The first 26 Letters project started in the UK in 2004 when the writing group 26 and the International Society of Typographic Designers joined forces to explore the DNA of language. Twenty-six business writers were randomly paired with twenty-six graphic designers, given one letter each and asked to create a collaborative work that celebrated, explored, questioned, elucidated or subverted their character.
The result was an extraordinary exhibition entitled 26 Letters: Illuminating the alphabet – and later culminated in a book of the same title recording an open exploration of the alphabet by some of today's leading designers and writers.
How often do we think about the individual letters of our alphabet? What are their histories, their personalities, their stories? What does C mean to you? Where did X come from? How does N make you feel?These were some of the questions asked and the project explored the alphabet in a way never been done before – to inspire a greater love of words in business and in life.
In 2006, a group of South Africans equally passionate about words and design teamed up to do a 26 Letters project of their own – but with a purpose very different to the first 26 Letters project in the UK that made it more relevant to one of the most sensitive issues we face in South Africa. Crime and violence.
Two factors steered our project into this direction. The first was the information and research from a book entitled “A is for Ox” which tracks the collapse of literacy and the rise of violence in an electronic age. The book describes a world filled with a youth who have bypassed reading and writing and as result have been forced to fabricate a life without the benefit of the intimate, innermost guide we call ‘the self.’ The book reveals that without the benefit of reading and writing and bookish things, young people fail to develop a bond with the world that gives them a sense of belonging. They fail to express themselves adequately. They become bored and frustrated. It is a world in which young people seek revenge and retaliation rather than self-reflection. It is a world in which people kill without remorse or regret. The details are found in the morning newspaper – and in South Africa we read all about it, know all about it and talk about it, every day. We live in one of the most violent countries in the world.
The second factor that steered the direction of the South African 26 Letters project came from the contents of an ‘After Eight Debate’ with John Perlman on SAfm where the comment was made by one of John’s guests that written answers had been dropped in Matric exams because apparently it would penalise people who could not write fast enough. Unfortunately, it appeared that this was one of the factors that resulted in a high drop out rate in first year university students. This indicated that without the ability to use words and more importantly choose words, real knowledge is not transferred and people do not have the ability to argue constructively for a point of view or explain what they understand. You can imagine that should this happen in a more heated debate, the urge to punch instead of explain would be far higher. Written answers have been re-introduced into the exam process.
In short, what we are saying is that if people get back into the power of the alphabet and regain a love of reading and writing and more bookish things, we may have a less violent society, better able to express itself and work through problems constructively. Perhaps someone with a book in their hand may not have a gun in it instead. The 26 Letter project in South Africa is something we’ve dubbed as ‘literacy against crime. In the words of Barry Sanders, “We need to gather into small groups – textual communities – and discuss this most devastating issue, the time bomb that has already gone off, and figure out how to minimize the damage, and more importantly, how to make certain that future generations do not self destruct.’
The 26 Letters project is about doing just that - the communications industry getting together to do something, not for an award, not for a prize, not for a gratuitous oh-aren’t-we-so-good pat on the back but because we can - and because we have a responsibility to do so. Over 54 entries are testament to the fact that we have creative talent who believe that they can make a difference. We are sure that we won’t be able to solve all of the crime and violence in South Africa but if we do something to re-establish one of the pillars in our society that has fallen down, then perhaps we can solve a significant part of a the problem. And that’s worth doing.
The 26 Letters exhibition launched at Design Indaba and from there it is traveling around South Africa, Southern Africa, perhaps even as far a Nigeria. We are taking it to schools, to libraries, to art galleries – where we can stimulate interest in the alphabet again and remind people that they have a powerful tool in the ABC - regardless of what language they might speak.
The project has been incredibly well supported by Adobe, the ISTD, Lightworks who printed the exhibition, Red Nail who organized the project, Brain Tuna who are hosting and designed the website, Engine magazine who printed the call for entries and Think (The South African Graphic Design Council – and of course, all of the communications professionals who gave up their valuable time to put their letters together. Because of this, we know we’ve already stirred up passion among communications professionals across the spectrum.
Hopefully, the traveling 26 Letters road show will have the same effect in many other areas of our society. And by the way, the exhibition is just the beginning. There is so much more we are going to do with this project, just wait and see.