Logistics...

As I am too lazy/have left it too late with too much to do to make a proper mock up, I have made a little visual map type of thing just so I know for sure how my concertina book will all fit together. 

It will be hinged with pieces behind with repeat pattern on them that are the exact same size as the illustrated internet pages; hopefully when it is all stuck together (double sided tape worked like a dream with my last concertina) it should look nice and seamless. Each number is a page and the yellow side is the printed side. It will be finished off with a belly band with the title "Britannia Barbara" written on it, so the concertina doesn't spring open all the time. 

This has been useful as I can easily see how it will all fit together and how many pages of continuous pattern I will need to hinge everything. I also want extra bits to neatly fold over like little half-end pages on either end. This makes perfect sense to me (even if it doesn't to outsiders!).

Photoshopped drawings and type

These are my final Photoshopped pages in order (left-right); I am really happy with them! I thought I would struggle a bit with the font choice and arrangement of the words but I really like the simplicity of it. I chose Futura as my font after a recommendation from a classmate and really like the effect. It does sort of remind me of children's book where you learn words upon a theme but with a darker, more humorous edge. It looks straight to the point and communicated what I wanted! The choice of red, white and blue is a good one for backing up the "Britannia" side of the story; I chose a more muted tones as I think it will be easier to view and read, plus it adds a bit of grime. The alteration will help separate the pages and hopefully make it look great as you read it from top to bottom.

Final slang words and drawings

I went through the lists of words and grouped together the ones that reoccured the most with different slang versions. I am happy with the groups; they do tell a sort of story, starting from being quite nice and almost amusing before moving towards a more 'uncivilised' theme (Britannia Barbara!)

I decided to draw using simple pencil, partly as I haven't done any pencil drawings in absolutely AGES and it would make a nice change, but also as I think the rough textures work quite well for the uncivilised theme. I just looked at the words and drew the first things that popped into my head - they are all pretty literal, but I think this works well for the 'illustrated guide' side of the idea. I want to put them into Photoshop and overlay different colours (two different colours for the book; maybe red and blue?) to make them a little more interesting.

Book ideas

I want to pursue the idea of making a concertina book that reads from 'north to south'; it's different to anything I have made before and links in nicely with the essay. I messed around with the idea of having it in the shape of England for a while, but after trying to sort it out into equal sized pages length-wise I've realised some will be way to small to have enough information of them, especially at the top and bottom. I am going to stick with a square format, 15 x 15cm to keep it nice and clean (plus when it's all folded into a square I think it will be a really nice little object to have). 

I have created a rough list of the pages I want to include - 10 different words and the slang for each of them. I realised that lots of the slang I gathered is for pretty uncivilised words or themes, like drunk/high, chav, beaten up, idiot etc; this works PERFECTLY with fitting in with "Britannia Barbara"! Theres also some other great British-y words, like alleyway (Englands full of lots of horrible alleyways) and bread roll, which for some reason always jumps into my head when people talk about Yorkshire (maybe it's because I now know there are about a million different words for it). 

This was a happy accident but it's the route I want to go down - start with the nicer/funnier words and then move towards the more brutal ones in a sort of story order.. the chav lurking down the alleyway gets drunk/high, beats someone up and then gets done by the policeman. 

UPDATE 18/04/16…
I am changing the format to 10 x 10cm… pretty much because I can easily fit two pages onto an A4 sheet and save on printing costs, whereas with 15 x 15cm I would have to size up to A3 sheets (which would cost double). I think the little size will be really nice though; a sort of pocket book of slang!

Primary research into dialects!

After thinking about what theme I could possibly venture down for a long time, I have decided to just go for the theme of dialects and slang; the fact that I couldn't think of anything to draw has changed now I have some more research behind it (this was the hope and I am glad it has paid off!)

