The Failure to Learn to Make a Living

The greatest indictment of such education as Negroes have received, however, is that they have thereby learned little as to making a living, the first essential in civilization. Rural Negroes have always known something about agriculture, and in a country where land is abundant they have been able to make some sort of living on the soil even though they have not always employed scientific methods of farming. In industry where the competition is keener, however, what the Negro has learned in school has had little bearing on the situation, as pointed out above. In business the role of education as a factor in the uplift of the Negro has been still less significant. The Negroes of today are unable to employ one another, and the whites are inclined to call on Negroes only when workers of their own race have been taken care of. For the solution of this problem the “mis-educated” Negro has offered no remedy whatever.

What Negroes are now being taught does not bring their minds into harmony with life as they must face it. When a Negro student works his way through college by polishing shoes he does not think of making a special study of the science underlying the production and distribution of leather and its products that he may someday figure in this sphere. The Negro boy sent to college by a mechanic seldom dreams of learning mechanical engineering to build upon the foundation his father has laid, that in years to come he may figure as a contractor or a consulting engineer. The Negro girl who goes to college hardly wants to return to her mother if she is a washerwoman, but this girl should come back with sufficient knowledge of physics and chemistry and business administration to use her mother’s work as a nucleus for a modern steam laundry. A white professor of a university recently resigned his position to become rich by running a laundry for Negroes in a Southern city. A Negro college instructor would have considered such a suggestion an insult. The so-called education of Negro college graduates leads them to throw away opportunities which they have and to go in quest of those which they do not find.

In the case of the white youth in this country, they can choose their courses more at random and still succeed because of numerous opportunities offered by their people, but even they show so much more wisdom than do Negroes. For example, a year or two after the author left Harvard he found out West a schoolmate who was studying wool. “How did you happen to go into this sort of thing?” the author inquired. His people, the former replied, had had some experience in wool, and in college he prepared for this work. On the contrary, the author studied Aristotle, Plato, Marsiglio of Padua, and Pascasius Rathbertus when he was in college. His friend who studied wool, however, is now independently rich and has sufficient leisure to enjoy the cultural side of life which his knowledge of the science underlying his business developed, but the author has to make his living by begging for a struggling cause.

An observer recently saw at the market near his office a striking example of this inefficiency of our system. He often goes over there at noon to buy a bit of fruit and to talk with a young woman who successfully conducts a fruit stand there in cooperation with her mother. Some years ago he tried to teach her in high school; but her memory was poor, and she could not understand what he was trying to do. She stayed a few weeks, smiling at the others who toiled, and finally left to assist her mother in business. She learned from her mother, however, how to make a living and be happy.

This observer was reminded of this young woman soon thereafter when there came to visit him a friend who succeeded in mastering everything taught in high school at that time and later distinguished himself in college. This highly educated man brought with him a complaint against life. Having had extreme difficulty in finding an opportunity to do what he is trained to do, he has thought several times of committing suicide. A friend encouraged this despondent man to go ahead and do it; the sooner the better. The food and air which he is now consuming may then go to keep alive someone who is in touch with life and able to grapple with its problems. This man has been educated away from the fruit stand.

This friend had been trying to convince this misfit of the unusual opportunities for the Negroes in business, but he reprimanded his adviser for urging him to take up such a task when most Negroes thus engaged have been failures.

“If we invest our money in some enterprise of our own,” said he, “those in charge will misuse or misappropriate it. I have learned from my study of economics that we had just as well keep on throwing it away.”

Upon investigation, however, it was discovered that this complainant and most others like him have never invested anything in any of the Negro enterprises, although they have tried to make a living by exploiting them. But they feel a bit guilty on this account, and when they have some apparent ground for fault-finding they try to satisfy their conscience which all but condemns them for their suicidal course of getting all they can out of the race while giving nothing back to it.

Gossiping and scandal-mongering Negroes, of course, come to their assistance. Mis-educated by the oppressors of the race, such Negroes expect the Negro business man to fail anyway. They seize, then, upon unfavorable reports, exaggerate the situation, and circulate falsehoods throughout the world to their own undoing. You read such headlines as Greatest Negro Business Fails, Negro Bank Robbed by Its Officers, and The Twilight of Negro Business. The mis- educated Negroes, then, stand by saying:

If the “highly educated” Negro would forget most of the untried theories taught him in school, if he could see through the propaganda which has been instilled into his mind under the pretext of education, if he would fall in love with his own people and begin to sacrifice for their uplift—if the “highly educated” Negro would do these things, he could solve some of the problems now confronting the race.

During recent years we have heard much of education in business administration departments in Negro colleges; but if they be judged by the products turned out by these departments they are not worth a “continental.” The teachers in this field are not prepared to do the work, and the trustees of our institutions are spending their time with trifles instead of addressing themselves to the study of a situation which threatens the Negro with economic extermination.

Recently the author saw the need for a change of attitude when a young woman came almost directly to his office after her graduation from a business school to seek employment. After hearing her story he finally told her that he would give her a trial at fifteen dollars a week.

“Fifteen dollars a week!” she cried, “I cannot live on that, sir.”

“I do not see why you cannot,” he replied. “You have lived for some time already, and you say that you have never had permanent employment, and you have none at all now.”

“But a woman has to dress and to pay board,” said she; “and how can she do it on such a pittance?”

The amount offered was small, but it was a great deal more than she is worth at present. In fact, during the first six or nine months of her connection with some enterprise it will be of more service to her than she will be to the firm. Coming out of school without experience, she will be a drag on a business until she learns to discharge some definite function in it. Instead of requiring the firm to pay her she should pay it for training her. Negro business today, then, finds the “mis- educated employees” its heaviest burden. Thousands of graduates of white business schools spend years in establishments in undergoing apprenticeship without pay and rejoice to have the opportunity thus to learn how to do things.

