Activating the Methodology and Using Workshop Insights to Shape Early Typographic Tests
This week marked the formal shift into the design stage of the project, and for the first time I began applying the methodology in a practical context. Having the six stage framework in place gave the studio work a clear direction, but moving from theory and planning into actual visual experimentation required a different type of decision making. This week became about testing how the methodology behaves in practice, exploring the first typographic forms and beginning to understand how dialect can be visualised beyond written language.
The starting point was returning to the preliminary workshop outcomes that I had drafted in Week 19. Even though the workshop has not yet been delivered physically, the framework already provided valuable conceptual prompts. The tasks on loud vs quiet, word personality, and gesture based mark making helped me approach the design work with much more intentionality. Instead of looking at the words as static text, I used the workshop logic to examine their sonic and emotional qualities.
For example, words like “Gi’ore” carry a pushed, abrupt and slightly cheeky tone, while “Chuffin Hell” has an explosive rhythm that stretches across two beats. These characteristics became the foundation of the visual tests. I explored exaggeration in form, spacing and layout to echo those tonal dynamics. This approach aligns with Pataca and Costa’s research into phonetic typography, which suggests that the visual form of type can imitate speech patterns through distortion, repetition and pacing.
I also drew from the expressive typographers I studied earlier in the module. Aries Moross’s use of movement and layered rhythm encouraged me to experiment with dynamic outlines and irregular shapes, while Marion Deuchars’s hand rendered style reminded me to embrace imperfection and gesture within the design. Similarly, Greg Bunbury’s socially charged posters demonstrated how minimal shifts in weight and colour can communicate urgency and tone. These influences helped me think beyond decorative type and instead explore expressive, culturally grounded forms.
The early experiments were intentionally rough and exploratory. I tested multiple treatments of key dialect words to see how far I could push them while maintaining legibility and authenticity. For “Eyup,” I experimented with enlarging the opening vowel shape to create an immediate sense of warmth and welcome. For “Nowt,” I reduced the visual presence almost entirely, exploring tonal quietness through negative space, minimal stroke weight and sparse layout. For “Put Wood Int Oyle,” I tested typographic structures that leaned toward instructional signage, aligning with the practical, direct tone of the phrase, but softened them to reflect the familiarity associated with Barnsley dialect.
An important realisation this week was the value of working iteratively. Schön’s model of reflection in action became particularly relevant: as I adjusted letterforms, spacing and composition, I found myself responding intuitively to each change, questioning whether the visual behaviour matched the spoken tone. This reflective process made the design phase feel more like an active conversation with the methodology rather than a separate stage.
Towards the end of the week, I began placing a few tests into simple mockups, such as real world settings. This helped me understand whether the typographic behaviours that felt expressive on the page maintained their impact when contextualised. Some designs did not hold their energy when scaled up, while others gained unexpected resonance when seen in a real environment. This revealed early gaps in my approach and highlighted the importance of designing with context in mind, not just composition.
Overall, Week 20 has been about activating the methodology, exploring the translation from sound to form, and identifying the initial design behaviours that will guide the more developed experiments in the coming weeks. The work is still early, but the emerging visual language is beginning to feel grounded in both the theory and the lived qualities of Barnsley dialect.
LSJ DESIGNS 
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