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Digital Wor(l)ds: Using Dynamic Typography as a Mean of Artistic Expression in Digital and Audiovisual Settings

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Advances in Design and Digital Communication III (DIGICOM 2022)

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Design and Innovation ((SSDI,volume 27))

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Abstract

This paper intends to carry out an analytical and critical overview of the semantic, aesthetic, and emotional role of the written word and typography in video and digital environments. The paper, in its first instance, will try to describe how written language has evolved from a reading into a visual and interactive experience, but also how it has been portrayed in the creative and artistic fields since the invention of the moving picture, where our focus will be on Duchamp’s film Anémic Cinéma, up until the late 20th century and its emergence in the digital landscape. Later, the center focus of this document will be on the practical application of some of the concepts previously discussed, regarding the development of multiple video installations and virtual and interactive artworks based on the written heritage of Fernando Gonçalves Lavrador, a Portuguese essayist in the fields of Film Studies, Semiotics and Aesthetics. In this section, the prime purpose lies in the exploration of different conceptual possibilities that arise from the usage of typography as a form of expression within the digital and audiovisual arts context, using the texts of Fernando Gonçalves Lavrador as its raw materials.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This denomination comes from the Latin word Cuneus for wedge attributed to the wedge-shaped form of writing.

  2. 2.

    Distancing itself from the pretenses of beauty attributed to calligraphy and other forms of text with more visual qualities, New Typography’s prime objective was still clarity. But at the same time the founders of this movement called for the use of other linear directions (besides the horizontal plane), typefaces, type sizes, geometric shapes, colors, etc. The notion was that typography should be dictated by the core principles of expression and the optical effect.

  3. 3.

    These are rules that can be attested in this very paper: scientific publications have very strict parameters regarding typography for the sake of clear readability. For clarification this text, initially, followed a template which dictated that the font should be a serif typeface, with a size of 10pt., a space of 12pt. Between lines, and the structure should be justified and in a single column (the results might be different in the final print). Almost all the typographical elements presented here were not stipulated by the authors of the paper.

  4. 4.

    Some of the first works to delve into the incorporation of text in visual artworks happened in the cubist collages of Picasso, Braque, and Gris, obtained by inserting newspapers clip**s or drawing letters with the use of stencils, but also in famous surrealist works like Magritte’s La trahison des images.

  5. 5.

    Both words start or end on the lower end of the picture (Y-axis), and in each corner (X-axis), with the letter A, and converge on the top (Y-axis) and in the middle of the frame (X-axis) with the letter C, creating a virtual vertex and giving the overall illusion of a triangle. Duchamp, through the manipulation of the word’s spelling and their positions on screen, is then able to create geometrical shapes on the picture, resulting in a more visual textual experience.

  6. 6.

    The scenes are constantly interchanging between discs made of circular/elliptical patterns and others made of text.

  7. 7.

    As of this moment, the concept is only software based, although a future study of hardware components is still being considered, therefore, bridging both worlds: the virtual and the physical.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is financed by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the framework of project UIDB/04019/2020.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigação em Artes e Comunicação, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Alexandre Martins & Bruno Mendes da Silva

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  1. Alexandre Martins
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  2. Bruno Mendes da Silva
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Correspondence to Alexandre Martins .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture, School of Design, Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave, Barcelos, Portugal

    Nuno Martins

  2. Communication and Society Research Centre, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Daniel Brandão

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Martins, A., da Silva, B.M. (2023). Digital Wor(l)ds: Using Dynamic Typography as a Mean of Artistic Expression in Digital and Audiovisual Settings. In: Martins, N., Brandão, D. (eds) Advances in Design and Digital Communication III. DIGICOM 2022. Springer Series in Design and Innovation , vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20364-0_66

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20364-0_66

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