Virtual Typography

6.4

6

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

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The signifi cance of ambiguity: 6.4 Information overload

6.3 Ambiguity and memory 6.5 The characteristics of virtual typography

Information overload

The ambition behind digital data transmission is to

reduce time delays as much as possible. Real time

in computational terms means to provide processing

speeds that allow for the immediate availability of

data. But time in real life does not necessarily mean

immediacy. To improve digital communication, waiting

should not be made unnecessary, rather it should be

made pleasurable. Real-life experience tells us that fi ve

minutes can pass more or less quickly depending on

our state of mind. The degree to which we worry about

the time passing depends on our experience at present,

on how it affects us emotionally. The problem in relation

to digital text communication is that the acceleration of

data transmission leaves no room for experiences to

unfold. But communication is by defi nition a process.

Waiting time is an important aspect in the context of

communication because it allows readers to consciously

select text elements and contemplate their meaning.

Movement may be used to captivate people’s attention,

so as to reintroduce the experiential element to the

communicative process and to seduce information

recipients to engage with the available information.

To what degree the suspension of time consciousness

may intensify or weaken the reader’s intellectual refl ection

is diffi cult to judge. But by turning perception into a

visual challenge, the aesthetic experience provided will

have a lasting impression on the reader.

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