, , , , , Typography, Craftsmanship, Computers, Making, Practice, Tacit Knowledge

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Archetype & Archetypal Student Projects Exploring Experimental Typography,

Craftsmanship and the Human Hand

Chris RoHongik University, South Korea

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1. Introduction

A common expression used in the field of design is that ‘there is nothing new under the sun’. The essence of this statement communicates a manner of thinking that assumes there is nothing truly original anymore. With the sheer amount of people, creators, designers, and thinkers occupying this planet, it might be safe for one to say that if it has been designed here, then someplace, somewhere else something with similar thinking and execution has also been designed. In graphic design and typography, there is definitely some validity to such an expression. The rapid pace of graphic design results in an industry with dramatically condensed timelines. This accelerated rate and relative ease of production also increases the volume of output. The end result is a vast quantity of graphic design. It might be safe to say that everyday, we have more graphic designers than we did yesterday. And similarly, everyday, we have more graphic design than we did yesterday.

We also exist in a time where the tools of design have become somewhat standardized. The large majority of graphic designers and typographers all use computers and the same set of applications as largely everyone else. So how might one differentiate themselves? Not only is there a tremendous amount of design being generated every minute, the means by which it is generated remains undistinguishable from designer to designer. It is an intriguing, albeit unsettling prospect and the results of such circumstances make it increasingly formidable to create distinction.

The archetype project is a typographic project that investigates these conditions. The word archetype, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that an archetype is “the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies: prototype; also: a perfect example.”01

In design, what does it mean to create the very first of its kind? It is something that designers often strive for but are not always able to entirely achieve. For several weeks over the course of two semesters, this line of questioning fuelled a series of typographic experiments exploring the conditions of creating exemplary design and typography. Archetypal typography that was defining, distinct and provocative.

차례

1. Introduction

2. The Projects

3. Extending the Human Hand

4. The Computer and the Hand

5. Conclusions and Further Thinking

6.

Abstract

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that were formerly more congruous have found greater separation. This curious distinction between maker and thinker formed the basis for the first archetype project. As the hand has become facilitator, and the capacity of the hand has become isolated to a few instances, what would happen if the hands became augmented or enhanced? What could ‘super’ hands do in terms of form making and typography?

One of the greater fascinations of my short time here in Korea has been fuelled by the relentless capacity of Koreans to produce and produce in a lightning quick manner. If one wants something created, it can often happen overnight. If one needs something manufactured, produced, or prototyped, one can simply go to any number of Seoul’s industrial zones and an ajushi or ajuma (elder Korean man or woman) can create something at a relatively reasonable price and often in a ridiculously accelerated time span. These activities often range a vast spectrum. Any number of these professionals can mould, meld, grind, sew, stitch, spin, sculpt, cut, saw, warp, etc. These are all specific hand skills that have been developed and honed over a long period of time. Many refer to this experienced information as ‘practical’, ‘craft’ or ‘tacit’ knowledge. Information that has been gained over years and years of repetitive practice.04 So with this first archetype project, the question was, if one could utilize some of this ‘tacit’ knowledge and professional capabilities, how different could one challenge the existing form of typography?

2. The Projects

The archetype project was conducted across two schools and two courses at Kookmin University and Hongik University both in the departments of visual communication design. The project was conducted at the undergraduate level comprised mostly of students who were in their third or fourth year. They were part of a semester long course that was encouraging the development of exploration, experimentation and play with and within typography. Most of these students had previously undergone a rigorous two or three semesters of traditional typography and the hope was for this course to provide an outlet to try the untried. The projects were geared more towards form development and exploration as each student was tasked to push their individual form making capacity and application. Although ideation and concept were an integral part of each project, the overarching theme was the challenging of one’s own form making language.

