Screen

From what I have taken from the site and interview explaining the ‘Screen’ project, it seems that this is a great experimentation from the realm of Virtual Reality, VR playing between the aim of creating a experience of kinetic poetry and a virtual game. I see it as a play on memory. As the text appears on the wall it is also being read to us. We take in the words of the text into our memories. As the words start to fall down the user is able to hit the words back into place, back onto the walls of the ‘cave’. Then the playing aspect begins as the user races to save the individual words from falling away from the text composition. What is great about this project is that the user is physically hitting the words, transforming the text into these tangible object. The Cave might represent the user’s memory and as the words fall away, the meaning or understanding of the text is forgotten. The user can attempt to keep the text from its distortion but even in the act of preserving the text, the meaning of the written work still looses its importance or relevance to the whole piece.

Impeach the MotherFucker

I enjoy the spirit and intention behind the project. I’m curious to know how the majority of the viewers on the street would be aware of the cause behind it when they see the guys bike by with the music. So I’m not too sure how affective it would be in reaching their audience and informing them of the reasons behind this protest. I don’t know what about the project informs them about the Kucinich legislation and anti Cheney message. I understand the immediacy of the issue in trying to stimulate an apathetic youth into taking an interest into politics. So I guess considering the lack of results when it comes to attempting to reach that audience to take an interest and vote, any attempt is a descent one.

Letterscapes/Wordscapes

I first had tried the link to letterscape and then I had read about how the interaction was initially supposed to be. I find that to probably give it a fair critique I would have to experience the actual interaction because the interaction changes the whole purpose and effect of the project. The one that I had tried out which was a mouse-based interaction was interesting in the aspect of exploring a mini library of different animations and triggered by mouse navigation. I’m not sure if there was a meaning or reason for the choice of each animation attached to the letter and the same thing can be said for the wordscape.

Bolter. “Seeing and Writing”

I find Bolter’s Seeing and Writing to be discussing somewhat of the same issues that were briefly mentioned in the Ambition/Fear article of the changes and evolution of the perception and action of reading and writing from the effects of new technology. However, I find that Bolter’s writing tends to be a bit biased when it comes to assessing the values and realistic potential of the new medias whether they be positive or negative. And also when comparing the text being created and used in computer space to its prior tangible print space, I find comparison to be a bit unfair to the older technologies, and the product of printing.

I do find it interesting how through the capabilities of new media and technology, we are able to create a nostalgia for the old techniques and values of earlier traditions as a reaction against that same technology they are using; like William Morris’ techniques for production and the computer-based creation of a typeface using mathematical formulas and geometric. But there are areas of the text that seem to over generalise leave me in need of further explanation. For instance Bolter says “Typographers and graphic designers who complain about the mess their naive users make on their terminal screens are themselves children of a different technology and are apt to judge the computer’s writing and drawing space in the wrong terms.” He also goes on to say that “Typography in print begins with the letter and never goes much further.” He seems to limit the the creative forces behind print material (publications more so than magazines and ads) for the sake of his argument without the proper defence to back it up.

Vanderlans and Licko. "Ambition, Fear"

The article Ambition and Fear by Zuzana Licko and Rudy VanderLans talks of the pros and cons of the utilisation digital technology in a designer’s world. With the many new opportunities provided by these new technologies with the crossings of disciplines and evolving capabilities, there comes also many problematic issues of having too many choices and too much access. I found it interesting to consider that so many of the designers that we look up to as being icons and masters of the field either struggle with incorporating the use of these new technologies into their process, while we as a generation of designers have become somewhat dependant or have taken for granted the ability to create such massive quantities and with such speed through the aid of digital technology. And with the ability to cross over into different branches of design such as editing, composing, from sound to video to still graphics, one could say that the emphasis has changed from the quality of product and knowledge to quantity and variation of product and knowledge.

Type in Motion: Innovations in Digital Graphics

The reading from Type in Motion: Innovations in Design Graphics was an analysis of some of the title sequence, and animated logo work of Saul Bass. This reading along with the portion of the course devoted to the subject matter of title sequences I found extremely interesting. It is a part of the field of graphic design that I really hope to be able to persue. I think I like the idea of creating a treatment that is not reflective of the text but of the theme and inner workings of a film. The reading brought attention to Saul Bass’s earlier works like the title sequence of Vertigo and Nine Hours to Rama. What I found most interesting was the simple approach to the psycho sequence where through the motion and rhythm of basic forms and type help to create the tension and uneasiness that reflect the unstable and psychotic nature of the film.

The reading also features the work of animator, illustrator and designer, Pablo Ferro. His work compared to Bass is more of a Post-modern approach, with an eclectic use of techniques and styles. It was interesting to know that he originated what is called the ‘quick cut’ technique, a style of composing and editing type, video and imagery that has been adopted by many past and current designers and that is still popularly used in a lot of contemporary pop culture works.

Bringhurst. Chapter 1 The Grand Design

I find Robert Bringhurst’s The Grand Design from The Elements of Typography Style is very poetic. He uses quite a few elaborate analogies, and describes typography as an art form on its own, rather than an element that accompanies or complements something more major or essential, comparing it to a musical performance and theatrical production. He also goes into depth how it is not just an art form but also an acquired and understated skill that takes knowledge of how the treatment of the letter forms affect the other links in the formula of the whole composition. And that it is a tricky thing for typography to do its job well but not do it too well to the point where it takes center stage. It can influence, persuade, seduce and mislead. But it is shown that typography is most successful in its subtleties, and providing basic functions. Although the constraints of a typographer’s job always varies, no matter the amount of creative freedom allowed to the job, the requirements are still the same. And when the job is done correctly there is a harmony between the form and the linguistic meaning. I think that the text holds great relevance to the course in the importance of first understanding meaning and symbolism of a text and then revealing it through typographic means. And its interesting to use the comparison of a successful musical composition to a successful work of typography, implying that even the simplest formation of notes rhythm and lyrics can form such a compelling piece due to the relationship, and so the same thing can be said when working with type.

Drucker. The Visible Word

After having read the written work of Mallarme’s A Throw of the Dice, what I found most interesting was Johanna Drucker’s explanation of the inspiration for the typographical form and construction of the poem. It really became clear as to why that poem was considered an extremely important symbol for the precedence of the Avant-Garde movement.

Considering the unlimited capabilities to create typographic artwork through the ever-evolving software and technologies that our current era of the Post-modern or ‘Post post-modern, it might be hard to consider the presentation of A Throw of the Dice to be defying and bold. Currently, with the ability to manipulate so much when it comes to typography, it seems as though there are so many more variables involved. And with so many more possibilities comes so many more discussions to make as a designer of what to do and not to do. That is not to say that it is a simple task to create a successful piece by manipulating only the basic fundamentals of typography available at that time. With the innovations in dynamic and kinetic typography, its interesting to see how far we have come. And although at that time, the presentation of the poem was received as being that which pushes the boundaries of how to experience short literature, there are a lot of subtleties in the appearance of the poem that often get overlooked in a lot of the work today.