I asked classmates and friends who I have previously heard saying words and phrases that I had never heard of before to give me some of their favourites and classics from where they were from; as it were, they were all northern towns and cities (probably as I would have heard of most things from down south or even midlands). I asked people from specific cities for words and phrases as well, specifically Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool. 

The result is a massive list of words from all over the north; Hull, Middlesborough, Sunderland, Manchester, Liverpool, smaller Yorkshire towns, Newcastle and Ulverston. Some of them are absolutely untranslatable to my southern ear and brain without being told exactly what it means, for example "Gan yem like" ("going home" in Geordie) but they are all absolutely fantastic to work with!

Personal favourites:

• "Cake oyl" "lug oyl" and "chip oyl": mouth, ears and chip shop, from Barnsley.
• "Divenna son": I don't know, from Newcastle/Sunderland
• "Gadgey": old man, from Newcastle
• "Doylum": idiot, from various places
• "Tenfoot": alleyway, from Hull
• "Maftin": very very hot, from various places
• "Pukka": great, from Manchester

I also asked my good friend from Manchester via message so I could get some written down and in better context, as it was written by a true Mancunian. Some of it is complete gold in terms of humour and for this project; he kept accidentally using Manc words while trying to explain what other Manc words meant.

I need to group together some of these words as there are quite a few different ones for the same meaning from different areas, for example "Chav". Once they are grouped I think it will be easier to see them all and work out how I could draw from them/design a book around it. I'm currently thinking I could do a sort of picture and type book featuring the words with the most different slang versions, or the funniest ones that southerners or people not from the United Kingdom would never be able to work out (like a sort of guide book?)

Expanding ideas for the book

In the recent session I tried to both expand yet break down the themes explored in my essay to find a topic or idea I can start to explore for my book. I found this hard; it is difficult to be able to shine a new light on the idea without steering completely away from it and not just making a book that will illustrate my essay.

I like the idea of using "Britannia Barbara" (Uncivilised Britain) as maybe a title or a theme; it could open up lots of doors but still links into the research I have done. I also like the idea of focusing on stereotypes and stigmas of a typical northerner or southerner; this could be too close to the essay though. It was suggested I look into slang and dialects which could be really interesting but at the moment I don't know how I would make an illustrated book out of that (it can't be too type heavy). I could work with charicature or reportage? I need to get some proper ideas!

Feedback from first draft...

It is a good start but definitely needs both refining in some parts, yet expanding on points in others to become a very good essay. It jumps around a little too much in places so I need to find a way to make it move more smoothly. 

Stuff to think about…

• Expand on the little paragraph about the industrial revolution: some say it enslaved northern cities such as Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle and its decline possibly improved the lives of those who lived there, as it curbed to uncontrollable growth of mines, mills, factories etc. The decline of the textile industries from the 1950's to 1980's and then the mining industries from the 1980's onwards had the most recent impact on the wellbeing of northern cities.
• Expand on the paragraph about the minors strikes and Thatcher; (make it not past tense as it reads weirdly) the strikes, closure and privatisation did drive a wedge through the country. Consider how the Northern Powerhouse represents the north today via this. 
• Martin Parr - find some critical writing about "The Last Resort" and put some context in about Parr himself, e.g. where is he from.
• Focus on comparing two cities a little more in detail (e.g. Manchester and London?) and talk more about the growing cultural side.
• Links between multiculturalism and cities; where are the most multicultural cities, how does it relate to class structure.
• In intro, briefly refer to the issues between the north and south.
• There is a VERY badly worded sentence in the second paragraph about the first legal boundaries between England and Scotland - sort this out, it makes it look like I've not done any research.
• Conclusion.

MORE STUFF TO ADD/REFERENCE:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3615454/Ordinary-lives-extraordinary-photographs.html

Martin Parr: "Most people assume I am cynical and sneering... I'm much more romantic and nostalgic than people give me credit for". 

 “I went up to the North of England from suburban Surrey and was very taken with the sense of community that there still was there. So part of my job with photography was to celebrate that". (Gayford, 2004)