Looking after the Selfie: Graphic Design & Writing Andrew Slatter

Graffiti in male toilets at LCC photographed on !24 June 2014

Graffiti in male toilets at LCC photographed on !24 June 2014

Myself and my work at the Ravensbourne degree show, 1995

Is the Crystal Goblet dishwasher proof? My Ravensbourne undergraduate dissertation questioned Beatrice Warde’s Modernist typographic ideals in the context of the technological advances inherent in Post-Modern graphic design practice.

‘Radical modernism is therefore presented here as a reaffirmation of the idealistic roots of our modernity, adjusted to include more of our diverse culture, history, research and fantasy.’ !Friedman, D. (1994) Radical Modernism, New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

Cor(e)ner was a publication conceived and designed by Simon Letherland and Henrik Bodilsen to promote the Historical and Theoretical component of our Visual Communication Design degree. I was asked to contribute to the content of the publication, I wrote an essay that examined how preconceived opinions can lead to prejudice, and whether this phenomenon operates within the decisions designers make in their working lives. 1995.

Emigre 36. Mouthpiece 2.!Guest edited by Anne Burdick, Fall 1995. The Cyclic History of the Line, an essay that loosely introduces the OULIPO (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, translated as Workshop of Potential Literature). Writer: Brian Schorn. Designers: Simon Letherland and Andrew Slatter

‘As processes, as acts that open the door to meaning, design is writing and writing is design. As professions, their areas of expertise are separate but connected; typography is the intersection at which they meet.’ !Burdick, A. (Ed) (1995) Emigre 36, San Francisco.

‘The amplification of the personal voice legitimises design as equal to more traditionally privileged forms of authorship.’ !Rock, M. (1996) ‘The designer as Author’, Eye no.20: pp.44–53. London.

‘For the designer to become a producer, he or she must have the skills to begin directing content, by critically navigating the social, aesthetic, and technological systems across which communications flow.’ !Lupton, E. (1998) ‘The Designer as Producer’, in S. Heller (ed.) The Education of a Graphic Designer, pp.159–162. New York: Allworth Press.

‘[the Public/Private binary] demonstrates the tendentiousness of a topos of pure place and an analytic structure of symmetrical opposition in any connection involving agency, power or indeed narrative.’ !Sedgwick, E. K. (2008) Epistemology of the Closet. 2nd ed.. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Teal Triggs, Sian Cook, Katie Salen (eds.) (2000) ’Zed.7: Public+Private,’ The Centre for Design Studies, Communication Arts and Design, Virginia, Commonwealth University

‘Not all good designers are good writers. But for those who are, we need to create a place where the act of writing and criticism can be explored and pushed through the act of design.’ !Gerber, A. and Triggs, T. (2007) ‘Comment’. Blueprint. London: Progressive Media International.

The ‘fateful moment’ that has led to the creation of The Everyday Experiment is about caring for myself as opposed to knowing myself, Foucault says ‘concern for the self always refers to an active political or erotic state’. !Foucault, M. (1988) ‘Technologies Of The Self’, in L. Martin, H. Gutman and P. Hutton (eds) Technologies Of The Self, pp.16–49. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press.

[zines are distinguished by their] DIY aesthetic or amateur production …they attempt to demonstrate the idea of rebellion by breaking conventional rules of typographic and visual communication.’ !Triggs, T. (1995) ‘Generation Terrorists: Fanzines and Communication’ in T. Triggs (ed.) Communicating Design: Essays in Visual Communication, pp. 33–40. London: B. T. Batsford.

‘The Everyday Experiment, Conceived and edited by Andrew Slatter, designed by Henrik Bodilsen. This ‘academic zine’ has its roots in the printed publications produced by women’s and gay liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Assimilating the duplicating technology used to print these counterculture publications, using present-day Risograph technology,

The Everyday Experiment is performative (as is Radical Modernism). The second repartition of ‘coming out’ is related to occupation. If sexuality is inextricably linked with authorial voice and position, then ultimately The Everyday Experiment represents a willingness to ‘tell the truth about oneself’. !Foucault, M. (1988) ‘Technologies Of The Self’, in L. Martin, H. Gutman and P. Hutton (eds) Technologies Of The Self, pp.16–49. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press.

The Everyday Experiment is an attempt to redefine my own authorial position as a radical modernist

PGCE Action Research Project Summer 2012 How can I alleviate students’ anxiety about (academic) writing?

Panic to Production model in Francis, P. (2009) Inspiring Writing in Art and Design: Taking a line for a write. Bristol: Intellect Books.

Internet viral

Sketching and doodling in writing, not just in visual work, and finding visual metaphors for ideas …is related to the visual end of Rayner and Riding’s scale. Whereas work on essays and dissertations is usually seen as purely in the realm of the verbal. The verbal end of the scale is often the frightening part for many reluctant/fearful writers.’ !Francis, P. (2009) Inspiring Writing in Art and Design: !Taking a line for a write. Bristol: Intellect Books.