3. Extending the Human Hand

The first archetype project, conducted with students in the Typography Three course at Kookmin University dealt with extension of the human hand. There continues to be much debate about the extent we as designers work with our hands. Some place a great importance on the hand. Howard Risatti notes that the hand “is more than a simple appendage of the physical body; the hand is a reflection of the entire human organism; it is a direct extension of mind.”02 But design in many instances has become a complex entity that has moved beyond such necessity. In an ever more ideas and planning based industry, the hand is often just a facilitator. Andrew Blauvelt observes that “the typical segregation one sees in the culture at large and in the design profession in particular, between hand skills and head skills – making and thinking – seems therefore both regretful and artificial. Nevertheless, this segregation of conception and production remains at the heart of much professional discourse and angst.”03 Graphic design has become increasingly more compartmentalized and processes

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Figure 2. Archetype by Youngjin Lee. A puzzle based archetype constructed by

the hands of a professional wood-worker.

After confirming and selecting a method of manufacturing, the students were then challenged to effectively communicate their ideas to said manufacturer. If design in its strictest sense is ‘planning’, this portion of the project was the exact embodiment of that. Similar to architects constructing a building with blueprints and construction documents, each of these designers went about constructing diagrams and drawings that communicated to the manufacturer how to build such typography. With graphic design, as the designer is often in control of a project from beginning to finish, such rigorous planning is often not necessary. One can establish the basics through computer-generated sketches. For many of these designers, it was the first time having to communicate in such a manner.

Upon completion of the planning framework, the designer was now left to interact with the manufacturer in sporadic moments. But the aforementioned Korean manufacturing timeline left little time for feedback or direction. Within a few hours or a day, many of these projects were started and completed. The

Figure 1. Archetype by Youngjin Lee. A puzzle based archetype constructed by

the hands of a professional wood-worker.

So the first task in this project was to conceptualize a way to extend the human hand. The students were given a week to explore the industrial areas of Seoul such as Chungmuro, Euljiro and Jongno and just discover what type of manufacturing activities were taking place there. Who was making what. How were they making it? At what cost would it be to make such a thing. What types of form were they creating? They were then tasked with bringing all this data together and conceptualizing a way to create some kind of new typography. It was a combination of planning, budgeting and imagination.

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Piano often stressed the importance of repetition and practice and the simultaneous process of thinking and doing in the development of better architects and better architecture. In his observation, computers had eliminated such consequential processes. This was particularly critical in the areas of drawing and rendering of spaces. To understand spaces he often opined one needs to repetitively draw them.07 In computer processes the notion of repetition and practice seem both excessive and inefficient. With speed and mass production, the computer has often made it unnecessary and sometimes trivial to hone or develop craft. Designer Andrew Blauvelt warns though that such conditions of production have consequences for graphic design such as ‘cheaper wages, increased competition, a flood of amateur work and an erosion of craft. The most residual effect of all this would be that graphic design itself becomes just another tool.’08

Figure 3. Archetypes by Noh Anyeong and Adina Renner. Both are pushing the typical

usage of the computer in form generation. The archetype on the left takes the line tool

and pushes it to its computling limits. The archetype on the right is an experiment in

scripting and repetition.

resulting output was both varied and fantastic. Some of the designers had collaborated with artists, sculptors, furniture designers, bakers, cooks, traditional seamstresses, heavy industry professionals, electricians, repairmen, etc. In applying these years of tacit knowledge to the development of typography, much of the formal output was both shocking, intriguing and an embodiment of the original intentions of the archetype project.

4. The Computer and the Hand

“The messiness of human experience is warming up the cold precision of technology to make it livable, and lived in.”05 As one of the original tenets set forth by the 2d program at the Cranbrook Academy of Art 22 years go, the notion of human experience and technology in unison remains both controversial and relevant. A recurring theme that continues to divide many a designer is the computer and its dominance as industry tool for graphic design. There still remains a large number of designers who express frustration with its supposed lack of tactility, agility and overall disconnect. If given both choice and time, a large number of designers would rather work with their hands rather than mice and keyboards.

