Words Module File

Words: Module File // Ellie Cassidy

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Contents: ABC Primer....................................................4 Every Face Tells a Story...........................10 Found Type...................................................22 Quote/Unquote.........................................34 Publish and Be Damned........................40 3

ABC Primer Summer Project 4

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Initial Research The ABC Book of Horror-Alice Snow I find this primer really fun as its being playful with flipping the traditional children’s themes to something more adult and dark whilst keeping that traditional look. My First Pandemic ABC-Shari Black This primer provides commentary on a present situation in a humerous way. I should think what tone I want to present my primer. Key Brief Points Ideas It’s important that I think of the audience who i’m making this primer for as that then influences the tone and aesthetic decisions to be made. 6

Selected Fears I decided that i’ll go forward with the idea of ABC’s of fears. I was thinking of audience and wanted to flip the conventional children themes to something adult, similar as Alice Snow did. I think it can also give oppurtunities for social commentary in how I visualise some fears. Monochrome Inspiration Design Drafts 7

Final ABC Primer Selection of Spreads / Full Zine seperate PDF 8

Evaluation I felt very happy with the outcome of my summer project, I think I took a mature and thoughtful approach in both my content and design that was well recieved. I think the minimalistic black and white design is well suited to the more serious tone of my piece rather than something loud and intense. However maybe I was playing it safe with a monotone pallette as I often find myself struggling with colour in design. I also think i created a fun composition that managed to make a repeted twenty six page spreads of the same thing a bit rereshing. As commented on in my feedback the repeated image with zoom has an almost cinematic quality to it and that highlights this topic of fears in a growing suspesful way like a film might. 9

Every Face Tells a Story Project One 10

*Our group designer is Johnathan Barnbrook 11

Initial Research Understanding Type Big Jump Press-Enter the Type Designer Details the basics of what makes typography and a nice read of someone passionate about type. Abstract: The Art of Design- Jonathan Hoefler I really enjoy this Netflix series and find them Culture+Typography : How Culture Affects succinctly informational. Typography -Nikki Villagomez 2015 Hoefler’s passion for typography was clear however the complexities and lengthy development for the type design doesn’t appeal to me as a career in design i’d want. Thinking with Type: Second Revised Edition Lupton Ellen 2014 12

What is a Pecha Kucha? Pecha Kucha - When Pecha Kucha was first mentioned in the lecture a format that uses I was quite lost at what was jut said I didn’t even 20 slides or images understand the spelling of the phrase said let alone what that are displayed it was. Although explained what a pecha kucha consisted for 20 seconds each. of in the lecture I did a further browse and looked at The slides will move the examples and it greatly helped me to understand a automatically as the pecha kucha as a down sized presentation. presenter is speaking. Example-Sophie Kirk Meeting with Lucy & Marnie Shared Google Slides Doc Meeting with group members Lucy and Marnie we all assigned ourselves roles of research and then agreed these would be the sections we would also all equally talk about in presentation. My areas were History and Beliefs. It’s Nice That Barnbrook Interview 13

Pecha Kucha Some Selected Slides 14

Style Guide 15

First Feedback Reflection I think the visual design for our presentation is really strong and all decisions are thoughtful and justified as written about in the style guide. The feedback we got highlighted that there should be greater focus on Barnbrook as a poltical designer and more case studies of his work shown. It was also commented that the presentation felt a little ‘dotted around’ and I had to agree it needed to flow better and have continuous links. It was suggested to use sections and chapters to display this. 16

Developed Slides Political Examples Barnbrook’s Website As the feedback told us to look more into examples of Barnbrook being a political designer rather than just saying he was one we added these slides of his Strike! magazine cover and Occupy London logo. It was easy to find examples of his work as he has tag of political work on his website highlighting how much he does label himself a political designer really. Bowie Relationship Explored Further Creating Flow and Linking Topics 17

Second Feedback Developed Slides Reflection More Images I think we did a good job of producing more work from our previous feeback but there was still areas for improvement.In our developed presentation we need to improve our delivery and shorten our time to somewhere around seven and a half minutes. It was also put forawrd that we include more images and dont shy away from showing these examples across a multiple selection of slides, this way the backgroung image doesnt grow too still as we’re talking. We are also going to look at including more slides of Barnbrook’s quotes more frequently between topics and more slides on Bowie More Quotations 18

