Love Ponty Campaign

Pontypridd town council and the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf have used serif type to raise perceptions of towns such as Pontypridd receiving regeneration funds. In the context of this study it could be argued that application of this style at local level within an area of deprivation where prospective learners from the widening participation framework reside, is significant.

I spoke to those involved with the campaign.

What was / is the driver behind the ‘Love Ponty Campaign’?

“The principal driver behind the campaign was to contribute towards the town’s regeneration. Specific factors and outcomes that were sought as a result of the campaign included:
- To raise awareness of the new product offer in Pontypridd
- To change people’s perception of Pontypridd
- To encourage local people and visitors to stay longer
- To target ‘new customers’ to take a fresh look at Pontypridd and come and visit
- To illustrate the range of product offering in Pontypridd (shopping, culture, sport, leisure, cafe culture etc.)
- To raise the pride of those that live in Pontypridd
- To be flexible in terms of showing change over time (concepts need to develop as the town develops)
- To introduce a brand personality for Pontypridd (a unique identity)”

Was any market research regarding the content of the campaign undertaken prior to its sign-off? If so what type of research was conducted?

“A small focus group with key stakeholders was undertaken before final sign off of the brand. This was conducted with staff, Councillors and members of the public.”

Was any market research regarding the design of the campaigns visual style undertaken to support the message of the campaign? If so are there any records of the argument supporting the use of serif-type?

“The same focus group also reviewed the design and visual style of the campaign. No research was undertaken with regard to typeface.”

Are any other areas / towns within Rhondda Cynon Taff currently receiving / going to receive the same treatment?

“Aberdare is also subject to a similar campaign www.myaberdare.com”

Comment by Michael Bessell, Principal Projects Officer
Regeneration and Planning Division
Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC

View the Love Ponty website here

Beyond the ‘learning society’: what have we learnt from widening participation research?

Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Glamorgan, 14-17 September 2005.

This paper emerges from a review of evidence undertaken in 2005, by the authors and others, on the lifelong barriers to widening participation in higher education in England . . .pdf link

Measuring Appropriateness – perceived relationships between typography and form

A paper by Ian Montgomery, Kenneth Agnew, and Brian McClelland of University of Ulster, Belfast . . .pdf link

Research By Others – Collected Research

Empirical research into any rhetorical act of type are by my own estimations few. Recently, focus has been given to the personality of typefaces. Brumberger (2003) describes the Bauhaus school of design and their belief that the “content and purpose of the text should dictate the design – the form – of a document, and that form, including typography, should express the content just as the verbal text itself expresses content” (p. 207). Other personality studies include Makiewicz and Moeller in 2004. Distinction has been made between functional and semantic properties of type (Bartram in 1982), and earlier research such as that of Poffenberger and Franken (1923) and Schiller (1935) aimed at determining which typefaces could be used to represent ‘commodities’ in advertising. Other work by Ovink in 1938 collected or ‘categorized’ together suggested qualities of certain typefaces and Zachrisson in 1965 focussed on the “correspondence between content and visual form” (Zachrisson, 1965) and in 1986, Walker, Smith and Livingston and later in 1989 Lewis and Walker discussed ‘typographic allusion’, suggesting the use of type to support ‘linguistic messaging’. Reading and legibility are areas that have received attention in a teaching and learning context. Sanders and McCormack (1993) discuss how, where the shapes of different letters can be discriminated fairly quickly, that typeface is said to be highly legible. Other studies include Felker (1980); Tinker (1963); and Burt; (1959). Walker (2005) discusses children’s perception of fonts, and whether, in children’s books, ‘some typefaces are better than others’ and reading fluency studies have been conducted by Braet and Humphreys, 2006; Hall, Humphreys, and Cooper, 2001; Lete and Pynte, 2003; Martens and de Jong, 2006; Mayall and Humphreys, 1996; Mayall, Humphreys, Mechelli, Olson, and Price, 2001; Mayall, Humphreys, and Olson, 1997; Whiteley and Walker, 1994, 1997.

Recent approaches taken in linguistics, seek to provide a theoretical basis for contextual description. Waller (1987) discusses approaches taken by linguists to describe and define the graphic aspects of language and approaches taken by typographers and psychologists that have informed linguistics. Waller’s thesis Typographic Contribution to Language – Towards a Model of Typographic Genres and Their Underlying Structures, highlights that many studies have been published by psychologists of various specialisms where the effect of typography on readers have been examined.

According to Professor Sue Walker, “Disciplines such as linguistics, bibliography and cognitive psychology are starting to notice more aspects of typography as they converge on the context-sensitive fields of reader-relations and discourse studies.”