The schools in which Negroes are now being trained, however, do not give our young people this point of view. They may occasionally learn the elements of stenography and accounting, but they do not learn how to apply what they have studied. The training which they undergo gives a false conception of life when they believe that the business world owes them a position of leadership. They have the idea of business training that we used to have of teaching when it was thought that we could teach anything we had studied.

Graduates of our business schools lack the courage to throw themselves upon their resources and work for a commission. The large majority of them want to be sure of receiving a certain amount at the end of the week or month. They do not seem to realize that the great strides in business have been made by paying men according to what they do. Persons with such false impressions of life are not good representatives of schools of business administration.

Not long ago a firm of Washington, D. C., appealed to the graduates of several of our colleges and offered them an inviting proposition on the commission basis, but only five of the hundreds appealed to responded and only two of the five gave satisfaction. Another would have succeeded, but he was not honest in handling money because he had learned to purloin the treasury of the athletic organization while in college. All of the others, however, were anxious to serve somewhere in an office for a small wage a week.

Recently one of the large insurance companies selected for special training in this line fifteen college graduates of our accredited institutions and financed their special training in insurance. Only one of the number, however, rendered efficient service in this field. They all abandoned the effort after a few days’ trial and accepted work in hotels and with the Pullman Company, or they went into teaching or something else with a fixed stipend until they could enter upon the practice of professions. The thought of the immediate reward, shortsightedness, and the lack of vision and courage to struggle and win the fight made them failures to begin with. They are unwilling to throw aside their coats and collars and do the groundwork of Negro business and thus make opportunities for themselves instead of begging others for a chance.

The educated Negro from the point of view of commerce and industry, then, shows no mental power to understand the situation which he finds. He has apparently read his race out of that sphere, and with the exception of what the illiterate Negroes can do blindly the field is left wide open for foreign exploitation. Foreigners see this opportunity as soon as they reach our shores and begin to manufacture and sell to Negroes especially such things as caps, neckties, and housedresses which may be produced at a small cost and under ordinary circumstances. The main problem with the Negro in this field, however, is salesmanship; that is where he is weak.

It is unfortunate, too, that the educated Negro does not understand or is unwilling to start small enterprises which make the larger ones possible. If he cannot proceed according to the methods of the gigantic corporations about which he reads in books, he does not know how to take hold of things and organize the communities of the poor along lines of small businesses. Such training is necessary, for the large majority of Negroes conducting enterprises have not learned business methods and do not understand the possibilities of the field in which they operate. Most of them in the beginning had had no experience, and started out with such knowledge as they could acquire by observing some one’s business from the outside.

One of them, for example, had waited on a white business club in passing the members a box of cigars or bringing a pitcher of water. When they began to discuss business, however, he had to leave the room. About the only time he could see them in action was when they were at play, indulging in extravagances which the Negro learned to take up before he could afford them.

Negro businesses thus handicapped, therefore, have not developed stability and the capacity for growth. Practically all worthwhile Negro businesses which were flourishing in 1900 are not existing today. How did this happen? Well, Negro business men have too much to do. They have not time to read the business literature and study the market upon which they depend, and they may not be sufficiently trained to do these things. They are usually operating in the dark or by the hit-or-miss method. They cannot secure intelligent guidance because the schools are not turning out men properly trained to take up Negro business as it is to develop and make it what it ought to be rather than find fault with it. Too often when the founder dies, then, the business dies with him; or it goes to pieces soon after he passes away, for nobody has come into sufficiently close contact with him to learn the secret of his success in spite of his handicaps.

The business among Negroes, too, continues individualistic in spite of advice to the contrary. The founder does not take kindly to the cooperative plan, and such business education as we now give the youth does not make their suggestions to this effect convincing. If the founder happens to be unusually successful, too, the business may outgrow his knowledge, and becoming too unwieldy in his hands, may go to pieces by errors of judgment; or because of mismanagement it may go into the hands of whites who are usually called in at the last hour to do what they call refinancing but what really means the actual taking over of the business from the Negroes. The Negroes, then, finally withdraw their patronage because they realize that it is no longer an enterprise of the race, and the chapter is closed.

All of the failures of the Negro business, however, are not due to troubles from without. Often the Negro business man lacks common sense. The Negro in business, for example, too easily becomes a social “lion.” He sometimes plunges into the leadership in local matters. He becomes popular in restricted circles, and men of less magnetism grow jealous of his inroads. He learns how richer men of other races waste money. He builds a finer home than anybody else in the community, and in his social program he does not provide for much contact with the very people upon whom he must depend for patronage. He has the finest car, the most expensive dress, the best summer home, and so far outdistances his competitors in society that they often set to work in child-like fashion to bring him down to their level.

The Educated Negro Leaves the Masses

One of the most striking evidences of the failure of higher education among Negroes is their estrangement from the masses, the very people upon whom they must eventually count for carrying out a program of progress. Of this the Negro churches supply the most striking illustration. The large majority of Negro communicants still belong to these churches, but the more education the Negroes undergo the less comfort they seem to find in these evangelical groups. These churches do not measure up to the standard set by the university preachers of the Northern centers of learning. Most Negroes returning as finished products from such institutions, then, are forever lost to the popular Negro churches. The un-churched of this class do not become members of such congregations, and those who have thus connected themselves remain chiefly for political or personal reasons and tend to become communicants in name only.

