Virtual Typography

3.4

3

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Typography, information and communication: 3.4 Static information and motion graphics

3.3 Intelligibility 3.5 Towards a defi nition of virtual typography

Static information and motion graphics

When observing time-based media, viewers cannot

be certain about which kind of information they are going

to be presented with. Yet if graphic elements are used

to hint at potential information, expectations arise

towards the process of transformation. Viewers are thus

motivated to make predictions about evolving forms of

expression. This future-oriented perception is not

possible with static information, because no changes

may be expected.

The relationship between consecutive images

The sense of a continuously changing relationship

between visual elements (the progressive nature of

transitional information) affects the viewer’s expectations

over time. This is why motion graphics have a

fundamentally different aesthetic quality to still images.

The relationship between consecutive images plays a

vital role in the perception of transitional typography

because it continuously changes the viewer’s mindset.

To put it bluntly, we may say that the whole is greater

than the sum of its parts. But what exactly is ‘the

whole’? Gilles Deleuze explains that ‘If one had to

defi ne the whole, it would be defi ned by “Relation”’

(Deleuze, 2001). According to Deleuze, ‘Relation’

constitutes an entity that exists between ‘objects’.

Where this relation between objects changes, ‘the

whole’ is transformed. ‘The whole’ remains unchanged

when people look at static typography because the

relationship between the typographic elements remains

static. With virtual typography, ‘the whole’ changes

constantly. The need for the continuous reinterpretation

of the changing information requires the viewer to

Gilles Deleuze

Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995),

a Parisian philosopher, defi ned

‘the virtual’ as an idea that exists

in relation to a difference that

transcends time and space.

Following his famous publication

Anti-Oedipus, which he co-authored

with Félix Guattari, Deleuze wrote

two books in the 1980s about the

nature of fi lm: Cinéma I: L’image-

mouvement and Cinéma II:

L’image-temps.

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