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NATALIE SNODGRASS
Facilitating Diversity The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
MFA THESIS DEFENSE, KENT STATE UNIVERSITY 16 NOVEMBER 2018
CONTEXT
A global bias towards the Latin script has resulted in an uneven and
unequal output of Latin typeface designs over other world scripts.
1.3 billion Chinese readers Arabic is the official language of 22 countries and the liturgical script of over 1 billion Muslims. 600 million Devanagari readersa
QUESTION 1
How does one become prepared to design an effective and well-researched
typeface in an unfamiliar script?
QUESTION 2
How does an understanding of the relationship between type and culture
affect this research process?
QUESTION 3
Does the use of anthropological research methods increase the success of this
design practice? If so, to what extent?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Literature Review
Critical Making
Interviews Surveys Framework
Secondary research
Topics include: Cultural dimensions of typography, anthropological research methods, type design research methods
Study investigating the methods of learning to design in a new script. Informed later research methods and provided knowledge into process.
In-depth interviews with 8 multi-script type design experts
Surveys with practicing multi-script type designers, type design students, and type design lecturers
Framework outlining the research process necessary to design in a new script, providing insight into the steps, the resources, and the questions one should be asking.
Primary research Synthesis of research
Literature Review
“Typography is always a responsive
environment.”
GERRY LEONIDAS type designer and lecturer
LITERATURE REVIEW Type and Its Relationship with Cultural Structures
Both typography and culture feed one another: typography responds to cultural conditions and culture feeds typographic form and output
Typographic meaning shifts with different cultural identities
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
LITERATURE REVIEW Typography and Cultural Identity
Cultural identity: an individual’s sense of belonging in a certain culture which can be fulfilled by the shared set of companionship, principles, and visual traditions
Post-modern subject: modern individuals have no permanent identity; it shifts as we age, with whom we associate, our interests, settings, and all cultural interactions
How does this affect typography?
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
Reference: Livesey, C. (n.d.). The Web of Identity [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.sociology.org.uk/ppmenu.htm
LITERATURE REVIEW Typographic Production and Consumption
Culture encompasses the artifacts, texts, or practices that carry and construct meaning
As an artifact that passes through this system, typography carries with it the constructed meanings of culture
A culture’s system of production and consumption directly affect cultural identities, and as production and economic demand change, so does typography
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
Reference: Du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., MacKay, H., & Negus, K. (1997). Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman. London: The Open University.
LITERATURE REVIEW Anthropology and Design
Cultural Anthropology: the study of culture and a people’s beliefs, practices, and the cognitive and social organization of human groups
These connections are discovered mainly through long-term ethnographic fieldwork: a scientific description of the culture by someone who has lived in it
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
Participant field observation
Interviews with key figures or
experts from the community
Examination of artistic creations
Visits and spontaneous conversations
with locals
Conducting games for the exploration of
local knowledge
Use diagrams to expose the locals’ social,
environmental, and cultural conceptions
HIGHLIGHTS
Imperative to study the culture surrounding typography and
how it affects form
Ethnography is an important tool in typeface design research
Critical Making
CRITICAL MAKING Devanagari
Some of the different resources used include typographic research, visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art, and open-source font files
Practice writing the script
Consultation with Indic type designer was the most fruitful resource, providing dependable suggestions to research and trusted critique of the design work
CRITICAL MAKING Devanagari
ी ु ू
क व प फम न ा ि
फीका कन वाकिफ पिकप मनकामना क पीक कनीनका किनकी नफा पवन मिनमिनाना नाका कीक नवन कफ पिनपिनाना माफ कानाकानी विनवना वनि कव फपकना कम न कमीनापन नामा पूना नव विपाक मिनमिनाना कीकान कानन मिनमिनाना विमािननी मा मकान मन पावना कीमा कफनाना पनि नन पिनकनना मानवी कानाकानी नफा नापन निमाना ककना कनमुनाना फन मीन कानाकानी मापी वाकिफ नामि वफा कफनाना मुका नापना कानाकानी कनकना मान नपा कनकना पूना नुमा विमािननी कामुक मनकामना नुमा वम
CRITICAL MAKING Inuktitut
Limited amounts of type samples were collected from Inuit culture archives, Google Images, and Flickr
Practice writing the script
Heavy reliance on handwriting samples in order to establish shape progression, ductus, and construction of syllable forms
No feedback from someone familiar with the script creates uncertainty
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + ,
!" #$ $%& '()* *(*%& &'(# )*$&%* %'*!!* !" #$$%& '()* *(*%& &'( #&" )*$&% *%'*!!* !" '(* *(*%& &'(#& !*$& %*%'*!!* !" #& '()* *(*%& &'(#&!")* $&%*%'!* !" #$ $%& '()* *(*%& &'(#& !" )*$&%*!* !" #$$%& '()* *(*%& &'(#&" '()* *(*%& &'(#&!*$&%*%'*!!* !" #& '()* *(*%& &'(#&! ")*$ &%*%'!*& '()* *(*%& &'(#& ! ")*$&%*!* !"