The Negro church, however, although not a shadow of what it ought to be, is the great asset of the race. It is a part of the capital that the race must invest to make its future. The Negro church, has taken the lead in education in the schools of the race, it has supplied a forum for the thought of the “highly educated” Negro, it has originated a large portion of the business controlled by Negroes, and in many cases it has made it possible for Negro professional men to exist. It is unfortunate, then, that these classes do not do more to develop the institution. In thus neglecting it they are throwing away what they have, to obtain something which they think they need. In many respects, then, the Negro church during recent generations has become corrupt. It could be improved, but those Negroes who can help the institution have deserted it to exploiters, grafters, and libertines. The “highly educated” Negroes have turned away from the people in the churches, and the gap between the masses and the “talented tenth” is rapidly widening.

Of this many examples may be cited. When the author recently attended in Washington, D. C., one of the popular Negro churches with a membership of several thousand he saw a striking case in evidence. While sitting there he thought of what a power this group could become under the honest leadership of intelligent men and women. Social uplift, business, public welfare—all have their possibilities there if a score or more of our “highly educated” Negroes would work with these people at that center. Looking carefully throughout the audience for such persons, however, he recognized only two college graduates, Kelly Miller and himself; but the former had come to receive from the church a donation to the Community Chest, and the author had come according to appointment to make an appeal in behalf of Miss Nannie H. Burroughs’ school. Neither one had manifested any interest in that particular church. This is the way most of them receive attention from our “talented tenth.”

Some “highly educated” Negroes say that they have not lost their interest in religion, that they have gone into churches with a more intellectual atmosphere in keeping with their new thoughts and aspirations. And then there is a sort of contagious fever which takes away from the churches of their youth others of less formal education. Talking with a friend from Alabama, the other day, the author found out that after her father had died and she had moved to Washington she forsook the Baptist church in which he had been a prominent worker and joined a ritualistic church which is more fashionable.

Such a change of faith is all right in a sense, for no sensible person today would dare to make an argument in favor of any particular religion. Religion is but religion, if the people live up to the faith they profess. What is said here with respect to the popular churches of Negroes, which happen to be chiefly Methodist and Baptist, would hold also if they were mainly Catholic and Episcopal, provided the large majority of Negroes belonged to those churches. The point here is that the ritualistic churches into which these Negroes have gone do not touch the masses, and they show no promising future for racial development. Such institutions are controlled by those who offer the Negroes only limited opportunity and then sometimes on the condition that they be segregated in the court of the gentiles outside of the temple of Jehovah.

How an “educated Negro” can thus leave the church of his people and accept such Jim Crowism has always been a puzzle. He cannot be a thinking man. It may be a sort of slave psychology which causes this preference for the leadership of the oppressor. The excuse sometimes given for seeking such religious leadership is that the Negro evangelical churches are “fogy,” but a thinking man would rather be behind the times and have his self-respect than compromise his manhood by accepting segregation. They say that in some of the Negro churches bishoprics are actually bought, but it is better for the Negro to belong to a church where one can secure a bishopric by purchase than be a member of one which would deny the promotion on account of color.

With respect to developing the masses, then, the Negro race has lost ground in recent years. In 1880 when the Negroes had begun to make themselves felt in teaching, the attitude of the leaders was different from what it is today. At that time men went off to school to prepare themselves for the uplift of a downtrodden people. In our time too many Negroes go to school to memorize certain facts to pass examinations for jobs. After they obtain these positions they pay little attention to humanity. This attitude of the “educated Negro” toward the masses results partly from the general trend of all persons toward selfishness, but it works more disastrously among the Negroes than among the whites because the lower classes of the latter have had so much more opportunity.

For some time the author has been making a special study of the Negroes in the City of Washington to compare their condition of today with that of the past. Now although the “highly educated” Negroes of the District of Columbia have multiplied and apparently are in better circumstances than ever, the masses show almost as much backwardness as they did in 1880. Sometimes you find as many as two or three store-front churches in a single block where Negroes indulge in heathen-like practices which could hardly be equaled in the jungle. The Negroes in Africa have not descended to such depths. Although born and brought up in the Black Belt of the South the author never saw such idolatrous tendencies as he has seen under the dome of the Capitol.

Such conditions show that the undeveloped Negro has been abandoned by those who should help him. The educated white man, said an observer recently, differs from the “educated Negro” who so readily forsakes the belated element of his race. When a white man sees persons of his own race trending downward to a level of disgrace he does not rest until he works out some plan to lift such unfortunates to higher ground; but the Negro forgets the delinquents of his race and goes his way to feather his own nest, as he has done in leaving the masses in the popular churches.

This is sad indeed, for the Negro church is the only institution the race controls. With the exception of the feeble efforts of a few all but starved-out institutions, the education of the Negroes is controlled by the other element; and save the dramatization of practical education by Booker T. Washington, Negroes have not influenced the system at all in America. In business, the lack of capital, credit, and experience has prevented large undertakings to accumulate the wealth necessary for the ease and comfort essential to higher culture.

In the church, however, the Negro has had sufficient freedom to develop this institution in his own way; but he has failed to do so. His religion is merely a loan from the whites who have enslaved and segregated the Negroes; and the organization, though largely an independent Negro institution is dominated by the thought of the oppressors of the race. The “educated” Negro minister is so trained as to drift away from the masses and the illiterate preachers into whose hands the people inevitably fall are unable to develop a doctrine and procedure of their own. The dominant thought is to make use of the dogma of the whites as means to an end. Whether the system is what it should be or not it serves the purpose.

In chameleon-like fashion the Negro has taken up almost everything religious which has come along instead of thinking for himself. The English split off from the Catholics because Henry VIII had difficulty in getting sanction from the Church to satisfy his lust for amorous women, and Negroes went with this ilk, singing “God save the King.” Others later said the thing necessary is baptism by immersion; and the Negroes joined them as Baptists.

