Expressive Typography
Examples of playing with typography is ways to evoke emotion and energy.
Numb, Serene, Erratic.
This project focused on selecting three words at random and using color and font choice to develop imagery which evokes the feelings or meaning behind each of the words themselves. The three words I chose were Numb, Serene, and Erratic.
Numb: I chose this word because of its deceptively complex nature; the meaning behind the word being interpreted various ways given the situation. Numbness in a mental sense often associates a lack of feeling, often slowness and sluggishness. I chose a faint gray which almost disappears into the white background. Numbness in a physical sense can often be accompanied by pins and needles, or a general tingling sensation. So I chose a bulky font with a hinting of noise throughout to simulate the tingling feeling of numbness.
Serene: the word means calm, tranquil. I wanted a calm color palette to compliment the word’s meaning, accompanied by a rather carefree font. Serenity often accompanies leisure, relaxation. I stuck with a monochromatic color scheme here; a fun light blue for the color of the font, and a calm earthy blue for the background. The word reminds me of a beach vacation destination. The only notable noise being the rhytmic crashiing of the ocean waves. I added a light blue splash beneath the word, almost mimicking this splashing, or that of a fountain.
Erratic: An interesting challenge: a word synonymous with sporadic and insane. I wanted this piece to be noisy, nonconformative, almost anxiety inducing. The combination of a saturated red and yellow add so much energy to the design, contributing to the irregularity of the typography. For this I used 7 different fonts, one for each letter in the word “Erratic.” I reorganized the letters and placed them haphazardly around each other while still maintaining a good understanding of what is actually being spelled.
Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven
An exerpt taken from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. This project focuses on combining multiple instances of expressive typography to give each word or phrase personality befitting to the tone and meaning of the words in tandem with those around them. The quoted exerpt is included below.
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore - While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door - “Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door - Only this and nothing more.””
This project has two versions, though they are mostly identical, which just a few adjustments which overall improve the success of the final product. I change the square composition of the first version to something a bit more vertical, while also playing around with a bit of color/opacity with some of the words which help to represent some of the text better than sticking strictly to black text.
The first version of this project.
The revised version of this project.