Research Document My Draft Script 19

Final Presentation Some of the new 31 slides / Seperate PDF of full Presentation 20

Final Feedback Evaluation I was really happy with our groups presentation and after hearing about the dynamics of some other groups I think we worked really great together as a team even when not seeing each other in real life. I think this is shown in the strength of our presentation from its bold thoughtful design to the research that we developed further and further taking into account all feedback. It was also a great intensive way to learn about a deigner! 21

Found Type Project Two 22

Level 1 / Semester 1 Project 2 Introduction to Found Type Words and Images Task: BRIEFING: The task for this project is to create a digital display Tuesday 20th October 2020 typeface using the free community based type design LOCATION: software, Fontstruct (http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/) Blackboard Collaborate (online) DURATION: Your typeface will be based on a chosen theme (see below). You will then spend time 5 weeks collecting information and materials from the environment that will be used to inform the PRESENTATION CRIT: production of a digital typeface using the free type building software Fontsruct. Tuesday 24th November, 2020 You must consider how the materials you generate (by sketching, photographing, etc.) will form a typeface that can be broken down into constituent parts using the limitations of the software, It is therefore vital that you familiarise yourself with fontstruct (and also Glyphs) in the first week of this module. Although the final fontstruction is digital, much of the development will need to utilise a variety of hand rendered processes including sketching, tracing, refining and constructing. This will help you understand and control the transition from the natural environment to the computer screen. CONSIDER: Think about the different forms and characteristics that an alphabet takes. For example will you make an alphabet in capital letters only, lower case only, or both? Will it be classical, ornate, hi-tech, serif, sans-serif, bold, fine/light, etc? Will it be funny, serious, retro, etc? Your chosen theme should help to underpin some of these decisions. FONTSTRUCT BUILDING TIPS: https://fontstruct.com/news/2020/05/23/vertical-metrics-improved-touch-support-and-more/ https://fontstruct.com/news/2018/11/06/new-bricks-square-connectors/ https://fontstruct.com/news/2017/06/02/connecting-bricks/ https://fontstruct.com/news/2018/10/01/new-bricks-half-arcs/ https://fontstruct.com/news/2016/09/30/fontstruct-goes-html5/ YOUR WORK: – Final font will be labelled, authored and uploaded to the fontstruct website. – You must post at least one sample image in the comments of your FontStruction. – No letters in each submission can be MORE THAN 48 grid squares high. – Your submission must be tagged with your theme and uwe_graphicdesign – Your submission must be downloadable. – Submit an A4 printout of final character set to include punctuation (. , ! ?) – Submit ‘Truism’ poster support + ‘Made Word’ art directed image support *Your sketch/support work for this project should also be clearly labelled and included for assessment in portfolio at the end of this module. This should be presented at the critique on Tuesday 24th November, and also at the final assessment on Wednesday January 13th Themes (choose 1) Hope / Community / Rebirth 23

Initial Research What is FontStruct? From initially reading the brief the word that struck Fonstruct describes itself as “a free, font- out to me the most was building tool funded by advertising and ‘community’ so I went some generous sponsors.With FontStruct you straight to exploring ideas can easily create fonts using geometrical for this. The narrowed shapes.You create “FontStructions” using the down ideas I selected “FontStructor” font editor.Once you’re done were; ‘Brum Girl Skate’ a building, FontStruct generates TrueType girls skating community; fonts, ready to download and use in any Community Programs in application.” favour of police presence and online communities. Online communities was a little broad so i looked more into the girl skating and police defunded community programs. 24

Defunding the police for Community Programs With the recent Black Lives Matter Some cities in America have taken movement there was a common phrase action of the statement such as of ‘Defund the Police’ used but how New York cutting $1 billion from exactly does this impact community its budget and reallocating $354 programs. The idea behind defunding million to mental health, homeless police budgets is that money will be and education services. reallocated to non policing forms of public safety and community support. The kind of community programs to be reinvested in are social services, youth services, housing, education and healthcare. Brum Girl Skate Brum Girl Skate is a community connecting womxn skaters across Birmingham and was one of the first thing I thought of when hearing the word ‘community’. I’ve been a part of the group and attended events that they hold which encourage girls to meet and skate together in an environment that is usually so male dominated. The importance of such a community is to create a safe and friendly space that is enjoyable rather than intimidating. I also designed the logo and have been desigining posters for the groups skate events alongside this project! 25

