieglman illustrates Jews as mice, Nazi’s as cats and Polish as pigs. Creating these animal forms instead of illustrating his father’s likeness or imagining other character’s from his father’s descriptions, means the story stays universal even if it’s a collection of personal memories.
RESEARCH
composition no.1 by visual editions
I’ve admired Visual Edition’s work for a while and have often used their books in my research for a number of projects. Their publication of Composition No.1 by Marc Sapota, designed by Universal Everything’s Matt Pyke, has also inspired me for this brief. Visual Edition’s books constantly change the idea of what a book is meant to be, focusing on their belief that reading should be visually interesting.This particular book is a box of loose pages, allowing the audience to choose the order of the novel. The author suggests if you don’t like the story to just reshuffle and try again. This research made me question how, if at all, I wanted to order the interviews. One early idea was to order them in the way I recorded them or to follow the links through my friends. As I thought about the people I wanted to interview I realised it was completely coincidence that I knew these people at all and that decisions that happened even before we were born had starting a string of actions that led to my friends becoming my friends and their families in my life. I didn’t choose this way of ordering, and instead went for a very simple ordering of subjects, to not deflect from these people’s stories. Adding this personal link would dilute the 1970s biography, shift the focus onto myself and give nothing to the project. It’s something I’m interested in exploring but not for this.
RESEARCH
persepolis
Persepolis is an autobiographical French-language comic by Marjane Satrapi. It was adapted into a film using the same style as the comic in 2007. Persepolis depicts Satrapi’s childhood up to early adulthood, before she moved to France. It explores her memories of Iran and her life before, during and after the Islamic Revolution. Interestingly enough, critics complain that the comic or film is not historically accurate. Satrapi replied that the work was an individual’s memories and not a history documentary. She also explained the style of the film; “I think we’d have lost the universal appeal of the storyline with live-action, it would have turned into a story of people living in a distant land who don’t look like us” This styling of the story is similar to Maus, in that it creates an over-lap of audiences. It also uses colour sparingly. The present Marjane is in full colour while her past and memories are in thick black and white and are simply dramatic in style. I really enjoy Persepolis as a film and it’s design. When a story is in an unexpected medium or style, it becomes a lot more poignant.
RESEARCH
1970s
design
I researched 1970s design, starting with popular or infamous pieces across the world from posters to book and record covers. Although I didn’t want to parody any designers or famous work, I was interested in the recurring typography, colours and overall feel that the decade had. I then began to refine my research towards British designers and artisits such as Jamie Reid, whose signature style of letters cut from newspaper headlines was heavily associated with the punk movement and The Sex Pistols, and Barney Bubbles who designed record sleeves and music videos for the British independant music scene in the 70s and 80s. I compared these more underground designers and artists with mainstream designers Alan Fletcher and American designer Milton Glaser. Fletcher and Glaser are best known for their logos (especially Fletcher’s Victoria & Albert Museum logo and Glaser’s infamous ‘I Love N Y’ logo). On reflection, this research really helped me to further understand the 70s as a whole rather then focusing on the political sides of the decade. Although I’m only concentrating on the Britain in the 1970s, I included Milton Glaser into my research because I felt it was important to compare British and American design as it’s important to read around a subject. I Have Nothing to Say and I’m Saying It by Alan Fletcher.
