A Written Form of Stuttering

Third Bachelor Research Award 2019

Nominee Drempelprijs Autonomous Practices 2019

Jury Research Award: "The third award (a prize of 500 Euro) goes to Lot Mars (Graphic Design - Autonomous Practices) for her project a written form of stuttering. "Both in her thesis and her design of a modified alphabet, Lot makes a convincing case for stuttering as a dialect and for the emancipation of the stutterer."

About this project:

Stuttering is more than just sound and therefore cannot be fully expressed in the spoken language. I designed a script that poetically reflects how people who stutter experience language: a fear of letters and a strong focus on letter-sound, arising from a fear of not being able to meet the right letter sound. In my design, stuttering sounds are the very core of a rich script.

Why

The newly designed letters visualise clearly how words and letters feel for people who stutter. They provide insight into what stuttering is all about and allows fluent speakers to experience a (for them) new approach to language. Stotts makes it possible for fluent speakers to experience what stuttering is all about.

How

I investigated how our Latin letters could be redesigned to fully reflect stuttering. With new characters, interactive letters and designed silences, this script represents the stuttering that is not audible. The shape of characters visualises stuffiness and pressure. Furthermore, letters change contextually, depending on the sound combination. This because the same letter does not always produce the same stutter. For example, an R behind the K can soften the sound, while a vowel makes the K very sharp. This is why the alphabet of stotts consists of different characters for the same letter.

Visit Lot's website to view the projects she has worked on.