Developed Ideas Materials Concrete The materials come across in skating being adapted/influence creation of a font. I’ve been in isolation so have been unable to but i’d like to do my own research of concrete textures I see and photograph them. Texture in this aspect could be the main feature of the typeface. Brutalism Independent birmingham brand ‘Provide’ worked with design Masculine vs. Feminine Typography Interested in looking at the idea of femininity in a masculine space. Adapting this to a font what makes a font feminine, what makes a font masculine? >Weight- boldness considered more masculine >Uppercase/Lowercase- lowercase expected more feminine >Serifs-make typefaces look more masculine >Shape and ornamentation- masculine fonts have hard corners and edges, light on ornamentation. Curvy and ornamental is more feminine. 26

Feedback One I recieved good feedback on the idea of focusing on concrete material and was suggested to look more into Brutalism and skatepark infrastructure as a way to think about shaping my font. With this in mind I went forward with sketching out some draft ideas exploring these concepts. Brutalist Architecture Skatepark Infrastructure 27

Draft Font Ideas 28

Refining Ideas Graph Paper Drafting Going forward i need to choose I bought some graph on kind of tone im going with my paper as the brief font; i think this is between this suggested to for bold, brutalist concrete feel or this drawing fonts but smooth and flowing movement honestly don’t think feel. Id say the latter has a more it was of much use positive tone that matches with the to my lack of skills or theme ‘community’ in its sense of rememberance of positive energy and togetherness maths lessons. where as the whole concrete focus may feel a bit cold for this. Exploring Fontstruct Attempting to create a font that is flowing and shows the fluidity and movement of skating and the structure of skateparks. Wasn’t too difficult creating the curves i wanted in fonstruct but i feel like the one block thickness is a little thin and i could have areas of exaggerated thickness to make a font that gives a bit more of a retro groovy vibe. These thin curves don’t feel quite as fluid and smooth and give off the feel a bit of technology and a bit of a glitch effect maybe. 29

Development Feedback Two Going into the crit session I knew my font needed to take a different approach and that the curvy flowing text I had originally hoped for wasn’t going to work out on Fonstruct’s grid and brick software. It was agreed I should pursue a different font idea that was more practical for the fontstruct software and this previous idea of a combined angular and curving font was put foraward as one I should develop more. Brutalist Typography Fontstruct Development Feedback Three Trying to create the curved section of these letters was proving difficult again, I was taking the approach of just using brick by brick to create curves as no individual bricks would match up to create a curve to this scale however it just resulted in this jagged messy looking letter. In the crit it was suggested that I scale up my grid dimensions and this way from a zoomed out appearence the curved edges wouldnt look so bad. Larger Grid I increased the size of my Although I felt a lot happier with grid and although it was how this method was producing definitley better than the more coherent smooth shapes previous curves it was hard in my letters it was very difficult to make them consistent and to create smaller curves and that slight pixel jaggedness spaces with the smaller grid. still bothered me. In my next development I was going 30 to use a more brick by brick approach.

Fontstruct Page Fontstruct Page Bio Fontstruct Tags Community Type UWE Works Sbkoaatreding Graphics 31

Final Font 32

Truism Poster Draft Ideas I selected this Jenny Holzer quote as it was quite fitting to core theme of girl skating and community. In skating pain definitley is a positive thing as you have to fall to get comfortable, confident and improve . Community can be found in the group of girl skaters who are thee for you when you fall and being the ones to tell you that this is a positive thing. Evaluation This project was definitley difficult for me, maybe i’ve learnt I am not so patient as I feel i’ve learnt type design is a very gradual and tedious process, or maybe thats just the antagonosing limitations of font struct as a software. Despite how much I felt I struggled I feel that my font didn’t come out too bad. On a technical level I know it is not the most coherent in terms of its weight but it was difficult to find another way around it with keeping the same width for each letter. I believe that the concept behind my font was strong though and that these themes of brutalism and skatepark structures do shine through in the shapes of the letters. If i was to restart the whole set it probably would be best for me to go back to the larger grid approach and pursue my coherent shapes through this method. What made me like my font a lot more way my trusim poster, the acid house rave inspired graphic 33

Quote/ Unquote Project Three 34

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Quote Poster Type Spec. size on A4 page Designer- James Victore Type Specification- Face: Am. typewriter bold Size: 7pt Leading: 1pt Alignment: Justified Draft Ideas The type specification results in a very small quotation so I want to use a big heavy font to counter it. Futara is guaranteed really to make anything look good and carries that heavy weight I want, it’s simplicity also works well with the minimal black and white. Varying Alignment in botoom right corner JAM ES V JAM ES V ICTO ICTO RE “Your pursuit of personal greatness challenges others RE “Your pursuit of personal greatness challenges others to fear for their own causes, their own battles and pur- to fear for their own causes, their own battles and pur- suits. Your freedom is a reminder of their own imag- suits. Your freedom is a reminder of their own imag- inary restraints and limitations. Yet, for others, your inary restraints and limitations. Yet, for others, your confidence will be a beacon. People follow conviction, confidence will be a beacon. People follow conviction, assertive advice and brave leaders, and there’s noth- assertive advice and brave leaders, and there’s noth- ing more powerful than a confident man or woman.” ing more powerful than a confident man or woman.” American Typewriter Bold American Typewriter Bold 7pt Size 7pt Size 1pt Leading 1pt Leading Justified Alignment Justified Alignment Ellie Cassidy Ellie Cassidy 36

Final Poster JAM ES V ICTO RE “Your pursuit of personal greatness challenges others to fear for their own causes, their own battles and pur- suits. Your freedom is a reminder of their own imag- inary restraints and limitations. Yet, for others, your confidence will be a beacon. People follow conviction, assertive advice and brave leaders, and there’s noth- ing more powerful than a confident man or woman.” American Typewriter Bold 7pt Size 1pt Leading Justified Alignment Ellie Cassidy Evaluation I was actually a little worried at how exactly i’d make a good poster when I first saw the size my quote had been designated at but once figuring I would use a large heavy weight font the quote only had to be a blip of significance on the page. This running of the edge of the page text look was the first composition idea I had and i’m not sure why I quite like it maybe its a little trendy but I think its a nice simple way to get peope to think that little bit more when they look at it. 37

Pamphlet Ideas James Victore Moving on to Part 2 of this workshop the brief reads that “The document you produce should now mimic the look and design style of the designer” so i’m taking a look at Victore’s work for inspiration on how I should present this editorial publication. Draft Ideas Selected Font Ideas Varying Compositions Victore’s work has a strong hand rendered style so I wanted to reflect this as best I could digitally using script brush style type and texture. 38

Final Pamphlet Evaluation I actually found this task a litlle harder then i initially expected as i’d never created a layout design for an actual formal editorial piece. Finding a way to make an article of text look not as overwhelming as an article of text actually is is kind of hard. It was also a task for me as i’m quite unfamilar with using Indesign but obviously this being a workshop did make me feel more confident in it’s use by the end. Depite all this I think the pamphlet came out pretty well I made sure to listen to the brief’s suggestion of imitating the deigner’s style and did so with typography and editing imagery. However if i was to make 39another attempt i’d try and loosen up that first inside page as it’s still quite text heavy.

