A)
6Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
1st Proof Page:117001-184 01212.indd 117001-184 01212.indd 117 12/19/08 3:10:04 PM12/19/08 3:10:04 PMIt is interesting that there was so much debate about
the degree to which typography should be legible in
the 1990s despite the fact that we did not even know
exactly how written text is perceived by the reader.
Various hypotheses have been developed but scientists
still cannot agree which one to trust. The problem
is that it is impossible to establish hard evidence
for the process of reading. All that can be examined
scientifi cally is the cognition of written words and
letters but not how the human brain assembles words
and letters to construct meaning. This chapter looks
into some of the existing theories, all of which indicate
that reading results from a process of speculation.
Both the cognition of text elements and the intellectual
determination of text contents follow a process of
continuous hypothesis testing. This process, which
evidently applies to static text, will also reveal why
gradually evolving typography is so visually compelling.
Chapter 5
Typography and the process of reading
Read On – Typeworkshop
Typeworkshop evolved from a range of workshops given by
Underware in various countries (see also <www.typeworkshop.
com>). Underware, a graphic design studio founded by Akiem
Helmling, Bas Jacobs and Sami Kortemäki in the Netherlands
in 1999, specialises in the design and production of typefaces.
It is interesting to see that the participants of the Read On
workshop, which took place in Lausanne in 2005, chose books
to spell the word ‘Liberté’, symbolising the knowledge and
understanding spread through the written word that liberates
societies from oppression of aristocratic and clerical leadership.
Now there seems to be a shift back to the use of images and
icons in the context of visual communication, and advertisers and
corporations well understand how to exploit this trend to increase
their control over people.116—117
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