# 4

Unit 2.4 PGGD MAGD 2011

t h e M a j o r P r o j ect P r o P o s a l thi s v i sual summar y prov id es a d etai l ed d escr ipt ion of my intend ed research sub ject . the met hod s I w i l l use to inter rogate are d escr i b ed and d oc umented in my ex per iment s.

1. Int rod uct ion 2. r esearch Quest ion 3. a ims and ob ject ives r el evance aud ience contex t 4. r esearch Met hod ol og y pr imar y r esearch phase one / phase t wo secondar y r esearch eval uat ion out put 5. sched ul e of work 6. Bi bl iography

a l l show n ex per iment s are ver y rel evant to su ppor t my sub ject area I am interested to pur sue f or my major project .

by sarah peth 2011

IntroductIon
t h e M a j o r P r o j ect P r o P o s a l Design and r hetor ic gave me t he f reed om to ex per iment w it h t y pography, tex t and lang uage. I d id many ex per iment s w it h word s and tex t . espec ial l y appeal ing , were t he ex per iment s w here I used v iny l l etter s and p ieced word s toget her t hat seemed to r i se u p f rom t he ground . It i s remark abl e t hat a w r itten word evokes so much emot ion and passion in it s composit ion. I soon b ecame interested in phonet ic t ranscr ipt ion and f rom t here my id ea arose to v i sual i ze t he d i screpanc y b et ween our w r itten and spoken lang uage. I d evel oped t hese ex per iment s f ur t her to a f inal resol ved p iece. these play f ul ex per iment s f or med my id ea f or t he major project proposal , w hich i s based on my f asc inat ion f or t he b eaut y of l etter s, and how in a sequence f or m word s, sentences and tex t . l etter s f or m our lang uage, t hey are t he basi s f or our c ul t ural consc iousness. our soc iet y need s t y pography to ex press it sel f t hrough w r itten matter. the invent ion of t he al phab et , t he way it t ur ns phono grams into f or ms, i s one of , i f not t he greatest achievement s of ed ucated humanit y. thi s cl ever and f l ex i bl e s ystem of communicat ion shaped our cr it ical t hink ing and sel f awareness.

Vinyl letters become alive Through words are grounded in oral speech, writing tyrannically locks them into a visual field forever. W. J. Ong

If t here i s a new ob ject t hat need s to b e named , we d o not need to d evel op a new sign or p ictogram - it i s simpl y a new comb inat ion of l etter s w hich ref er s to t he oral sound we gave t he ob ject . We cannot d eny t hat our l etter s al so evol ved f rom p ictograms, our l etter a f or ex ampl e w hich or ig inal l y came f rom a lePh had t he f or m of a b ul l or an ox . simpl i f icat ions of t he s y mb ol presented t he head as a t r iangl e on it s po int , w it h hor ns prot r ud ing ab ove. l ater it was rotated and gained a sense of stab i l it y in it s graphic inter pretat ion.

ever y l etter has it s ow n evol ut ionar y hi stor y, w hich we are no l onger necessar i l y aware of , we use t hem dai l y - nat ural l y; we apprec iate t heir The imag e of a bull or ox e vok e s labor and dome s ticated force. Its name is contained in the word bou strophedon ( f rom g reek bou s, ox and strephein , to t ur n), which refers to w r iting s ystems that alternate b y line f rom r ight to l e f t and left to r ight . f unct ion and f l ex i b i l it y. however our soc iet y i s b ombard ed w it h tex t ual inf or mat ion and b ig b ol d word s are ever y w here around us. Decod ing inf or mat ion w it h a singl e glance has b ecome a ver y ord inar y act . We are so used to p iec ing word s/tex t toget her by j ust l ook ing at somet hing we no l onger read ing ind iv id ual l etter s. through my project I want to f ind ways to chal l enge t hi s phenomena .

r e s e a r ch Q u e st I o n For t he major project proposal I am ask ing mysel f w het her, by d econst r uct ing and d ecod ing w r itten matter, it i s possi bl e to reveal t he es sence of t he ind iv id ual l etter?

