Essay - Tutorial 28.11.18

It was suggested in this tutorial that the content of the current essay is too broad and needs a refined question in order to direct it further. By situating the subject matter within 4th wave feminism it should mean that the relevance of modern feminist publications becomes more obvious. We also discussed using 4th wave feminist theorists for this. In addition, the essay needs more contemporary examples and reference to the multiple platforms that feminist media can be presented on. Finally, something to help structure the essay would be referencing three feminist writers and their definitions of feminism, this should then lead on to how feminist publications communicate feminist ideology.

Improved Essay Questions:

• How do feminist publications communicatate/engage with their audience? (original)
• What is the role of modern feminist publications in current 4th wave feminism?
• Are feminist publications still relevant within 4th wave feminism? 
• How are feminist publications still relevant in 4th wave feminism?
• Why are feminist publications still relevant within the digital age of fourth-wave feminism?

Practical - Self-led Crit 19.11.2018 - Logo Development

Below are the first experiments for the magazine's logotype. The image is just a place holder at the moment, yet the saturated analogue aesthetic could be something I look at in future. Several of the attempts involve splitting the word 'Headstrong' apart, this is to add extra emphasis

Some feedback suggested that the 4th logo experiment, with the logo placed behind the figure, worked well to make the foregound pop. The women looks bold and stands individual and strong. However, having one women on the cover might put off readers thinking they can't relate to that women, it needs to reflect the intersectionality and diversity of the magazine, and not use singular imagery that focuses on the individual rather than the community. It was also suggested that the logo could reflect this, by using a variety of different typefaces within the word or varying the thickness of each letter, some could even be just outlines. Perhaps the cover could even be purely typographic with a dialogue outlining the ideology of the magazine.

In the last two images the fact that the masthead 'HEADSTRONG' and the tagline 'A Magazine for Strong Women, Issue 1' have used contrasting serif and sans serif typefaces it could imply an amalgamation of old and new. It was also suggested that this could be the typical masculine and feminine aesthetic coming together.

The second example of 'Headstrong' that is outlined, has slight overlaps and needs to be finer to seem more professional. In fact, similar to Nova, it could be written in capitals in order to make it more legible. This will need to be experimented with. People were also unsure about having the title on two separate lines, this could also be explored further. In fact, some suggested that it was jarring, but perhaps this could be explored as something intentional in order to grab the viewer's attention.

A few other suggestions were to have the uppercase 'HEADSTRONG' vertically along the left hand side and to try the 8th attempt with the logotype fitted in the right hand corner.

It was suggested I could develop a formula for every cover, with a colour scheme and 'house style' for future iterations of the magazine. This will need to be explored further in order to determine how the issue of the first cover should look.

Practical - Alternative Magazine Research

For part of my research I began looking at other alternative magazines and their logo designs; the size, colour, typeface and situation on the page among others. I found some interesting examples in 'inside magazines: indpendentpopculturemagazines' edited by Patrik Andersson and Judith Steedman'.

One of the first magazines I looked at was Re-magazine, I thought the bold, capitalised letters worked well on the cover, emphasised by the box. This was a style I experimented with as I thought it had striking impact. The serif typeface for the subheading especially created a nice juxtaposition and monochromatic colour scheme seemed to be serious and 'important'. Perhaps for a modern feminist magazine it would need to have more colour to seem appealing, particularly with the intersectional/diverse focus the colours should seem bright and not too confined.

I then looked at Purple magazine, made in Paris during the 1990s. Purple is photo-orientated in order to 'accommodate the inhabitants of a world freighted and immersed in pictures' and this creates a strong visual style for the magazine. There was originally three purple magazines and one of which was the 'purple prose' shown on the left. I particularly liked the experimental covers of these, with the coloured text and the use of placing text behind the figure in the foreground. This really makes the image of the boy pop from the page and is something I also experimented with.

Very is a current magazine based in New York, 'the Very design offers simply the bare essentials in the attempt to enhance the original art-work while leaving it mainly untouched. Very subtly ignores the customary rules of the periodicals and instead sets the tone of an open global creative mix.' This simplicity is something of a testament to the magazine's pride in the work they show, they don't need to dress it up or layer the pieces to keep the reader interested.... they strand alone! This gentle minimalism is something that resonates with me and could be an interesting aesthetic to experiment with for 'Headstrong'. It shows strength in restraint.

