Words! (Part 1)
Exploring language to define the image
Content + Language
For the last couple of weeks, my main focus has been words. I began organizing, deciding, and writing my content. This part of the process is still not done but I made a lot of progress. I began writing the pre-recipe descriptors and that’s helped me start to get a feel for the tone of voice I want to develop further, especially when it comes time to write my introduction.
On the other hand, I’ve been trying to narrow in on words that I want to help guide the visuals of the book. My talk with DJ pushed me down the direction of honing in on the idea of celebration which I decided to run with. I started with a braindump of other words that I associate with celebration. Thoughts of gatherings from birthdays and holidays past came to mind as well as the sights, smells, and emotions that go along with them.
After I had a collection of words I felt good with, I started to narrow in on which words felt the most representative of Ethiopian culture and the way I experience the celebration of my heritage. I chose a selection of words that I felt were the most reflective of these ideas but also gave me strong visuals that could be my jumping off point when designing.
Words → Visuals
From here I want to spend the next weeks exploring how to visually represent these words. I want to take a more analog approach in image making and type exploration. Painting, cutting paper, and drawing are what I plan on doing to try to create visuals that relate to these words. For this week I want to focus on the words: loud, handmade, and movement. For each word I want explore different mediums and mark making tools. Below are brief overviews of why I think these words support the way I want to celebrate my culture in this book.
Loud
There’s something loud about the sights, smells, and sounds of Ethiopian food. It’s the vibrant color each dish takes so when constructing a meal the plate begins to look more like a color wheel than dinner. It’s the scent of browned onions and spices that seep into the fibers of every piece of clothing you own and how that scent never seems to fully fade regardless of the amount of washes its put through. The fact that we make any occasion, whether it’s celebrating a new edition to the family or simply having a meal, a reason to gather. We are loud and I want the way I visual my culture to be just as loud. The obvious choices to visual represent volume is color so that’ll be my primary focus, but I also want to explore the use of texture and composition to further play up this idea of loud.
Handmade
There’s a big focus on making things by hand or using hands as a tool in Ethiopian culture so I felt it was important to celebrate that fact. From all our cultural garb being hand sewn, to the hand woven baskets that line the streets of local markets, and of course hands being our only utensil when eating — using your hands is a reoccurring theme in Ethiopian traditions. Visually I want the book to feel handmade, whether its through its graphic style, type choice, or actual construction.
Movement
When I think of celebrating anything I always picture some type of motion involved. Dancing is usually one of the first mental images that’s snaps to my mind and I’m assuming many others who think of celebration. The idea of celebrating is something that inherently feels in motion, so I want to tap into the movement of celebrating and inject that feeling throughout the book. Visually speaking I think movement throughout the cookbook could be harnessed in type and composition, but initially I thought texture was also good outlet to explore movement as well.