This disconnect is particularly palpable in terms of the notion of craftsmanship and its relationship with the computer. With the ease, speed and ability of the computer, can there exist such a thing as digital craftsmanship? Computers can sometimes fall into the category of what is known as distributed knowledge. This is knowledge that, antithetical to the aforementioned ‘tacit’ knowledge, is know-how that is often immediately obtained without training or effort.06 An example of this are those who claim they are photographers because of their ability to pick up a point and shoot camera and take pictures. But the ability to take a picture does not necessarily define them as a photographer. Design and the computer operate under a similar alliance. Those who can turn on a computer and operate a word processing or photo imaging application are positioned to proclaim that they are graphic designers.

Craft and its tenets are antithetical to such thinking. The architect Renzo

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generates the critical balance that allows for the progression to new discoveries. In design, lack of complete experimental control (in the scientific sense) is not only to be expected, but is to be desired.”09 So in the early stages, the students conducted a process of digital wandering. Part of the development of ‘tacit’ knowledge comes with the deep investment and understanding of one’s tools. Similarly, the students were allowed to wander amongst their tools and discover both limits and potential.

Figure 5. Archetypes by Noh Hyeji and Yoon Nari.

Within this digital wandering, almost all of the students latched on to a process that began to produce visually arresting formal results. A certain combination of tools or the deeper investigation of one tool in particular often resulted in a form that had previously not been seen before. And with several rounds of application, these results could then be repeated. Some of the students found ways to apply some of their analog tool usage sensibilities into the digital realm. Carving, molding, sculpting were often used in the description of their actions.

Design versus craft. This second archetype project is a series of typographic experiments where students explored the idea of craft, personality and the digital, computer based means to produce design and typography. If the computer is antithetical to craftsmanship, how can we push the computers and associated processes towards craft? In the first archetype project, the students were encouraged to find physical means of extending the hand. In this project, the students were tasked with discovering new digital means for not only extending their hands but also honing their sensibilities at the same time.

Figure 4. Archetypes by Minjeong Kim. Both of these are exploring repetition and space.

The project began with an open framework for exploration and discovery. With very little rules or expectations, the students were tasked simply with exploring their existing digital craft sensibilities and then pushing them in new directions. This freedom of thought was based on the notion that fluidity and constant connections between making and experimentation were necessary for the development of craft exploration. As Ashley Hall observes, the release of thoughts and the “interplay between innate response and conscious calculation

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of craft and ornamentation with digital processes. The results often held the appearance of William Morris in combination with some of the form and visual feel of digital application.

This second archetype project was conducted with both third and fourth year students at Hongik University and Kookmin University.

5. Conclusions and Further Thinking

The results of both archetype projects, true to the archetype name were visually arresting. Exploring new methods of form and form development, many of the projects readily achieved said goal. In the creation of experimental typography, both extending the hand in physical and digital directions greatly extended some of the known means by which designers produce typography. The results of this were wide, varied, elaborate and perhaps most importantly, unseen. But moving forward, there are still a number of areas that could benefit both this coursework and output. Throughout all of these processes, the notion of craft through ‘tacit’ knowledge was discussed in frequency but practiced infrequently. The emphasis was placed so heavily on exploration that the notions of repetition and time based knowledge had yet to be fully explored and researched. These processes often remained still at a cursory level. The next stages of this project or the next incarnations might benefit from the continued exploration of what capabilities such personal knowledge development might provide. The deep investigation of one tool or one method until a very complete understanding of its capacity exists. In a day when the word ‘master’ has often been replaced with ‘director’, what might it mean to deeply engage with a creation method? To master it through its entirety? Another area of further research could also be in the tools themselves. If we were able to freely think and design the tools that we use as graphic designers, would they come in the form that they come in today? Would we really be using a mouse and keyboard? One argument that may continue to be researched is the appropriateness of the computer as a tool in creative processes and how this in turn affects both craftsmanship and mastery. The next incarnations of this project may benefit from observing such relationships.

