Month: February 2026

TUTORIAL 260226

– Plan what to do next!

– Pack discussed – book, stamp, letter to parents, questionnaire.

– TESTING. Formal testing will take organization with school and permission from parents, so “soft testing” can be done at tis stage. Ethics consideration there. In first instance, create 3 copies of the publication at home, give to three families I know for remote feedback. Written data on efficacy and content.

– Professional feedback already done.

– May not have time within these two weeks, if not can use the audience reflection to write the proper plan out. Because of timescales, unable to execute but “this is the plan”, including ethics consideration of randomness. Think out loud in writing about what the pitfalls might be. Don’t want to pick the families, for example.

– Possible to do simple testing now.

– Tutor – really refined the typographic hierarchy, text now easily to follow. Could refine, cut out some , spread over pages.

– For final production, foiling properly with a plate again. Paper making (cicada books reference, gloss textured stock). Push Riso and outstanding production questions to later.

– For testing, publication as is it is ‘giving passport’ enough. Wait for later on more complicated production questions. And then only if critically or objectively a good idea.

– Tea spread is most resolved, you’re guided as a reader whist capturing peoples attention. Some moments of colour need to be stronger. Stamp areas for example.

– What about the question stamps on secondary spread of each item? They ask questions but it’s unclear what they’re referring to. Could that be refined? Have a go. Associate the questions in the steps with the imagery, like it did on tea spread, it’s clear ‘this is how people were shown in the ads’. Do they need to be there at all? They’re a little confusing. Refine the questions within the stamps. Maybe the stamps could have arrows in them to refer to the object!

Could they be discussion points? Make it all a bit more legible.

– (Poss commission the stamps properly eventually)

– Instructional/contents page – revise the first spread which introduces the book to give instructions on how to use it. Take ‘With this book’ para and place it on the opposite page. BE MORE SPECIFIC about the stamping, mention the objects. Include small versions of the title stamps on each item’s spread NEXT to their object on the contents page. Perhaps include a picture of the stamp itself?! “You’ll go on a hunt for histories through these objects that you might find in your house”. Early on in the pages of your book, you should teach people HOW to read your book. Free up that first spread.

– This is where the work should be.

– Keep letter as a letter format, it’s nice and personal. Could this be as an introductory item in a show or bookstore, akin to the way you get recommendation panels in bookshops. For now, include it within the packs. 

– This isn’t the last time you’ll test your work.

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ACTION POINTS

– Revise contents in a new iteration according to notes above

– Make three copies, including letters and questionnaire, approach my daughter’s friends for soft testing.

– Continue GCD studio draft

– Consider Reflection on audience participation AFTER testing but before 19th.

Manifesto!
with Stephanie Jin

Tue, Feb 224, 2026
10:00–17:00
F205


TUTORIAL NOTES:

Really useful tutorial. I used it to rationalize and visualize a component to my publication that approaches the patients direct in the joint learning space with a kid. Other references I have found do this within the book, or on the back cover blurb, as an Afterword or Foreword. Today, I made letter written from one patient to another, anonymously. It explains the origins of the publication, the reason it exists and what it could achieve.

This could perhaps form part of a feedback system when I test the publication, within a small pack with the stamp etc.

Dear Parent,

I moved to a place where, years ago, a Brit drew a line in green pencil that divided an island and its people. 

Whilst we were travelling around, my kids started asking questions like “where are the missing pieces of the Parthenon, Daddy” and “why to the Egyptians have pounds?”.

So, I had to tell them that our country had invaded places, taken other people’s stuff and actual people too. 

It was all before I was born, but I felt awful having to say those things, guilty even. When I was their age, I never questioned why every map had the UK at the centre, or why there was something called the “Third World”, or the “Middle East”. 

What did you learn about the British Empire at school? Like me, probably very little. I remember doing the wars in History, Shakespeare in English. It was all very patriotic. No one told me about the hidden stuff.  

Britishness is complicated. I’m trying to be a good human despite the colonial history of the place I was born. It’s still there, under the surface. Maybe we can un-hide it. Start with this book and the kid that’s sitting next to you.

Because we want them to be better than us, right?

Good luck  ,

Another Parent

Tutorial Notes 190226

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Main tutorial discussion:

– Love the stamps, whimsical moments starting to happen, house with objects and their narrative, but also the smoke coming out of house!

– Victoria – styling is meaningful with the theme, the fact that we are always working on the idea of the everyday objects around us. Stamp system good for titles, but concerned about size and hierarchy. Tea spread – need to refine it so it’s more obvious as title for example. Nice choice of stock with guilloche in the background

– Tutor – Refine first page text to mention objects specifically, perhaps put an object in the line itself. Could have the name of the object and the image embedded within the sentences.

– Tutor – TEA word mid spread, it has trouble flowing, make that more obvious. 

