I've always been a fan of 'treating' myself to something nice any time I come into money, Of late I feel that I've not treated myself enough, so as a cure, I decided to reminisce a little regarding a previous present I bought myself.
Truth be told, Having read 'The Spectacle of The Other' and the afforementioned 'Heroes and Villains' segment within, I hoped to use said present to find further information on the representation of the african-american within advertising. (as the present contains a hefty section on activism; in particular, dealing with such representation during the socio-political changes in 1960's America and the demeaning/stereotypical image of black america prior to this shift)
However, whilst scouring through Jan Nederveen Pieterse writings on representations of otherness (ref; white on black, images of africa and blacks in western popular culture) I remembered something that this present contained, that brought me on somewhat of an adventure whilst reading.
At this point I feel I should both inform you of, and highly recommend you buy yourself this present, as it is a fantasticly entertaining and insightful resource which I somehow overlook from time to time during research.
Design Writing Research: Writing On Graphic Design (by Ellen Lupton & Abbot Miller)
This book takes you on a journey through design in a beautifully published book, falling apart through derridas deconstruction and bending, flexing and reforming through laws of type, modern hieroglyphics and a seriously indepth collection of mini-essays transcending the history of graphic design in America 1829-1993.
Now that the shamless promotion is out of the way, I'll get to the point. We were briefed recently on a brief which requires us to come up with a new form of communication or a new way of communicating something interesting, it was this which led me back to this book and one of the articles within.
Lupton & Miller take you on a typographic journey through the evolution of written language, as each new revelation is unveiled regarding the phases our written language originated from, the content changes size, shape, case and constantly shifts in form.
The point of this bizarrely lucid writing style has a strength to it that visually communicates something with as much power and emphasis as an image, yet remains as body copy throughout. This essay (Period Styles - A Punctuated History) has something magical about it, not only in the method in which it explains, but the content mentioned as it does so.
I for one did not know that our 'punctuation' stems from a time when few but the rich could read nor write, and those talented enough to do so were appointed as scribes to royalty, it was in the deliverance of these documents that . - ' figures would dictate the tone in which the words should be spoken
. commanding a low-tone
- commanding a mid-tone
' commanding a high-tone
Something we take for granted nowadays, especially in a time where the degradation of written language is at an all time high, with the allowance of urban-slang and 'txtspk' in some schools across the country, I personally see this as a devolution of language, rather than an inclusion of advancement in communication.
So when I am approaching the communication brief, it is already, and will be important to me to consider these origins, the importance of tone, delivery, punctuation and silence in conversation, written or spoken, is one which gives us our voice, or means of conveying emotion and personality.
Yet here we are with repetitive strain injury in our hands due to 'talking' with our fingertips for the majority of our day, rather than with our vocal chords.