Below are two magazines that also employ minimalism for effect. 'Sec' magazine on the left shows an image of delicate ornamental birds with an accompanying sans serif header. This juxtaposition feels strong and united as a composition. This is something 'Headstrong' should be able to accomplish too. The second magazine is Re-magazine, as mentioned above. This has an interesting use of annotation within the pages of the magazine, which adds depth to the composition and also adds a certain 'self-awareness' which could be useful for a tongue-in-cheek tone.The page dividing lines also create an orderly and composed effect which may be useful for bold and stand-alone ideas'

Practical and Essay - Researching the Making of Spare Rib and Logo Experiments

Practical Research and Essay References

Spare Rib began in 1971 and was feminist magazine designed to be widely read, with an interesting, subversive design but with the appearance of a 'women's mag'.

One afternoon in late January 1972, Rosie Boycott and I went around to Sally’s flat, where she and Kate had been working. All afternoon Kate had been experimenting with torn up tissue paper to fashion the letters of Spare Rib into a logo. They ‘knocked the ideas backwards and forwards as we were looking at it’, Kate said, ‘continuous talking. It was not about planning, it was about feeling your way through it’.

This suggests that in order to make the logo it was very spontaneous and experimental process, a similar approach could be taken in order to develop the 'Headstrong' logo.

For reasons of cost, we planned to use only two colours plus black, not the four colours that are usually used to compose the plush, full-colour offering of a woman’s magazine. Sally described how applying that decision based on the constraints of a limited budget, and making it work so as to bring out subtle and arresting results, was a significant challenge. ‘It was so exciting after working on Vogue, which was so formulaic. Experimenting with tints, using a spot-colour, produced designs that were innovative and energetic’. 

The production was very low budget which drove the design, new techniques and styles were being created as a result of the low budget constraint. This could also be something that I apply to the design in order to engage with interesting and subversive results. However, one of the main goals of the project is to be intersectional and modern; many current magazines are professional and sleek - perhaps this is an important characteristic to carry though in the magazines of 4th wave feminism.

https://www.bl.uk/spare-rib/articles/design-and-spare-rib

After reading this I began experimenting with typefaces. The first 5 I looked at had several issues with them which helped me to hone down the qualities I wanted in the final logo. For example, the first typeface 'Industrial 736 BT Roman' felt too thin and delicate, it reminded me of a fashion magazine and had too much of a feminine connotation. The second 'Palatino Linotype' had ears and serifs that felt too angular and 'blocky'. The logo needed to appear smooth and precise.The third; 'Plantagent Cherokee' felt good, it had terminals that were professional and curved, this felt like it could link to the female figure. 'Times New Roman' felt too classic and traditional, it didn't feel contemporary enough for the feminist magazine. There was some thought that it could be restyled and remade into a contemporary version, but this felt unnecessary. Finally, the typeface 'ZapHumnst Utl BT Ultra' was the only sans serif typeface I tried out. It appeared sleek and modern and this is perhaps good for an audience of young women. However, I image in would work better in uppercase.

I then developed the typeface 'Adobe Garamond Pro' which felt like the most contemporary and classic that was trialed. There are elements that need some kerning and there are more experiments to be made, but these were the initial ideas. The logo in uppercase didn't seem to work as well because the serif typeface felt too traditional, uppercase could be experimented with a sans serif typeface instead. Another experiment was to place the R of 'Headstrong' as a capital, this was to give the logo some originality and in some ways to pay homage to 'Riot Grrrl' feminists. 'Headstrong' could be written 'Headstrrrng', but perhaps this just isn't professional enough for the image of the magazine. If I wanted to use an outstanding R in the design, it would have to be more obvious as a design decision, perhaps in a different colour or larger. This lead me on to considering doing a logo that is entirely a mixture of serif and sans serif letterforms, to reflect the intersectionality of the magazine. 

Practical - Initial Ideas

Initially I began by brainstorming ideas for the practical work, looking for an idea that would answer a question or pose a theory in a new light. I was immediately drawn to the idea of using my research in order to make a feminist publication, which would attempt to try new and interesting practices to engage a younger audience and truly depict intersectional feminism.

I then began thinking about what the name of the magazine could be. I found 'Double X' could have been an interesting idea, to signify two X chromosomes women have and to suggest two kisses, which could have been an ongoing theme. However, ethically this does exclude women who are transgender and not biologically female. So the idea of calling it 'Headstrong' was developed. This seemed to convey an empowering stance and also rebel against the idea of men telling women they are 'foolish and headstrong' when they are emotional or passionate.

