Experimental Typography

This lecture was a little different to the many others we have had, because it was about typography in a very literal sense, rather than the idealogical and sociological ways of looking at typogrpahy in the previous lectures.

We learned about the many different terms typography can fall under, showing us many different examples that influenced the kind of examples i would like to use as part of my research essay.
It also helped to get an idea of the things to look out for when analysising pieces of art in terms of their use of text and language.

Here are some more examples i am considering for analysis for my research essay:

Textual Communities

There is the idea of textual communities being a collective effort, creating membership and exclusivity, as well as association and participation.

Typography has a place within these communities; from my perspective mainly in the form of documentation or signs.

I can see how the signs and documentations for the communities such as clubs and societies create structure, and in that way structure helps to hold the communities together.

Language Machines

This has been my favourite lecture by far, because it was really helpful for the subject matter i plan on creating my research essay around.

The idea of images being used as an alphabet, and text being used as image, being comletely contrasted by each other, and are in complete opposite of each other. Artists are taking a medium and using it for its completely opposite purpose, and i really like that idea!

The term 'visual chaos' i also really love, and like that that stretches right across anything.

A few examples of the kind of things i will probably look at in my essay:

Is the problem us?

The idea that all design is subjective, and determined by the political, social or cultural elemtns of the time period it was created, is an interesting concept.

I always thought that by knowing a little historical or cultural context about a apinting or other piece of art helped to understand the painting itself, so when this idea was brought up i was intrigued with how far this went in terms of typography.

However i dont see this as a problem. Although the idea of us humans having an affect on the context of work, seems a little ridiculous. We are the creators of this work after all, and are bound to have an effect on the work, so why make a problem out of it? But that may be me being too literal.

Typographic protesting, and using words as weapons is another elements that brings me back to word as art, as political art is a massive thing and often uses word and form to enhance that.

Location location location

The most recent lecture we had was based around the idea of use typography in way finding. In the lent literal sense this would mean the use of signs and symbols to get from point A to point B, but also using the text of everyday - the signs of shops and familiar surroundings to help you get around a new city or new place.

This idea has inspired lots of art, and was something that sparked my interest a lot. There was a type of research that required walking around the streets of a town or city, writing down every piece of text seen on that walk, and this has been turned into a form of art by many people, using the signs and text on a piece of paper that if you added enough would form the roads and paths you walked down. I really like this idea, and there are is so much text everyone in this day and age that i believe if you got 3 different people down the same route and asked them to write down all the text they saw that you would get 3 entirely different results; because like all art it is based on individual interpretation, the text that they wrote down would be the most prominent or the most important based on their life and their experiences.

This idea of using text and type in a very literal sense has sparked ideas for my own research project, in relation to the way text is used in itself, using important words and phrases to create image, to create art.

The Written Word

My favourite quote from this lecture:

"Between us, typographer and reader, it is my wish to give you pleasure and the courage to go on."
- Wolfgang Weingart, 'My Way to Typography' 2000

There were also a lot of examples of typographic design that were messy and overly creative and there was something about them i really like.

Made me wonder about how typography got to this point, and the thought process that goes on when creating ap iece of art such as this, and made me want to research further into the use of text in art.

Objective Text

The element of this week that interested me the most was way in which technolgoy was discussed, as a simple tool of typography, but also the way that technology has influenced the way we use typography and how it has changed.

I think i walk on the side of technology simply being a tool, as no matter how deep you go down to the creation of software to help create font or apiece of typographic design, there has to be a creative element from a human brain to create these pieces of work. Technology is simply another medium for creating art, just the same as oil paints or charcoal.

I can see how the creative process has changed however, and although some may see a downside, the way i see it a whole section of careers wouldnt be around if it were for technology and change its made; graphic design.

Interfaces

After our 'Interfaces of the Word' lecture, I really like the idea of writing as a technology.

And this is an idea that came around BEFORE computers and such.

Writing helps us visualise thoughts and cognitive feelings, and in a way, this makes them concrete.

This is probably why a lot of artists use type in their work because it creates a way to complete a thought, and also a formulate a much stronger image and idea if its written across a page or canvas, rather than giving the audeince space to come to thier own conclusion about the work.

The most interesting reading/link suggested this week was Dreaming Methods, which combines typography and new media to create really interesting digital designs.

This one encorporates both text and image, something i really liked the idea of. And this acutally looks like a dream.

The Term 'Typography'

To educate myself a little more than just lectures, I thought the best way to start would be to look at the initial readings so that I can really get my head around the term 'Typography'.

The first article i looked at was 'What is Typography' by Peter Bilak via Typotheque

Something that stood out when reading was that no one has the exact same definition when they think of Typography. Dictionary and Encyclopedia definitions tell us that.

"Typography is concerned with the determination of the appearance of the printed page"

- Encyclopedia Britannica, 2007

"The art, craft or process of composing type and printing from it"

- Collins English Dictionary, 2004 

However both of these definitions relate to printed type, such as books and documents, and doesn't account for any of the types used before the printed page and after, including screens that digitally produce letters.

To avoid connecting to a specific medium, Bilak believed that a more useful definition would be:

"Typography is writing with pre-fabricated letters"

-Gerrit Noordij

This definition does not connect to any medium specifically, because typography does not just connect to a specific medium, it stretches across all of them and has been around since many years before the printed page.

I thought this reading was helpful for me to understand the term typography, and helped me discover that typography is everywhere, and has always been used in a variety of different ways.
I also believe that this will help me to understand when researching into the history of typography, so that i can gain a decent background before specifying for my research.