The imag e on the left illu strate s the e s s ence of a chopped of W .

l a n g uag e I s a s y st e M o F I n t e r D e P e n D e n t t e r M s I n W h I ch t h e va lu e o F e ach t e r M r e su lts s o l e ly F r o M t h e s I M u ltan eo u s P r e s e n ce o F t h e ot h e r .

a I M s a n D o B j ect I v e s In l ook ing at t he essence of an ind iv id ual l etter I ref er to t he vol ume and ord er of t hat par t ic ular f or m and t he st r uct ure of w r itten matter in general . the shape of a l etter car r ies sound , in comb inat ion w it h ot her l etter s t hey car r y meaning , w it hin a sequence t hey b ui l d tex t w hich car r ies inf or mat ion. In ord er to gain access to t hi s inf or mat ion we need to b e l iterate; we need to b e abl e to read . r ead ing i s d ecod ing b ecause our w r itten lang uage i s based on a cod e; w hereas w r it ing i s cod ing. It i s an interest ing f act t hat a singl e w r itten word i s no more t han an inc id ental representat ion of t he spoken word . our pr imar y oral lang uage i s cast into l etter s. sound i s red uced to scr ipt and to t he most rad ical of al l scr ipt s - our al phab et . through d ecod ing and d econst r uct ion I want to reveal t he f or m and qual it y of l etter s and t heir vol ume, and to v i sual i ze t he ab st ract space t hat i s occ u p ied by scr ipt . d e S aus sure F C ours e in G eneral Ling uistic s 1 9 7 4 1st edition 1915 a s a matter of cour se t hi s i s l ead ing me f rom t he l etter to t he word and f inal l y t he st r uct ure of tex t and our ob ed ience to it s ord er. the word d ecod e in my research quest ion ref er s to my intent ion to change ord er and rest r uct ure.

t h e l et t e r s t h e M s e lv e s B eco M e I M ag e s. t h r o u g h t h e I r a n t I Q uat e D s h a P e s, e l eg a n t I n I t I a l s, a n D t h e I r I l lu M I n at e D, r o u n D e D , o r a n g l e D c a P I ta l s, t h e y cr e at e a r h y t h M o F a lt e r n at I n g t e n s I o n.
Laure nt Plughaupt

My intension i s to b reak away f rom our preconceived id eas of how a l etter shoul d appear and how it s f unct ion i s ser ved . Fur t her more I w i sh to encourage a d i f f erent per spect ive on t heir f or m and qual it y. In contex t to t hat I want to v i sual i ze our ob ed ience to t he s ystem w hich stand s b ehind our l iterate way of ex pression. a n essent ial approach f or d o ing t hat w i l l b e in f ind ing my ow n met hod to s ystemat ical l y d econst r uct and d ecod e w r itten matter.

In the e x per iment on the to I am s quee zing and bending the l etter W to obs er ve which for ms it can create.

My back ground l ing ui st ic know l edge i s impor tant to me to und er stand t he compl ex it y b ehind our w r itten s ystem of communicat ion and to f or m a met hod or met hod s to reveal my intent ions t hrough graphic d esign.

The s econd e x per iment shows , how I am chang ing the order of letters lik e beads ion a chain.

Wit h t hi s project I am not seek ing to purel y ex press t hat , instead I am go ing to chal l enge our hab it ual inter pretat ion/ appl icat ion.

Laurent P flughaupt Le tter b y letter (2 0 07, p. 7)

 to d ecod e a tex t i s to d raw out conf l ict ing l og ic s of sense and impl icat ion, w it h t he ob ject of show ing t hat t he tex t never ex act l y means w hat it says or says w hat it means. Jacque s Der r ida

a I M s a n D o B j ect I v e s - r e l e va n ce I am exc ited to work on t hi s project b ecause it chal l enges t he usual f unct ion of graphic d esign. a s a graphic d esigner we are t rained to communicate somet hing ef f ect ivel y, we are acc ustomed to work ing w it h tex t and inf or mat ion. our aim i s it to state t he message cl earl y. We operate inv i si bl y b ehind tex t ; tak ing care of it s l eg i b i l it y. the pur pose of t hi s end eavour i s to reach an aud ience and to communicate content . Wit hin my project I w i l l play f ul l y reorgani ze and d i smant l e a b od y of inf or mat ion, a nar rat ive or a b ook and communicate t he impor tance of l eg i bl e inf or mat ion by simpl y mak ing it i l l eg i bl e t hrough s ystemat ic d econst r uct ion. thi s i l l eg i b i l it y w i l l cl ear t he way f or seeing t he vol ume of a l etter on t he one hand and t he signi f icance of w r itten matter on t he ot her.