I then began to consider the types of articles that could be used in the article. It was important to organise these early on in order ensure there could be interesting visuals and intersectional themes running throughout the magazines. I began contacting people that I thought would be interested in writing an article for the magazine and thinking about their interests and thoughts as a feminist. I also started to consider the historical texts and pamphlets I'd read that showed the depth of feminist publications throughout the 20th Century. For example, 'The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm' written in the 1970s could be something that I rework and present in a modern context.

Essay - Structure Crit

The introduction should define and make statements, discuss what intersectionality is and what feminist magazines are defined by. Perhaps the overarching question of the essay could be analog magazines vs digital feminism.

An example of a current magazine endorsing the feminist style is the Guardian weekend issue designed by gal-dem. ItsNiceThat have done an article on this I could research.

The practical must answer a question, e.g. how to make a magazine that references intersectionality. It must have layers of meaning, it could be multi-platform. There could be a focus on how to make a modern magazine have the same positive characteristics as digital media. It could be about engaging young people and maintaining their attention. Something I found whilst reading Riposte was that I kept getting distracted. Is there a way to make a modern magazine as stimulating as social media? If the magazine is aimed at young people that gives more of a drive and audience specificity. 

They liked the idea that different sections of the magazine could pay homage to different sections of women.

Practical and Essay - Riposte Article on Nova

Riposte is a modern, creative magazine designed for intelligent women. It covers a broad range of issues including art, design, music, business, innovation, politics, food and travel. The design is unique and contemporary, with a mixture of stocks, layouts and content, it constantly keeps the reader engaged. I will be researching this further for a case study in my essay and as a magazine example for practical work.

Issue 5 has a particular article about Nova, an outrageous and ahead of its time feminist magazine that ran from 1965-1975.

The Nova Revolution:

Nova billed itself as "the new kind of magazine for a new kind of woman". - could talk about how Riposte suggests the new kind of woman was on the rise when other sources have suggested not. Could this be because of a bias? Or does Nova have a point since it did succeed for 10 years. p92
'Nova pulled no punches; it cam brawling off the press with opinions about sex, abortion, race, religion and politics.' p92

'Their content never shied away from heavy-hitting issues. In fact, it was often more akin to the stuff of student protest pamphlets.' p92 Could talk about how the content was extreme and sometimes uncontrolled - generally good although are moving towards a more professional aesthetic now?
'Nova was always wanting to be controversial and go too far, anything to bash the status quo, the stiff upper lip of the British aristo thing.' - Caroline Baker p93

Jeremy Leslie of magCulture: 'The best magazines reflect and lead their time, and Nova did exactly that. It perfectly expressed that point in the late Sixties when consumerism and social liberation met each other. The magazine remains a touchstone for other publishers, but an attempted relaunch proved that however well thought of a project might be in industry, a name bears nothing unless the magazine delivers.' pg 92 Talk about how Nova was made for the second time but completely failed, what did it have the first time but not the second?
'A place for a magazine that was not fashion nor mumsy, but for intelligent, educated women; women who worked and had liberal ideas' Harri Peccinotti

Harri Peccinotti designed the typeface for Nova, he wanted a bold type that was not fashionable or in use. He found a version of Windsor which he proofed, redrew and made a lowercase for. p101 Talk about how they reworked the unfashionable into something 'cool'. They set trends they didn't try to copy them. Is the vintage aesthetic still relevant today? Could I look at old fashioned typefaces for the magazine made for the practical?

'The scandal it courted, the taboos it pushed and the huge style it brought to art direction and editorial makes the original Nova one of the industry's best-loved idols.' p101

Simon Esterson has said that the Hackett/Peccinotti had big headline type, big grainy pictures, white space, conceptual covers and longform jounralism. The Gillian Cooke/David Hillman years had sexy, liberated, colour-drenched fashion shoots contrasted with black-and-white reportage photography and feature journalism. 'Looking back at Nova's spreads makes many magazines published today look timid and predictable. Maybe that, not the digital revolution, is the real change.' p101 Could talk about the aesthetic was confident and bold, despite the clashes and the low quality it was loud and held people's attention. Is this what the digital side of feminism lacks? Is the visual rhetoric too safe?

Practical - Brief Outline

Practical - Self-led Crit 12.11.2018 - Idea Generation

In order to give my practical work some direction, I took part in a critique with several other people from the class. This meant that I could develop my ideas and talk about the potential routes I could go down for the design work.

