Virtual Typography

6.3

6

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

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The signifi cance of ambiguity: 6.3 Ambiguity and memory

6.2 Time-based ambiguity 6.4 Information overload

Ambiguity and memory

Growing and fading ambiguity

Virtual typography has been defi ned so far by a

decreasing level of ambiguity. In the context of

multimedia communications during the course of

this book, the level of ambiguity is not restricted to

its gradual reduction. It can also increase over time.

One would assume that the puzzling effect of increasingly

ambiguous typography would be impaired by the

viewer’s ability to memorise the initial display of the text.

However, it appears that knowledge of the signifi cance

of text information does not reduce the confusing effect

of texts that dissolve into ambiguous patterns. Scientifi c

studies confi rm that the addition of elements does not

succeed in enforcing one particular interpretation once

an ambiguous image has been perceived. Ambiguity

always remains stable. This is why printed typography

can be intriguing, providing it is visually challenging.

The confusion between image and text persists even

if readers manage to decipher it. This also means that

typography that is increasingly ambiguous – and that

which is decreasingly ambiguous – share their need for

multiple interpretations. So the dissolution of typographic

patterns in the context of motion graphics is equally

stimulating, as is their gradual appearance. We may,

therefore, attribute the term ‘virtual typography’ not only

to the emergence of typographic shapes, but also to

their gradual disappearance, provided that a moment of

uncertainty is involved in the process of transformation.

This stability of visual ambiguity is particularly important

because it allows for the repetition of typographic

transformations. We may assume that the aesthetically

stimulating effect of virtual typography does not wear off

if typographic transfi gurations repeat periodically.

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

1st Proof Page:152

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