Editing and reflection
REFLECTIONS ON LECTURES AND SOURCE MATERIAL
When Ken Garland first published 'First things first' it was a quest for better use of designers time and a call for designers to evolve their thinking and practice away from pure commercialism and to shift the focus to social, political, economic and cultural crises' that were happening at the time. A few designers had already voiced their disenchantment with commercial design in stating "what has all this froth got to do with the wider needs and problems in society". The aim was to move towards a democratic approach where design was fit for purpose and creating a better life for all. Design that gives direction (wayfinding and signage), creates understanding (instuctive and signified), and design that provokes action and dialogue. The themes outlined in Ken Garland's were echoed in 2000 when the 'Manifesto' was updated asking designers to pause for thought about the work they were creating and its value to society.
"Not questioning social responsibilities implies that you surrender to that sector of society'
Jan Van Toorn
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In Adrian Shaughnessy's article 'a slap in the face', he unpacks the fact that those we have admired for their design thinking in the past had their practice's rooted in Ken Garland's philosophy and create useful work of social, political, economic and cultural significance. I.E: you won't get the same design thinking coming across and educating designers from branded goods and commercial concerns even if they are lurking somewhere in the background. This impact was created through critical thinking and design as an intellectual activity, and was delivered through informative publications and campaigns, and the design of social spaces.
"Designers are capable of more than just styling up brands in an attractive way so that consumers will like them and buy products".
Adrian Shaughnessy
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More than ever before designer's need to address the societal issues: climate change, sustainability, the political landscape, economics and effect societal change to create a better society.
"Commercial concerns... can overshadow critical discourse... analytical reflection strengthens our communication skills as authors and interpreters".
Anne Burdick
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Angharad Lewis brought this critical thinking to Grafik magazine (formerly Graphics International) as part of the editorial team. Like her contemporaries such as Rick Poyner who publishes critical analyses in Eye magazine; she changed the design landscape with a multitude of reflective articles throughout her tenure at the magazine.
Her fundamental interest lies in connecting the visual and the verbal, where the design embolden's and tell's it own story for the content of the articles.
"Translating verbal messages into visual forms is the essence of graphic design"
Anne Burdick
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Working collaboratively with the designer's at every stage of the process ("a constant meeting and descision making process"), she was fully invested in the magazine and with Caroline Roberts as Editor in Chief and Made Thought as designers they produced a magazine that brought thoughtful, critical debate directly to the heart of the industry. In 2005 they purchased the magazine but with changing times, which brought in the internet and saw independent publishing rise with an established publishing world collapsing; the magazine became too costly to run and eventually folded.
Today, independent publishing is thriving and as Angharad herself states, caters to the buying choices of consumers. In the same way we have become less brand loyal, consumers today "buy magazines in the way people buy books". The model has shifted where magazines are crowdfunded and a limited set of magazines are produced with thematic content in a finite number of issues and formats {I.E: Migrant magazine is only 8 issues). This allows more control over the editorship and sharpens the research and reflection processes for the content.
It is interesting that today Grafik magazine is currently moving towards a subscription model and is being crowdfunded for it re-publication. This is also supported by events, social presence and merchandise.
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TAKE OUTS
— Shift your focus towards critical, theoretical, social, political, economic and cultural concerns.
— Invest in useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication.
— Reflect and give meaning.
— Provoke deeper understanding and drive debate.
— Challenge the status quo.Designs responsibility is to create a better life for all.
— Explore the relationship between content and form (The visual and the verbal).
— Research: Archives, Journals, Organisations, Trends.
— Collaborate: Become an invested stakeholder.
— Interviews: know your subject, listen, know what you want answered.
— Structure the article: Context, Theme, Relationship to other content
— Know your theme.
— Have a point of view.
— Speak from the heart.
— Drafting shapes the article.
— Think about pace and rhythm.
— Have a conclusion with impact.
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Workshop Challenge
How do you develop an initial idea into a finished editorial concept?