RESEARCH
the interviews
I began my interviews in Barnstaple, North Devon, where I grew up for most of my life. Carol & Graham Friend are parents of a close friend of mine and they agreed to their joint interview being recorded. As with doing most new things in life, there were a few technical difficulties. I recorded the interview using my phone and didn’t realise the settings on the voice recorder was only set to record for five minutes at a time and I had no idea how to change it. Apart from that, I see Carol & Graham’s interview as one of the most interesting. The comparison’s between the two and the way their lives linked together were absorbing. Carol & Graham met in the mid-70s and married soon afterwards. Seeing the late 70s from a newly-married couple view was definitely something I hadn’t anticipated. I could automatically draw similarities between their experiences and my own and those I’d heard about in this decade. Carol even let me photograph their wedding album and lent me some original newspapers she had kept from the 70s that I could use for my research which I really appreciated. Graham also had his fake student card from travelling in the 70s that they allowed me to photograph, and scanned a number of bills and receipts from the 70s, including the receipt from the first house they bought, to their first car together. I then travelled to Stourbridge, Dudley and interviewed my own Dad, Michael Hughes whose experiences of the 70s couldn’t have been any more different from Carol & Graham’s. Although they were dealing with the same political issues and music and fashion, it is their ‘C.A.S.T.L.E’ that separates their experiences. I’ve never really spoken to my Dad about his life experiences, so it was really poignant to hear the differences and similarities he had at the same age I am now. It also hit me quite personally when we spoke about his parents who both died when I was young. My fourth interview was back in Barnstaple, with Audrey May, a grandparent of another close friend, who had recently moved from Liverpool to live with my friend’s parents. I am very close with this family and hearing about Audrey’s experiences of the 70s from two generations above me was really interesting. The correllation between her and my Dad’s stories were a lot more I think, due to them both living in large cities, unlike Carol & Graham.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
the interviews
I transcribed each interview in their totality with special concentration on the repitiion and ‘um’s and ‘aah’s. I found my Dad swore a lot. When others would make noises as they tried to think or remember, my Dad would often stutter ‘Fuck’ or repeat it as he thought out-loud. I didn’t want to bring attention to his swearing over his story, but felt it did need to be pointed out during design as it was part of his speech. There were two heavy accents in these interviews, one being Scouse, and the other being Black Country. Although I’ve been brought up with the Black Country accent all my life and sometimes slip into it myself, I had to get help from a friend from Liverpool to understand some of Audrey’s words. On reflection, if I was to do these interviews again, or something similar, I would take notes during the interviews of things I found particulary interesting or things I could anticipate I might have trouble with further down the line as I was transcribing. I would have also asked to see more photographs and objects and planned my time more carefully. For example, Audrey was only available quite late at night and I felt it would be rude to ask an elderly woman to search through her things for items. These interviews were my favourite part of this project and because I felt such a strong connection to each of my subjects, I wanted to create something that they would enjoy as well and note as a reflection of their speech and their memories of the 1970s. I was excited to see their stories side by side which is why I edited down the interviews (all of which were over an hour or so long) and then sorted them into subjects.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
subcultures
After I learnt that my Dad used to be a skinhead in the 1970s, I felt it was important to research the main subcultures of the 1970s that may have affected my subject’s view or influenced their interviews by habitus. TEDDY BOYS started in London in the 50s and were strongly associated with American rock n roll. The revival in the 70s was promoted by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLauren’s shop ‘Let It Rock’. The revival had a large glam rock influence. They wore drape jackets, brothel creepers and skinny satin shirts worn with bootlace ties. Their hair was often greased and they were ‘enemies’ of the subculture punks. MODS also started in London in the 50s and were associated with African American soul music, Jamaican ska, British beat music and motor scooters. The 70s revival combined pub rock, punk rock and new wave with the original Mod style. They were ‘self-consciously’ British, wearing Union Jacks. They fought with skinheads and punks at seaside resorts, repeating the infamous fights of Mods and Rockers in the 50s. SKINHEADS originated among working class youths in the 1950s. They were heavily influenced by Jamaican rude boys and British mods.The revival of skinheads in the 1970s was due to the popularity of punk rock. They were often associated with short hair (a grade 2 or 3 for men or a chelsea cut for women), Doc Martens (or a similar work boot), braces, Fred Perry shirts , two-tone denim and ‘work jeans’. PUNKS were really the only original subculture formed in the 1970s. Their origins differ between certain groups of thought, but arguements include the UK, Australia and the USA. The culture centred around punk music and bands such as The Clash and the Sex Pistols. Their political ideologies centred around anarchy and individuality. They often tried to outrage people with their clothes and including wearing symbols such as the Nazi swastika to create a reaction. However, punks were usually anti-racist. Other symbols include dyed hair, mohawks, tarten, boots and drainpipes.
