Virtual Typography

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Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
1st Proof Page:115

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Morisawa – John Maeda
Maeda’s poster designs for the Japanese type foundry
Morisawa illustrate the versatility of a programming-based
approach to typography. Changing the parameters in the
source code allows for an unlimited amount of variations in
the typographic transformations, which are here frozen on
to paper. Kim Young-Oak, a Korean philosopher, playwright
and medical doctor, describes the beauty in nature as ‘that-
which-is-so-to-itself’. According to Young-Oak, ‘Nature’s
function does not decorate itself’. John Maeda’s work is
fascinating because its complexity seems self-explanatory.
One can easily sense the mathematical rigour behind
Maeda’s creations, even if the code remains a puzzling
secret. So his work appears both simple and sophisticated
at the same time.

‘Every form is but the external
expression of its internal function.
Form and function are, ultimately,
related to each other dialectically.’
Dr Kim Young-Oak

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
1st Proof Page:115

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