– Sam – like vintager photos, kids will respond and associate with everyday objects, giving it that heritage feeling whilst connecting. The amount of stuff on the spreads, makes it feel even more like a treasure hunt.

– Tutor – As long as you present the problematic adverts with context, like the questions, keep it. What about publishers though? They can err on the side of caution, in academic setting we can err towards  criticality. Discussed this moving form commercial publishing exercise into a piece of protest or soft activism. REFERENCING  very important here. Makes sense to keep the content objective like this, rather than sanitizing it for release. Tutor – follow the instinct. BUT, lose the stamps in that area. Just keep stamps for collecting the objects, that’s it. No need elsewhere. The prompts themselves are enough, no need for spaces for written responses for example. The questions in the collection stamps should just be ‘Stamp here if you found the tea in your house’, just I’m case they haven’t read the text.

– Tutor – visual language is resolved, form is resolved, it’s just about the flow of it. Tea example above, flow between elements.

– Do the rest of the spreads, prioritise content over production at this point. 

– Maybe some for of testing soon around midpoint, but not a priority.

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Action points:

– Complete spreads

– Make the dummy as best you can using home made methods for next week. Riso etc can come later.

– Draft GCD page text in time for Midpoint

– Testing with friends or at local market?

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New references:

None from tutorial this week, above file includes updated bibliography

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Production

– Paper samples in from Fedrigoni

– Full stitches binding done this time (red thread next time?)

– Machine stitch binding unavailable in publications, approach Fashion or do it at home

Tutorial Notes 050226

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Main tutorial discussion:

– It still alludes to a passport in many ways. Rounding the corners, foiling it can go on a step there. 

– the devil is in the detail on this one, a set of minor decisions 

– Move it towards a workbook – yes, can already see that happening with the stickers

– Illustrations and type are playful, go further, funnier, more playful. Using empire ads a good idea

– Text on the left side is unresolved relative to the illustrations

– Not a giant block of text

– Maybe think of it as a graphic novel with a continuing narrative that links? It’s already kind of moving in that direction. 

– Dispersing the text

– You have the size and illustration style locked down, it’s now time to think about organizing the content. The text is feeling completely separate at the moment

– Interview with publisher – what other objects around a kids house would they put in? Connect the object to a modern context too. Global fast fashion, inequality, cheap labour etc. 

– Flesh out the book a bit more, but the graphic don’t need to be this complicated. Distribute the text over multiple pages – where did this badminton shuttlecock get flicked to?

– Fingerprinting text for example, play with it, simpler. Just a line, first sentence only and then move onto the detail…

– Image of an official doing the fingerprinting.

– Moved away from day in the life structuring, backed up by the publisher, but it needs to link up

– Moment important, like going on a flight, capturing children and patents together.

– First page would be a dinner table with all the objects, or a house, ‘you may see these objects on your travels’

– MAP – pullout feels quite clunky to put together, just make it the last spread. A tipped-in heat of stickers. 

– Binding discussed – could be stitched or hardback at this stage, likely the former.

– Sam – picture first words later, more stickers!

Work in progress peer review:

– “The word complex is important here; what degree of complexity has bee communicated at the moment? I think you can go a notch up”

– “how many kids actually look at their passports”

– “how do kids understand what passports mean? Could that be emphasized in some way?”

– “The artifacts of colonialism; how would you circulate this is a post imperialist country like Britain which doesn’t teach children about colonialism institutionally?” (*this could be the radical theme I have been looking for, could it all be in the placement?)

– METHODS “Love it! Very clear evolution of craft and production choices, feels very complex… Try to communicate more complex narratives like wars,  battles, genocides, famines etc”

Action points:

– Writing – get it written, pick the objects, do a flat plan sketch and then get stuck in. Let the illustrations guide you.

– Prioritise the content for now, production later.

– engage with Tina Gaisford-Waller and local school on a testing level, advance those discussions

– poss title change, Where does it REALLY come from? (From Esther Waller, Chicken House)

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New references:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shereeatcheson/2022/12/02/where-are-you-really-from-not-so-subtle-racism-in-a-nutshell

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_9q-1SA9Sw

Lessons from Our Ancestors: Winner of the Discover British Book Award 2024

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Publications drop-in

– 2-up, 2 sided Riso possible on A3, needs to dry overnight if possible. So two sessions. Meaning 4 sessions for approximately 20 spreads? Tbc

– Riso not busy at the moment, give a week’s notice if you can

– Stitching discussion another day

– This will likely be a stitched card-back short length interactive zine of sorts, not a book (what defines a zine?)/ Now that map is not a fold out. Will need to consider binding in a sticker sheet, somehow? That’s the next question.

– Papers swatches discussed at for a first look, mimicking the passport texture but on yellow. Will this be enough or does it need to be a leather substrate. I’m thinking thickness is important.