The purpose of the alphabet is to commit visual experience to
memory and thought. With the constant change of taste, there is
insatiable demand for new letterform design.
In the wake of the computer revolution, graphic design has moved
beyond imparting information. At the same time, the public has
become more tolerant of the lack of legibility, focusing more
on the experience and less on the information. Much has been said
about the way rapid technological advances are refining the very
nature of communication and information sharing.
There are many ways in which letters and words can be made to
acquire new qualities and, consequently, new warnings.
By construction we mean adding something to the letterform or
group of letters: this could be underlining, or enclosing in a
box, both devices which give addition importance to a message.
We can add decoration to make it more appealing, we can use screens
or reversing out to change the emphasis, or we can attach visual
jokes to raise a laugh.
Destruction, equally effective in a different way, involves tearing
them with bits missing, or just blanking them out, letting them
just fade away.
So type communicates a message through words or language, the
tone of voice in which it helped deliver is a matter of both typeface
and the graphic treatment to which it is subjected.
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