GDE750 – WEEK 14

Actioning Dan’s Feedback and Restructuring the Report

This week has been dedicated to acting on the feedback I received from Dan and beginning the process of reshaping the first draft. Seeing all the comments laid out made it clear where the report needed strengthening, and although it felt a little overwhelming at first, working through the changes section by section has helped me feel more in control.

The biggest task this week was clarifying what I actually mean by “dialect” and how typography has historically contributed to its suppression. In the first draft, I assumed the reader would understand this without explanation, but Dan made it clear that I needed to define it more explicitly. I revisited Crystal, Hall and Edwards and rewrote the early paragraphs so that dialect is positioned not only as spoken variation but as a cultural marker tied to identity, memory and belonging. This made the argument far clearer and gave the report a more grounded introduction.

I also removed the sweeping generalisations Dan highlighted and replaced them with more specific analysis. Instead of saying that modern design simply “favours clarity and trend”, I rewrote these sections using examples from Müller Brockmann, Vignelli and Experimental Jetset to demonstrate how modernist systems rely on order, neutrality and standardisation. This felt much stronger because it placed the argument within real design history rather than broad assumptions.

Another area I focused on was paraphrasing. I went back to the longer quotes Dan had pointed out and rewrote them in my own words, keeping the references but improving the flow. This made the writing feel much more cohesive and less like a collection of disconnected source material.

I also started integrating more visual examples earlier in the report, including Paula Scher and Marion Deuchars, as Dan suggested. I added captions and clearer reflection on the images, connecting them directly to the arguments being made. This instantly improved the balance between text and visual analysis.

By the end of the week, the report was already feeling tighter, clearer and more academically consistent. There is still a lot to do, but this week has been about finding the shape of what the final version should look like.

TUNE OF THE WEEK