Live Typography 2

Through the evolution of mechanical and computerized typography, it has become difficult to perceive the effort needed to produce publications. Previously, the scribe’s handwriting contained the element of time, which was encapsulated with each letter in the text. Today, computational based text representation can attempt to recreate this feeling of time and importance.

Cho’s experiments are compelling examples of what can be achieved through programmatically typographic treatments. His alphabet composed of pi shapes interests me because of the use of human perception of negative and positive space. The U and V shapes, for instance, are similar in weight but completely opposite in perception. One must see the exterior of the shape for the V and use the black interior for the U. This is part of the essence of letters, which the author speaks of. Another aspect of human expression, which gets lost during storage of words in a typographical manner is the sound produced by a combination of vocal chords, mouth shape, tong placement and emotion. These variables can be incorporated in computational typography. An experiment of this kind could improve the reader’s comprehension of texts and possibly convey more of the author’s nuances and intention.

These attempts of incorporating more data in letterforms demonstrate the limits of traditional fonts. Without hindering one’s ability to read letterforms, it is possible to insert specific information to be decoded by the reader. On the flip side, it is possible to emphasize a text’s meaning or create new ones by strictly using its traditional visual representation. According to Cho, the visualization of texts may improve a reader’s comprehension of texts. I often thought certain books could be divided based on the protagonist’s action. A flashback in one section while the present is in another, for instance. Clearly, by incorporating dynamic, interactive and other computational elements to texts, it is possible to encode more meaning and change the reader’s perception of words on the screen or on the page.

In response to the readings of: