Persons of Note- Key ideas

Through all my research, I have really begun to build a good picture up in my head of who Alan Turing is, and what his main, true successes in life were. I have narrowed these down to brief ideas which I would like to explore visually within this project.

Key Ideas:

- He believed that machines would not always be able to provide one definite answer, and that man must work alongside machine for them to be effective

- His contribution to the Bombe was mainly theoretical, he 'mapped out' how the machines should look at the relationship between letters

- Despite his appearance of a logical genius, he only became good at particular trials through intense, deliberate application (e.g. he was awful at chess- a logic filled game- for most of his life, until he decided to practise it to the extent where he didn't even need a board to play, as he did it mentally)

- People used to say he had a 'mechanical' brain, which meant he found it easier to understand and develop these machines, as they were wired similarly to his brain

- He was only really interested in the innovation and cultivation of new ideas, he became disinterested once the code was broken

- Despite being so quick and technical, his handwriting was notoriously awful


Existing stamps:

Like the aesthetic but scene is too 'twee'

Want to stay away from the true to life
drawings of the Bombe- too obvious and
could be boring

Quite like the repetition and
anonymity of background- not
sure of the face fits though

Really like the ambiguity of this, would
love to have an abstract feel to my stamps
also would like to incorporate the colours
of the drums on the Bombe

I found both of the following examples of posters in A Century of Posters by Martijn F. Le Coultre

I think they both are really relevant to my work, as they show a stripping down to the bare components and constructing a new, re-appropraited image to show a different meaning. 

This image I feel has a content really relevant to my project, as the repeated simple shapes, to me, talk about a binary kind of image which shows the input and output of the typewriter.  Also, I think the limited colour palette is really something I want to look into more, as I think this was a strength of my last brief, and I would like to continue it here.

I think the strong, intersecting lines and bold colours, along side the circle notion really remind me of Turing's work. Also both of these pieces were made during the 1950's, which is around the time of most of Turing's work, and I love the retro, nostalgic feel it holds. This is really something which I want to consider within my work.

Because of all this, I particularly want to look at:

The relationship between hand made and machine, especially looking at rotations and holes in the paper strips of the machines.

I think it's astonishing that Turing, in essence, turned something as small as punched holes in paper into the key to ending WWII.