RESEARCH
experimental typography
As I wanted my project to be typography-based I began to look into examples of experimental typography and design. These images gave me a number of ideas such as literally ‘reflecting’ the 70s- as if looking in a mirror, a warped ‘rose-tinted’ memory. I also played with the idea of large projections or installations against the locations my subjects had mentioned, but this would mean travelling not only to Plymouth, Liverpool and Stourbridge again, but also abroad, as Graham travelled extensively through the 70s and his interview focused on those memories. I would still like to explore this idea at a different time- bringing the story back to its original location but for this project it was too expensive. I’m often inspired by experimental letterpess as well and researched these heavily. I am always interested in using traditional methods to create modern work. I became particularly attached to the idea of large posters playing with perceptions so that each individual of the audience had an individual response and experience. I looked at a lot of work that dealt with a lot of copy and how they handled creating it into a easily-accessible piece of design. However, these large posters and other mediums often used quotes or lists and I didn’t want to edit the interviews any more then I had to. I became inspired by Douglas Wilson’s work and his extremely simple design. I realised I was pulling away from the whole concept I wanted to project- to keep the focus on the stories themselves rather than confusing or pulling the audience away from the subject. I also researched a lot of Oded Ezer, whose experimentation with letterforms has always been an inspiration to me. He doesn’t constrict letters to their everyday use and explores them as forms instead so from project to project they become biological creatures or, like the image opposite, take a life of their own and become dynamic 3D sculpture. I Love Milton Poster (2008) by Oded Ezer
RESEARCH
experimental typography
From Oded Ezer, I started to research 3D typography and the possibilities I could create. Typeface in Skin by Thijs Verbeek really interested me, as a person’s life can mark them, both on purpose, such as tattoos, or by accident, such as scars. ‘Tattooing’ a person’s life into their skin may create some incredible imagery, but I find this has been overdone recently in design. I don’t think the stories would be legible either, and that had been my main concern throughout this project. I realised if I created a 3D typography piece it wouldn’t necessarily add to the subject’s memories, but may distract from them instead. Far Left: ‘Typeface in Skin’ by Thijs Verbeek This Page Top: ‘Obsessions Make My Life Worse and My Work Better’ by Stefan Sagmeister Middle: ‘Moss Series’ by Anna Garford Bottom: ‘Sentences’ by Aoyama Hina
RESEARCH
ITC Avant Garde Gothic Pro
ITC Souvenir Std ITC Avant Garde Gothic Std
Windsor Lt BT
ITC Benguiat Standard ITC Benguiat Gothic Standard
1970s
typefaces
I was very particular about the typefaces I wanted to choose for my project. I wanted to use typefaces that had been popular or created in the 1970s, but staying clear away from the overused bubble writing and script typefaces that so many people associate automatically with the 70s. By using a 70s typeface, it connects the decade, allowing the rest of the design to focus on the story, steering clear away from a parody of 70s design. I decided early on that I would need some fonts with large families so that I could keep a style throughout my final piece. I began to explore the use of typography to show the personalities of each speaker. It would not only help show whose story it was part of but also subtly include 70s design and personalisation that doesn’t seclude a certain audience. This meant that the rest of the design would be free to create an interesting layout by using the way the individual’s speak and what they were talking about. I chose a bold, but feminine typeface for Carol as she speaks quite loudly and laughed throughout her interview, but very politely, which was ITC Souvenir Std Demi Italic. She also has quite a broad accent which would mean the tracking would be widened. For Graham, who couldn’t get a word in edgeways while Carol was in the room and who speaks very softly, with another broad accent but also sometimes stutters, I chose ITC Souvenir Std Light. This is a thin, but traditional serif that came from the same typeface as Carol so the two would seem like a pair whilst still being seperate. My Dad, Michael, speaks with a thick Black Country accent that jumps up and down. The conversation was also very ‘scatty’ as he was concentrating on some mechanics as were talking. For his story I chose ITC Benguiat Std Bold with differing point sizes and a sporadic layout. Audrey, although Scouse, has a very quiet and level voice that’s even noticeable through her accent. She’s a woman with quiet confidence who doesn’t appreciate messing around. So, with this in mind, I chose ITC Benguiat Gothic Std Medium in a small point size in a very traditional layout. I hope the transcription would show her accent through, which is very much like it is speaking with her- it is her personality you hear over her accent.
