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Details of the hand lettering of the benefactors’ boards in the Trinity Chapel, Newarke, Leicester (Archer, 2012)Ben Archerbarcher@dmu.ac.ukBA (Hons) Communication ArtsLeicester Media SchoolFaculty of TechnologyOffice: GH 5.21De Montfort UniversityThe GatewayLeicester LE1 9BH0116 207 8291Research Proposal: M3C Doctoral StudyTitle The Trinity Chapel Font Project(or A Font Called Hofpital).Originality/significance of research The proposal is to explore the range of possibilities within a digital font revival project working from hand-painted pre-industrial sources (significant to De Montfort University, Leicester and the wider Midlands area). The contribution to knowledge is offered by a) generation of a contemporary computer font family of variants (including language subsets other than English) and b) an accompanying reference work of digital type design from a historical model that document the process. Fonts per se may or may not be new knowledge, but using practice-based research methods to interrogate the design space between digitization and capture, to interpretation, extrapolation, inspiration, and inclusion, would offer new insights into this critical technical practice.Today’s fonts can contain several different language subsets, supporting languages as diverse as Gujurati and Polish – so theoretically it would be possible to create a font reflecting the diversity of DMU’s population. In practice this becomes a multilingual communications tool that signals inclusion and exchange of ideas, at a time when such meta-narratives should be high on the academic agenda.In that the project is linked to preserving local visual identity and heritage, projected wider impact could see the published work offering a methodology and process template for similar (typographic digital conservation and exhibition) work being undertaken in other countries as the digital font market continues to expand and globalise through India, China and Southeast Asia.OverviewA literature review focussed on revivalism in contemporary type design would provide a discrete research question and contribute to knowledge by shedding light on the interpretation of forms by others (on what actually constitutes a revival), examining the surveys and anthologies of historical font revivals and extracting models of best practice.Wider discussions of visually relating different language subsets within a single font has been largely led by the conference and journal output of Gerry Leonidas and Fiona Ross at the Department of Typographic Communication, University of Reading, while the best-in-practice technical documentation on this subject has been achieved by Monotype and Google staff on the online resource bank GitHub for the recent five-year project creating the multi-language font Noto [1]. But when it comes to describing the start-to-finish process of making a complete digital font, or taking a personal reflection on the decision-making involved, or inducting some complex questions arising from on-the-fly interpretation and extrapolation, there is a gap in the literature, with the best-in-practice (Spanish) textbook, Cómo Crear Tipografías (2012) only due to be published in an English edition later this year. ContextIn that sources for historical font revivals are almost always mitigated by earlier printing conditions and resultant guesswork about the true shape of the original designs, this project is different in that the source specimens are pristine and have not been reproduced elsewhere. The hand lettering of the benefactors’ boards in Trinity Chapel present a pre-industrial, artisanal source material that underpins the region’s pre-eminence in 18th century lettering, typefounding and printing arts. The style of the lettering and the dates on the boards are close to the celebrated eponymous typeface of the Birmingham typefounder John Baskerville in 1757, but belong to a lettering tradition dating from 1710, and contain enough significant differences of detail to make this a subject of independent investigation. However the boards are still on display in an uncontrolled atmospheric environment, where they will eventually degrade and crumble, despite recent efforts to prevent people touching them. Cataloguing and translating the letterforms to a digital medium would be a space-effective, low-cost, timely intervention with good potential for dissemination of research-based teaching at DMU. Develop FrameworkPractice-based research (PBR)Practice-based Research is original investigation undertaken in order to gain new knowledge partly by means of practice and the outcomes of that practice (Candy, 2006).For example, reflecting on making a font leads one to consider the terms of production; in its original context, a font or fount meant a single size of lettering including numerals and punctuation – just as it is on these benefactors’ boards, and typically a few hundred characters at most – but today the word font denotes a single digital file containing thousands of characters supporting multiple languages and available in an infinite range of sizes. This raises the question ‘How has our culture arrived at an exponential proliferation of these artefacts while retaining the same traditional labels for them, despite radical differences in what is being described?’ Besides the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT), positioned within the Media Production Design grouping of the Leicester Media School (LMS) is a new research group Media, Culture & Technology SIG. Similarly it is interested in exploring how technology practice itself can be understood as a process of critical interrogation related to the field of cultural production – where questioning design and production processes can create methods for the development of critical thought. This project finds a natural alignment with the research groups stated aims of ? researching into the role media technologies play in the co-construction of culture? investigating and experimenting with the use of technologies for cultural analysis? providing a philosophical and theoretical context for media technology practice? interrogating how such practice itself provides a method for developing and challenging ideasPBR is therefore a favoured methodology for interdisciplinary research between subject areas within the applied technical practices of LMS, from Film & Media Studies through Journalism and PR to Graphics, Media Production, Game Art and Communication Arts. Common to all of them, and the wider humanities, is the everyday use of fonts.As practice, originating the Trinity Chapel font would be in itself practice-based research activity – because the artefact itself ‘talks back’ during the process of its creation and such a process is also subject to user-testing and feedback in iterative design cycles. Therefore the project requires an accompanying critical reflection on practice; An explicit, word-specific representation of processes that occur during the iterative art-makingroutine, processes of gradual, cyclical speculation, realisation or revelation leading tomomentary, contingent degrees of understanding. To this extent the text that one produces isa kind of narrative about the flux of perception-cognition-intuition. (Gibson, cited in Candy, 2006)However the project may also facilitate practice-led teaching at a later point that aligns to a number of current school/faculty/university strategies in that it provides detailed contextual knowledge transferable to a number of learning outcomes;? visibly practiced commitment to inclusive academic culture? articulated relationship of theory and practice informing practice-led teaching? construction of values-in-design, justification of aesthetic argument? location of arguments involving ‘putting Leicester on the map’ applicable to DMU regional strategy? student engagement/empowerment from the aboveAs published output, it would relate to DMU strategic framework references to transform, create, promote and improve our city, and enhance stakeholder experience, by demonstrating the creation of contemporary digital artefact from historical sources and making a (hidden, inaccessible) part of the city historical fabric visible to a new audience. Link this to the idea of ‘industrial heritage tourism’ in combination with overseas students attending DMU (many UK regional towns have adopted bespoke typefaces as silent, but significant ‘visual ambassadors’ in recent years).Research question x 3“Revivals/Recuttings/ReclamationsClosely based on historical models (metal type, hand-cut punches, etc.) for commercial or noncommercial purposes, with the right amount of historic preservation and sensitivity to the virtues of the original being kept in focus – all with a solid grounding in type scholarship behind the effort, too.” (Downer, 2003)Can the project live up to the definition offered above?How can the artefact-making process be used to interrogate wider discourses surrounding digital conservation, typographic representations of historic authenticity and authority?Can the nuances of a hand-rendered lettering design made in 1764 withstand the translation to a digitally-mediated font in 2017?What does the process reveal about the technical characteristics of the original and how might that be optimised for contemporary audiences and applications?Are the grace, authority and irregularity of the original design transferrable assets and could they be empirically tested for this? Positioning of the researchLettering design as cultural artefact and semiotic signifier for professional and lay audiences, local, regional and international; consideration of wider contexts such as recorded philanthropy (the original purpose of the benefactors’ boards), branded experience, industrial/typographic tourism. Font production providing a case study of process including documentation of method, dissemination of technique, reflection on practice, peer review, wider discussion of how and where such an exercise/product might be used to reflect its original purpose.Research design & methodology (simplified)1) literature review and development of research frameworkArchive research at DMU, The Typographic Hub, BIAD archive at Birmingham City University, St Brides Printing Library, Monotype. 