CART 345: Week 1

For the first week in this computation class we were introduced to the study of special topics in kinetic imagery. More specifically we (being the students) will have the chance to further explore digital text, and typography. By the end of the course we will be able to understand in greater detail the effects typography has over our daily lives. By manipulating text you can alter the meaning behind the text/words. Our project will include: motion typography for video, interactive texts, liquid/random/malleable fonts and computationally responsive letterforms.

This week we had two texts to read, one of them being Ellen Lupton's "Thinking with type." She breaks down typography into three main categories, Letter, Text and Grid. I have never taken the time to further my knowledge on the subject matter, and found it amazing to see all the possibilities related to text. Lupton analyzes the anatomy of letters, giving out information that one often tends to take for granted. For example; a letter consists of three specific linear dimensions, the cap height, the x height, and the baseline. Kerning is also something that I didn't know about. Lupton describes this as making an adjustment between two letters. But what I found even more impressive is when she talks about the different types of grids. Placing text on a page a certain way might alter the meaning behind the subject matter of that document. Therefore the publisher must take into consideration the different strategies of text placement. Space, size, weight, stucture all play an important role in creating an adequate document.

Type Basics is a very informative site where letters, and the anatomy of letters are clearly defined. Very close in resemblance to Lupton's "Thinking with type", Type Basics presents letters in a structured manner. Measurements seem to take an important role. What I found amusing was the hand-made examples which I thought were very helpful in better understanding their importance. It personalizes the website making it more easily approachable. He touches key issues, such as bold, italic and cursive, all very prominent in today's texts.


Words Matter
I saw this on television a while ago and thought it was a good example of word manipulation. This illustrates to what extent the power of words. By changing a simple letter you can easily alter the whole meaning of a phrase.



A lesson on Typography
I stumbled on this video from the Vancouver film school and thought it summed up the readings quite well. Without going into great details, this video goes over the basics of typography in a understandable fashion.