pecha kucha recap

Last week, I gave an in-progress presentation in the style of Pecha Kucha. I looked at it as another project brief—a different way to get my ideas across. Pecha Kucha is a trademarked presentation style with 20 slides, and 20 seconds per slide. I quickly found I had much more I wanted to talk about than the 6.666 minutes allotted. On top of the time restriction, I also volunteered to speak in front of visiting designer, and new Pentagram partner, Eddie Opara. I was the first to present in front of him, and I tried my best to remain casual and confident. After all, I had to come across as the expect of wordplay. He was familiar with Pentagram designer, Harry Pearce's book and recommended to listen to podcast(?) of him speaking about his book.

After the presentation, I am unsure of some of the "nyms" I have chosen, and am looking to revise a few of them. I have to keep reminding myself I can continue pursuing these aspects of wordplay in my future work.

project brief revision

After a lot of research into wordplay and realizing the incredible broad topic that it covers, I thought it best to narrow my thesis a bit. I will be focusing on "-nym's". I will be looking at 5 different "-nym" categories, responding to these through design.

1. homonyms (sounds the same, but are spelled differently. have different meanings)
2. antonyms (either of a pair of words that have opposite meanings)
3. synonyms (one of two words that have the same meaning)
4. bacronyms (the reverse of producing an acronym; taking a word which already exists and creating a phrase using the letters of the word as initials)
5. oronyms (a string of words which is homophonic with another string of words)

two other possible topics:
1. heteronyms (one of two words that have the same spelling, but different meaning, and sometimes different pronunciation too)
2. autoantonyms (a word that can take two opposite meanings)

Project Proposal as of 12/2

Word Play For Play


Concept
I have long been interested in language and word play and the multiple meanings words
can bring to conversation. I became inspired after a conversation a friend and I had in
which there was confusion when one of us mentioned “mailmen”. I laughed, thinking my
friend had meant “male men”. I was struck by the realization of never having thought
of the confusion that could result with this word. The English language is immensely
confusing, even for native speakers. There are continuous instances of mis-communication
resulting from the absurdity and whimsy of the play with words. I plan on researching
the varied and multiple aspects of word play; including puns, spoonerisms, rhetorical
excursions, absurdisms, idioms and other figures of speech that make the English
language complex and interesting. Upon completing my research on the broad topic of
word play, I plan directing my focus on one — or no more than three — aspects of the topic to focus on and develop into my degree project.


Audience
Lovers of language, the dictionary, and word play.
Designers/design-minded people with an interest in typography and the printed word.
Fans of puns, idioms and clever wit

Subject
Outcomes are likely to focus on short snippets of words which accumulate into a larger
body of work with a driving theme. e.g. 8 objects/products incorporating double-meaning
utilizing homonyms and homophones OR a book of 26 typographic studies on verbal wit
and whimsy

Project Goals
Share my interest in words and language with others
Bring wit and humor to everyday communication
Ignite a conversation about the meaning of language through the absurdity of language

Project Influences
Authors — Lewis Carroll, James Joyce, Mark Twain
Comedians — George Carlin (seven dirty words), Groucho Marx (famous quotes),
Abbott & Costello (who’s on first)
Design — Push Pin Studios (visual word play), Yee Haw Industries (storetry), Jack
Fisher (email books), Andrew Byrom (sculptural typeface designs), Stephanie DeArmond
(sculptural letterforms and humorous phrases on objects), Yulia Brodyskaya (paper-cut
typographic illustraions), Keetra Dean Dixon (comforters, half wishes half lies, objects of
co-depedence)

Research and Source Materials
Design Humor: The Art of Graphic Wit by Steven Heller
Conundrums: Typographic Conundrums by Harry Pearce
Aspects of Verbal Humor in English by Richard Alexander
The Oxford Guide to Word Games by Tony Augarde