Words Not Deeds Experiments - Suffragette Design - Research-led Brief

After looking at my research, I decided that it might be interesting to experiment with doing an exhibition about suffrage poetry. This is a unique element of my research and could be something interesting to explore. Suffrage poetry was all about retaliating with words rather than with violent means, which is why I thought it would be interesting to subvert the Hammersmith banner to 'Deeds Not Words' or 'Words Not Deeds' instead of 'Deeds Not Words'. I then created several designs based on 'The Bugler Girl', making use of a suffragette design and emphasising how the women is making noise - calling to action just as her poetry does.

I began by making the designs very minimal, reducing the Bugler girl illustration to a series of minimal shapes - similar to the style of Matisse. This seemed to modernise the design yet ensure that it was still of classic taste. Although the design was stripped back in this way, the iconic symbol was still recognisable, which was important. I chose the orange colour initially as the muted tone matched the aesthetic of the original suffragette posters and the era of warm art nouveua colours.The designs seemed to work better with the information in lowercase too, seeming more considered and pairing well with the curves of the illustration. Adding the additional black hue to the line of text also seemed to work well, although this could be experimented with further - it meant that there was some hierarchy to the information being communicated. I also wanted to separate the page with a line, creating an interesting use of negative space to reference the importance of space in poetry and how with writing or even in it's presentation, spaces can create a lot of impact. By having a large gap between the title and the design, it means that the elements have an unusual and interesting relationship with each other.

I then thought it would be interesting to try having a larger image of the Bulger girl's face on the poster. This seemed to work better, filling the space better and showing a good relationship between the shapes - specifically designed to fit together. The design is both a reference to the trumpet but also to the words omitting from the women, almost like a stylised speech bubble. This links well to the poetry theme of the proposed exhibition, and means the design has the potential for interpretation - with the audience of the exhibition may be looking for. This design also used the 'Deeds Not Words' which seems with the black score, but may need some extra research and consideration before it is chosen as a title.

I experimented with the colours and black for the illustration seemed to be bold and exciting, paired well with the smaller details of orange. Having black as the background also seemed to work really well, the figure was in white - referencing 'purity' which some suffrage work seems to connote - linking back to my original research. Having the background in red also seemed to been an interesting approach, creating more of a violent/passionate atmosphere. Whereas the blue of the horn/speech bubble links to peace and freedom.

I could develop these designs further by thinking about other shapes and imagery that could be replicated in the same style. Also thinking more about colour - thinking about the purple, green and white colour scheme - or is that too cliché.