I decided to research into this term to see what I could find out. Primarily materiality refers to the sensory qualities of different materials used. This allows to create an experience that can impact our understanding and perception in what we are engaging with, which could be an object, spaces or an experience of some sort.
To incorpoate materiality within your work of practice, it can elevate the process and understanding in what you are trying to make for the end user/ audience experience. Within the right context you can use materiality as visual lens towards the ideas and themes that you are exploring within your own practice. I feel this is a powerful tool that I need to address within my own practice and try to incorporate it within my own methodology and visual outcomes.
Below shows further notes taken from researching into the different kinds of materiality and how different they are to one another.
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| Notes taken from my research into materiality (Jones, 2023) |
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| Notes taken from my research into materiality (Jones, 2023) |
I decided to use this time by reflecting upon my previous work on the BA, particularly the work of my major project. This is because it shows a great example of the physical response towards materiality through the use of "different print medium methods such as screen printing and lino print, this allowed me to adapt my ideas further visually and show how these artefacts visually communicate towards my target audience" (Jones, 2023).
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Photos showcasing BA major project work of Jordan Jones 2023
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Photos showcasing BA major project work of Jordan Jones 2023
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| Photos showcasing BA major project work of Jordan Jones 2023 |
The work clearly connotes the tactile natures to which materials can elevate your work to communicate a message, this is clearly understood as a strong visual response that in fact materiality actually plays a big part in my work.
The key points that I got from analysing my work and current practice is:
- Tactile
- Responsive
- Engaging
- Visual
- Print
After I analysed previous work of mine in the context of materiality within my practice, I decided to seek advice on how I should go about tackling my question by asking the printing technician Jordan. He provided me with lots of helpful suggestions to explore materiality as a visual and tactile response by aligning it to my own practice of print design.
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| Image shows notes taken from a conversation with printing technician Jordan |
The idea to tackle this question was simple, explore by making things through different printed mediums. This will enter myself into practice-based research whilst focusing on " How can materiality enhance the user/audience experience, in your own practice?
I decided to research Hebrew type as a visual lens to aid my practice, by analysing the letterform in ways that is explored through the art of print design, whilst answering my question of research module. This is one of my areas of interest personally that I have been exploring within the Proposal module. I started by researching first into this area within my own practice of graphic design and typography by exploring this area through books. I discovered by searching the Hebrew alphabet and the history behind it in my Proposal module and found this great book via the Vinted app where I occasionally look for cheap books to purchase. In fact, this actually became a great starting point for my ongoing research for my project proposal module looking into Hebrew-type design. However, this blog is of course focusing on a question of research so you might be wondering why I have chosen this book as part of my question of research journey looking into materiality?
The answer to this is simple, I needed to visually explore the letter alef in the visual context that promotes materiality and typography and so this book clearly for me outlines visually the exploration of the letter Alef in the context of print design.
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Hoffman, M. (2019). Legends of the AlefBet: The Origins of the Alphabe.
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Hoffman, M. (2019). Legends of the AlefBet: The Origins of the Alphabet.
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Through the tactile feel of turning the pages and coming across the illustrative typographic responses to Hebrew type design, I was able to point out the overall design structures of this letter form and got me thinking how could I adapt these further within my own response. The idea to focus primarily on one letter form from the Hebrew alphabet at this stage, was to fully explore this letter well by focusing primarily on the overall design, understanding its composition and overall structure.
This will play an important part in my research journey as it will be a starting point to analyse the Hebrew alphabet so that I can then adapt within my own practice and continue on within my proposal and major project.
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Hoffman, M. (2019). Legends of the AlefBet: The Origins of the Alphabet
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To add further context to the alef and its meaning, I discovered from reading this book that it visually points out the difference of meaning in other languages. I also found out that "the Alef represents balance", which I can see visually that the overall typographic value of the letter connotes a strong foundation to the shape and form of the overall letter (Hoffman, M. (2019). However, I thought to myself how could I implement this in a more experiential way through my practice whilst focusing on materiality?
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Hoffman, M. (2019). Legends of the AlefBet: The Origins of the Alphabet.
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I decided to see if I had any typefaces of glyphs that show Hebrew type. It was interesting to discover that I currently had three Hebrew typefaces within my current glyphs collection. This will help me to visually see and adapt my ideas in how I want to explore Alef further within my practice.  |
Screenshot image showing Hebrew fonts in my font library used for reference. |
After briefly investigating into Hebrew type and the history of the letter, I decided to sketch out different iterations of the letter. I used a grid-dotted paper, as this is what I tend to use to map out letter forms. Using the provided grid, allowed me to sketch out different designs that could be then used as part of the practice-based research method to help me explore further.
The image shows initial sketches of the letter Aleph (Jones, 2023)
I felt this would be a great start for my MA studies, especially for a question of research tackling my chosen question on "How can materiality enhance the user/audience experience, in your own practice?) Materiality for me is all about a tactile response within an experience that you can physically touch and engage with. So for me, I want to explore different ways to illustrate the meaning of the letter Aleph (A), in a contemporary way, that supports print design which aligns with its original heritage of discovery and current use today. I feel that in society, we primarily associate the Hebrew language and type to be predominantly script-based and not so experimental in a modern-day sense.
Using my own practice as a graphic designer and specialising in typography, my focus will be to use materiality to drive the narrative of my practice-based research by including such experiments that will push the boundaries within my own methodology approach whilst visually creating such outcomes that will change the way we see Hebrew type today. A traditional language associated with religion is what we tend to think about when Hebrew type is considered which in many cases is correct, but can we visualise one of the oldest languages in history today using a systematic approach using different methods within print and digital design.
I decided to continue to explore the term materiality and discovered this quote from Bestley & Noble from their book Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methods in Graphic Design (Bestley, Noble, 2018). |
Bestley, R., & Noble, I. (2016). Visual research: An Introduction to Research Methods in Graphic Design. Bloomsbury Publishing. |
I found myself thinking, that materiality can be very much associated with a form of object. What Bestley and Noble mention is that "the physical nature of a book, for example; how it is printed, it's binding, the materials it is constructed from" and so on, identifies to me that this could be a way of illustrating my question of research and how I see materiality within my working practice dealing with all sorts of materials that will enhance the user experience (Bestley,Noble, 2018).
From reading this quote, I felt drawn to the word print, and how I feel this could be part of the main design output to allow myself to begin my practice-based research and focus on materiality. I feel this can form a strong use of communication design that will allow me to explore through making something whilst communicating how materiality becomes part of the process of a tactile nature within the print design.
But, how will I explore this?
I decided to note down key areas I could explore materiality in terms of print design that supports my own practice.
Areas such as:
- Screen printing
- Letter press (wood type)
- laster cutting
- Exploration through type (use of materials)
- Flexible visual system (digital)
I decided to further brainstorm potential areas that come to mind associated with materiality within objects. For me, the areas that actually started to jump out was primarily paper, textures and posters. This was some what covered already in my BA major but I feel that I want to continue exploring this further in my practice by exploring print again as well as poster design.
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| Brainstorming session on materiality within objects |
Below shows notes take from a recent discussion with both of my lecturers Dan and Olly about my question and how I could tackle it.
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| Notes from my sketchbook |
I feel that there is different areas of interests starting to come into light which I feel could be a great place to adapt further in my response of how to tackle my question of research on materiality.
I decided that I wanted to explore print design to try and make sense of the word materiality and how it aligns within my own practice. I found myself researching into the work of Karel Martens again, this is because I am very much familiar within with his work from researching into it for my BA major project. However, what I didn't know until now was how influential his work is within materiality and how visual output is very important within print and digital mediums.
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| Karel Martens Re-Printed Matter (2019) |
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“Absence in design is very important”: Karel Martens on paying attention to the things we don’t see. (2020). https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/karel-martens-re-printed-matter-graphic-design-020920 |
Having flicked through Re-Printed Matter, I could identify a clear visual understanding towards the means of print and how beneficial it is as a visual output. I thought to myself, how can I implement a similar practice within my own practice-based research? Not only this but, how can I answer my question of research on materiality through the lens of typographic exploration and print design?
Video showing a flick through of Re-Printed Matter (2019)
I had to ask myself, what is it about Martens work that has now opened my eyes up visually to the means of materiality and how can I explore this further within my own methodology?
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“Absence in design is very important”: Karel Martens on paying attention to the things we don’t see. (2020).
https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/karel-martens-re-printed-matter-graphic-design-020920 |
I feel that I am now becoming more aware of the importance of materiality and how I can align this within my own practice. To me it is a form of a visual aid that can be adapted within your practice and aligned through the lens of what you are trying to communicate. For me it is about how I can adapt ideas to explore visually through the use of materials and how they can sit within the medium of print. The only way I find what works for me in making sense of something is by doing and making things. My way in responding towards a question that I am trying to answer, is by doing something creative to allow my thoughts and process to take over and learn by doing something.
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