Dr Niina Turtola | Edinburgh Napier University (original) (raw)

Papers by Dr Niina Turtola

VIII Art of research, Re-imagining, 2024

The purpose of this article is to contextualise an unpublished document titled Tate Jukka and Pek... more The purpose of this article is to contextualise an unpublished document titled Tate Jukka and Pekka (2016) through the method of experimental writing: text collage. Contextualisation happens through a literature review, re-visioning and returning to the document with an analytical mindset, then a description of the visual constraints found on the page layout and what can be taken forward from that. Tate Jukka and Pekka (2016) is an agenda to highlight the absurdity of found texts and to act as a social critique. Reading the document between the lines is offered by a distorted layout construction where a parallel act of concealing and revealing semantic textual content is mediated by visual means and constraints. Tate Jukka and Pekka (2016) is a textual experiment in distorting the modern and closed printed book page and this happens by bringing a dissonant form and dissident content into the page and laying out and structuring the page into something that is far from the habitual printed document.

International Journal of Business & Management, 2023

The designer's practice is subject to ever-increasing demands in the accelerating transformations... more The designer's practice is subject to ever-increasing demands in the accelerating transformations and complexities of our time. A designer's competence requires continuous renewal and realignment, yet it contains several permanent qualities. The purpose of this article is to create a holistic picture of the competence of a successful designer. This article shows how a designer's competence is constructed of four factors: cognitive, social, emotional, and functional. Cognitive factors include several characteristics required for design thinking, especially creativity, and the ability to produce new insights and the ability to cope with uncertainty. Design is a social process, where interaction skills and the ability to collaborate are crucial in a co-design approach to collective creativity. The designer's positive feelings, attitudes and enthusiasm promote design thinking, problem-solving and innovation. Functional factors, such as good knowledge and skills, are essential tools for the development of the design. These promote the designer's work satisfaction and well-being. The success of a designer requires multi-faceted competence, and success does not only depend on personal characteristics. Success is influenced by the environment in which the designer works. A good atmosphere of the work community, support and encouragement promotes success for all parties involved in the design process.

IASDR2017 Conference Printed Proceedings, 2017

Graphic design is often seen in the commercial context and is discussed through topics linked to ... more Graphic design is often seen in the commercial context and is discussed through topics linked to software and technology. When we look around us we can realise that billboards, banners, posters and most of the print that surround us in the public space are delivering messages of marketing, corporations, consumerism and other commercially inclined narratives. This, however, is not the only way to comprehend the practice of a graphic designer. Graphic design can take a socio-pedagogical and historical role and distribute alternative messages in the society which are not linked to money and consumption, unless education, reading and studying are considered consumption of sorts.

It is obvious that graphic design is a powerful tool that shapes our understanding of reality. This happens through being exposed to the work. Posters are claimed to mirror societies by many theorists and most visual communication is mediated by a graphic designer. Thus, Bonsiepe stated already in 2005 in his speech Design and Democracy that there is an absence of questioning activities linked to design production. It is yet a relevant theme that research needs to approach; also in a post-colony where the printed poster is ubiquitous. A simple sheet of printed paper. A very simple but extremely complex and powerful. There lies an investigation that this paper will start. The outcome of this paper to share knowledge within the researchers about creating new meaningful pathways in understanding globally important practice of graphic design. Art and design are universally important.

Keywords: graphic design, printed poster, socio-pedagogical, post-colony, history

Abstract Graphic design is often seen in the commercial context and is discussed through topics l... more Abstract
Graphic design is often seen in the commercial context and is discussed through topics linked to software and technology. When we look around us we can realise that billboards, banners, posters and most of graphic design that surrounds us in the public space deliver marketing messages of corporations, consumerism and other commercial narratives. This, however, is not the only way to define the practice of a graphic designer. Graphic design can take a socio-pedagogical and historical role, and distribute alternative messages in the society which are not linked to money and consumption, unless education, reading and studying are considered consumption of sorts.
It is obvious that graphic design is a powerful tool that shapes our understanding of reality. This happens through being exposed to the work. Posters are claimed to mirror societies by many theorists and most visual communication is mediated by a graphic designer. Thus, Bonsiepe stated already in 2005 in his speech Design and Democracy that there is an absence of questioning activities linked to design production. It is yet a relevant theme that research needs to approach; also in a post-colony where the printed poster is ubiquitous. A simple sheet of printed paper. A very simple but extremely complex and powerful. There lies an investigation that this paper will start. The outcome of this paper to share knowledge within researchers about creating new meaningful pathways in understanding universally important and ubiquitous practice of graphic design.

