Virtual Typography

6.6

6

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

1st Proof Page:16 6

001-184 01212.indd 166001-184 01212.indd 166 12/19/08 3:17:56 PM12/19/08 3:17:56 PM

The signifi cance of ambiguity: 6.6 The virtual and the digital

6.5 The characteristics of virtual typography 6.7 In haste there is error

The virtual and the digital

While the viewer’s mind can be captivated through

visual challenges, where the viewer is not able to

meet the challenge – be it due to the surrounding

circumstances or due to a lack of perceptual capabilities

• virtual typography fails in its purpose of decelerating
  the communication process. If no interpretation of the
  visual stimuli takes place, communication fails altogether.
  Therefore the perceptual challenge needs to be set at
  a level that is appropriate for the target audience.

Digital output

The successful use of virtual typography relies also

on the viewer’s focus of attention, which may be affected

by surrounding distractions. However, in relation to digital

communication we may assume a certain focus

of attention to be conditional. Digital outputs in the

context of visual communication are mostly screen-

based. Even though screens take on many forms

• hand-held devices, advertising displays or desktop
  computer systems – they are hardly ever perceived
  as ambient media. Screens focus people’s attention
  and, much like a window, raise expectations of the
  information enclosed. Virtual typography undermines
  those expectations because its imperfect defi nition,
  its incompleteness, confl icts with the fundamental
  principles of digital systems. The concept of a digit
  defi es any notion of transition. As opposed to analogue,
  digital information means simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’, ‘on’ or
  ‘off’, ‘true’ or ‘false’ and so on. Digital systems impose
  absolute measures on relative values. In their quantitative
  perfection, digital communication technologies do not
  allow for any qualitative grey zones. These grey zones,
  or stages of transition are precisely what we should try
  to reinstate when producing virtual typography.

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

1st Proof Page:16 6

001-184 01212.indd 166001-184 01212.indd 166 12/19/08 3:18:14 PM12/19/08 3:18:14 PM