Research methods to structure and edit a written document.
RESEARCH: WRITING AN NON-FICTION ARTICLE
Writing non-fiction texts usually means writing about facts or opinions. Many non-fiction texts come with conventions of language, form and structure.
Structure
The structure of an article for a newspaper, magazine or website, is usually in three parts:
Introduction – engaging the reader, or outlining the main point of the article to follow
Middle – making clear and interesting points about the topic
End – a concluding paragraph that draws the points together
If the aim of an article is to persuade the reader, then the opening and closing paragraph will outline the writer’s viewpoint and make it most memorable. Subheadings are sometimes used to signpost the content of each.
Language
The language of an article depends upon the purpose and audience; usually, the vocabulary of the article will fit the topic content, and who it is targeted at. For example, you would expect an article about a recent film release to include the vocabulary of actors, scripts and performance.
A catchy, memorable headline is essential to grab your readers’ attention and entice them to read the whole article.
Articles are usually written in Standard English, but colloquial sayings or phrases might be used to emphasise a point. Persuasive devices, such as rule of three, rhetorical questions and alliteration can be used to encourage the reader to agree with your point of view.
An article uses a short, bold headline using alliteration to get the reader’s interest and present the topic of the article. A rhetorical question in the opening paragraph encourages the reader to challenge the topic. The subheadings direct the reader through the text, and act as mini headlines, drawing the reader’s attention. The writer can employ hyperbole, and colloquial sayings to produce a lively, interesting article. This style of language can be used throughout adding a conversational tone to the whole piece.
The final paragraph can use quotations from an expert to add credibility to the argument.
Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z27cmnb/revision/5.
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STRUCTURING MY ARTICLE ABOUT THE VIKING HISTORY OF WOOD QUAY
— Introduction: Sense of place and time of the Viking arrival and history.
— Middle: The discovery of the settlement vs the plans to build Dublin City Councils offices and the campaign to prevent construction and enable archeologists to fully excavate the site.
— End: Legacy and insights. New perspectives.
— Audience: A visually literate audience considering form, structure, materials and medium.
— Language/TOV: I want to start with an almost storytelling approach and end with unanswered questions.
— Further research needs to be done to add an ethnographic aspect to the piece.
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RESEARCH: EDITING
Define your Goals
When editing an article, be very specific to describe the goal behind the topic you choose to express. Ask yourself, the objective of writing the article and check if your words are clearly defining your goals or not.
Main Frame
The main frame of the article includes the INTRO part which contains the objective of the article, that is the introduction to the topic.
Then comes the BODY of the article which includes the central part of your article. The message you want to give and the solutions you provide through your article.
Lastly, comes the CONCLUSION part of the article which includes your message for your readers. It lets you conclude your thoughts/ recommendations on an excellent short note.
Don’t be Repetitive
Avoid the repetition of words, rather than using the same word try to use different synonyms. Express different thought in each paragraph rather than writing /expressing same ideas in a different manner.
Being repetitive with your words or ideas doesn’t make your article strong. Instead, it makes them look more unconvincing.
Use quotes and images
Quotes and images makes the article feel more engaging to the readers. But, overdosing these might degrade the quality of your article.
Try to instill at most two quotes and 1-2 images in your article. Avoid adding these in the body part of your article, as this may disrupt the reader from concentrating on your article. Use it in either the introduction part or the conclusion part to make it more interesting.
Last Minute Corrections
After completing all the possible editing work read your article and check if any further improvements are required.
— Check if the quotes and images are relevant to your writing.
— Check if all the paragraphs are going smoothly in an order.
— Check if the introduction part of your article or the objective of your article is adequately described properly and, is the conclusion part relevant to the objective.
Retrieved from: https://writingcooperative.com/how-to-edit-an-article-like-a-pro-991dbdbe0a7d.
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Analyse methods available to designers for self-publishing.
— Digital: Blog. Interactive PDF. (E.G: Issu).
— Low production value books/print on demand: Blurb, Amazon, IngramSpark.