Bibliography

Bandura A. (1977) Social Learning Theory; Prentice Hall

Banks, Olive (1968) The Sociology of Education Batsford, London

Barnard M. (2001): Approaches to Understanding Visual Culture, Palgrave

Bartram D. (1982): The perception of semantic quallity in type: Differences between designers and non-designers, Information Design Journal 3(1), p.30-37

Brumberger, E. (2003): The rhetoric of typography: The awareness and impact of typeface appropriateness. (Applied Research) Publication: Technical Communication (Refereed) p. 206-223

Available online: http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/Eaton/5365/brumberger.pdf

Heller S. (2004) The Education of a Typographer; Allworth Press

Jury D (2006) What is typography?; RotoVision

Jury D (2002) About Face: Reviving the Rules of Typography; RotoVision

Lewis C. and Walker P. (1989): Typographic influences on reading, British Journal of Psychology 80(2), p.241-257

Mackiewicz, Jo and Rachel Moeller: (2004) “Why People Perceive Typefaces to Have Different Personalities” Professional Communication Conference, IPCC 2004 p. 304-313

Osgood, Charles (1969) Semantic Differential Technique; Aldine Publishing

Ovink G.W. (1938): Legibility Atmosphere-value & Forms of Printing Types; Sijthoff, Leiden, The Netherlands

Poffenberger A.T. and Franken R.B. (1923): Typeface appropriateness, Journal of Applied Psychology 7, p.312-329

Schiller G. (1935): An experimental study of appropriateness of colour and type in advertising, Journal of Applied Psychology 19, p.652-664

Stafford, B. 1999. Visual Analogy: Consciousness as the Art of Connecting; Cambridge MIT Press

Swann, C. (1991) Language and Typography, Lund Humphries

Twemlow A. (2006): What is Graphic Design For? RotoVision SA

Walker P., Smith S., and Livingston A. (1986): Predicting the appropriateness of a typeface on the basis of its multi-modal features, Information Design Journal 5(1), p.29-42

Zachrisson B. (1965): Studies in Legibility of Printed Text; Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm

RISE

RISE describes the learning network that works in partnership to encourage learners to have their say in the facilities and provision available to them.

The RISE Partnership is made up of everyone involved in adult education and lifelong learning, across the five counties of Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen (South East Wales, UK). A network of Learning Centres has been established and professionals work with learners to ensure that the Learners’ Voice is at the very heart of RISE echoing the ethos of my current employer (the Workers’ Educational Association).

I am currently pursuing the original brief as produced for Golley Slater, Cardiff (creative agency), for RISE’s extensive branding exercise made for its launch 3 years ago. I am keen to learn what processes were involved in their decision making and how this influenced the net product. The RISE website can be found here.

Typographic Design For Children

The Typographic Design for Children Project team is Sue Walker, Linda Reynolds, Nicola Robson and Nadja Guggi.

Caroline Archer, Alison Duncan and Angela Redfern have also worked on the Project. Text Matters contributed technical advice on database and web design.

Oxford University Press supported the Project by allowing use of text and illustrations for test material, and by contributing to discussion about the typographic and editorial issues they felt were important in the design of books for young readers.

The project also involved participants at UK schools, Redlands, Willowbank and Aldryngton Primary for their help with testing.

Details of the project can be found here.

I have invited the Project Team to comment on this blog, so I’m hopeful that their insight can be recorded here.

Aim Higher

Aimhigher is a national programme which aims to widen participation in higher education (HE) by raising HE awareness, aspirations and attainment among young people from under-represented groups. The values underpinning Aimhigher have not been explored in any detail. Aimhigher has assumed that participation in HE is a good thing in itself; that it brings economic and non-economic benefits to individuals and society; that it increases tolerance and has a generally ‘civilising’ effect on society. Indeed, the emphasis in Aimhigher on raising awareness, aspirations and motivation to enter HE is about modifying the values and behaviour of groups who may not currently set great store by the HE experience.

The role of Aimhigher is to:

• Raise aspirations and motivation to enter HE among young people from under-represented groups
• Raise attainment of potential students from under-represented groups so that they gain the academic or vocational qualifications that will enable them to enter HE
• Strengthen progression routes into HE via vocational courses
• Offer information, advice and guidance to potential students and their teachers and families

Jointly funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), the Aimhigher programme operates across 42 area partnerships throughout England.

Aimhigher encompasses a wide range of activities to engage and motivate learners who have the potential to enter HE but may be under-achieving, undecided or lacking in confidence. The programme particularly focuses on young people from lower socio-economic groups (NS-SEC groups 4-8) and those from disadvantaged backgrounds who live in areas of relative deprivation where participation in HE is low.

The national Aimhigher programme began on 1 August 2004 as a result of the integration of two previously existing programmes – Excellence Challenge and Aimhigher: Partnerships for Progression. Funding is currently allocated to Aimhigher until 2011.