No24 Primary research - Those were the days. Airmail paper and stationery...

Reflective Journal Entry No24 18/07/11

The second of today's journal entries focuses on the time when we used to write letters, and airmail in particular. I do remember growing up, and using Basildon Bonds Airmail pads and envelopes for a good many years. At one time my parents and I used to write to our family in Ireland and South Africa, I seem to remember at least 3 or 4 letters a month going overseas. For me it was also not only just keeping in touch with family, but the sense of excitement at receiving a letter with a 'Foreign Postmark'

Especially with South Africa which to me was so far away, well in those days it was and felt like it was in another galaxy, many years later in the the first half of the 90's I went to live and work near Johannesburg, and this was just before e-mail really started to be used as extensively as it is today, it was either letters by airmail on the famous blue paper or by fax if it was more urgent. It's not the same these days and the planet seems to have become increasingly smaller by the year to where now it all feels a lot more immediate and it is.

Basildon Bond and Airmail...

Examples for the handwriting exercise...

No23 Primary research - Handwriting exercise...

Reflective Journal Entry No23 18/07/11

Today's session and meeting at the Rylands did not go ahead as planned, due to personal and technical reasons, however the visual experiments and the meeting with Julianne Simpson are now rescheduled for next Monday the 25th July, an it is hoped that they will yield the requisite level of information to move the latest stage of the project forward?

Over the weekend I was having a discussion with Ness my Wife, as to a certain level of fear I have that the current developments will not turn out as well as I hope they will? This all comes back to the original aims and objectives I set out with back in September 2010, at the beginning of the course and this journey of exploration. A personal journey which has taken me back to through a personal archive of materials, connecting me with my home city, the influence and guidance of my Father Peter Snr, and my Professional Practice and career. All of which is now feeding into this latest work. I originally wanted to build a 'resource kit of materials' and this is where in some ways I'm still heading, though on the MA we have to be seen to be exploring outside of a final chosen path, which is fine for my group colleagues and in a way I admire their ability to take in a greater level of study, but I need to keep it tighter to keep my focus, I guess I still have not completely let go the Graphic Designer in me?

My chosen route of 'Handwritten Typography' is a more specific area of exploration, and something which is starting to develop nicely. The more I delve into this subject, the more it is becoming increasingly obvious that it is very likely in another generation the use of handwriting may well be seriously under threat? In fact as it stands now there are large numbers of people under the age of 25 how do not know how to compose a letter by hand! It is is this area I'm looking at the beginning of a series of handwriting experiments, where I will ask the people I know and the general public to write out in their own handwriting, from a selected poem. This goes to Primary research and will offer some evidence to begin to support the background analysis, and also compare and contrast styles, generations of those taking the exercise.

I have to confess to being somewhat hesitant on the next steps which need to be taken, I guess this journey has brought a large number of memories to the surface, mostly good memories of the time I spent with my Father, the places the sites and experiences from the city he shared with me and from which I now draw upon. It is very likely that the earlier directions are going to have some bearing on the direction of my latest work and a common thread is being continued in the background of this multi-layered project.

We'll see...