Thinking of ideas for my intervention, I’ve been thinking about a typeface design project that looks at cultural identity as a starting point. This would hopefully encourage students to think beyond the Western canon for ideas for typefaces, not only looking to diversify the ‘voice’ of typefaces but also reflecting the culture from where the ideas came.
This reminded me of Norman Potter’s writing in Models and Constructs (1990).
Every artefact, from painting to poem to chair to waste paper basket, tells the total story of the culture that produced it.
Norman Potter, Models and Constructs, 1990
and something James Langdon said in a lecture (I believe the Walker Art Center Insights lecture)
Contained in everything that is manmade is the evidence you would need to understand the values of the society that produced that object.
James Langdon (adding to above)
References
Potter, N. (1990) Models and Constructs: Margin Notes to a Design Culture, London: Hyphen Press