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Rayner and Riding’s diagram of ‘the two basic dimensions for cognitive style’ in Rayner, S. and Riding, R. (1998) Cognitive Styles and Learning Strategies. London: David Fulton.

I don't think the majority of fine art students have the same concerns really, dread, etc., and the dissertation is more creative, seen more to be part of the overall practice.’ !Contextual and Theoretical Studies Tutor in Fine Art

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I too have had students each year that are truly scared of the essays and dissertation. I have a large proportion of mature students, some of whom haven’t written essays for many years (if ever). I also have on average one in four students with dyslexia – and for new students, support has been very slow to come through this year. I use lots of one to one tutorials – to mainly boost confidence, but also to comment on drafts. I run seminar sessions on planning essays and dissertations and the Harvard system, use of footnotes etc.. I have not run any writing workshops – although plan to do more formal sessions this year.’ !Contextual and Theoretical Studies Tutor in Three-Dimensional Design and Crafts

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I am interested in your thoughts and opinions on your students’ attitudes to academic writing, given my graphic media students express dread in relation to the forthcoming dissertation.

Three authors have written essays on the subject of Why I Write

Paul Auster Joan Didion George Orwell

Why I Write essay written by one student before attending the workshop

Why I Write!!So recently when asked this question. I began by looking at the obvious, writing lists and note taking for personal learning. It had never occurred to me before the creative outlet accessible within the concept of the written word. Sadly myself I have only touched the surface of the potential creative writing holds so reassessing the situation and having the opportunity of recreating this challenge for a second time round, I would like to venture in a different direction, and follow a different path.!!So lets rewind, previously the journey was set to a monotonous sense of boring, logical, sensible decisions. Stating the obvious, a mindless predictable journey for the audience to follow lacking in plot twists, interest and creativity. So what if instead of a routine, structured list of jobs and reminders with no purpose other than tasks to achieve on a personnel level. What if I was to recreate this task again with no plan or bullet points to include? A black page with no set direction, where would this take me? I'm answering the question by par-taking in an unplanned journey, I'm not writing to answer a question within the restraints of ticking my own imaginary, necessary boxes. I'm writing for the sake of writing. There's no beginning middle and end. I'm just enjoying the process of arranging words on a page that naturally come to me. I am a creative person, why is this not reflected in my writing? Why do I write to a non existing syllabus, like a mindless, programmed robot? Where is the personality? The fun? I should write for the sake of writing, for enjoyment, fun and creative expression, personality set within the characters on the page. A source to unleash my inner voice and opinions. You ask me why I write, the opportunities are endless! My reasons differ for the occasion, in this example I write to question the question. To change my mind set, to unleash my creativity, to question my reasons and establish new ones.!!Xxxxxx Xxxx

Why I Write essay written by one student after attending the workshop

Why I Write!!I write mostly because I’m told to write, and also because I can’t actually survive in life without writing. However I don’t enjoy writing essays and this is a key element of the course that I’m not keen on. On the other hand I enjoy writing about subjects that interest me or even writing a diary to document events in my day to day life. I find that writing is very powerful, and I feel I can express myself better in words than by my mouth which some would disagree. I have much more self control over my writing than my mouth! I think when writing an essay I actually feel intimidated with writing and composing it within paragraphs so what I want to say actually makes sense. I think this is the reason why I don’t enjoy critical writing. While looking online I found this quote: “I write these words, to write, because I love writing; I write these words to speak with all you reading this, I write these words to share my feelings”. This I think is a potent statement that I feel concludes all the reasons why we all write; writing gives us the opportunity to allow someone else an insight into a writers mind and see their thoughts and feelings. When writing I enjoy the aesthetic of putting the pen to paper, you can’t quite beat that feeling of expressing how you feel and releasing all your thoughts on a piece of paper. Writing I feel is also an important tool to archive someone’s life, to this day there is records of people from the past. For example a sailor in the navy, from the records you can see their name, date of birth etc. If writing weren’t available how else would we know that that person ever existed??

Some things I’ve learnt along the way:

Read a lot to write better.

Like fine art students, designers can, and should, see writing as part of their creative practice, writing workshops help foster this intent.

Defining my position as a radical modernist has given my writing political purpose. ‘And looking back through my work, I see that it is invariably where I lacked political purpose that I wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug generally.’ !Orwell, G. (1946) Why I Write. London: Penguin.

Writing is 50% writing and 50% editing

Fundamental accuracy of statement.’ !Ezra Pound

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Next stage: Doctoral research into the performativity of sexuality within visual communication design. Starting September 2015