Workshop

Designing dialogues: 
Writing and designing as two sides of the same coin

“Typography must be as beautiful as a forest, not like the concrete jungle of the tenements. It gives distance between the trees, the room to breathe and allow for life.” Adrian Frutiger 

A text is never just a text. It has different voices, rhythms and structures. In English we create worlds with 26 letters and 14 punctuation marks. What happens in between these glyphs? How can writing allow for life if the standard typesetting of the texts does not leave room to breathe. Imagine writing and designing being developed in dialogue. Being able to write with the visual tone of voice? Creating actual empty spaces if silence is needed? Having parts of texts interact with each other? Typography is writing with space. 

With the publication series LEE, Emily and Martin designed a writing process that uses verbal as well as visual language. It created new dialogues between us, weaving with the content we are trying to convey and ultimately with the reader. Designing dialogues is not just reaching beyond the limitations of one language, but trying to invite readers to become part of the conversation. 

In this 2-day workshop we invite anyone who writes and designs to explore the symbiotic relationship of these two languages. 

Workshop outline

Conversational Design: We give a rare glimpse behind the scenes of our work on the Life-Ennobling Economy publications. How do we develop an idea? How do we write the texts? How do we design them? And what is our publication strategy?

Historic examples: From which movements do we draw inspiration? A lecture about Futurists, Dadaists, New Typography, Concrete Poetry, and how there is temporal intelligence in history. 

Framework

Imagine a publication being your stage. Who would be your actors? What would they say to each other? Who interacts with who at what time? How do you design the dramaturgy of sound and silence through words and space? 

Application to your context

Being able to express yourself verbally and visually is 90% of today’s communication. Developing both languages in symbiosis increases your impact. These fundamental skills to create social connections can be applied to almost any field. We are curious about your context and want to reimagine it with you and your newly gained skills. 

For whom is this workshop? 

Are you writing text content and would like to explore the options typography could give you? Are you a designer and would like to explore how writing could enhance your work? Are you interested in processes of open dialogues and community building? Writers and designers at all stages are welcome to explore this framework with us. 

The conversational hosts

The workshop will be hosted by Martin Lorenz and Emily Harris but will draw on the wide experience of the Dark Matter Lab Ecosystem. 

Martin Lorenz, PhD is the Conversational Design Lead at Dark Matter Labs. He holds a B.A. in Graphic and Typographic Design from the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) in The Hague, Netherlands and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Design Research from the University of Barcelona, Spain. He is the co-founder of TwoPoints.Net, FlexibleVisualSystems.info and Coding Systems. Martin has taught Design since 2003 at over a dozen design schools around the world. His book Flexible Visual Systems has been published in English (5th edition), Spanish (2nd edition) and Japanese (1st edition). 

Emily Harris, FCA is the Next Economics Lab Lead at Dark Matter Labs. She is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the ICAEW. She also holds an MA in Regenerative Economics (Distinction) from Schumacher College and a BSc in Medical Sciences from Imperial College. Completing her training with Deloitte in London, she was a manager in their Big Ticket Restructuring Team during the 2008 global financial crisis, before moving on to hold international CFO positions.

Practicalities: 

When:
June (Exact dates to be defined once we reach 15 participants.)

Format:
The workshops will be held online with no specialist equipment required. 

Cost:
200€ (We have set the costs of the workshop at a very low price to make it accessible. We invite additional contributions if you would like to support the continuation of the LED initiative.)

Register:
To register your interest please send us an email to emily@darkmatterlabs.org and martin@darkmatterlabs.org