Keywords: graphic design, printed poster, socio-pedagogical, post-colony, history

Opinnäytetyön produktiona oli tietokirjan graafinen suunnittelu. Työ oli toimeksianto Suomen meri... more Opinnäytetyön produktiona oli tietokirjan graafinen suunnittelu. Työ oli toimeksianto Suomen meriarkeologiselta seuralta, joka käännätti Archaeology Underwater, The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice -kirjan suomeksi.

Tutkielmassa perehdyttiin tietokirjan graafiseen suunnitteluun ja erityisesti sivun arkkitehtuuriin, tyhjään tilaan ja kirjatypografiaan. Tutkimusongelmana oli englanninkielisen alkuperäisteoksen graafinen suunnittelu, josta nämä kolme teemaa nousivat. Tutkimuksen, tunnistettujen ongelmakohtien ja kirjallisten lähteiden pohjalta tavoitteena oli suunnitella tietokirja, joka on helposti lähestyttävä ja luettava. Tutkimuksessa etsittiin perusteita toimivan, esteettisen ja
jäsennellyn tietokirjan suunnittelulle.

Tutkimuksessa lähestyttiin sivua visuaalisena rakennelmana ja tilana, jonka koossa pitävä voima on näkymätön ruudukko, yhtenäinen sommittelu sekä tyhjä tila elementtien jäsentelijänä. Työssä pohdittiin otsikkohierarkian selkeyden merkitystä luettavuuden ja sisällön sisäistämisen kannalta ja käsiteltiin tietokirjan asettamia vaatimuksia suunnittelulle sekä aikaa kestävälle kirjalle. Tämän jälkeen Archaeology Underwater -kirjan ongelmakohdat osoitettiin yksityiskohtaisesti. Kirjan pintojen täyttö laidasta laitaan havaittiin yhdeksi suurimmista ongelmakohdista. Työssä esiteltiin suomenkielisen käännöksen graafisen suunnittelun lähtökohdat lyhyesti, sillä suunnittelijan ja kirjoittajan oma näkemys lopullisesta kirjasta ilmenee konkreettisesti opinnäytetyön produktiossa.

Lopuksi pohdittiin typografisen näkymättömyyden ja typografisen taiteen vastakkaisasettelua, näkökulmana tietokirjan graafinen suunnittelu. Pohdittiin myös
suunnittelijan objektiivisuutta ja luovuutta suhteessa graafisen suunnittelun rooliin viestin välittäjänä ja lukijalähtöisena viestintänä.

Asiasanat: jäsentely, kirjagrafiikka, kirjatypografia, luettavuus, näkymätön typografia, otsikkohierarkia, rakenne, ruudukko, sivun arkkitehtuuri, taittopohja, tietokirja, tila, tyhjä/valkoinen tila, yhtenäisyys

Conference proceedings by Dr Niina Turtola

by Søren Rosenbak, Alison Thomson, Adriana Cobo, Alastair Stuart James Brook, Annika Olofsdotter Bergström, Cathryn Anneka Hall, Denielle J . Emans, Ph.D., Erik Sandelin, Gwen Lettis, Louise De Brabander, Monica Karlsson, Nicholas B. Torretta, Dr Niina Turtola, Saara-Maria Kauppi, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Stadler, Beinean Conway, Federico Vaz, Trevor Hogan, Yekta Bakırlıoglu, and Jack R . Lehane

PhD by Design - Instant Journal #5, 2018

This document brings together materials produced for and during the one-day PhD by Design Satelli... more This document brings together materials produced for and during the one-day PhD by Design Satellite Session taking place as part of DRS2018 on June 25, as well as the remaining DRS conference running June 26-28, 2018, Limerick, Ireland. In line with the DRS2018 theme of 'Catalyst', the PhD by Design Satellite Session explored how design can be a catalyst for change, and how practice-based research can shape the relationshop between different social, economic and political actors.