Publish and Be Damned Project Four 40

Level 1 / Semester 1 Project 4 Introduction to Publish and be Damned Words and Images Task: In pairs you will create a publication that both commends and condemns chosen aspects/issues in the city of Bristol. BRIEFING: You may have lived here a while or are new to the city. What do you love about Bristol/ What Tuesday 24th November, 2020 do you hate? What does the city do well and what does it do poorly? How does it present itself to the world and is this a fair reflection of the city as you see it? What do others see as LOCATION: its benefits or its downfalls? Yes, we know all about Banksy and graffiti but does this reflect Blackboard Collaborate (online) a sense of radical freedom that is an underlying factor of the city? Does the homeless situation in the city ‘get your goat’ – are you a fan of the underground music scene? Aim to DURATION: make your investigations unique to this city – don’t overgeneralize; do your research on the 3 weeks city – it’s history as well as its present. Look for the ‘gaps’, hidden stories, unique-ness (are you aware Brstol boasts 43 bridges in its vicinity and has its own currency?). Your commend PROJECT CRIT: and condemn could be two sides of a specific ‘idea’ i.e. I love the acceptance the city has Tuesday 15th December, 2020 for street art but I hate the defacing of public property by mindless ‘tagging’ or I love the cultural diversity of the city but I hate that there are still distasteful reminders of its slave owning past? Consider the process of DIY magazine production, its different phases or fields of tasks: Defining the field of interest, generating content, editorial, design, production, distribution. How do you define these components? How does one influence another? How can you position a publication with both a pro and con aspect to them? Will the content be integrated? Separated? How can you use design to get this opposing nature of your publication across? Act as a pair, divide tasks, use each others strengths but most importantly – act immediately and effectively, aiming to source content as quickly as possible. Concentrate on methods that take hours rather than days – organise effectively and use quick methods of production and testing. Avoid making this simply a tourist brochure – have something specific to say and say it! CONSIDER: Defining the field of interest: Agree on a specific area/theme/idea, a theme you want to share with an audience. This may be anything, as long as you can justify and communicate the reason for spreading your word. What do you want to say and how are you saying it? Who is your readership? Will it go out to a particular local audience or amore general one? **Come up with a title and a ‘positioning statement’ for the publication. Generating content / Editorial: What is the source of the content and what kind of content best suits your target audience? Interviews? Photo essays? News items? What design approach best suits the content? 41

Initial Ideas From reading the brief it was important we find something that really is a unique selling point to bristol (and also a failing point that can be condemned) in hopes to create a publication that’s interesting and thought provoking. We began by thinking of our own interests and how they can be apllied to Bristol before doing some research. Shared Google Slides with Nicole 42

Fanzines- Teal Triggs 2010 Publication Examples 43

Research Contacting Store Owner for Interview Response is happy to answer questions Questions to ask 20th Century Flicks 44

Primary Research Photos 45

Developed Ideas Book Binding Although the delivery of our publication will be digital we still feel it’s important to think of it as a physical version and explore how concepts can be developed more with this. Our two ideas are both about the publication featuring a detachable poster. The Aesthetic As it’s difficult to design a shared publication when you are not physically together we decided we would both go away and create some designs around the agreed aesthetic and develop and combine elemnets from there. It was agreed we were looking at producing a sinle colour printed publication in red My typeface selection and moodboard 46

Nicole’s Font Shortlist Nicoles GoogleFonts didn’t feel as strong as my AdobeFonts choices in highlighting our style. We decided our design would take style inspiration of old school retro 80s newspaper adverts as this ties in with when the video shop came about and the way film showings were once advertised in them.The colour red was what we first thought of when you think of cinema, perhaps its the traditional idea of those red velvet theatre seats but the passion of red was the only one that made sense in how we could present this shared passion of cinema. Cover Designs My Draft Ideas Nicole’s Cover Designs Feedback- Presenting the cover designs in a crit it was felt that the illsutrated shop front cover was the strongest. With the design successfully carrying that retro feel we will go forward with it as our cover. 47

Developed Ideas Content List and Draft Thumbnails Content In terms of content we want to first start with some facts about 20th Century Flicks and then expand on the topic of why you should be renting. Pages that are set like demands or a manifesto will outline the succinct reasons. In a feedback session it was suggested to input our own opinions for renting so i’ve written a few paragraphs highlighting a few points that can be set out in a stronger editorial style. It was also suggested to look at other video shops in the UK and comment on the general state video shops are in in the UK. The interview with shopowner Dave will also be included along with some fun, novelty pages that ask you to fill in your own favourite films and some suggested watches. The final page is important as it is the detachable poster that promotes the slogan “Support your local video shop”. 48

Final Publication Select Pages/ Full Publication on ISSU Link Evaluation The first thing that I found most intimidating about this brief was how quick the project was it was about two weeks to research and produce this whole publication. Addittionally it was challenging being in a partner with difficulty to produce work together beacuse of being in different places. Despite trying to bring two peoples ideas together over long distance I think there is a very strong identity with our publication. I also found this project as a way to challenge myself as i wanted to produce this retro style work but struggle with illustration however with some trial and error the illsutartions in this project are quite successful and very fitting. I think an area that we struggled with was actually coming up with a coherent direction in the publication. The content does not feel as strong as the identity 49