I believe typography is, and will be, a huge element in my final designs because it serves a much broader responsibility than just communicating to the user on a literate, information based level. Typography has the power to portray it’s own moods and visual elements which give to the overall message whether on a script, poster or magazine. One such text which actually explores the effectiveness in typographical communication is Typography as semiotic resource, by Frank Serafini and Jennifer Clausen.
Abstract:
“The typography of written language not only serves as a conduit of verbal narrative, it serves as a visual element and semiotic resource with its own meaning potentials. In conjunction with an analysis of selected contemporary picturebooks, a framework for considering how typography adds to the meaning potential in contemporary picturebooks is presented. Beginning with a brief discussion of the concept of multimodality, picturebooks as multimodal texts, and an overview of the use of typography in picturebooks, this article presents a framework for analyzing and interpreting typographical elements in contemporary picturebooks.”
This text is quite interesting as it explains how modern people – young and old – are now being bombarded with a multitude of different content within texts and how effective or disruptive this can be in communicating to the reader. As more elements are added to our information sources (such as imagery and hyperlinks), we face challenges in trying to piece together these multimodal segments to construct meaning. Where these add-ons once claimed distinct territories in their own sense, they now are all interconnected.
To explore these ideas further, they disassemble the layout and purpose of a picturebook, before looking at the typographical correlation in communication. “In addition to the illustrations, photographs, paintings, drawings and other visual images included in contemporary picturebooks, written language is presented through a particular typeface, and design elements are included to add to the cohesive and coherent nature of the picturebook (Bader, 1976; Lewis, 2001; Sipe, 2001). Each visual element adds to the overall composition of the picturebook and is designed to provide the framework through which the words and images can shine through (Goldenberg, 1993, p. 560).”
One notable paragraph which further backs up my belief that font is incredibly important to exploring emotion is as follows: “Typefaces are an essential resource employed by graphic designers, just as glass, stone, steel, and countless other materials are employed by architects” (Lupton, 2010, p.13). In general, the current proliferation of available typefaces allows graphic designers to become the architects of meaning across various types of multimodal ensembles. Different fonts are associated with different meanings because of their use in particular contexts and their association to natural shapes and forms (Samara, 2007). The ease of access to a variety of fonts no longer required written text to serve as an invisible means of communication, but as a visible means for communication.”
This piece of text in very informational when it comes to understanding the importance of communication via text form more than language. This will provide me with some Idea on how to pick my font before I produce them for my final product.
Citation:
Serafini, Frank, and Jennifer Clausen. “Typography as semiotic resource.” Journal of Visual Literacy 31.2 (2012) accessed August 19th
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