Books by Dr Niina Turtola

TYPOGRAFIAN OUTOUTTAMINEN : TAITEELLINEN TUTKIMUS ARJEN SANOJEN MUUTTAMISESTA TYPOGRAFISEKSI TAITEEKSI, 2021

Abstract The subject of my research is highlighting everyday words through making typography stra... more Abstract
The subject of my research is highlighting everyday words through making typography strange, that is, the visuality and art of making written language visible. The starting point of my research is that typography is invisible and simultaneously ubiquitous, therefore we are habitual to it, do not see nor react to it. It is rare to encounter material whose reason for its existence is not obvious and self-evident. According to the theory of ostranenie (Viktor Šklovski 1893–1984), we can be reminded of this familiarity and existence of everyday details. Art can make the mundane visible, requiring the viewer to work harder and build a stronger presence to the everyday. This is how art reveals our invisible, yet, cryptic world. In ostranenie, enstrangement, life is synonymous with art and calls into question the mundane, which is no longer experienced nor seen.
In this research, I aim to show what the process of typographic enstrangement is from the perspective of a graphic designer and to discuss how enstrangement emerges in my designs, and how, through the process of enstranging typography, the viewer also becomes a questioning reader.
In this research, typography is seen as a dialogical tool with which the reader starts to explore their own perceptions of the world as they reflect texts they did not notice before. Typography is no longer a traditional servant nor medium of delivering third party communication, but becomes carnivalistic art and a medium of dialogue. In this process, typography has the opportunity to become visible. In this research, I discuss the my typographic artistic production through the literary theoretical concepts of enstrangement (ostranenie, Šklovski) and carnivalism (Bahtin). This research is based on my analysis of the artistic material and the description of the artistic process. My research method is a combination of artistic and practice-based research, generating new knowledge and identity for research in graphic design, among other things. This research takes graphic design closer to the arts, a blurs this ambivalent and predetermined territory.
The research data consists of 24 typographic works I have designed. During this research, I conduncted and curated four exhibitions, commissioned six stamps and two sculptures, and wrote a researcher’s diary, all of which are part of the method I used to develop the typographic language of enstrangement.
In this endeavour, I identify and map development of my own artistic thinking. In this research, the world appears through the carnivalistic Ministry of Truth and Typography® which is the fictional typographic test laboratory that transform everyday language to artistic language. This artistic research was conducted between 2013 and 2020. My research responds to the wish expressed by Jan van Toorn (2010), a critical practice provocateur and graphic designer, to bring out ideological and social contradictions in graphic design practice and in artefacts produced. This research blurs the sensitive line between art and graphic design, facts and fiction, and border between the designer and communication.

Keywords:
artistic research,
carnivalism,
graphic design,
enstrangement,
everyday,
polyphony,
typography

Artistic research and artworks by Dr Niina Turtola

VIII Art of research, Re-imagining, 2024

The purpose of this article is to contextualise an unpublished document titled Tate Jukka and Pek... more The purpose of this article is to contextualise an unpublished document titled Tate Jukka and Pekka (2016) through the method of experimental writing: text collage. Contextualisation happens through a literature review, re-visioning and returning to the document with an analytical mindset, then a description of the visual constraints found on the page layout and what can be taken forward from that. Tate Jukka and Pekka (2016) is an agenda to highlight the absurdity of found texts and to act as a social critique. Reading the document between the lines is offered by a distorted layout construction where a parallel act of concealing and revealing semantic textual content is mediated by visual means and constraints. Tate Jukka and Pekka (2016) is a textual experiment in distorting the modern and closed printed book page and this happens by bringing a dissonant form and dissident content into the page and laying out and structuring the page into something that is far from the habitual printed document.

International Journal of Business & Management, 2023

The designer's practice is subject to ever-increasing demands in the accelerating transformations... more The designer's practice is subject to ever-increasing demands in the accelerating transformations and complexities of our time. A designer's competence requires continuous renewal and realignment, yet it contains several permanent qualities. The purpose of this article is to create a holistic picture of the competence of a successful designer. This article shows how a designer's competence is constructed of four factors: cognitive, social, emotional, and functional. Cognitive factors include several characteristics required for design thinking, especially creativity, and the ability to produce new insights and the ability to cope with uncertainty. Design is a social process, where interaction skills and the ability to collaborate are crucial in a co-design approach to collective creativity. The designer's positive feelings, attitudes and enthusiasm promote design thinking, problem-solving and innovation. Functional factors, such as good knowledge and skills, are essential tools for the development of the design. These promote the designer's work satisfaction and well-being. The success of a designer requires multi-faceted competence, and success does not only depend on personal characteristics. Success is influenced by the environment in which the designer works. A good atmosphere of the work community, support and encouragement promotes success for all parties involved in the design process.

