Typographic Piece – 1984

I chose the text ‘1984’ by George Orwell, which was published in 1949. I chose 1984 because I like the mystery and unease of the text, which I feel matches the process of redaction. 1984 is important as it written with the purpose of warning people in the Western World about Totalitarianism, and how to respond to the rise of communism. Orwell was disturbed by cruelty and oppression he observed in communist countries, and he used 1984 to warn the world about possible difficulties in the near future. As well as a thrilling novel, it provides unrealistic yet moving outlooks if life is not changed, challenging the authority of government.

In my typographic design I wanted to include the title of the book as imagery for the text to surround, to emphasize on the book being a popular constant in modern society. I also blocked out the words ‘BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU’, which is a well-known phrase from the book; I redacted this to describe George Orwell’s aims, which was to diminish the influence of the government. The varying size in the numbers also describes the unease of the book, however the text carefully sectioned within the gaps of the numbers indicates the government’s need for control.

Redacted Reading – Experimenting with type and layout

In order to put my extract from ‘1984’ into my work with layout, I practiced using four layouts that I created. I created these by using large numbers as the image basis of the text, with the text from the extract surrounded it, and I also  used some of the ‘redacted black’ text that we were given within the design. I decided to emphasise upon the words ‘BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU’, as this is a crucial and memorable part of the book. From these I will gather opinions on which layout works better with the text to use for my final design.

Redacted Reading – Type design research

To present our chosen text we have been instructed to recreate the body of text in a way that looks interesting and unusual typographically. Here I have researched ways in which type can look interesting on a page, using shapes, layout and even forms of redaction, which adds interest as it makes part of the work illegible. Layouts like this can be created in InDesign, which specialises in the creation of layouts and making type more interesting. I want to experiment with my chosen text before deciding on a final design to use as part of my redaction brief.

This research on redaction prompted me to experiment with type and layout using the text I have chosen for the redaction project.

Redacted Reading – My Chosen Text

In our lesson on the 13th February we were asked to bring in three chosen texts annotated, in aid of deciding on a final text to use for the redacted work. Out of my three text I chose the first few paragraphs of 1984 by George Orwell. I chose this text because I am a big fan of the book and it is a very well known text, and I like the uneasiness and unusually of the first few paragraphs; something which I think would fit the idea of redacted reading. I will now research ways in which I could present my chosen text in an interesting typographic way.

First Things First Manifesto – my own redacted reading work

From the original ‘First Things First’ manifesto we were instructed to adapt it into our own form of redacted reading. We were given the original text and the texts ‘Redacted’ (normal) and ‘redacted black’ (the blocked out text) to create our own text within the text. This serves as a practice exercise before we attempt to redact our own chosen texts. My redacted version reads:

A Sign.

We are direct visual communicators raised in desirable use of our talents. Courage is how the world perceives design. Energy is a mental environment that is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. We are all harmful public pursuits more worthy of unprecedented education projects. We favour communication toward the exploration and production of meaning. Consumerism challenged through visual languages call for skills to be put to worthwhile use. The message has only grown more urgent. 
Renew the manifesto before it is taken to heart. 

Introduction to Redacted Reading

Redacted reading is the art of simply hiding certain words from original bodies of text to provoke mystery, confusion or to reveal something else said within a large body of words. Often blacked out with marker pen or crayon, the masks could either be hiding or revealing things to the audience. Text is treated as material and uses the ideas of playing linguistic games to mess with the mind of the reader. Text can be redacted in minimal or radical ways, and can make sense or become completely illegible. Words can also be made out of existing larger words to add more interest.