My current essay question is: 'How do feminist publications communicate with their audience?' which seems to naturally lead to the idea of creating a feminist magazine for my practical work. This would be a publication that would reflect modern feminism but also pay tribute to past iterations of feminist publication design, i.e. suffrage pamphlets.

From my research I narrowed down several characteristics that feminist magazines often demonstrate. These included:

1. A promotion of community.
2. An engagement with the audience.
3. The potential to be the voice for disempowered people.
4. To inspire the reader.
5. To not dismiss typical depictions of femininity. It can offer different interpretations of femininity, but the current 'female aesthetic' cannot be dismissed as it can cause people to be put off from engaging with the magazine.  

The magazine needs to be contemporary and considered, it needs to reflect the points given above but also show an exciting and compelling style of design. The typeface, grid, imagery, stock and binding needs to be thought about carefully. I was considering experimenting with several different types of stock within the magazine in order to keep the reader engaged and to offer high gloss imagery without spending money on full gloss throughout the entire magazine, making it more economical. I also wanted to consider having a smaller insert in the center of the magazine which would celebrate the first feminist publications made using a traditional printing method on thinner stock.

Crit Feedback:

A suggestion was that if the magazine is going to have several different stocks, each stock could represent a section of the magazine. E.g. the gloss pages are the most contemporary articles. The smaller, middle section about historical feminist publications could be made in a more light and cheap stock, to reflect the types of paper used in the past. This sections could even have several quotes and insights from the historical chapter of the essay. I should reference the layouts and designs of suffragette publications for this section; perhaps using traditional printing methods for it too.

For the imagery accompanying the articles it was suggested that I could do a combination of collage and illustrations overlapping next to the text. We discussed how if authors are giving me images to accompany their texts that, even if these are bad quality, the pictures are personal and are part of the authors voice. They should be able to be reworked so they seem professional within the context.

It was suggested I look at typefaces like Baskerville for a contemporary feel, and that I could have several consistent typefaces and then several experimental and random typefaces throughout to hold the reader's interest. Typefaces and grids are two key elements I need to research.

We discussed the different binding options briefly, with a perfect bind considered for it's professional aesthetic and a simple fold and staple considered for its authenticity as a magazine. I have not had much experience in perfect binding so perhaps it might be difficult to achieve the 'perfect' finish, it also is used for magazines with a large number of pages, which I might not necessarily have. However stapling doesn't seem high end enough for the type of magazine I envision. This is also something I need to further research and might become clearler once I know how many pages there will be and the thickness of the stocks I am using.

One of my ideas was to have the front cover of the magazine as tissue paper to represent delicate femininity which could be torn off to access the main magazine. This idea was built upon so that the tissue could be a package that the magazine is delivered in, which the reader has to then rip open; allowing them to engage with the experience and to metaphorically discard their delicate femininity. Another idea I had was to letterpress the cover of the tissue, so that it just has the title, for a minimalist effect.

Something I need to work on is who my audience is. Since many of the authors who've agreed to contribute are students, perhaps the audience should be students? However, since I have such a contemporary focus, perhaps the magazine should be more expensive and aimed at an audience with expendable income. Perhaps categorising the audience as 'young feminists' is enough, but this will need further thought.

Time Mangement Plan - 12th - 18th November

In order to keep on top of my work this week, I created a schedule that would introduce practical cop work into my week and allocate specific days for cop work.

Essay - Third Wave Feminism - (Un)fashionable Feminists by Kristyn Gorton

Popular representations of feminism in the media sell, in fact it is considered that 'women's 'liberation' is a marketable commodity.' pg 212. Time article tells its readers 'in the 70s, feminism produced a pop culture that was intellectually provocative. Today it's a whole lot of stylish stuff.' Bellafante 56, cited pg 212 > bibliography page 222. This could be interesting to explore in the section of the essay about the aesthetic of feminism vs the ideology.

This suggests that 'feminism has evolved into a movement concerned with style over substance: the personal has apparently triumphed over the political.' Whether this is true or not, it does aid the construction of women as consumers, for whom feminism is reduced from a political movement to a certain style that can be bought. pg 213. Is feminism is a fashion statement to an extent?