RESEARCH
ideas
I start recording ideas often by creating a brainstorm and trying to fill the page with as many different ways to fufill the brief as possible.They are often scruffy scamps or doodles with quick notes to explain them. If that idea sparks another, I will usually use a giant curly bracket to show the connection between the two or an arrow if there isn’t any room. The only problem I find with this way of working is that I find it difficult to move from the sketchbook to an experimental stage. I’m trying to find a positive answer and if I can’t see it working in that quick doodle I’ll drop it and move along without playing with the idea further. This is something I need to work on with future projects. I see my way of experimenting within these scraps of ideas. If I see an idea has legs I’ll push it as far as it will go in my sketchbook and then refine it before I even get to physically experiment with it in the traditional sense. Initial ideas for this project ranged from using anaglyph images (using a pair of red and cyan glasses to create a 3D image) when I was interested in change of perception, to trying to find an ink invisible to the naked eye, but visible under magenta glass (‘rose-tinted’ sunglasses popular in the late 60s and early 70s and a saying used when talking about memory). It’s during this stage that I often read back my Learning Agreement to focus on the core points of the brief. The ideas I’ve mentioned were two of many that, once I’d read back on my Learning Agreement, didn’t make a lot of sense. I find I research a lot and this gives me many starting points which is exciting, but I often have to remember to re-read the brief over and over again.
CONCEPTS & IDEAS
further exploration of ideas
Once ideas that don’t complete the brief have been abandoned, I take the refined group of ideas further and refine them again, adding and taking parts away with a number of brainstorms. It was from this style of idea generation that the medium of a zine was thought of. The idea behind this was that zines, although most underground, are a place for new ideas and reaching new audiences. They often deal with particular subjects and have particular styles, following the DIY approach that the 70s punks were associated with. It is my reasoning that if any of these individuals I interviewed were to share their stories, it would probably be in a published memoir or an online blog. A zine is the middle-ground that all these stories can fit comfortably. It is able to cross many audiences that may be intimidated by a hardcover book or an online presence. Other ideas that were moved into this refining stage were long posters that included all the edited copy in one chunk with only the typeface representing the person. The idea behind this was to create a 70s biography at a glance with the audience being able to read it if they want to. I worked further into the idea of the zine by contemplating using paper stocks to further seperate each person. This included transparent and translucent stocks such as tracing paper, acetate and vellum.However, in the end I went against the idea as it seperated the interviews too much.
CONCEPTS & IDEAS
museum of design in plastics
My tutor mentioned to me the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP) that is situated in my university library. This museum is the only registered museum that collects any objects made of plastic that represent forward-thinking in design. They had many objects from the 1970s from things used everyday to toys and recording equipment. It was really useful seeing these objects in the flesh and gave me a bit more of an idea of what the differing styles of the 70s truely were. On reflection I wish I’d used this research earlier on in my project but I enjoyed my visit so much I used an old piece of 70s recording equipment as my front and back cover for my zine. I felt it summed up the project nicely in one image.
RESEARCH
zines
When I had chosen the medium of a zine for my final major project I decided the best place to find inspiration was to research modern zines. The zines pictured here I bought from the South London Zine Festival in November and from analysing these and a number of zines I found on the internet, I noticed a lot of the type layout and imagery was to do with the subject it was talking about. I had queried earlier in my initial ideas whether to use hand-written pieces but felt I should only use the subject’s hand-writing if I was going to do that and I didn’t want to ask any more of them. The images in zines are often pixellated and I wanted to use that as a design aspect in my work, as a nod to the DIY mindset most zine writers have and the idea that no history can be truely represented without bias.
RESEARCH
final piece
These are some of the spreads from the final zine that I created. I think the focus of typography with very selective imagery is successful. I’m a firm believer that if used correctly, type can be just as illustrative as an image. On reflection, I know I should have experimented more. I think that I could have really pushed this idea to its limits and I feel like this is evident of my poor time-management skills this project. However, I do believe this successfully tells the story of four people’s experiences of the 1970s and that’s exactly what I set out to do. If I’d had more time, I’d have liked to experimented further with layouts, photocopying and possibly creating posters set around the zine as stand-alone pieces of design. Although I’ve found this project stressful I’ve felt very passionate about the subject and I think that’s what has pushed me into creating something successful.
FINAL PIECE