Another circle of promoters next said we must have a new method of doing things and we shall call ourselves Methodists; and the Negroes, then, embraced that faith. The Methodists and Baptists split up further on account of the custom of holding slaves; and the Negroes arrayed themselves on the respective sides. The religious agitators divided still more on questions beyond human power to understand; and the Negroes started out in similar fashion to imitate them.

For example, thirty of the two hundred and thirteen religious bodies reported in 1926 were exclusively Negro, while thirty which were primarily white denominations had one or more Negro churches among their number. In other words, Negroes have gone into practically all sects established by the whites; and, in addition to these, they have established thirty of their own to give the system further complication and subdivision. The situation in these churches is aggravated, too, by having too many ministers and about five times as many supervisory officials as a church embracing all Negro communicants would actually need. All of the Negro Methodists in the world, if united, would not need more than twelve bishops, and these would have time to direct the affairs of both Methodists and Baptists in a united church. There is no need for three or four bishops, each teaching the same faith and practice while duplicating the work of the other in the same area merely because a long time ago somebody following the ignorant oppressors of the race in these churches committed the sin of dissension and strife. For all of this unnecessary expense impoverished Negroes have to pay.

The “theology” of “foreigners,” too, is the important factor in this disunion of churches and the burden which they impose on an unenlightened people. Theologians have been the “bane of bliss and source of woe.” While bringing the joy of conquest to their own camp they have confused the world with disputes which have divided the church and stimulated division and subdivision to the extent that it no longer functions as a Christian agency for the uplift of all men.

To begin with, theology is of pagan origin. Albert Magnus and Thomas Aquinas worked out the first system of it by applying to religious discussion the logic of Aristotle, a pagan philosopher, who believed neither in the creation of the world nor the immortality of the soul. At best it was degenerate learning, based upon the theory that knowledge is gained by the mind working upon itself rather than upon matter or through sense perception. The world was, therefore, confused with the discussion of absurdities as it is today by those of prominent churchmen. By their peculiar “reasoning,” too, theologians have sanctioned most of the ills of the ages. They justified the Inquisition, serfdom, and slavery. Theologians of our time defend segregation and the annihilation of one race by the other. They have drifted away from righteousness into an effort to make wrong seem to be right.

While we must hold the Negroes responsible for following these ignorant theorists, we should not charge to their account the origination of this nonsense with which they have confused thoughtless people. As said above, the Negro has been so busy doing what he is told to do that he has not stopped long enough to think about the meaning of these things. He has borrowed the ideas of his traducers instead of delving into things and working out some thought of his own. Some Negro leaders of these religious factions know better, but they hold their following by keeping the people divided, in emphasizing nonessentials the insignificance of which the average man may not appreciate. The “highly educated” Negroes who know better than to follow these unprincipled men have abandoned these popular churches.

While serving as the avenue of the oppressor’s propaganda, the Negro church, although doing some good, has prevented the union of diverse elements and has kept the race too weak to overcome foes who have purposely taught Negroes how to quarrel and fight about trifles until their enemies can overcome them. This is the keynote to the control of the so-called inferior races by the self-styled superior. The one thinks and plans while the other in excited fashion seizes upon and destroys his brother with whom he should cooperate.

Due Dates and Participation Requirements

Learning Objectives Covered

• LO 01.01 – Visually analyze and identify four font features that work best for web vs. print
• LO 01.02 – Identify and select an appropriate font for a specific purpose

Career Relevancy

Choosing a font for a project is one of the most basic tasks of a designer’s job. It is also one of the most important ones, as the right font will impact both the look and the usability of the project, and can quickly make or break the successful delivery of your message. Fonts cannot be chosen just by your personal preference, but need to fulfill certain criteria depending on the function of the design. Being able to choose appropriate fonts for your designs will be one of the main signs that you are ready to work in a professional setting.

Background

Choosing the right font

It’s been said that a font is the clothes letters wear – so when using text a designer always has to ask themselves “What to wear?” If choosing the right font is like choosing the right clothes to wear, you have to be aware of the occasion. Some clothing is completely appropriate in one situation, yet totally inappropriate in another. For example; a nice swimsuit would be completely appropriate at a beach party, but you would never wear a swimsuit to a job interview no matter how cute it was. Sometimes it is less obvious what clothing should be worn. For example, what should you wear to a high school reunion, a birthday party, or a casual business lunch? The same holds true with fonts. Some fonts, like Rosewood or Edwardian Script, have a definite personality and are appropriate for certain types of design. Others, like Helvetica and Baskerville are pretty safe and can be used for many different occasions (like black pants and a simple shirt, or jeans and a white shirt).

It will take some research to select an appropriate font for a specific occasion. Take advantage of font libraries, like Typekit, to test what your text will look like in a few different options to make sure you find the right font for the job.

“When choosing a typeface, graphic designers consider the history of typefaces, their current connotations, as well as their formal qualities. The goal is to find an appropriate match between a style of letters and the specific social situation and body of content that define the project at hand. There is no playbook that assigns a fixed meaning or function to every typeface; each designer must confront the library of possibilities in light of a project’s unique circumstances” (Lupton, 2010).

Web vs. print; serif or sans serif?