2) refinement of research questionsTo extend its functional range of applications;Would the font need further weights or thicknesses?Would the font need adjustments for optical sizing?Would the font need additional character sets to support other languages and scripts?3) methodology designPractice-based research (PBR) including peer review and publication. Experimental, interpretative. Feedback into teaching practice, local partnerships.4) data collection and analysisPhotographic survey of the source material in situ. Inventory and analysis of characters present and missing. Schedule of production work including testing cycles. Preparatory drawings and plans. Working propositions, experiments and testing of new character designs for compatibility with existing originals. Audience testing.5) discussion of findingsPeer review via published articles (project website and blog), typographic forums, research seminar presentations, conference papers.6) conclusion/recommendationsSpecific aims and objectivesTo create a fully-featured opentype font family based on the 1764 lettering designs of the benefactors’ boards in Trinity Chapel, De Montfort University. To develop a practice-based research methodology in order to critically reflect on the work and its contribution to knowledge, by documenting and publishing the work, the process of its generation, and the accompanying interrogation of its reason for being.TimelineThe expected duration of this PhD study is 5 years part-time, with an expected completion date in 2021.ResourcesArchive access as aboveTravel national (Birmingham, London, Redhill, Reading)DSLR camera, lights, tripod/monopod, stepladderFontlab Studio softwareStationeryWebsite/Wordpress blogPrintingFramingPhysical exhibition at DMU VJP Gallery or elsewhere in central Leicester, possibly gallery space at LPW or basement gallery of the Adult Education Institute, Belvoir Street.Proposed conference submissions(Participation in the following UK typographic conferences would support preceding statements concerning the location-specific, regional and national qualities attributed to the source material for this project, and are logical developments from existing research and publication outputs)Granshan Multilanguage Font Competition & Conference, ReadingAmpersand Web Type Conference, BrightonFuture London Academy’s ‘British Typography Week’In addition there are the following annual international typographic conferences;TYPO Berlin, GermanyTypeCon, Boston, Mass, USAInternational Conference on Typography & Visual Communication (ICTVC), Thessaloniki, GreeceProposed StudyStart date May 1 2017End date May 1 2021Preparation for Study and Previous ExperienceBen Archer grew up in a commercial art environment and drew his first lettering designs as a teenager after winning the 11+ scholarship to independent secondary school. He went on to a one-in-five place at Middlesex Polytechnic to take a first [Honours] degree in Graphic Design. After graduation worked as a book, magazine and advertising designer and built a deep practical knowledge of applied typography including proprietary, commercial font production for Ford UK and The Economist magazine. The practice-based project of his 2008 MA was a typographic history website listing the most important 100 fonts and he formed correspondences with many internationally-respected type designers and foundries. After joining DMU he attended the University of Reading summer school type design course TDi2010 [2], organised two successive Adobe Campus Days to promote software literacy, and edited the second international edition of the typography textbook Letter Fountain, (Pohlen, 2015) which is on sale in the DMU bookshop and at the Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp. During 2016 he delivered a series of public lectures called Fonts at The Font in Leicester, and is cited in the new Lund Humphries title Gill & Johnston: Very British Types (Ovenden, 2016). Both of these more recent ouputs focus specifically on British national identity in typographic form.Academic unit(s) and supervisorsAt DMU: Dr Tracy HarwoodReader in Digital Marketing and Consumer Culture, Usability Lab, IOCTDe Montfort UniversityEmail: tharwood@dmu.ac.ukPhone: +44 (0)116 207 8028 Area of expertise "emergent consumer behaviour related to new technologies and creative cultures in industrial contexts".At BCU: Prof Caroline ArcherDirector of The Typographic HubSchool of Visual Communication, Birmingham City UniversityEmail: caroline.archer@bcu.ac.ukPhone: 0121 331 5871Area of expertise “typographic history”.External partnersLeicester Print Workshop The Typographic Hub, BirminghamSt Brides Printing Library, LondonFontstand, Den Haag, HollandPotential external partnersThe Type Museum, LondonMuseums and Arts Leicester City CouncilCreative LeicestershireLBC Depot LeicesterMonotypeGoogle FontsPlantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp, BelgiumAcademic refereesProf Ian GwiltArt & Design Research CentreSheffield Hallam UniversityEmail: HYPERLINK "mailto:i.gwilt@shu.ac.uk" i.gwilt@shu.ac.ukPhone: +44 (0)114 225 6772Mr Gerry LeonidasAssociate ProfessorDept of Typographic CommunicationUniversity of ReadingEmail: g.leonidas@reading.ac.ukPhone: +44 (0) 118 378 6397ReferencesHenestrosa, C, Meseguer, L, Scaglione, J (2012) Cómo crear tipografías, Brizzolis SA, Madrid, SpainCandy, L (2006) PBR Guide-1.1-2006 UTS Sydney AustraliaDowner, J (2003) Call It What It Is ?migré, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA[1] [2] reading and references from the earlier MA study Gray, C. & Malins, J. 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