Chr istopher Nor r is & A n dre w B enjamin (1 9 96, p.7) W hat is Deconstr uc tion? Academy E ditions

l e f t: te xt w ithout spacing

au D I e n ce the potent ial aud ience f or t hi s work i s b road as we al l d eal w it h lang uage and communicat ion. Fur t her more I woul d ex pect t hat t he insight of graphic d esigner s and d esigner s in general w i l l contex t ual i ze it in t he spect r um of d esign and communicat ion equal l y peopl e w it h an interest in t y pography, lang uage, tex t , generated s ystem and ab st ract ion coul d b e d raw n to it .

a s t he project aims to chal l enge our percept ion and reveal s a generated s ystem of manipulat ion, it coul d ser ve as insp irat ion f or mysel f and ot her s to d evel op it f ur t her.

co n t e x t the f iel d of st ud y w hich woul d b e covered i s pr imar i l y tex t , t y pe and lang uage st ud ies w it h a f oc us on t he concept ual und er stand ing and d epl oy ment of t y pographic f or m and it s relat ionship to lang uage and communicat ion. Pr imar i l y, t he anal ysi s of t y pographic st r uct ure as wel l as t he v i sual and st r uct ural aspect s of w r it ing s ystems and sequences w i l l b e emb raced and f ind s it s exec ut ion t hrough graphic d esign. Fur t her more t hrough t hi s process of d econst r uct ion; w hereby w r itten matter i s red uced to l itt l e more t han it s vol ume, l osing it s f unct ionalit y, it w i l l d oc ument t he prof ound signi f icance of a w r it ing s ystem in f uel l ing t he d evel opment of our compl ex soc iet y.

research Methodology
P r I M a ry r e s e a r ch : For my pr imar y research I w i l l d evel op t he ex per iment s I have d one to date by appeal ing t he f ol l ow ing st rateg ies: I w i l l set mysel f r ul es and eval uate reason and ob ject ives f or any ex periment I w i l l d o. Dur ing phase one I w i l l inter nal i se basic t y pographic r ul es l i ke t rack ing , spac ing , l ead ing , etc. and d i sregard t hem in ord er to d oc ument and v i sual l y und er stand w hat pur pose t hey have to t he l etter, t he word t he tex t . sub sequent l y I w i l l ex pl ore t he shape, f or m and qual it y of a singl e l etter to und er stand it s vol ume. thi s coul d b e d one t hrough ex t reme zooming , i l l ust rated by t he p ict ure on t he l ef t . or t hi s coul d b e ex pl ored t hrough play ing w it h s y mmet r y and negat ive/posit ive space of a l etter/word /tex t .

Phase one at t he b eg inning of phase one in my pr imar y research I w i l l use a shor t sub ject related tex t b ut my aim i s it to appl y t he generated s ystems gained f rom t he ser ies of ex per iment s onto a sub ject related l onger tex t , i f not a nar rat ive or a shor t stor y. the quest ion of w hat k ind of tex t I am go ing to use as wel l as t he d ec i sion on t he t y pe f ace can not b e mad e at t hi s stage. Wor t h ment ioning i s t hat al l init ial ex per iment s shoul d b e of hand craf ted nat ure and f ind a possi bl e reinter pretat ion t hrough computer at a later stage.

LEADING The imag e s document a continuing reduc tion of l eading. Star ting f rom 20pt in steps of 5 pt until 0pt .

Phase t Wo Phase t wo i s v i sual anal ysi s and ref l ect ion on t he ser ies of test s I und er took in phase one. thi s v i sual anal ysi s w i l l b e mainl y eval uat ion t hrough organi z ing t he ex per iment s in ord er to generate a s ystem to d ecod e/d econst r uct schemat ical l y. thi s s ystemat ic d econst r uct ion w i l l b e appl ied to a w hol e b od y of tex t . there are some f ir st ex ampl es d i splayed on t he l ef t .

The counter for ms bet ween the l etters are r ich vocabular y of the new v isual s ig ns that are ultimately determined b y the str uc t ure of lang uage and g rammar.

s eco n Da ry r e s e a r ch My secondar y research concer ns cal l igraphy, t y pography general t y po graphic r ul es. a s wel l as f ind ing , organi z ing and eval uat ing v i sual exampl es. through caref ul l y compar ing and eval uat ing ot her peopl es ap proaches, l i ke tod d Mc l el lan a photographer w hose work i s rel evant to mine b ecause he i s al so reveal ing ever y d etai l of a machine t hrough d econst r uct ion. a not her ex ampl e woul d b e sam Winston w hose work i s b est d escr i b ed by est her Dud l ey, l ect urer in Design hi stor y, school of a r t & Med ia Pl y mout h univer sit y His methods of produc tion are cer tainly of our time: statistic s , data col-