As you may have discovered in your readings there are not only differences in how the style of the font looks for a certain project, but also in how it works from a technical standpoint. The rule of thumb used to be that a serif font was easier to read in smaller sizes and big bodies of copy because of the little serifs that leads your eye from one letterform to the next and how the thicks and thins make the shapes more unique so our brain will recognize them quicker. That is all true if you are looking at printed type, but since the digital revolution, more and more people are reading from a screen (whether that is a computer, tablet or a mobile phone). The resolution of a screen is very different from a physical piece of paper and the same rules of legibility no longer apply. Then there is the added influence of zooming into a screen (which with print you can only do with a magnifying glass or glasses). On a screen, a sans serif font is much more manageable, and readable, as the thinner strokes will not disappear in the resolution, and they are much more easily scaled. David Kadavy explains this in his book, Design for Hackers; “…the popular web fonts (Arial, Verdana, Georgia, and Times New Roman) are such not only because of their wide availability but because they are drawn with the screen’s limitations in mind.” (Kadavy, 2016).

This is also the underlying reason for Google’s latest revision of their logo (from serif to sans serif) “Google’s old logo did not shrink well. A serif-y “Google” with all those nubbins is not going to be readable at small sizes…The spindly letterforms start to disappear, and when it’s really tiny, it’s essentially useless. The G almost turns into a C. The l looks like Coogie!” (Walker, 2015).

So, generally, sans serif seem to be the better style for the web, but there are many opinions out there – some even condemning the features of the most classic of all sans serifs, and Apple’s choice, Helvetica (Walker, 2014). The main thing that comes out of this discussion is that for fonts to be fully functional on the web they have to be designed for the web. And, that the medium the font is used in also plays a huge role in choosing the right font for the job!

References:

Lupton, E. (2010). Thinking With Type (2nd Edition ed.). New York, New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Kadavy, D. (2016, April 28). Why You Don’t Use Garamond on The Web. Retrieved May 05, 2016, from http://designforhackers.com/blog/why-you-dont-use-garamond-on-the-web/ (Links to an external site.)

Walker, A. (2015, September 01). Google’s Logo Killed Serifs Because Serifs Had It Coming. Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://gizmodo.com/serifs-had-it-coming-1728015048 (Links to an external site.)

Walker, A. (2014, March 06). Designers Explain Why Apple’s New OS X Typeface Is a Strange Choice. Retrieved May 05, 2016, from http://gizmodo.com/designers-explain-why-apples-new-os-x-typeface-is-a-str-1585123982 (Links to an external site.)

Image source: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_google_done_in_house.php (Links to an external site.)

Prompt

For this discussion, you are given four scenarios of designer’s font choices below. Choose three of the four to comment on in your post. Each scenario has two designer’s choices listed for a project.

Based on your research and what you have learned about suitable fonts, including web vs. print use, evaluate how the different fonts would work. Compare and contrast Designer A and B’s choices, and tell us which designer you believe chose the strongest option and why?

Keep in mind that both options may be viable, but based on your research which one do you see as the strongest?

Scenario 1: A headline for an article on a news website

1. Designer A choice: Mrs Eaves All Caps
2. Designer B choice: Frutiger Bold Compressed

Scenario 2: The word “Courage” as a tattoo design

1. Designer A choice: Amador
2. Designer B choice: Monotype Corsiva

Scenario 3: An invitation to a baby shower

1. Designer A choice: Shelby
2. Designer B choice: Optima

Scenario 4: Body copy for a digital version of a romance novel

1. Designer A choice: Avenir Book
2. Designer B choice: Bookmania light

Here are examples of the fonts that are being used:

Choose three of the four scenarios listed above and cover the following in your main discussion post:

• Which scenarios are you evaluating? (Need to do at least three)
• Which designer’s font did you determine the best choice, Designer A or Designer B? Why?
• What did you find in your research that supports your decision? (Be sure to cite your sources)
• Include at least three (3) qualities of each font that made it suitable for the occasion, including the mode of delivery (web vs. print) and why.

Note: You may take a screenshot for each font example above and embed in your discussion post for an easy visual reference to point out the nuances of the font.

In your replies, be sure to state why you agree or disagree with your fellow classmates choice and reasoning. Here are some things to consider when responding. Did you choose the same designer? Were your reasons similar or did you find another quality in the font as to why you chose it?

For your citation, you might use articles that show examples of what fonts work best for web vs. print. You can also find articles from experts that talk about choosing appropriate fonts for the topic and media you are using.

Your initial and reply posts should work to develop a group understanding of this topic. Challenge each other. Build on each other. Always be respectful but discuss this and figure it out together.

Instructions (if needed) to upload and embed images to the discussion: (make sure you reference all images you use)

• How to embed an image in a discussion reply as a student: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1929 (Links to an external site.)
• How do I upload a file to my user or group files: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-3145 (Links to an external site.)

Reply Requirements

Per the Due Dates and Participation Requirements for this course, you must submit 1 main post of 150+ words, 1 citation, and reference, as well as 2 follow-up posts of 50+ words. Responses can be addressed to both your initial thread and other threads but must be your own words (no copy and paste), each reply unique (no repeating something you already said), and substantial in nature. Remember that part of the discussion grade is submitting on time (20%) and using proper grammar, spelling, etc. (20% per post).

Remember that part of the discussion grade is submitting on time and using proper grammar, spelling, etc. You’re training to be a professional—write like it.

First reply:

For scenario 1: “An article for a news website”, I would say Designer B has the best choice. Doing research, I found that Ms. Eaves (designed and published in 1996 by Zuzana Licko) is extremely popular in the print world, but it never quite took off on the web (Typewolf, 2019). The font Frutiger Bold Compressed just looks cleaner, more versatile, and more readable to me than Eaves. Most news websites use bold fonts for headlines, and it is sans serif which is most prevalent for text on computer screens. Designer B gets my vote in this scenario.