— Submit idea to a publisher: Thames and Hudson take open submissions.’
— Self financed with the help of a printer: What's your distribution model?
— Finance with crowdsourcing: Kickstarter Drip.
— Submit article to a magazine editor.
— Newspapers/print on demand: Newspaper club. What's your distribution model?
— Create your own magazine/zine. Print on demand. Blurb. What's your distribution model?
Digital is the easiest route with no 'print' actually involved. Most print on demand companies do not give you enough options when it comes to paper stock (Matt/Gloss) or finish as they are a printed using digital (CMYK) print methods. Ideally, going down the route of self financing or crowdfunding and working with a printer is the best route as you have more choice on the materials and processes used.
The hardest part would be working out a distribution model but if crowdsourcing, this would come from the desire of funders to want the piece in the first place.
You could of course produce a print on demand publication for the main body of the piece and collaborate with local screenprinters, letterpress printers and RISO to enhance the qualities of your design.
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Write the first draft of your 3,000 word article, to be saved as a Word or TextEdit document.
WOOD QUAY: VIKING BURIAL
In the late 1970’s a discovery was unearthed that would alter Irish and European history forever. By 1981 it was all but lost to all who first set eyes on it, but its significance had not been forgotten by the nation. So what was found, who unearthed it and why was it buried again, permanently?
FOUNDATIONS
Ninth Century Ireland or Hibernia, as it was known at the time. Windswept and deluged by rain. Sometimes harsh in the Winter and intermittently sunblessed in the Summer. A fertile, green land enriched with peaty marshlands and pastures; with good soil for raising livestock and harvesting grain. This is a mixed society with slowly disappearing pagan gods and rituals, stories and legends, Christian priests and few remaining High Kings of Ireland. The Kings settled in their ringforts that surround the churches to form small towns.
A country of herdsmen, hunters and gatherers living in supposed harmony with an educated clergy and the High Kings of Ireland. A nation of largely uneducated people hardened by weather and toil, told to reform; some of them pirates prone to robbing England of its riches and enslaving its occupants, but mostly peaceful in nature. The cairns and dolmens hinting at their Celtic past, caught in the shadows of the high crosses of a Christian god in a time when the High King Uí Néill held the seat of power.
Over 1,500 miles away, past Britannia, on Scandinavian shores; a horde of Nordic Tribesmen gather, readying themselves for the long sea voyage ahead. Supplies, swords and shields are packed into longships. They have plundered both England and Ireland before, stealing the treasures of the church and enslaving its people, but this time when they set sail they are setting out to change the course of Irish history forever.
In 841 they make landfall on the Eastern shores of Ireland proceeding inland to rob, rape cut, kill and maim; establishing a base where a monastery is thought to have stood near the River Liffey. In the bay, a small tidal pool known as the Poddle gurgles. Its peat sediment swirling and staining the waters black. In witnessing this natural phenomenon the Norse invaders name the captured land ‘The Kingdom of Dyflin’. When translated by the Gaels, Dyflinn becomes ‘Dubhlinn’ or Black Pool. It is here that Dublin is conquered, named and established.
Led by Olaf the White, the unwelcome ‘Viking’ invaders build a longfort settlement, using the location of the Black Pool as the base for their many nefarious activities. They quickly establish Dublin as a slave port and market, exporting their human traffic and stolen goods to Scandanvian countries, and with help of the Irish Gael sea raiders, they build up a very lucrative business.
New trade routes are opened up through England and the continent which lead to Dublin’s growth into one of the most important trading towns in the known Viking world, with tentacles reaching as far afield as the Byzantine Empire, the Muslim Central and Western Asia.
And all this is achieved from a small area in Dublin known as Wood Quay. By the 12th Century some Viking history still remains, but the last Viking king of Ireland has been killed during the Norman invasion, and the Vikings grasp relinquished. The centuries passed and with them the underlying history of the Viking occupation vanished from view.