Some modern women want 'the benefits of feminism without running the risk of being associated with the criticisms of feminism.' pg 214

There is some thought that 'feminism has moved from a 'we' solifarity of the 1960s and 1970s to a 'me' based feminism in the twenty-first century.' pg 215 - Can be discussed in the community of modern feminism and how magazines reduced the 'individual' approach.

Essay - Inside Women's Magazines - Spare Rib - Janice Winship

Spare Rib Characteristics:
Brian Braithwaite and Joan Barrell say it appears as drab and colourless, not jolly or a good read. Winship says jolly it is not, but definitely a good read. pg 123. Spare Rib is more about ideology than aesthetic, it 'strives to meet a high standard but it isn't going to feel it's failed if it doesn't manage it' - Sue O'Sullivan page 129. It's more focused on communicating a strong feminist message.

'Unlike commercial magazines it expresses less a fragile contentment with woman's lot than a critical discontent.' pg 123 It resonates with strong feelings sometimes exuberance, sometimes pain, sadness and anger. Could this be the characteristic of 80s feminism and less so for current feminism? pg 124

The magazine has a recurring issue of trying to appeal to an audience within the feminist movement and an audience outside of it. The problem is 'how to be popular, accessible and reach more woman without toning down what we want to say' (April 1977, no.57.) They have a contradicting policy that means the never assume the reader is familiar with the women's movement and therefore has to seem welcoming but also consistent. pg 123 Although, Winship seems to think that the cheaper more experimental feel of the magazine means that it's not try to acquire a readership from commercial magazines, but really only targets their steady feminist readership. pg 129

Spare Rib doesn't need to appeal to advertisers and therefore doesn't need to have the desired sexual/domestic look that advertisers invest in. It rejects the idea of visual imagery related to women's capitalist consumption.  pg 128-129 This however does mean that it's an austere production, it spurns glossy advertising so has to rely on subscriptions and sales which means it is in constant financial crisis. Without being able to afford a team of designers though it means it doesn't have a straightforward house style, which in many ways leads to more experimentation. pg 129

Although, it is important to consider that feminists, like other women, get caught up in capitalist consumption and the 'visual fix'. Spare Rib has a wholesale policy of rejecting consumer/capitalist culture and 'as a consequence of this politics Spare Rib's practices on the one hand give it space to be editorially flexible and make it 'the readers' magazine in a way commercial magazines cannot be, and on the other restrict it financially and tend to shape it as primarily a magazine to be read by 'insiders' but arguably, less for enjoyment than as a 'duty'.' Perhaps this suggests that to an extent magazines should tap into our consumerist desire as this is, to a extent, is what draws people towards them. pg 130

Feminist Magazine Research:

'The personal is political' it's considered consciousness raising and 'by sharing and making public was seem individual and private experiences, woman begin to understand the social roots to these experiences, they muster from a common oppression a supportive strength to help each other transform their lives.' pg 125

'Many women are less attracted to feminism than intimidated by what it seems to stand for: a wholesale rejection of all the personal and institutional baggage associated with femininity, whether it be consumer culture which seeks and nurtures 'false' images of womanhood or marriage.'  pg 125-126

Essay Structure and Planning

After having done more research into the characteristics of feminist publications and feminist design I decided to recategorise my research into sections. For this I wrote each concept onto a scrap piece of paper so I could visualise their relationships with each other, then formed a simple essay plan from this.

However, after my tutorial and some discussion, it was decided that the essay could be split into several chapters. Each being 'historical feminist publications', 'exploration of femininity' and the 'characteristics of feminist publications.' After some revisions of this I decided to place the representation of femininity within the characteristic section and create a new segment about how feminist magazines still proceed within the age of digital feminism. This could be something I revise at a further date.

Essay - Advanced Question and Tutorial Feedback

Contemporary feminist publications. How magazines are important because they are tangible and can offer communication on another level. They have survived because they are vehicle for feminists.

Introduction

Define the meaning of the feminist publication. Important as a vehicle, talk about audience, how publications have always been used. 

1) Historical Chapter

looking at past waves and publications, Audience - Context - Design. Less about what they did and more about how publications were used to communicate. Discussing how feminist publications have been made in each wave of feminism.

1910s suffrage - Art art nouveau, traditional, conservative. The designs were presented so that both men and women would consider taking them seriously. Considered audience in how they communicated. The women was presented as feminist and a mother.

1960s - more radical approach

More recent publications are professional, heading up the patriarchy. Whereas in past years its been zines etc. Post-modern.

2) Conventions of Femininity 

How modern day feminists avoid the image of the women because of its links to femininity and pre-exhisting connotations. Feminist imagery.

3) Feminist Movements and Design Theories

Conclusion

1000 words?

Practical

Experiment and think about the route. Could either create a completely new and separate feminist publication or perhaps I could rebrand a suffrage publication in a modern day context.

Essay - The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader - Feminist Media Strategies for Political Performance by S Lacy and L Labowitz

'The seductive power of publicity can overshadow the goals of social change, particularly among artists who have no had much direct political experience.' - Need to be aware that your work might not be the most effective course of action. Think about the cause's reputation above publicity. pg 304

'The most politically and aesthetically potent works have been those that critiqued and parodied media coverage itself; those that commented upon conventions maintained by the media (such as elections and economic forecasting); or those that addressed an issue of direct concern to a mass audience.' pg 304

'Media can serve as an extended voice for politically powerless people.' pg 304

Essay - Renewing Feminisms - New Media, New Feminism - Andi Zeisler

The magazine industry is declining and many magazines are facing extinction, but for feminist media this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Historically, they are 'spaces showcasing a limited range of opinions and voices.' Feminist publications have existed on the periphery and have had 'limited impact on the print media landscape'. The internet offers an alternative to the traditional notions of 'expertise, authorship, ideological leadership and cultural relevance.' pg 178-179

'The contemporary feminism that is centered in new media, particularly blogs but also videoblogging, podcasting and social-media applications' - important to mention this was written in 2013 so things have progressed further since then. These share similarity with second wave feminism because they are 'consciousness raising', a connection between individual problems and societal ones. pg 179

However, the new media feminism also lends towards a strong tendency towards individualism and a resistance to the urge to universalize and speak for others. 'Although feminism can in many ways be seen to be more intersectional and wide-ranging than ever before, in many ways it can also be seen as more fragmented.' pg 181 Another consideration should be that not every person can access technology! pg 182. Although contemporary feminist magazines are probably harder to be made aware of in comparison.

'As with any canon, there's the risk that as new-media feminism evolves, it will replicate the erasure and underrepresentation of past canons.' - pg 182-3 is new media evolving the language of feminism so that past triumphs are forgotten? Being a new feminist might mean 'your feminist icon is a blogger or podcaster rather than a politically or historically recognized activist.' pg 183

Essay - Renewing Feminisms - Rebranding Feminism - Sue Thornham

Rebranding Feminism Notes:

Key Points:

A lot of feminist work omits the image of the women all together. This texts believes this is because the image of 'the women' is tightly bound to consumerism and first world femininity is 'denaturalised' by feminist depictions. In order to remove the critical voice of the viewer, the image of the woman is removed.

It also discusses how the young female viewer is educated in irony and visual culture and so can engage with post-feminist advertisement in a different way. This involves reflexivity and the acknowledgment of 'the knowing reader' and these are characteristics of feminism. Adriana Cavarero calls this the 'feminist impulse to self-narration'.

Another part I found particularly interesting was how it discussed how in the past women have entered feminism through personal experience or involvement in social activism, currently exposure to American pop culture has been a bigger cause for younger feminists. I'd like to explore this further and research to what extent feminism is spreading due to its popularity, not its ideology.

Essay - Feminist Visual Culture - Graphic Design - Teal Triggs

Women's Role Within Design:

'While most design history and criticism claims to be non-ideological and value-neutral, it is in fact that design has been controlled and produced by men.' - Michael Rock and Susan Sellers, 'This is Not a Cigar', p.45.

'There is a danger that female designers are no longer integrated into an overall picture of design history but rather separated out and glorified as individual, special cases.'

'It is imperative that any analysis of graphic design should endeavor to develop a clearer understanding of communication and social significance.' pg 150

'A new canon of graphic design history must make history accountable not only in contributions drawn from the mainstream but also those which have traditionally fallen outside of convention.' This could be relevant if I decide to go down the route of celebrating past, forgotten feminists in my practical work. pg 164 - more development of this.

Common Techniques Employed by Feminists Within Design:

'Private experience could be revealed through art [design] in order to influence cultural attitudes and transform stereotypes' Suzanne Lacey 'The Name of the Game' pg 65. 1970s feminists' view the 'personal is political'.

'Graphic communication represents a chance to develop a powerful voice without having to speak up in public.' Veronique Vienne 'Designers and Visibility' pg 35 Feminists share an understanding and a concern of their audience.

'Graphic design is a collaborative process that uses multifarious juxtapositions of images and texts to address, persuade, and inform its target audience, and depends upon an understanding of cultural codes and visual languages.' pg 151

Feminist theory seeks to understand 'patriarchy and the construction of the feminine.' - Buckley 'Made in Patriarchy', p253

De Bretteville's designs for Everywoman, an American feminist newspaper, involved integrating her interest in feminism into a design which visually created a structure encouraging 'participating, non-hierarchical, non-authoritarian relationships' 'Some Aspects of Design' pg 5 Her work assumes the framework that 'community assumes a central role in the communication process'

Lucy Lippard has written that women in the arts have always been interested in 'expressing oneself as a member of a larger unity, or community, so that in speaking for oneself one is also speaking for those who cannot speak' 'The Pink Glass Swan' p178 - women share a cultural understanding of what it means to be a women, so they may find a common voice through design. Could discuss WD+RU (Women's Design and Research Unit)

'The graphic designer must engage the audience through work and, at the same time, actively involve the reader in the construction of the intended message. The designer must be 'responsive' and willing to explore avenues of discourse through visual images.' pg 160

'The message should be provocative, setting up an argument within the piece itself. The ensuing discussion between the client/designer/audience generates the message.' pg 162 In order to start a discussion, designers need to recognise the needs of the viewer and their particular interests. The design critic 'Richard Buchanan suggests if this approach is adopted, designers 'would no longer be viewed as individuals who decorate messages, but as communicators who seek to discover arguments by means of a new synthesis of images and words.' 'The Ideas of Design' pg 10

'Female designers must take an approach that rejects the notion of addressing a homogeneous audience in favour of addressing the individual.' pg 162. No longer using preconceived ideas of what an audience is and avoiding sexual stereotyping. Feminists attempt to break away from images which 'focus on the way men are often represented as modern, rational, cultured subjects within the context of modernity and women as traditional, irrational, "natural" objects.' (Adkins in Jackson and Jones, Contemporary Feminist Theories, pg 37)

WD+RU created a typeface called 'Pussy Galore' in 1995, which questioned conventional stereotypes and was created as a form of 'propaganda'. ''Pussy Galore' played with the notion of accessibility and used the immediacy of the communication form in its development of commonly used words and isotype forms such as the male and female figures on toilet signs.' They made it interactive which is something feminists particularly use to convey a message. (the purpose of the typeface is to seem ordinary but when paired with certain words/imagery it seems like a female typeface, thus gendering something meaninglessly - more research needed.) pg 162

'The goal of feminism is to change the character of art [design]' Lucy Lippard, The Pink Glass Swan, pg 172. Triggs suggests that graphic design has the greatest potential to create change because of its access to 'highly visible communication networks.' pg 164

Essay - Eye on Design Article - Feminst Movements Using Graphic Design

How Feminist Movements Co-opt Graphic Design to Express Themselves

Essay Research and Image Analysis

Suffrage poster art of the 20th century = ' tended to be conservative in style, a tactic used to sway male voters.'

Women's movements of the 60s/70s among Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam protest, student upheavals, and sexual revolution = Designs therefore took liberty and risk, and looked to irony and subversion as tactics.

Current Feminism, focus on intersectionality, on queer, non-binary, and non-white experiences = 'Some posters of the movement take an approachable line, suggesting ways in which equality might be integrated into present society, and swaying public opinion through visuals with mass appeal' or some 'use the poster art form to reveal underlying structural problems, bemoan a feminism too wrapped up in individual successes.'

'“Call-out” and online feminism has also required its own design, typographies, and visual rhetoric.' - This could be something I discuss, how feminism in the digital ages has its own aesthetic and language and is almost about the 'trend' rather than the ideology.

Contemporary Image References:

“Dear Joy, I ____ You”, Joy Li, 2016

'Having migrated from China at the age of one to Sydney, Australia, 21-year-old Joy Li created this intensely personal yet unequivocally universal chart of everyday words uttered in her household to communicate her experiences as a female, first-generation migrant, and the gendered and racial structures that influence the way she perceives herself and is perceived by others.'

'With phrases arranged according to frequency, tone and emotional impact, Li’s poster exposes the force of words and how they shape individuality. Its contrast of languages signifies the pressure and tension of not only having to conform to the standards of one culture, but two.'