! "CRITICAL MAKING Inuktitut
HIGHLIGHTS
This process suggests the importance of some methodologies over others, sheds light on the order of research that should be followed, and illustrates
some of the typographic references that can be utilized in the process of research.
Interviews
Interviews with 8 expert type designers from across the world and with expertise in over 22 world scripts
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
LIMITATIONS TO THE PROCESS OF MULTI-SCRIPT TYPE DESIGN
Treating the type design process as a graphic design process
Pragmatic Linguistic Psychological Methodical
Lack of access to or difficulty in acquiring reference materials
Background knowledge of the language for which the script is used
Preconceptions and unconscious biases
research design
90% : 10%
INTERVIEWS Cultural Structures Surrounding Typography
Majority of respondents use forms of printed matter as their main source of research
Convenience and availability seem to be important factors when gathering research materials
This may denote the usefulness, reliability, or trustworthiness of different resources over others
INTERVIEWS Type Design Research Methods and Processes
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
All participants have conducted audience research, where they
maintain correspondence, test their work, or work collaboratively with native speakers, representatives,
clients, or designers.
INTERVIEWS Type Design Research Methods and Processes
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
Open discovery using secondary
and primary research
Critical analysis of form, use, and context
Designing+
The underlying commonality of all participants’ responses
is the notion of respect.
Surveys
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
57 type designers from over 13 countries with expertise in 24 scripts
SURVEYS The Practice of Multi-Script Type Design
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
How important do you think it is for a type designer to design in a script that is not native to them?
IMPORTANT OR IMPERATIVE
1. Pushes one’s comfort zone and the limits of typographic understanding
2. Help a designer to understand challenges facing different cultures and users in some of the simplest computing and design tasks
3. May allow one to move away from the inherent technological and informative limitations that come with knowing only one script
4. This practice can also present an opportunity to help an underserved group.
SURVEYS The Practice of Multi-Script Type Design
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
How important do you think it is for a type designer to design in a script that is not native to them?
NOT IMPORTANT
1. Emphasize the large amount of time and energy that must be devoted to learning it properly
2. Hesitation to impose an incomplete understanding of other communities on their respective members, which could have unforeseen effects
3. The argument that only designers who have grown up in a script should design for it, is, in itself, a nationalistic vision of design practice
SURVEYS Research Practices of Multi-Script Type Design
Participants stated that they look at resource materials significantly more when designing in a script that is not native to them
Contextual anthropological, social, historical and visual culture research is much more important to investigate when designing for a non-native script
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
2
Every time I begin a new project
1723
198
1
28
Occasionally (dependent on
project or brief)
Rarely
Never
I have never designed in this
context
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 260
when designing in a non-native script
when designing in a native script
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
Observation of type-in-use
Fieldwork or visits to locality
Interviews with local speakers and readers
Sharing of process with local readers
or experts
Teaching I have never used any of
these methods
23
33
22
29
13
2
The most frequently used ethnographic research methods in multi-script type design is observation of type-in-use
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
Parallels to anthropological research can be found in the type design process. Please select methods that you have used in your process.
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
30
25
20
15
10
5
The ability to define shape
group behaviors
The ability to recognize
meaningful details in shapes
Familiarity with local
idiosyncrasies
Familiarity with script’s
structure
Familiarity with language
Other I have never designed in an
unfamiliar script
24 24
19
27
10
57
Respondents feel most comfortable designing in a new script when they are familiar with the script’s structure
I feel comfortable designing in a previously unfamiliar script when I have... (Select all that apply)
HIGHLIGHTS
The goal is to become familiar with how a script is adapted across different
purposes and artifacts, and how these artifacts and their typographic
representations are connected to that culture’s identity and history.
Framework
This framework presents a groundwork structure for designers looking to navigate the process of learning to design in a new script.
Type Design Research Framework Structure
Decentralized structure with emphasis on research process
Stages 1. Script Research 2. Context Research 3. Client Research 4. Design
Research Methods 1. Observation 2. Interaction & Practicing 3. Critical Analysis
Facilitating Diversity: The Designer’s Role in Supporting Cultural Representations Through Multi-Script Type Design and Research
Step 1: Script Research
FRAMEWORK Script Research
Outlines the resources that a designer may pull on when researching the construction and forms of a script
Printed Matter Environmental Online Historical
Step 2: Context Research
FRAMEWORK Context Research
Outlines the areas of the context and culture a designer should consider when researching typography
Step 3: Client Research
FRAMEWORK Client Research
Outlines the questions and considerations that need to be addressed with each client and their readership
These prompts are in addition to the questions normally defined by a project brief
Language coverage
Circumstances of readers
Exploit new technologies
Define character set
Implications
FINDING 1
Studying a new script extends a designer’s perception of language,
culture, and human interactions and connections with design.
FINDING 2
When designing in two scripts, there may emerge an informative back and
forth between the two practices, with each set of knowledge pushing the
other into new boundaries
“Typeface design is a knowledge profession. Increasingly, being able to make a typeface
doesn’t distinguish anyone…The understanding of how to make a typeface that represents the
needs of a community and captures a trend, that is what you build a career on.”
GERRY LEONIDAS type designer and lecturer
Thank you