IASDR2017 Conference Printed Proceedings, 2017

Graphic design is often seen in the commercial context and is discussed through topics linked to ... more Graphic design is often seen in the commercial context and is discussed through topics linked to software and technology. When we look around us we can realise that billboards, banners, posters and most of the print that surround us in the public space are delivering messages of marketing, corporations, consumerism and other commercially inclined narratives. This, however, is not the only way to comprehend the practice of a graphic designer. Graphic design can take a socio-pedagogical and historical role and distribute alternative messages in the society which are not linked to money and consumption, unless education, reading and studying are considered consumption of sorts.

It is obvious that graphic design is a powerful tool that shapes our understanding of reality. This happens through being exposed to the work. Posters are claimed to mirror societies by many theorists and most visual communication is mediated by a graphic designer. Thus, Bonsiepe stated already in 2005 in his speech Design and Democracy that there is an absence of questioning activities linked to design production. It is yet a relevant theme that research needs to approach; also in a post-colony where the printed poster is ubiquitous. A simple sheet of printed paper. A very simple but extremely complex and powerful. There lies an investigation that this paper will start. The outcome of this paper to share knowledge within the researchers about creating new meaningful pathways in understanding globally important practice of graphic design. Art and design are universally important.

Keywords: graphic design, printed poster, socio-pedagogical, post-colony, history

Abstract Graphic design is often seen in the commercial context and is discussed through topics l... more Abstract
Graphic design is often seen in the commercial context and is discussed through topics linked to software and technology. When we look around us we can realise that billboards, banners, posters and most of graphic design that surrounds us in the public space deliver marketing messages of corporations, consumerism and other commercial narratives. This, however, is not the only way to define the practice of a graphic designer. Graphic design can take a socio-pedagogical and historical role, and distribute alternative messages in the society which are not linked to money and consumption, unless education, reading and studying are considered consumption of sorts.
It is obvious that graphic design is a powerful tool that shapes our understanding of reality. This happens through being exposed to the work. Posters are claimed to mirror societies by many theorists and most visual communication is mediated by a graphic designer. Thus, Bonsiepe stated already in 2005 in his speech Design and Democracy that there is an absence of questioning activities linked to design production. It is yet a relevant theme that research needs to approach; also in a post-colony where the printed poster is ubiquitous. A simple sheet of printed paper. A very simple but extremely complex and powerful. There lies an investigation that this paper will start. The outcome of this paper to share knowledge within researchers about creating new meaningful pathways in understanding universally important and ubiquitous practice of graphic design.

Keywords: graphic design, printed poster, socio-pedagogical, post-colony, history

Opinnäytetyön produktiona oli tietokirjan graafinen suunnittelu. Työ oli toimeksianto Suomen meri... more Opinnäytetyön produktiona oli tietokirjan graafinen suunnittelu. Työ oli toimeksianto Suomen meriarkeologiselta seuralta, joka käännätti Archaeology Underwater, The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice -kirjan suomeksi.

Tutkielmassa perehdyttiin tietokirjan graafiseen suunnitteluun ja erityisesti sivun arkkitehtuuriin, tyhjään tilaan ja kirjatypografiaan. Tutkimusongelmana oli englanninkielisen alkuperäisteoksen graafinen suunnittelu, josta nämä kolme teemaa nousivat. Tutkimuksen, tunnistettujen ongelmakohtien ja kirjallisten lähteiden pohjalta tavoitteena oli suunnitella tietokirja, joka on helposti lähestyttävä ja luettava. Tutkimuksessa etsittiin perusteita toimivan, esteettisen ja
jäsennellyn tietokirjan suunnittelulle.

Tutkimuksessa lähestyttiin sivua visuaalisena rakennelmana ja tilana, jonka koossa pitävä voima on näkymätön ruudukko, yhtenäinen sommittelu sekä tyhjä tila elementtien jäsentelijänä. Työssä pohdittiin otsikkohierarkian selkeyden merkitystä luettavuuden ja sisällön sisäistämisen kannalta ja käsiteltiin tietokirjan asettamia vaatimuksia suunnittelulle sekä aikaa kestävälle kirjalle. Tämän jälkeen Archaeology Underwater -kirjan ongelmakohdat osoitettiin yksityiskohtaisesti. Kirjan pintojen täyttö laidasta laitaan havaittiin yhdeksi suurimmista ongelmakohdista. Työssä esiteltiin suomenkielisen käännöksen graafisen suunnittelun lähtökohdat lyhyesti, sillä suunnittelijan ja kirjoittajan oma näkemys lopullisesta kirjasta ilmenee konkreettisesti opinnäytetyön produktiossa.

