When my original timeline was developed, as part of the Proposal unit, it was at the end of a difficult period of the pandemic (Winter 2020) that had seen restrictions put in place on how I could access resources as well as external factors like having to care for my school age son when the schools were closed. There was however an element of naive positivity to the run up to the Christmas period where at the time we felt restrictions were going to be lifted and 2021 was in general going to be a more normal year. Writing this in March it is clear to me how naive that was after over 4 months of lockdown restrictions being enforced. But my proposal was based on the knowledge I had available to me then, rather than having the benefit of hindsight to steer my decisions.
Even without those restrictions in place, when I evaluate my project now I can see that my original timeline, and indeed my original proposal, was too focused on the production of an object and not on the development that is needed to create an object with meaning. Much of the timeline was about quickly producing a typeface and then marketing it. That’s not to say the research on my proposal has been wasted, it has provided me with an excellent foundation on to which to keep building. Also the core aim of the project, “Design a typeface”, has not changed. It is simply clear to me at this point that I will enjoy exploring the conceptual side of the creation further and that the project will be more theoretically sound if I re-evaluate the timeline and goals, rather than condensing the development of the typeface it my original timings.
At the start of this project I reflected on what I wanted my typeface to communicate. After my discussions with Chris Wilson about Typography, teaching and letterpress I feel looking into how methods of teaching and learning can be integrated into the project will be valuable. As would some further analysis of existing letterforms themselves.
Likewise the learning of a completely new medium, 3D printing, and the required digital tools to use it has taken up much of the time I had allocated to experiment with letterforms so that needs to be integrated into my new timeline.
My proposal was very focused on the commercial aspect of type production, I was going to make something to sell and evaluate it’s success via looking at sales reports and social media engagement. I am realising with my aims shifting to a more educational output these won’t be worthwhile metrics for the success of the project so I need to consider new methods for the evaluation of my final product.
Finally with the restrictions being in place and the disruption to my home, academic and professional life, I have found it much harder than I had originally considered it would be to allocate what I feel is a substantial enough amount of time each week to my Masters project. This is part is due to me choosing a subject that I am passionate about and one that I want to continue on past the submission as a professional project. With that in mind, my new timeline factors in the fact that my teaching will be coming to an end in May so I will be able to dedicate more time to the project.