A BRUTAL AWAKENING
1967. Dublin Corporation finally received permission to start building works on land they purchased way back in the Fifties. Sadly, O’Meara’s pub had been knocked down and the demolition of more Georgian and Victorian buildings were to follow. The clearance of the land paved the way for battle to commence. A fight between scholars, builder’s, architects, counselors, politicos and archeologists as well as the people of Ireland.
In the preceding years, many architectural practices submitted proposals for the site due to a competition launched by the Corporation. In 1968, the best six were put on display in City Hall which were mostly met with derision, the main concern being that no consideration had been undertaken to avoid the obscuring of Christchurch Cathedral. Perhaps as a consequence of Ireland projecting itself to the wider world as a progressive and modern society; the architects all submitted designs that were unsympathetic to the architecture of the surrounding buildings. Buildings, that in the same way as Christchurch Cathedral, all had cultural and historical significance.
A design including office blocks of 5-10 storeys was announced as the winner proposed by Stephenson Gibney and Associates. Full approval for the build was granted on 24th December to much consternation with over 30 organizations opposing the proposals. Stephenson’s design took a modernist stance in the form of what we now call ‘Brutalist’ architecture. The proposed building itself, a concrete monolith, would have seemed like an ugly blot on the landscape even to the average person in 1968. A concrete block with slits for eyes peering over its surroundings like an unwanted invader.
With pressure mounting on Ireland’s politicians, a decision was made to allow the “National Monuments Advisory Council to inspect, record and recover matter of archaeological interest”. This was to lead to one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE
In 1969 the archeological excavations began to take place on behalf of the National Museum of Ireland and were led by Pat Wallace and his multi-talented team. After initial examinations, it became clear the importance of this site: a Viking settlement that could provide scholars with a greater understanding of Medieval life in Dublin. Excavating a larger area of 4 acres they soon discovered evidence of human activity on the site covering over 5 centuries of Medieval occupation. Because of the peat rich soil approximately 120 buildings had been preserved with some of the wooden structures and artifacts still intact. It was simply put, the most extensive and best preserved series of 10th and 11th century buildings found at any European site West of the Elbe. Along with these initial discoveries they also unearthed thousands of artifacts from preserved carved wooden toys, to gold and metalwork, to clothing and ancient accessories. All the essential contemporary accouterments of the Medieval city dweller. This was until 1973 when the excavation was abruptly stopped to allow bulldozers onto the site to start work on the foundations of the Corporation’s offices. The bulldozers were allowed to irreparably destroy parts of the site over a period of 3 months, including the discovery of the ancient city’s walls. This was until a cease order was issued by the Minister for local government, James Tully.
Scholarly work continued on the site while the building works were in hiatus and public interest started to grow due to the incredible array of artifacts revealed to the wider world during the excavations. There were even proposals made to turn the site into an archeological park after excavations were completed and efforts were made to halt the development.
Unfortunately this was to no avail as James Tully announced that the planned building of Dublin’s Civic Offices was to go ahead with the office buildings relocated to nearby Fishamble Street on February 13th 1974. A win for the planners, architects and council in the short term.
The very fact that bulldozers were allowed on the site after the discoveries were made seems incongruous with a country that has such a rich and celebrated past. In discovering one of the most significant Viking settlements in Irish and European history it seems that nothing would deter the planners from pushing ahead - even during the excavations. What were they looking to achieve with this measured act of vandalism? Surely they knew what was to follow by their own actions.
In an act of national defiance, a Campaign to protect and save the site, its history and its artifacts gained momentum and the protestations of people from all walks of Irish society and life came to the fore. This was in large part due to the media’s coverage of the unfolding events at the time, but mainly because of the continuous stream of fascinating history that was being unearthed on a daily basis that was inevitably going to be lost by the building works forever in the push to finish the build.