Lopuksi pohdittiin typografisen näkymättömyyden ja typografisen taiteen vastakkaisasettelua, näkökulmana tietokirjan graafinen suunnittelu. Pohdittiin myös
suunnittelijan objektiivisuutta ja luovuutta suhteessa graafisen suunnittelun rooliin viestin välittäjänä ja lukijalähtöisena viestintänä.

Asiasanat: jäsentely, kirjagrafiikka, kirjatypografia, luettavuus, näkymätön typografia, otsikkohierarkia, rakenne, ruudukko, sivun arkkitehtuuri, taittopohja, tietokirja, tila, tyhjä/valkoinen tila, yhtenäisyys

by Søren Rosenbak, Alison Thomson, Adriana Cobo, Alastair Stuart James Brook, Annika Olofsdotter Bergström, Cathryn Anneka Hall, Denielle J . Emans, Ph.D., Erik Sandelin, Gwen Lettis, Louise De Brabander, Monica Karlsson, Nicholas B. Torretta, Dr Niina Turtola, Saara-Maria Kauppi, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Stadler, Beinean Conway, Federico Vaz, Trevor Hogan, Yekta Bakırlıoglu, and Jack R . Lehane

PhD by Design - Instant Journal #5, 2018

This document brings together materials produced for and during the one-day PhD by Design Satelli... more This document brings together materials produced for and during the one-day PhD by Design Satellite Session taking place as part of DRS2018 on June 25, as well as the remaining DRS conference running June 26-28, 2018, Limerick, Ireland. In line with the DRS2018 theme of 'Catalyst', the PhD by Design Satellite Session explored how design can be a catalyst for change, and how practice-based research can shape the relationshop between different social, economic and political actors.

TYPOGRAFIAN OUTOUTTAMINEN : TAITEELLINEN TUTKIMUS ARJEN SANOJEN MUUTTAMISESTA TYPOGRAFISEKSI TAITEEKSI, 2021

Abstract The subject of my research is highlighting everyday words through making typography stra... more Abstract
The subject of my research is highlighting everyday words through making typography strange, that is, the visuality and art of making written language visible. The starting point of my research is that typography is invisible and simultaneously ubiquitous, therefore we are habitual to it, do not see nor react to it. It is rare to encounter material whose reason for its existence is not obvious and self-evident. According to the theory of ostranenie (Viktor Šklovski 1893–1984), we can be reminded of this familiarity and existence of everyday details. Art can make the mundane visible, requiring the viewer to work harder and build a stronger presence to the everyday. This is how art reveals our invisible, yet, cryptic world. In ostranenie, enstrangement, life is synonymous with art and calls into question the mundane, which is no longer experienced nor seen.
In this research, I aim to show what the process of typographic enstrangement is from the perspective of a graphic designer and to discuss how enstrangement emerges in my designs, and how, through the process of enstranging typography, the viewer also becomes a questioning reader.
In this research, typography is seen as a dialogical tool with which the reader starts to explore their own perceptions of the world as they reflect texts they did not notice before. Typography is no longer a traditional servant nor medium of delivering third party communication, but becomes carnivalistic art and a medium of dialogue. In this process, typography has the opportunity to become visible. In this research, I discuss the my typographic artistic production through the literary theoretical concepts of enstrangement (ostranenie, Šklovski) and carnivalism (Bahtin). This research is based on my analysis of the artistic material and the description of the artistic process. My research method is a combination of artistic and practice-based research, generating new knowledge and identity for research in graphic design, among other things. This research takes graphic design closer to the arts, a blurs this ambivalent and predetermined territory.
The research data consists of 24 typographic works I have designed. During this research, I conduncted and curated four exhibitions, commissioned six stamps and two sculptures, and wrote a researcher’s diary, all of which are part of the method I used to develop the typographic language of enstrangement.
In this endeavour, I identify and map development of my own artistic thinking. In this research, the world appears through the carnivalistic Ministry of Truth and Typography® which is the fictional typographic test laboratory that transform everyday language to artistic language. This artistic research was conducted between 2013 and 2020. My research responds to the wish expressed by Jan van Toorn (2010), a critical practice provocateur and graphic designer, to bring out ideological and social contradictions in graphic design practice and in artefacts produced. This research blurs the sensitive line between art and graphic design, facts and fiction, and border between the designer and communication.

Keywords:
artistic research,
carnivalism,
graphic design,
enstrangement,
everyday,
polyphony,
typography