As for scenario 2: “Courage as a tattoo design,” I think Designer A is correct. Looking at the history of the two fonts, Amador was designed by Jim Parkinson in 2004, and it was “designed in the spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement” according to myfonts.com. The serif font: Monotype Corsiva was created by typographer, Patricia Saunders in 1995. It’s mostly used for invitations, certificates, and other materials for important or special occasions. The font Amador looks bold and strong; perfect for dressing up the word “courage.” It reminds me of graffiti (which is a form of art) so I say that Amador is the winner in the scenario.

For my last scenario: “Invitation to a baby shower”, I chose to go with Designer A. The font Shelby looks playful, fun, happy, handwritten and welcoming; not as serious as Optima. Shelby was created by Laura Worthington in 2010. Optima was created by Hermann Zapf in 1952, and its used to make things appear modern, yet classic, and this font is used in the cosmetics market. Newborns aren’t classic, so I chose to go with Shelby.

References

Monotype. (2019). Amador. Retrieved from https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/parkinson/amador/.

Monotype. (2019). Monotype Corsiva® Font Family Typeface Story. Retrieved from https://www.fonts.com/font/monotype/monotype-corsiva/story.

TypeWolf. (2013). Mrs Eaves Font Combinations & Free Alternatives · Typewolf. Retrieved from https://www.typewolf.com/site-of-the-day/fonts/mrs-eaves.

Second reply:

Scenario 1: A headline for an article on a news website

I believe that Designer A’s choice of Mrs. Eaves All Caps would be a great choice for a headline for an article on a news website. This font is easily readable with a bold font that is attention grabbing. Frutiger Bold Compressed will be a harder font to read while on the screen due to its compressed lettering.

Scenario 3: An invitation to a baby shower

For an invitation to a baby shower I believe Designer A chose the better font. Shelby is fun and curvy which will look great on print. Since this is not a formal event, a sans serif would be great to use. Optima, also a sans serif, would look great as well but due to its very formal look it could lose appeal for the invitee’s.

Scenario 4: Body copy for a digital version of a romance novel

For the digital version of a romance novel, I believe that Designer B chose the better font. Using Bookmania Light will help the legibility and will create a nostalgia for printed books. Avenir Book is also a good choice, however, for longer on screen reading it may not be the best choice. Serif fonts give a more comfortable reading for long-form works (Chapman, n.d.).

Reference:

Chapman, C. (n.d.). Typeface Styles for Web and Print Design. Retrieved https://www.toptal.com/designers/graphic/typeface-print-web-design

Professional Education Discouraged

In the training for professions other than the ministry and teaching the Negro has not had full sway. Any extensive comment on professional education by the Negro, then, must be mainly negative. We have not had sufficient professional schools upon which we can base an estimate of what the Negro educator can do in this sphere. If mistakes have been made in mis-educating the Negro professionally it must be charged not so much to the account of the Negroes themselves as to that of their friends who have performed this task. We are dealing here, then, mainly with information obtained from the study of Negroes who have been professionally trained by whites in their own schools and in mixed institutions. The largest numbers of Negroes in professions other than the ministry or education are physicians, dentists, pharmacists, lawyers and actors. The numbers in these and other lines have not adequately increased because of the economic status of the Negroes and probably because of a false conception of the role of the professional man in the community and its relation to him. The people whom the Negro professional men have volunteered to serve have not always given them sufficient support to develop that standing and solidarity which will make their position professional and influential. Most whites in contact with Negroes, always the teachers of their brethren in black, both by precept and practice, have treated the professions as aristocratic spheres to which Negroes should not aspire. We have had, then, a much smaller number than those who under different circumstances would have dared to cross the line; and those that did so were starved out by the whites who would not treat them as a professional class. This made it impracticable for Negroes to employ them in spheres in which they could not function efficiently. For example, because of a law that a man could not be admitted to the bar in Delaware without practicing a year under some lawyer in the state (and no white lawyer would grant a Negro such an opportunity until a few years ago) it was only recently that a Negro was admitted there.

Negroes, then, learned from their oppressors to say to their children that there were certain spheres into which they should not go because they would have no chance therein for development. In a number of places young men were discouraged and frightened away from certain professions by the poor showing made by those trying to function in them. Few had the courage to face this ordeal; and some professional schools in institutions for Negroes were closed about thirty or forty years ago, partly on this account.

This was especially true of the law schools, closed during the wave of legislation against the Negro, at the very time the largest possible number of Negroes needed to know the law for the protection of their civil and political rights. In other words, the thing which the patient needed most to pass the crisis was taken from him that he might more easily die. This one act among many others is an outstanding monument to the stupidity or malevolence of those in charge of Negro schools, and it serves as a striking demonstration of the mis-education of the race.

Almost any observer remembers distinctly the hard trials of the Negro lawyers. A striking example of their difficulties was supplied by the case of the first to be permanently established in Huntington, West Virginia. The author had entrusted to him the matter of correcting an error in the transfer of some property purchased from one of the most popular white attorneys in the state. For six months this simple transaction was delayed, and the Negro lawyer could not induce the white attorney to act. The author finally went to the office himself to complain of the delay. The white attorney frankly declared that he had not taken up the matter because he did not care to treat with a Negro attorney; but he would deal with the author, who happened to be at that time the teacher of a Negro school, and was, therefore, in his place. At one time the Negroes in medicine and correlated fields were regarded in the same light They had difficulty in making their own people believe that they could cure a complaint, fill a tooth, or compound a prescription. The whites said that they could not do it; and, of course, if the whites said so, it was true, so far as most Negroes were concerned. In those fields, however, actual demonstrations to the contrary have convinced a sufficient number of both Negroes and whites that such an attitude toward these classes is false, but there are many Negroes who still follow those early teachings, especially the “highly educated” who in school have been given the “scientific” reasons for it. It is a most remarkable process that while in one department of a university a Negro may be studying for a profession, in another department of the same university he is being shown how the Negro professional man cannot succeed. Some of the “highly educated,” then, give their practice to those who are often inferior to the Negroes whom they thus pass by. Although there has been an increase in these particular spheres, however, the professions among Negroes, with the exception of teaching and preaching, are still undermanned.

