Virtual Typography

3.3

3

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

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Typography, information and communication: 3.3 Intelligibility

3.2 The perception of time-based information 3.4 Static information and motion graphics

Intelligibility

Intelligibility is the degree to which words or sentences

appear familiar and are comprehensible. Considering

the fact that information does not necessarily consist of

legible or intelligible signs, we may claim that Dadaist

typography (as discussed on pages 18–21) was perfectly

informational. Dadaist collages provided text information,

often without explicitly communicating any message,

yet the information was both recognisable (classifi able)

as well as readable (decodable). However, it was often

devoid of any syntax (orderly structure) so that the

words and letters did not always convey any meaningful

message. In other words, it was not always intelligible.

This means that we need to add a fourth communicative

stage to the three mentioned above: the understanding

of information (intelligibility) follows the cognition

(registration or selection of data), the recognition

(classifi cation) and the decoding of information (reading).

The fact that Dadaist work was able to communicate an

attitude despite the lack of syntax reveals that the quality

of typographic communication should not be measured

exclusively by the successful delivery of a verbal

message. The aesthetic characteristics of typographic

work direct the viewer’s attention, and prepare them

emotionally for the message that is to be read. Thus the

aesthetic quality can be just as important as its literal

message content.

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