Through his e x plorations of lang uag e Sam Winston create s s culpt ure, draw ing s and book s that que stion our und erstanding of words , both a s a car r iers of me s sage s and a s infor mation itsel f.

lec tion and analys is , computer prog ramming. Yet he is dependent on cra ft a s well: draw ing , doodling , cutting and folding. Concepts are revealed and emerg e through his inter rogation , until the y are utterly log ical and clear. The y are als o inspir ing , leading the v iewer to a f re sh understanding of an ar t that can be constr uc ted f rom t y pog raphy, opening onto a beautif ul ae sthetic compos ed of te xt a s imag e.

the ment ioned d esigner s or ar t i st s have created s ystems w hich w i l l inf or m and insp ire me to generate my ow n s ystem of f ragmentat ion. Book s l i ke gr id s ystems coul d b e usef ul to me, b ecause I can l ear n to

Three g enerated g r ids f rom Carsten Nicolai`s book Gr id Inde x

w hich ex tent it i s possi bl e to use a gr id to d i ssect l etter s/word s/tex t . Moreover I am constant l y check ing w hich rel evant ex hi b it ions are on, b ecause I w i sh to use t hem as insp irat ion to ad vent ure mysel f to a more unconvent ional outcome. there was an ex hi b it ion in t he Kings land gal l er y w here a l ida sayer d i splayed her work Past , present and f ut ure. constant input w hich w i l l come t hrough my secondar y research and my ow n ex per iment s w i l l enabl e me to generate cl ear ques t ions w hich inf or m id eas f or f ur t her pract ical ex per iment s.

This e x per iment t ur ns out to be an endle s s game, of mov ing s quare s w ith f rac tions of W around. A bit lik e R ubiks Cube.

a s my intension i s to reveal t he essence of our w r itten lang uage t hrough d econst r uct ion, my pr imar y research w i l l per si st of ex per iment s play ing w it h t he matter of d econst r uct ion w hereas t he secondar y research w i l l hel p me to f ind t he ho W can I d econst r uct . to sum it u p, I w i l l st ud y and clar i f y pr imar y and secondar y research mater ial in ord er to rai se rel evant quest ions w hich can b e simul taneousl y ans wered by ex per iment s or f ur t her secondar y research.

Todd McL ellan , d econstr uc ted telephone

ty p ographi c co nt rol t y p i ca l l y i m p resses m ore its t id iness and inev itab i l i t y: t he l i n es p er f ect l y reg ular, a l l ju st i f ied on th e r ight side, ever yt h i ng co m i ng o ut even v i sua l l y, an d w i th ou t th e aid of th e g u idel ines o r r u l ed bo rd er s t hat o f ten o cc ur i n manu sc r ipts. th i s i s an insi stent wo r l d o f col d , n o n human f act s. Walter o ng ,

o ralit y and Lite rac y The technol og i z ing of the word (1 9 8 2 , p. 1 2 2 )

RIBBoN TExT A te xt of 4 3 7 word s in 1 2 pt R otis mak e s 4 5 4 mm I p r inted p r inted on apape r r ibbon.

e va luat I o n a ver y impor tant way of eval uat ion of my progress w i l l take place in peer/grou p sessions and on our bl og. through show ing f ir st attempt s and progressed work I can take const r uct ive cr it ic i sm into account . a f ur t her met hod of eval uat ion w i l l b e d oc umentat ion. a s I am d ealing w it h d econst r uct ion it i s essent ial f or me to keep t rack of several stages of my test s b ecause, t hi s way I can cont rol i f some ex per iment has gone over t he top, and i f an earl ier stage woul d have b een more coherent.

Tree of Code s , b y Jonathan S af ran Foer De sig n b y Sara De B ondt St udio

outPut a s my project w i l l f oc us on tex t , t y pe and lang uage st ud ies and aims to v i sual i ze a generated or several generated s ystems it seems obv iousl y to prod uce a b ook/ser ies of b ook s as an outcome.

a l t hough I am open to any unconvent ional outcome t hat coul d pos si bl y b e insp ired t hrough my secondar y research. Black ink or t he col our black ( black t y pe on w hite paper) w i l l b e es sent ial to my work . It suggest s it sel f t hat I coul d use t he l etter press at lcc f or some ex per iment s and may b e t hi s coul d b e a way of exec ut ion. - it i s a too earl y stage to go into f ur t her d etai l .

schedule of work June

W e e K 26 - 27 -ref l ect ing and classi f y ing inf or mat ion f rom b i bl iography - d evel op ing f ur t her ex per iment s

