Assignment 4: Show me (Part 2: Type behaving badly)

When I was researching protest typography for my Pinterest board I was really intrigued by the idea of typography and power. Having read an article by Co.Design and its focus on power and the role of DIY typography I found the work of Emily Schofield’s and her Situationist Typography.

“Typography is a tool of communication and it has to abide by these rules to be efficient,” explains the graphic designer, “so on what level can a letterform express protest? Can it break out of its supposed structures?” Initially, the designer experimented with many forms in print, playfully obscuring and dissolving letter but her move to digital type brought a broader application: “Can it be a typeface that actually acts, that doesn’t work? That’s what the digital can do, you can create action in a typeface.” Projects of protest

Schofield created an online programme that took a word you typed in and then morphed and disrupted it. This got me thinking about type behaving badly and how I might develop an alternative design. Rather than work digitally I started by cutting up the word ‘type’ and arranging it differently.

I then thought about cutting out the letters but in some ways that would simply produce a similar effect to reversed out text online. So rather than cutting the letters out completely I decided to try them being hinged. That got me thinking about what might sit behind. Initially, I was going to use a flat colour or possibly some texture. Then I thought I might put the word ‘type’ repeating behind. Thinking about the origins of typography in the West I eventually decided to use a copy of some pages of the Gutenberg bible.

I used a slab letter typeface (Myriad Pro) and decided to put the hinges in different places so the letters all sat at different angles. I made a prototype with just paper (version 1), I then repeated it with a heavier weight card (version 2). I then offset the letters, defying the rule of type being orderly and conforming to the rules.

I really liked the results but was a bit stuck on how I might use them as part of a design for the assignment. While they photograph reasonably well their sculptural nature doesn’t really translate to the 2 D page or monitor view. Maybe this is anti-type and no-one else gets to read it! Time to move on.