Bianco, designed by the Italian foundry AlphaType, is used for its feminine qualities—highlighting the gendered nature of the repetitive, impactful phrases. “I paired this with a Chinese typeface,” says Li, whose frustration is often heightened by the rift of not being fully versed in her mother tongue. “The choice of using a ‘heiti’ (sans serif), as a contemporary design, physically and metaphorically demonstrates the very current effects that the lingering words uttered in my household have on me.” After uploading the image and other similar pieces depicting her experience online, Li received a flood of solidarity messages from other Australian, American, Canadian, New Zealander, and Irish Asians with similar stories to tell.

This could be used as a contemporary example of how modern feminists communicate with their audience. This particularly touches on the non-white experience, which is incredibly important and a key attribute of modern feminist ideals.  

Sexed Realities, Anja Kaiser, 2016
 

This design is a beach towel, made to cover the body with words that speak of how a body is a site on which sexual, racial, economic, social and cultural classifications are enacted. It was made by German designer, Anja Kaiser, creating an engagement with the pharmaceutical and pornography industry and their social control through the regulation of bodies. And how hormone-based medication and human-made products rely on binary sexed realities.

'Its words—“corporate”, “stop being desperate”, “your body is a home office”—writ in Akzidenz Grotesk Extended, reveal the workings of a contemporary feminism, one that’s been twisted to promote the story of individual, not communal, success and gain.'

'The type is elongated and seemingly distorted, reflecting the distortion of the idea that the personal is political. Note the print’s evocative use of chains and a ladder, a symbolic critique of a feminism that prioritizes climbing up the ladder in free-market society.'

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/how-feminist-movements-co-opt-graphic-design-to-express-themselves/

COP Seminar - Beginner's Guide to Textyal Analysis by Alan Mckee

When doing a textual analysis it should be methodologically self-reflexive, methodology must be intuitive. In fact, the sensitivity of the reader in responding correctly to the text determines her ability as a scholar. It is only when we have some idea of what our own methodology actually is that we can begin to open up debates about alternative methodologies. Some disciplines are rigorous about their principles and methodologies and what an acceptable way to gather information is. For Media Studies, the view is taken that rigorous methodologies can limit research and the amount of new theories reaped are considerably less. By asking new questions you create different kinds of knowledge out of it.

We can only make an educated guess at some of the most likely interpretations that might be made of that text. We have to think more about how the audience interpreting the text, more than ourselves.
'There is no such thing as a single, 'correct' interpretation of any text. There are large numbers of possible interpretations, some of which will be more likely than others in particular circumstances.' Your interpretation is very much influenced by the message you want to convey. People can perceive things in entirely different ways.

'Never claim that a text is an 'accurate' or an 'inaccurate' representation; never claim that is 'reflects reality'' It's all interpretation. Every version of reality that we measure the text against is inescapably another interpretation - another text. There is never one, single, 'correct' way to describe something in this world. There are always just different ways in which the same 'truth' can be described. For example, in Welsh they have no word for the colour brown.

'Whenever anyone claims that a particular text is 'accurate' or 'truthful' or 'reflects reality' - what they are really saying us 'I agree with what this text is saying about the world' We all make sense of the world we live in  and reach a consensus of the understanding about the society we share. Textual analysis helps us to make sense of the world we live in as a collective, with a great focus on how other people perceive the world, not ourselves.

Only when a text is put into context can we fully start to guess about the likely interpretations of particular elements within it. If you were to put it within a different context, alongside different texts, it could be interpreted in an entirely different way. This its why its important to fully understand the context before using a quotation. The more you know, the more likely the interpretation is reasonable. Without context, than the understanding of the quote alone is 'logically coherent' but not really a likely interpretation of the text. 'It is perfectly legitimate to focus on one small part of the text as part of your argument and not mention the rest of it - so long as you bear in mind the rest of it in your interpretation of the small part that you mention.'

Important advice for essay: In order to create a good textual analysis, get as much a sense as possible of the wider 'semiosphere' (the 'world of meaning') as possible. Thus allowing you to slot the texts into a much wider context.

Essay - Women in Design - Teal Triggs

So far my research into women's magazines has been wide and unspecified. There are several different approaches to women in design which Teal Triggs talks about here; women's role in the design industry, how women have been represented and how women can use graphic design to communicate feminist issues. This has made me realise that I need to narrow down and research the third approach further. By incorporating parts of the other two issues it may mean the overall essay lacks direction.