J u ly

- ex per imentat ion and d oc umentat ion - pushing f or ward to a set of r ul es W e e K 28 - 29 -ref l ect ing and organi z ing inf or mat ion f rom b i bl iography - ex pl or ing shape f or m and qual it y - f ur t her d evel opment on a generated s ystem w it h word /tex t - eval uat ion t hrough organi z ing ex per iment s

august

W e e K 30 - 33 - eval uat ion t hrough organi z ing ex per iment s - f or mulate a s ystem f or d ecod e/d econst r uct schemat ical l y - inter med iate research - choosing tex t and f ond to work w it h

septeMber

W e e K 33 - 36 - appl y s ystem to l etter/word /tex t -rough v i sual to b e d i sc ussed w it h peer s W e e K 37 - 40

october

- star t to layout - chance t he layout af ter d i sc ussing w it h peer s - layout and f ir st test pr int s d ec id ing on paper s/mater ial W e e K 41 - 42 - f ine t uning and exec ut ion - prod uct ion

noveMber

W e e K 43 - 44 - prod uct ion - hand in on t ime

bIblIography
BooKs Pf l ug hau p t , l aurent ( 2 0 0 7 ) l etter by l etter a n a l phabet i ca l Mi scel lany nor r i s, ch r i stoph er & B enjam in, a ndrew ( 1 9 8 8 ) W hat i s Deconstr u c t ion? todd Mc l el lan, Inter nat i o na l Pho n et ic a sso c iat i o n (1 9 9 ) I g ui de to use t he I Pa un i ver s i t y o f cam br idge r oth enste in, ju l ian & godd ing , Mel ( 2 0 0 3 ) a BZ More alphabe ts and othe r sig ns edw in Pick stone, htt p://w w w.ed w inp ick stone. co.u k/ Mcluhan , Mar s ha l l ( 1 9 6 7 ) the Med i um i s t he Massage jordan, Mar ianne ( 2 0 0 1 ) engl i sh Pronu nc iat ion Ph onet ic s for lear ner s Mcluhan , Mar s ha l l ( 1 9 6 2 ) the guten berg ga la x y noord z i j, ger r it ( 2 0 0 0 ) o ng , Wa l ter j. (1 9 8 2 ) o ra l i t y & l i terac y The Technol og i z ing o f the Word l etter l etter A n inconsiste n col l ec tion of te ntative theor ie s that d o not claim any othe r author it y than common se nse crow, Dav i d (2 0 0 3 ) vi s i bl e sig ns Ku nz , Wi l l i ( 1 9 9 8 ) ty pography: a uster, Paul ci t y o f g la ss () hagege, clau de ( 2 0 0 0 ) Ba i n , Peter & shaw (1 9 9 8 ) Black l etter : ty p e an d nat ional Ident i t y neu rath , otto ( 1 9 3 6 ) Inter nat ional p ic tu re lang u age Mi l l er, j. a bbo tt (1 9 9 6 ) D i m ens i o na l ty p og raphy nicolai , car sten ( 2 0 0 8 ) gr id inde x Dan Bejar, htt p://t hingsorgani zed neat l y. tu m bl r.com/ on th e death and l i fe of lang u ages sal ly sear s Black , htt p://ul phur.t umbl r.com/ Macro + Micro Ae sthe tic s Der i ck Meland er htt p://w w w.d er ickmeland er.com/ cor n el ia Parker, htt p:// w w w.g uard ian.co.uk / ar tan d d esign/v id eo/2010/ ju n/23/cor nel ia- parker of engl i sh a l ida sayer htt p://w w w.al idarosie.co.uk/ oded ezer, htt p://w w w.od ed ezer.com/ htt p://w w w.it snicet hat .com/ htt p://w w w.yat zer.com/ htt p://kemi st r ygal l er y.co.uk/ htt p://t hingsorgani zed neat l y. t umbl r.com/ htt p://w w w.b ehance.net /gal l er y/ Inf or mat ion- graphic s - in- contex t /924345 htt p://w w w.eyemagaz ine.com/ home.php htt p://w w w.ad b uster s.org/ WeBsItes oF gernarl I n t e r st htt p://w w w.tod d mcl el lan.com/ Damian or tega , htt p://w w w.w hitec ub e.com/ar ti st s/or tega/ a rt I st & D e s I g n e r s sam Winston, htt p://w w w. samw inston.com/ vi sual ed it ions, htt p://w w w.v i sual- ed it ions.com/