THE BATTLE FOR WOOD QUAY
In 1976, the campaign to save the site at Wood Quay began in earnest. Headed up by Professor F.X.Martin, a dominican Friar, and the Friends of Medieval Dublin. This quickly led to one of the most public demonstrations of non-violent protest in the history of the state and was largely supported by both the people of Ireland and their European counterparts.
The struggle to protect the site from what was seen as vandalism by the Dublin Corporation covered many years with protests, sit-in and litigation coming to the fore. The aim of the protests was chiefly for Dublin Corporation to rethink the location of their offices, but over a ten year period it inadvertently managed to buy time for the archeologists to carry out their important work.
This culminated in a peaceful march through Dublin to the site in 1978 with 20,000 people turning up, walking and chanting their own brand of solidarity and defiance. The campaign caught the imagination of the wider world and many archeologists, historians, politicians, academics, writers, activists and the young and old of Ireland and Europe joined forces to prevent the construction from going ahead. Amongst them the poet Thomas Kinsella who told the protesters “This is the birthplace of our own city”. Mary Robinson, who was later to become President of Ireland said “We are marching for two purposes today…we are marching to stop the destruction of Wood Quay and we are marching for the construction of civic offices to be constructed elsewhere”.
In the same year a group of eminent European archeologists traveled to visit the site for themselves with one reporting to national news that it would take at least eleven years to completely explore a site of such historical and scientific importance. He also went on to reveal that there had only been three such sites discovered in the Western world but that this was the largest and most complete, the other sites being in York, and Denmark (Heildelberg in Germany and Aarhaus in Roskilde). This only served to highlight the cultural significance of such a find.
By this time glimpses of the work for the Dublin Council’s office had begun. Steel rods and diggers populating parts of the site along with workmen’s huts and portaloos. At the same time the National Museum’s important work on the site continued, but in a race against time the archeology processes were forced to escalate in order for the scholars to preserve and record new discoveries. The focus shifted from the artifacts themselves to the actual town as it revealed itself in the peat, an almost complete picture of Irish cultural society from the 5th - 11th centuries with at this point approximately 180 dwellings unearthed. As the diggers moved in and corners of the site were lost, a tragic image appeared where the site started to look like a team of people had painted themselves into a room; the diggers and building works on one side and the scholars on the other.
While the fight for Wood Quay continued, Professor F.X.Martin was taking the battle to the supreme court to try to overturn the decision to pave over history. Sadly and for the time being, the action against the corporation was lost and as Prof.Martin took the case as a citizen he was ordered to pay the legal costs. “I have no money… I am a religious beggar” he said. As a Dominican friar he could not have any worldly possessions. “Anything I have doesn't go to me, it goes to my order”. However, Dublin Corporation didn’t share this view stating that they had a right to press for damages on account that they were losing approximately 30,000 Irish Punt a week due to delays to the building works. These damages were said at the time to amount to approximately half a million pounds. This didn’t deter or flap the wings of Prof.Martin and shortly after, a group of scholars, poets and archeologists and the Friends of Medieval Dublin set up camp on the site for what became known as ‘Operation Sitric’. This led to ugly scenes between developers and protesters, the first time blood had reached boiling point.
The ‘sit-in’ was met with further litigation with Prof.Martin standing proud, accepting of due process but in no way put off by it. He stated that the Corporation was probably not best placed to make decisions about the importance of the site saying “They are not archaeologists. They are administrators”. The tenacity of both man and friar kept the wolves at bay for a period of over 10 years which allowed the dig to continue.
In spite of the public outcry – a public that submitted a petition in support of the preservation with approximately 210,000 signatures (delivered by Santa Claus to the Minister of Finance), the voice of dismay from global scholars, and the recorded finds and multiple artifacts unearthed; the government of the day alliterated that they could not do anything to stop the wheels in that were motion. Garret Fitzgerald, leader of the opposition hit out at the Labour government stating “The government have behaved disgracefully in this matter”, describing events as a crime against the heritage of the country.
In 1979 the site was given National Monument status which gave false hope to the campaigners for what was to come. All the while the dig was marred by the construction and destruction with what some saw as the deliberate demolishing of the original Norman boundary wall.
