Workshop with Erin Honeycutt

Relational Marks: Translating Voice into Form

Recently, I participated in a workshop led by Erin Honeycutt at KASK, where we explored the intersection of language, listening, and material form. The session centered on the concept of Ekphrasis —traditionally the verbal description of visual art— used as a tool to translate spoken fragments and sensory experiences into graphic compositions.

The workshop began with a series of exercises designed to shift our perception of communication. We practiced "language as listening" by describing objects in exhaustive detail without naming them, forcing the audience into a state of active, searching reception. These moments of sharing and with our voices eventually manifested into collaborative Venn diagrams, mapping the overlaps in our collective perception. These moments of shared description eventually manifested into collaborative Venn diagrams, mapping the overlaps in our collective perception.

Building on this idea of ekphrasis, we moved through various stages of translation. This included a guided meditation that evoked the "memory of a book" through internal imagery, as well as an exercise where we recorded a personal memory in the third person to later transcribe it word-for-word. This process highlighted the friction between the fluid, spoken word and its static, written counterpart.

Eventually, we transformed these accumulated notes, transcriptions, and ekphrastic fragments into a physical object. The result was a handmade publication with a "Slinky-like" structure. This kinetic form allowed the book to be viewed from multiple perspectives, moving away from a linear narrative and instead becoming a tactile extension of the language itself—an intermedia object that captures the very movement of thought.

Connection to my Research

The workshop offered a valuable perspective on the performative nature of typography and the role of the body within the writing process. By emphasizing the translation of voice, memory and sound into a physical form, the act of designing becomes more than an aesthetic choice; it becomes a direct registration of presence. This experience aligns closely with my own research. The process of transcribing a voice or materializing a meditation reinforced my understanding of the graphic mark as a tactile extension of human experience.

Workshop #2

Time for an update! ---------------------- From Fingers to Potatoes: 🥔 🥔🥔🥔🥔

Do you remember Workshop #1? That was the session where I introduced participants to typography through the lens of the body in a very literal sense—designing initials using nothing but our fingers.

Workshop 02 has now come to a close, and it took that investigation into performative typography a step further. While we continued exploring the body's role in design, there was a major twist: the introduction of a tool.

I kicked off this workshop with a new reference: a text from the book Glossary of Undisciplined Design by Anja Kaiser and Rebecca Stephany. The text, titled "Emotional Typefaces," suggests that fonts do far more than serve a functional purpose—they evoke specific emotions in the reader. By starting with this reading, I wanted to spark a different perspective on how the participants view typography and the actual act of "making" letters.

I wanted to see how the design process and decision-making shift when you're handed a tool that, once again, demands physical engagement.

The tool in question? The humble potato. 

Banal, cheap (most were on the verge of shriveling up), but surprisingly versatile.

The participants had to navigate:

 * Negative space and relief cutting.

 * The tension between form and readability.

—> It raised a fundamental question: Is legibility still the priority? Or does the focus shift toward something else entirely due to the inherent clunkiness of the medium?