In the same way the Negro was once discouraged and dissuaded from taking up designing, drafting, architecture, engineering and chemistry. The whites, they were told, will not employ you and your people cannot provide such opportunities. The thought of pioneering or of developing the Negro to the extent that he might figure in this sphere did not dawn on those monitors of the Negroes preparing for their life’s work. This tradition is still a heavy load in Negro education, and it forces many Negroes out of spheres in which they might function into those for which they may not have any aptitude.

In music, dramatics and correlated arts, too, the Negro has been unfortunately misled. Because the Negro is gifted as a singer and can render more successfully than others the music of his own people, he has been told that he does not need training. Scores of those who have undertaken to function in this sphere without adequate education, then, have developed only to a certain point beyond which they have not had ability to go. We cannot easily estimate how popular Negro musicians and their music might have become had they been taught to the contrary.

Of these, several instances may be cited. A distinguished man, talking recently as a member of a large Episcopal church, which maintains a Negro mission, mentioned his objection to the budget of fifteen hundred dollars a year for music for these segregated communicants. Inasmuch as the Negroes were naturally gifted in music he did not believe that any expensive training or direction was required. The small number of Negro colleges and universities which undertake the training of the Negro in music is further evidence of the belief that the Negro is all but perfect in this field and should direct his attention to the traditional curricula. The same misunderstanding with respect to the Negro in dramatics is also evident. We have long had the belief that the Negro is a natural actor who does not require any stimulus for further development. In this assertion is the idea that because the Negro is good at dancing, joking, minstrelsy and the like he is “in his place” when “cutting a shine” and does not need to be trained to function in the higher sphere of dramatics. Thus misled, large numbers of Negroes ambitious for the stage have not bloomed forth into great possibilities. Too many of them have finally ended with roles in questionable cafés, cabarets, and night clubs of America and Europe; and instead of increasing the prestige of the Negro they have brought the race into disgrace.

We scarcely realize what a poor showing we make in dramatics in spite of our natural aptitude in this sphere. Only about a half dozen Negro actors have achieved greatness, but we have more actors and showmen than any other professionals except teachers and ministers. Where are these thousands of men and women in the histrionic sphere? What do we hear of them? What have they achieved? Their record shows that only a few measure up to the standard of the modern stage. Most of these would-be artists have no preparation for the tasks undertaken.

A careful study of the Negro in dramatics shows that only those who have actually taken the time to train themselves as they should be have finally endured. Their salvation has been to realize that adequate training is the surest way to attain artistic maturity. And those few who have thus understood the situation clearly demonstrate our ineptitude in the failure to educate the Negroes along the lines in which they could have admirably succeeded. Some of our schools have for some time undertaken this work as imitators of institutions dealing with persons otherwise circumstanced. Desirable results, therefore, have not followed, and the Negro on the stage is still mainly the product of the trial and error method.

Several other reasons may be given for the failure of a larger number of Negro actors to reach a higher level. In the first place, they have been recognized by the white man only in parely plantation comedy and minstrelsy, and because of the large number entering the field it has failed to offer a bright future for many of such aspirants. Repeatedly told by the white man that he could not function as an actor in a different sphere, the American Negro has all but ceased to attempt anything else. The successful career of Ira Aldridge in Shakespeare was forgotten until recently recalled by the dramatic success of Paul Robeson in Othello. The large majority of Negroes have settled down, then, to contentment as ordinary clowns and comedians. They have not had the courage or they have not learned how to break over the unnatural barriers and occupy higher ground. The Negro author is no exception to the traditional rule. He writes, but the white man is supposed to know more about everything than the Negro. So who wants a book written by a Negro about one? As a rule, not even a Negro himself, for if he is really “educated,” he must show that he has the appreciation for the best in literature. The Negro author, then, can neither find a publisher nor a reader; and his story remains untold. The Negro editors and reporters were once treated the same way, but thanks to the uneducated printers who founded most of our newspapers which have succeeded, these men of vision have made it possible for the “educated” Negroes to make a living in this sphere in proportion as they recover from their education and learn to deal with the Negro as he is and where he is.

In need of a 250 word response/discussion to each of the following forum posts. Agreement/disagreement/and/or continuing the discussion.

Original forum discussion/topic post is as follows:

This week we will discuss one of the requirements of the course Integrative Project Literature Review, that only evidence-based articles that report on experiments conducted by the article authors be used. This is a requirement of many an MA in Psych paper assignment. Why do you think that is the case? Think from the perspective of psychology as both a profession and an academic discipline. What is gained by focusing on evidence-based experimental articles? What may be lost as a result of this requirement?

Forum post response #1

Why do you think that is the case? Think from the perspective of psychology as both a profession and an academic discipline.

I think that it is important that only evidence-based articles that report on experiments conducted by the article authors is a requirement to use in our paper because it shows that the person who is conducting the research can actually be a reliable source rather than just the author who is writing about it. In my annotated bibliography review, it was brought to my attention that results cannot find something, but a study can, which eventually made sense to me after I pondered on it for a few errors on my returned document. My revisions needed for the paper opened my eyes, unfortunately too later after submitting the paper, but to see that a person is not finding the data or results, the study being conducted actually is. It seems that an evidence-based article is a more precise and professional way to conduct research rather than gathering non reliable data on a topic that isn’t going to hold for a strong argument in a future paper.

What is gained by focusing on evidence-based experimental articles?