Figure 6. Archetypes by Han Songee and Jinwoo Yi. These archetypes explore

a combination of some of the tradition of crafts in design such as ornamentation,

pattern and blackletter and current digital design processes.

After the selection of a particular set of processes, each student then went on to formally construct typography using said processes. As with many typographic processes, systems became a crucial component in the construction of type and the use of grids and order establishing devices. One advantage of the computer is the quick and easy establishment of precision and rules to assist in design. These designs took full advantage of this in an expanded manner sometimes employing a super complex grid only capable of being generated within the computer. A large percentage of the projects also went in the opposite direction of such order. These projects broke completely free of such rules and created type that had absolutely no organization, grounding or bearing. The results of these were a fusion of hand knowledge and digital form. The hands used their apriori knowledge of push, sensitivity, carving and molding and the results could perhaps be best expressed as data that had been physically touched. There were also a group of projects that explored the meshing of conventional definitions

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참고 문헌

• Risatti, Howard, A Theory of Craft: Function and Aesthetic Expression. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2007.

• Blauvelt, Andrew, Tool (Or, Post-production for the Graphic Designer). Graphic Design: Now in Production. Walker Art Center, 2011.

• Nugraha, Adhi, Does Art Benefit from Craft Knowledge? SYNNYT/ORIGINS, Volume 2, 2009, Aalto University, School of Arts.

• Aldersey Williams, Hugh, Wild, Lorraine and Boles, Daralice, Cranbrook Design: The New Discourse. Rizzoli, New York, 1990.

• Dormer, Peter, The Culture of Craft. Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1997.• Robbins, Edward, Why Architects Draw. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1994.• Blauvelt, Andrew, Tool (Or, Post-production for the Graphic Designer). Graphic Design: Now in Production.

Walker Art Center, 2011.• Hall, Ashley, Experimental Design: Design Experimentation. Design Issues: Volume 27, Number 2 Spring

2011, MIT Press. Cambridge.

• Merriam Webster Dictionary. http://www.merriam webster.com

주

01 Merriam Webster Dictionary. http://www.merriam webster.com02 Risatti, Howard, A Theory of Craft: Function and Aesthetic Expression. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2007. Location 1248.03 Blauvelt, Andrew, Tool (Or, Post-production for the Graphic Designer). Graphic Design: Now in Production. Walker Art Center, 2011. Pg. 23.04 Nugraha, Adhi, Does Art Benefit from Craft Knowledge? SYNNYT/ORIGINS,

Volume 2, 2009, Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture.05 Aldersey Williams, Hugh, Wild, Lorraine and Boles, Daralice,

Cranbrook Design: The New Discourse. Rizzoli, New York, 1990. Pg. 14.06 Dormer, Peter, The Culture of Craft. Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York,

1997. Pg. 139.07 Robbins, Edward, Why Architects Draw. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1994. Pg. 126.08 Blauvelt, Andrew, Tool (Or, Post-production for the Graphic Designer).

Graphic Design: Now in Production. Walker Art Center, 2011. Pg. 23.09 Hall, Ashley, Experimental Design: Design Experimentation. Design Issues:

Volume 27, Number 2 Spring 2011, MIT Press. Cambridge. Pg. 17–26.

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Abstract

This paper is an overview of recent typographic coursework conducted with students from the visual communication design programs at Kookmin University and Hongik University. The title and theme of this coursework is ‘archetype’ which in this instance refers to the generation of typography that is potentially the first of its kind — original, landmark or mould defining type. The project has thus far existed in two different entities both exploring this notion of archetype. The first incarnation of this project explores extending and expanding the capabilities of the human hand in creating typography. If the designer could augment and enhance the abilities of their hands, what variety of typography could be generated from such processes? The second incarnation explored the idea of craftsmanship and its relationship to the computer. With the speed, ease and standardization of computers in the design process, where and how does craft and the designer voice exist? The archetype project is an exploration of both of these themes as well as an effort to further experimental thinking, form making and the continuing push for typography that is challenging both to viewers and creators.

초록

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