Not Going Back to Normal
Published by Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, 2020
Edited by Harry Josephine Giles and Sasha Saben Callaghan
Produced by Siobhan Carroll
Designed by James Brook
Soft cover | 210 x 148 mm | 48 pages | Printed by Gomer, Wales, on UPM Offset
Not Going Back to Normal is a book that I designed for Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, that looks at disability arts access and inclusion; it is focused towards the visual art sector and policy makers. I am very proud to have been involved in Not Going Back to Normal, a ‘provocation about how things are and an idea for how things could be. This gallery manifesto gathers disabled artists in their diversity, rage, and imagination to call out the institutional ableism in the Scottish arts and picture a future in which disabled artists are central.’ It includes contributions from artists, writers, poets and photographers from across Scotland.
The book was designed to make it more accessible to people with visual impairments and for people with dyslexia and other neurodiversities. The book has a clear layout that uses the typeface Avenir, which, after some research, I selected as an approved typeface for people with dyslexia, in one part because of Avenir’s clear distinction between similar letterforms. In addition, the book is printed on a tint of yellow which helps dyslexic people to read more easily than a bright white page. For people with visual impairments, I typeset the book at a minimum of 14 point type size and the book is printed on matt paper which also helps with the reading experience. For inclusivity, the book was designed at a modest size that could be comfortably held in the hand.
Not Going Back to Normal is produced by Collective and is supported by a group of Scottish visual arts organisations working on improving disability access and inclusion. They are: Arika, Artlink, CCA, DCA, Glasgow School of Art Exhibitions, Project Ability and the Scottish Sculpture Workshop.
