In preparation for this session, we brought along the phrase 'Who are you?' in a light, regular and bold font in 4 different point sizes. These were then cut up into different words and the question mark separately.
We experimented with the hierarchy of the phrase by changing the positioning of the letters and the variations of point size and line thickness. We then attempted to read the phrase in the way that it was visually portrayed, with comical results.
Here are some of the arrangements created in that session:
We practiced that you can change the order of which we read, and the emotions of the words just by changing the hierarchy through type.
Here are the 11 different accents we were asked to portray:
- Geordie
- Welsh
- Yorkshire
- Irish
- Pirate
- French
- Russian
- Essex
- Scouse
- Jamaican
Through practising in the session that type is simply speech made visible, we were set the task of portraying 11 completely different accents visually. We were asked to in no way label or caption what the accent was meant to be, and that the work should 'speak' for itself.
Here are the 11 different accents we were asked to portray:
- Geordie
- Welsh
- Yorkshire
- Irish
- Pirate
- French
- Russian
- Essex
- Scouse
- Jamaican
- Australian
My portrayal of these 11 accents through type:
Russian:
I decided to use quite a bold font that looked similar to the letterforms in the Cyrillic alphabet, however I didn't want to go straight for something obvious, for example a font with a "backwards R" within it. Since studying Russian at school, it really irritates me when English people just see symbols or backwards letters within the Cyrillic alphabet, so I wanted to stay clear of those stereotypical associations, as the letter that looks like a backwards R is, in fact, a 'ya'.
I decided to make the word 'are' more emphasised, as Russians tend to roll their R's, and I used the colours of the Russian flag in a gradient to help make it feel a bit more soviet.
French:
I chose to use a script font, as the French accent is very elegant and flows really nicely. I didn't want to use anything too flouncy, as some French accents are quite abrupt, depending on the area of France that you are from. I chose to change the colour of the letters to a dark shade of pink, to represent the romanticism that is associated with the French. I decided to emphasise the word 'you?' as I feel like a lot of French sentences are emphasised towards the end.
Irish:
I decided to use a font with a slight Gaelic twist to it, to relate to Ireland's Gaelic routes in typography and language. I also made sure that the 'are' had a slight emphasis to it, as when I hear Irish people talk, they tend to pronounce words with R's in louder, and bolder. I chose to write the sentence in a very stereotypical green, to help make it look Irish.
Geordie:
I decided to play with the fact that Geordie accents originate from Newcastle, so chose a font made up of little castles. I left the letters black, as the accent is quite bold and in your face sometimes. I also made sure that the words 'who' and 'you' were bolder than 'are' to represent the tone of their voices.
Australian:
I decided to focus more on how the sentence would be pronounced by an Australian. I noticed that Australians tend to end their sentences like a question, by raising the tone at the end of a sentence. I portrayed this by increasing the point size gradually in the word 'you?'. I chose that particular font, as I thought it was friendly and a font that you'd probably see being used at a surf shack. I also thought that changing the colour to a greeny-blue would look a bit like the colour of coral in the Great Barrier Reef.
Pirate:
When it came to choosing the typeface to represent a Pirate, I thought that this one suited the bill, due to the medieval kind of feel to it (setting it back to the old days of Pirates) and the fact that the question mark looks quite like a Pirate hook! I chose to emphasise the word 'are' as Pirates are quite well known to say 'AAARRRGGGHHHH'. I left it in black and white, due to the large use of skulls, crossbones and black and white in Pirate flags etc.
Essex:
For the Essex accent, I decided to go with a font that was cheesy, yet signified 'glamorous'. I thought that this font was extremely cheesy, and really did remind me of Essex folk. Like quite a few of the accents, I felt that Essex voices held emphasis on the word 'are', so I made that bolder. The use of the colour purple was literally to add a bit of glam to the typeface, and make it a bit cheesier to look at.
Jamaican:
When choosing the font for the Jamaican accent, I looked for something quite scruffy, as I think that their accent is a bit broken here and there. I also thought that this typeface would work well as it reminded me of dreadlocks in a way! I thought that using the Rasta colours would help to bring the sentence together in a Jamaican way.
Yorkshire:
I don't really know that many people from Yorkshire, so I decided to play on the stereotypical Northern accent that most Southerners associate with Yorkshire. Due to the accent sounding broken (from the shortening of sentences and words like the to t'), I chose a broken yet friendly typeface to use and changed the colour to a mossy colour to suit the Yorkshire Moors. Because we couldn't actually change the grammar or spelling of the words, I stretched the O out in 'who', because I'd imagine a Northerner to pronounce the word who without the W or H.
Welsh:
I chose this typeface, as I wanted to use something that related to the Celtic origins of Wales. I thought that emphasising the word 'you' by use of colour rather than changing the size of it helped to show how subtle and soft the accent is in Wales. I also thought that the font helped to show the Welsh accent due to the lines underneath the Os as they are often pronounced stronger when Welsh are speaking. The colours in general were chosen due to the colours of the Welsh flag.
Scouse:
I find strong Scouse accents quite hard to understand at times, so I decided to use quite a scruffy font that is readable but could be illegible if used at a smaller size. Similarly to Australian accents, the Scouse tend to raise their sentences at the ends like a question, but a lot more subtly, hence the slight enlargement of the letters in 'you?'. I've also noticed that Scouse tend to hold onto their Rs and Cs in words, so I made the R in 'are' a lot bigger so it seemed stretched. I chose to change the colour of the font to something quite friendly, yet a shy colour, as most Scouse voices I have heard are quite high in pitch, so I thought a lighter colour would help represent this.
