Spelling war of the worlds

Let's get one thing straight. I'm not awesome at spelling. I know some stuff, but I've also made some spelling mistakes along the way. As a young child I pointed out to my mother the misspelling of Sydney as Sidney in the credits of I dream of Jeannie. She explained that it was ok because it was someone's name then went on to praise my prodigy-like spelling genius. Years later I misspelled believe in a spelling bee. My disappointed Aunty told me that if you never tell a lie people will always believe you. Never misspelled that one again. Many many years later I began frequently misspelling words that I had to americanise in the coding of websites, I was leaving the u's out of words in emails all over the place, it was like the end of days. For my spelling dignity.  

Therein lies the very issue. Us versus them. QE versus NAE. English versus American. Is the Americanisation of English that bad? It uses less letters which means less ink in printing, maybe even less pages in books, maybe it even means less spelling mistakes! One things for certain, it means less points in scrabble, and that's possibly a deal breaker!

This came up as a hot topic recently with a client; we're working on a book that tells Indigenous kids' stories, with an American author who has spent time on the APY Lands in South Australia. He captures the kids' voices so beautifully, spanning a gamut of emotions in the process, and does it all in US English. As I was typesetting the book it kept slapping me in the face. Color. Honor. Humor. Traveling. Tires. Neighbors. But this was an Australian book, about Indigenous kids and their families. I agonised over it. Over spelling. Did it matter? The author is American. The audience is global. The story is Australian. So what's the spelling hierarchy?!

For me, it felt strange to see Australian slang words like fellas butted up against US English spelling. Where are all the goddamned letter u's? So we had an open discussion about it. The final decision was made to use US English, with the comment given that Aussie kids will be ok with reading US spelling as they're used to it, but that globally there may be more challenges to others to read the Queen's English. So the u's remain missing and I remain confused. In an Australian story, Aussie characters are speaking to one another in American. Nope. Sorry. Does not compute. But maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe, we should just adopt US English spelling. 

No really, I mean it! Other than giving me more scrabble points, what are all those u's I fought for actually doing? They're taking up space, making words longer than necessary and messing with my spellcheck. Should we actually consider streamlining our language? How is it even acceptable for there to be so many different kinds of English? Slang is excluded of course, but for the rest of our proper sentences, being just-slightly-different-but-mostly-the-same seems kinda stupid. I can't even imagine how hard it must be to learn English as a second language. 

English is like the window-licker on the bus of languages. Their. They're. There. I said it. Word. 

Curiosity killed the cat.

If our aim as designers is to communicate ideas, to break down complex details into simpler more manageable chunks, how do we determine what we can and can't simplify? How does the designer gain enough insight into an issue to properly communicate it to others? How do they know how to make those "others" interested in learning more? Are designers know-it-all mind-reader geniuses?! Ha! Unlikely!! 

Designers are inquisitive types though, and curiosity can lead one's mind in all manner of directions. Good designers will seek out what they do not know, they will search incessantly, they'll read, google, and ask a lot of questions of the people around them. They explore and interpret all the information they discover. And all good design really boils down to one thing... Research. 

We get curious, and we source everything there is to know, we sort that data as many different ways as possible and look for emerging patterns. We brainstorm all of the iconography and symbolism we could use to represent an issue, we consider it in the context of the target audience and the visual systems they find appealing. And only once we have all this information can we start to piece together considered design solutions. 

To design without researching, is to answer a question before it's been asked. 

Dig deep. 

Explore often. 

Be curious. 

A designer is not a cat. Research will not kill you. 

Highlighting the problem WITH the problem

I've been thinking a lot about how I'll tackle my research project now affectionately known as #bgwlb [bigwilb] and whenever I look at Chris Jordan's work I always get that magic combination of inspired and deflated, insplated. 

I want this project to mean something. I want it to mean something the way that Jordan's work means something! I'm insplated but I hope that I can inspire or at least insplate someone else!

Do you come with the planet?

What if we could make saving our planet whilst maintaining society and economies seem like a good idea? I think we can. I reckon all the rhetoric techniques that basically convince you to drink the koolaid of consumerism can be used to make people to be better humans. I think we can use all the brainwashing techniques used in advertising and branding to convince people to change their ways.

So for starters, since sex sells everything else on the planet, why not try to use it to sell the planet? Do people need to buy into sustainability to feel invested? Do we need to sell it?

Does earth need a sexy voice and a slinky dress?

Always judge a project by its title.

My title. My big beefy project title. I'm told it should be simple enough for your nana to understand, but my nana is dead, so I went with this:

Being green without looking brown: an investigation into the use of design rhetoric to evolve sustainable design practice to a position of normality.

Basically I wanna know why we treat sustainable design like an optional extra - "would you like to reduce your carbon footprint today?" It shouldn't be a fucking option! It's not fries! I should want to reduce my carbon footprint. What am I? A total asshat? I am definitely not an asshat! But unfortunately most people are. Some of them want to reduce their footprint, but they're just a bit cash-strapped so they can't right now, but mostly people are just asshats. Why should they pay more for something they can't see or touch or interact with? Do they get something? Yes dickhead, you and yours get somewhere to live for the next hundred thousand years! 

But if the only option provided was one that was sustainable and reduced your footprint then we wouldn't have to worry about people's ethics affecting their decision making abilities. We would know that carbon footprints were being taken care of. Nice idea right?

But the issue of sustainability is bigger than an eco-concern. It's a social and economical concern too. We need to care about more than our carbon footprint, we need to think about our society, our culture and what is local to us. We need to consider the well being of everything in our immediate vicinity as well as around the world - it's a bit of a "think global act local" approach. And local is one of the easiest ways to act, local is where I'm at. Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure acting globally is technically impossible unless you are a superhero. Just saying.

Conversation starters.

I recently returned to uni to do my Honours in Graphic Design, which I'm planning to convert to a PhD, all of which I'm planning to blog about!

I figure all the tagging used in blogs will make documenting and accessing my research really easy, and the blog format kinda gives me a space to share (and nut out) the design problems I will face throughout this process. It's a space where I can write non-academically to just get my ideas straight. And the more I read, the more ideas I get that need straightening!

I feel that it's high time I started writing more about sustainable design. I need to have that conversation more often; in fact, most designers probably do. Designers actually could change the world.

I'm working hard within my own practice to be sustainable, to act responsibly as a designer, but I've never talked much about it. That is about to change! Everything I am writing as part of my research is going in this blog; mad ramblings, stupid ideas, moments of brilliance and everything in between!

Uh oh!

Ideas happen while you're busy having fun!

Daydreaming used to be something I got told off for doing, but today I kinda do it for a living! The way creatives generate ideas is different from one to the next, but I get some corkers when I'm zoning out or slacking off! 

The more I reflect on how I create the more I have to acknowledge how big a role having fun and feeling relaxed plays in the creation of my ideas. The next time I'm feeling brain-blocked I'm not going to beat myself up about it! I'm taking an official break and going skating! 

Ideas! Come at me!