I decided to share my project in a couple of different ways. I first shared the project with my Instagram following, which largely consists of other artists, illustrators and graphic designers. I also chose to share the project in my workplace, at the London Centre for Book Arts, as I was interested in what my colleagues’ feedback would be as peers working in the printmaking and book arts field. Sharing on Instagram produced a more generic response, and prompted me to share it in person with people as a result. Since my project takes the form of a book and requires close reading, I wanted to glean feedback from people who could actually read the work, so that the formatting, pacing and design details weren’t reduced to a screen. Despite this, many people on Instagram were interested in buying or seeing a copy in real life, which has encouraged me to begin work on making a small edition of the book in RISO. Sharing with my colleagues firstly gave me insight on methods of production I could use in the production of the edition. We spoke through materials and how to make the book economically, while preserving and enhancing the character in the original printed draft. They also said that the book seems like part of a larger body of work, and were interested to hear how I might develop the project after this. We spoke about ways of making more printed matter relating to diagramming and the preservation of craft. Some questions that came up while observing their engagement with the book were; how can I use diagrams in the production phase of work, and can I incorporate them as functional aspects to the project instead of just as subjects? Can I trace this process? Can I document the diagrams needed to make the outputs for my enquiry?
These emerging questions lead to me thinking about interpretation and response when it comes to diagrams. Ultimately, though my work speaks of diagrams as figures that aid communities of practitioners; often a diagram is followed in the lone the pursuit of crafting something by hand, whether this is as a hobby or a profession. But the success of a diagram relies on its clear communication, even though they can be interpreted in many different ways. I would like to expand my body of work by exploring these interpretations of diagrams through producing pieces that challenge, explain, compound, and catalogue the various meanings gleaned from diagrams. One way I see this happening is by introducing a participatory element to my work. How do specific audiences read diagrams? What would a diagram toolkit look like? How can this interaction reframe diagrams? Does the plurality of interpretation dispel the notion of diagrams as figures of authority? I see the next step of my project as an explosion of the diagrammatic. Using the work I already have, I would like to continue making printed work, but also work the project up into an animated video essay and also a (live) lecture. All of these modes of communication have the opportunity to be screened / shown to an audience, which will also inform the participatory nature of my work. How could I workshop a diagram?
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