Week 07: Visual Writing
Visual Writing - Weekly Learning Objectives
You will be working towards achieving the following learning outcomes detailed in the Assignments tab:
LO2: Contextualise – appraise the social, political and historical contexts in which design practice operates.
LO3: Analyse – evaluate research findings and use sound judgement informed by critical debate at the forefront of the academic discipline.
LO4: Distil – position a creative strategic insight that has been distilled and refined through an informed investigation.
LO6: Make – select and utilise relevant tools, skills and technologies in the delivery, iteration and sustainable production of an outcome.
LO7: Collaborate – demonstrate inclusive and empathetic strategies to plan and execute a project across distributed collaborative situations.
LO8: Design – realise a final solution that evidences its strategic journey and clear relationship between form and function.
Week 07 topic - continuing our learning objectives
This week is continuing the theme of exploring content creation for a published article. We are reminded how this key phase of development is vital to the success of a publication. Whether it's collaborative with input from the writers, designers, editors, or publishers, we need to ensure the project is aligned with the original brief and is, developed for its target audience.
We watch an interview with a creative practitioner who has worked on numerous print and also digital publishing projects to demonstrate how important it is to structure our written articles and develop an initial draft for review. The interview will also examine methods of content development and explore the standard procedures involved in the production of a text and its relationship with graphic design.
It stresses how important it is to note these procedures to our own essays in order to scope and structure our content from an early stage. We also advised about our roles as publishers and how we, as designers are empowered to take control as editors, developers and publishers.
My own research - Changing my target audience
As I continued with my ongoing research for both Studio practice and my essay I started to have doubts on my chosen target audience. My research from the Census website on week 6 made me realise that statistically, the age range dips from 15-24.
These were my conclusions of why this age group may dip:
Career opportunities: Young adults often move away from their hometowns in search of better job prospects or educational opportunities. They may return later in life after establishing their careers elsewhere, especially if they find opportunities to advance or desire a change in pace or lifestyle.
Education: Some individuals may leave East Grinstead to pursue higher education, University, or specialised training in other cities or countries. Upon completing their studies, they may choose to return home, particularly if they have family ties or if they find employment opportunities in the area related to their field of study. With Gatwick Airport in close proximity and a direct line to London, it is considered a well-connected hub.
Family: Young adults may leave East Grinstead to start families or to be closer to relatives living in other regions. However, as they enter their mid-30s to 40s, they may feel drawn back to their hometown for reasons such as wanting to raise their own children in a familiar environment or to care for ageing parents or relatives.
Lifestyle: They may leave East Grinstead for a different lifestyle choice, such as living in a larger city, experiencing other cultures, or pursuing outdoor recreational activities not readily available in their hometown. However, as they grow older and their priorities change, they may find themselves drawn back to the comforts and familiarity of East Grinstead.
Housing affordability: Young adults may leave East Grinstead due to housing affordability issues or a desire for more space or better amenities. As they progress in their careers and financial situations improve, they may find it more feasible to return to their hometown and purchase property or settle down.
Connection: Regardless of the reasons for leaving, many people feel a strong attachment to their hometowns and may eventually return out of nostalgia or a desire to reconnect with their roots, childhood friends, and community ties. It is a relatively safe place to bring up a family with good primary and secondary schools.
Overall, the decision to leave and return to East Grinstead can be influenced by career opportunities, personal relationships, lifestyle preferences, and emotional ties to the community.
Lecture Introduction
In this weeks lecture we watch Susanna Edwards in conversation with Angharad Lewis. This enables us to:
Generate content for books, magazines and digital platforms.
Identify the professional standards and processes used by practitioners working within the publishing industry.
Analyse the various methods and platforms for self-publishing.
We are encouraged to make notes for your own investigations and ideas.
Thoughts from the lecture/conversation
Angharad talks about her work at Grafik Magazine (Previously Graphic International), which transitioned massively in responding to changes within the industry where there was an upsurge in design where a lot more independent movement was happening, but the magazine didn’t reflect this.
Angharad joined forces with Caroline Roberts, who came in as the Editor. They basically took a risk and got a loan to set up independently.
Grafik was really well known for its art direction and collaboration with different studios, like Made Thought. It went through several design evolutions, which pushed its art direction with its playful tone. As a monthly magazine, the team constantly worked on an awful amount of work, but this was back in 2003 before the dominance of online publications.
Insights into the writing process —how do you structure your process? This very much depends on the context and audience of where the article is being seen. For research, her go-to places are AIGA, Eye on Design online, and I-magazine, but she also uses Instagram to keep in touch with ongoing trends and what people are doing.
Grafik Magazine - Farewell issues in 2010
Key pointers are:
You need to know your theme well and understand your view to begin with, but that quite often can happen in the process of writing
Drafting is certainly important to my process. You won’t have the final shape of the article on the first draft and sometimes you might get started in a place in the story or idea
Keeping a bit of pace and a kind of rhythm and a point, a crescendo, to come to at the end, is important
Develop your tone of voice. Craft it!
Keep to your word count; don’t overwrite or be a chatty writer!