Perversely, Dublin Corporation found an ally in one archeologist who described the site as a “hole in the ground” that couldn’t be preserved. Michael O’Kelly Professor of Archaeology at University College Cork asked “why would you want to preserve an open piece of rock and mud as a national monument?” and went on to describe the dig's new status as a National Monument as a “bad decision”.
None of these small distractions changed public sentiment or the will of the protesters to continue and a new march was staged, but sadly, this time only 5,000 activists turned up for the event. Even the Irish rebel band The Dubliner’s turned up to lend some musical comfort and support. This period was described as the eleventh hour heralding dark days ahead for Dublin and the wider world. The archeologists were hemmed in, both metaphorically and physically with only a small corner of the four acre site left untouched by machine intervention. A public viewing platform was set up as if to allow the ordinary people of Ireland to say farewell to what was now turning into a lost cause. The skeleton of the first tower now looming large over the site casting a wide shadow over Dublin’s ancient history. By 1981, and with only two weeks left to excavate, the end had finally come. The bulldozers went in ripping out the remaining corner of the site and destroyed any of the remaining archaeology. The earth was taken out to a dump in Ringsend and concrete began to pour into the sad little holes that were left behind.
AFTERMATH
Prof.Martin, down but not out, turned up to court to face the final ruling for delaying the construction. He accepts as a citizen that he must follow due process. He is fined 89,000 Irish Punt. When the dust had settled and in response to the liable action he offered “somewhere, someone, somehow has to stand up”. Resolute to the end.
Looking back with fresh eyes the fight, which started in 1975 and ended in 1981 did allow many important artifacts to be discovered and the story of viking Dublin to be told in some measurable degree of detail. The corporation’s immovable will to maintain ownership of the site and move in while it was still being excavated was a stain on Irish history, but I do understand that conditions of their workers in dilapidated buildings needed addressing as did the protestors of the day. With all the money that was spent between 1972 and 1981 in days lost, litigation and eventually concrete destruction would they have not been better served in the rejuvenation of the older buildings? The government’s lack of will to step in and save the heritage of Dublin also alludes to the fact that modernisation and capitalism took precedence over preservation of history that generations of Irish would have benefitted from.
The liability charges were eventually dropped against Prof.Martin and perversely he was later gifted the millennium award for conservation by none other than the Dublin Corporation.
The legacy of the viking occupation is still evident in modern Irish society today. They brought with them the stereotypical stories of plunder and rape but were much more than this. The National Monument gave us their story – unhealthy malnourished tradespeople with a short life span and painfully bad teeth all living in close quarters on one side, artisans, seafarers, explorers and Kings on the other.
Wood Quay today is an unassuming place and if you are a visitor to Dublin you would easily pass it by. Just another business quarter, apart from Christ Church Cathedral. A row of concrete and glass buildings looming large over the Liffey. Without using the metal tools we are all born with and digging deeper as the archaeologists did, you wouldn’t even know the history was there. It is a viking burial in every sense. In the name of progress the history has been erased from view, labeled and placed in dusty cabinets.
So when we think of Sitric and Olaf setting sail to create what was to become the heart of old Dublin, we must also think of those who came to fight for their story to be told and not consign the importance of Wood Quay’s history to just another burning raft, floating out to sea.
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Create an A3 landscape format inspiration board to present your initial ideas about the design approach, to include examples of materials, format, typography, print / digital production. Save your inspiration board in an interactive PDF format and upload to your blog and the Ideas Wall.
INSPIRATION BOARD
To tell the story of Wood Quay I was thinking about the idea of actually sealing the article in concrete so it can only be read by destroying the outside to get to the inside. A kind of reverse archeology to get to the heart of the story. I have also explored other ways that the layers can be achieved with a concrete sleeve or box containing a wooden folder etched with some details or it could also be a book within a book. The typography would match the brutalist subject matter and the details ephemera from the time.