I think that what is gained is credible research that is done rather than just simply conducting studies without a valid reasoning for them. If a study was done 10 years ago, and one is done in the current day, it is more reliable to be able to compare the results between these two studies rather than just an article or study that has no evidence-based credit. It also helps to know that you are using and comparing two different studies that are legitimate resources and conducted based on only facts rather than just information that is found from unreliable sources or studies. It also gives a variety of opinions from different studies that aren’t generally focused on one mindset, which can allow for a better overall understanding of what is being researched.

What may be lost as a result of this requirement?

In my opinion I felt that I found a lot of studies that were relevant to my topic, however they were not evidence based. It began to get frustrating whenever I was finding the articles that were not able to be used, however it actually only helps me to write a paper with the most credible resources when I comes to submitting my final paper.

Forum post response #2

Why do you think that only evidence-based articles that report on experiments conducted by the article authors be used is the case? Think from the perspective of psychology as both a profession and an academic discipline.

I feel that we should use only evidence-based articles that report on experiments because we are seeking to gain new information about the phenomenon we are researching. For example, I am writing about PTSD in my paper. At this point in our academic journey, we should all be well versed on textbook knowledge regarding PTSD. However, we aren’t reporting on what has been known for years, we are including new investigations of our topics, as well as thinking about suggestions to make for future research. One of my subtopics is neural substrates of PTSD. We’ve long known the amygdala is an obvious epicenter of PTSD, with it being at the center of emotion regulation. However, if we want to see how a person with PTSD responds to certain stimuli, we need a well-designed experiment, and in the case of looking at neural circuitry, we need functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

One can locate and read a literature review about everything the profession already knows about a subject, but those well researched literature reviews are going to be missing research that has been published since they were written and submitted it to the peer review process. The literature is always evolving so looking at new evidence-based articles helps academics and practicing professionals stay up to date. Literature reviews may also have had an agenda in their inclusion process. Using single-study articles in our papers limited to the last few years adds newly investigated knowledge into our work. We also had to exclude meta-analysis, which has only been required in one or two of my previous courses. Meta-analysis can provide rich information about a topic and show trends across multiple studies. However, the exclusion parameters authors of meta-analyses decide on may skew the findings of the analysis, as can inclusion of a lot of small studies.

What is gained by focusing on evidence-based experimental articles?

Focusing on evidence-based articles gives specific information about what occurs when variables of a phenomenon are measured and/or manipulated. Experiments allow for investigation of hypotheses. Experiments are often conducted to see if previous research can be replicated, although here in social science it is often difficult to replicate results due to the magnitude of confounding factors in the human experience. Although reading how different authors reach different findings when trying to replicate something is important. It also informs continuous investigations into the topic, stimulating new research as researchers try to assess if any flaws in methodology led to the differing conclusions.

For the profession, research guides policy implementation and helps professionals decide what therapies or interventions are appropriate for different populations. Evidence-based experiments help form new theories. New theories guide new interventions in clinical practice. Those of us that are moving on to doctoral studies will be required to develop new research questions and conduct experimental investigations into these questions. By staying up to date with the published literature we will spot areas where there are gaps in the literature and help us to formulate the research we want to conduct.

What may be lost as a result of this requirement?

A broader examination of the topic might be lost. I’m not sure I mind this in the context of our literature review assignment. However, there were times in my research process that despite having “studies” selected in my ProQuest search, I was still shown a few literature reviews. When I was in the process of trying to find research supporting the use of dopamine as an adjunct to therapy there weren’t very many human studies, although there were a few well written literature reviews on the topic that invaded my search parameters. Sometimes looking at these literature reviews directed me to evidence-based studies though, however, much of what they were reporting on was rodent research.

I must admit, I am a little hung up on the wording of this forum, it refers to experiments and we didn’t have a limitation to only using experiments. We were required to include some qualitative research. I’m sure some of your topics may have guided you to use studies that were only reporting on survey data. A case study is not an experiment. A survey is not an experiment. So, if we are answering this solely about only using true experimental design, I would say the lived experience is lost.

Forum post response #3

Why do you think that is the case? Think from the perspective of psychology as both a profession and an academic discipline.

It is important to use evidence-based articles because it provides the best research evidence gathered from multiple research designs. There are multiple forms of research designs that contribute to evidence-based practices such as clinical observations, qualitative research, systematic case studies, single-case experimental designs, process outcome studies, studies that primarily focus on interventions within a naturalistic setting and meta-analysis amongst many other research designs (American Psychological Association, 2006). Additionally, using evidence-based experimental articles displays that the individual or individuals who conducted the studies have the clinical expertise and knowledge needed to be considered reliable. Many psychologists are not only trained to be scientists, but they are trained to also be practitioners (American Psychological Association, 2006). Throughout the psychological training’s psychologist develop clinical expertise and scientific expertise over the course of time. Evidence-based experimental articles provide experts within the field of psychology with reliable and knowledgeable information in the field of psychology.

What is gained by focusing on evidence-based experimental articles?

The information that is gained from focusing on evidence-based experimental articles is new or further knowledge. Information currently published about a certain topic may call for future research and the new evidence-based experimental articles may reveal new information, support past findings, address limitations to prior studies based or bridge a gap of information. Essentially you gain new information and knowledge about the effectiveness of assessments, diagnostics, treatment and patient progress using specific treatments.

What may be lost as a result of this requirement?

In terms of the type of information that may be lost as a result of this requirement is general information about the topic. With evidence-based experimental articles it focuses more on a specific topic and/or it addresses specific research questions or new research questions. It appears that one of the most valuable pieces of information that may be lost due to this requirement is not only the information presented throughout many studies but the limitation of the type of research methodologies that are found across different studies.