GDE750 – WEEK 5

Beginning the shift into critical report preparation

This week I moved out of the project proposal mindset and into the early stages of preparing for the critical report. It felt like I had to almost reset my brain because the proposal work has been very forward facing and predictive, while the report has to be grounded, analytical and reflective. I realised early on in the week that I needed to stop gathering more and more information and start understanding what I already have.

My starting point was reviewing the notes I produced during the proposal stage. I kept seeing the same point appear across different places in my writing, which helped me realise that the real core of this project is not vocabulary or typography on their own but the idea of voice. Barnsley dialect carries identity, humour, class, belonging and attitude. It is never neutral. That became the first major anchor for the report.

I wanted to find a theoretical source that would ground this idea. Stuart Hall was the most useful at this stage. His writing on representation helped me understand that meaning is not just transmitted, it is constructed. This made dialect feel even more relevant, because the way we interpret spoken identity is shaped by cultural experience, not by the dictionary definition of the word. Hall helped me shift from thinking of dialect as “something to design” to something that already carries meaning before I even touch visual form.

The rest of the week involved sorting the themes that kept emerging. I wrote a list that included authenticity, local identity, social perception, tone, instinct and cultural belonging. Seeing these side by side helped me understand that the report needs to explore how design handles voice, rather than simply how dialect looks when written down. This shift made the whole task feel clearer.

I drafted a few versions of a potential research question but the one that felt strongest was: How does typography shape the interpretation of local spoken identity. This felt grounded enough for an academic approach but still connected directly to my studio practice.

This week was not about producing anything visually impressive, but it was essential groundwork. I now know what direction the report needs to follow and why it matters in relation to the wider project.

TUNE OF THE WEEK