Type Experiments - Suffragette Design - Research-led Brief

I then began thinking about type based ideas, inspired by the MAC VAL exhibition programs I looked at previously. Since this is exhibition design for suffrage poetry, I wanted to display the complex relationship between type and imagery and explore this freely. The title of the exhibition at the moment is 'Deed Not... Words' playing on the Hammersmith banner I looked at previously - although this could be changed further along in the project. The word 'WORDS' has been experimented and altered so it fills the space and is loud! It's to demonstrate the impact of the words the suffragettes spoke. Even though some of the letters have been turned on their side, they are still legible and can be read easily in the correct order. Having the page long and thin draws the eyes upwards, it communicates a sense of growth and uprising. It also has a particular contemporary feeling that is a result of not using the typical A4 size.

Having the page in yellow is something which seems to work well, it acts as a large and forceful part of the composition. It would be interesting to experiment with print on yellow stock, large scale to see what effect this would have. The yellow has been chosen because it mirrors the warm tones of the movement, having looked at the majority of suffragette design yellows, browns and oranges have been used frequently. The yellow tone is a good colour to represent hope and contrasts nicely with the black.

I then experimented with a blue tone, which seemed more subtle and traditional but with less imact. Again printing this on blue paper would be interesting to test. I also tried making the 'WORDS' part into a smaller section of the page; this seemed to work quite well, it meant there was more negative space, similar to the general layouts of poetry.

Trying this in red also seemed to work nicely - red is a colour usually associated with women and power and blood, and is particularity relevant to the suffragette movement. The white details however offset this in a nice way - it introduces themes of hope and innocence against the harsher backdrop. I also lowered the dividing line of the page, similar to some previous experiments - this worked to create more negative space and to separate the sections in a more defining way.

I then introduced the 'Bugler Girl' imagery I previously experimented with into the design. This worked well and added some complexity and layers to the image. By referencing this iconic image in a modern way, it gives the design depth. it particularly worked well when the words were coloured in red, making them bold within the design and indicating this is where the power is - not in the image of the woman. This also creates a defined hierarchy of information and importance within the image.

There is some problems with this which could be explored further. The Bugler girl is known to be holding a bugle, not for shouting - is the leap between the designs too far for people to make the connection? The original image also shows the bugle placed to the side of her, not raised horizontally - so this could also be too much of an adaptation. Although with consideration this links to quotes I have read about the original design influencing modern design, it does not have to be a direct interpretation, it can just be influenced.

It was also suggested that the woman's face looks too harsh and like a helmet, without the natural curves of a face. Yet this was intentional, I wanted to create something angular and fierce and faceless, so it is the words of the woman that are seen first - not their faces and looks. This is something that a lot of modern feminist designers adopt.

For instance: In conversation with ItNiceThat, Danielle Pender, the magazine editor of the feminist publication Riposte, has said they 'celebrate [women] for what they’re doing and saying, rather than what they look like,' (interviewed by Alderson, 2013). This suggests Riposte's success lies in its ability to avoid the feminine image, neither supporting it or contradicting it, and instead focusing on what women say. One of the key attributes of the magazine is their cover, which remains imageless in favour of large type. This bold move was a risk, knowing images sell, but the magazine maintained that they wanted to capture people's imaginations first with the words of their female authors, rather than what they look like or wear. -

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/riposte-magazine