Teasing Typography

How does typography behave under extreme conditions? What visual phenomenons, patterns, artifacts, and graphic elements can be provoked by pushing type through extreme grids and using extreme typographic parameters? At what point does a text step back to its original purpose of informing the reader? When does text become something else: a graphic element, a gray surface, a static noise, or a haptic pattern?

To investigate these questions, graphic designer Juliane Nöst systematically pushed text through various grids in the framework of a typographic study. Starting with the InDesign default-settings, a range of font-sizes and columns were used to generate a broad spectrum of diverse typographic outcomes.

In a further step, existing results were layered and collaged, aiming to create additional sets of unexpected forms and graphics. The outcome of this research leads to a variety of visual peculiarities, creating absorbing patterns, interacting with the grids, sometimes making them visible while disappearing under other parameters.

The 500-page book is a glimpse into the endless possibilities that may emerge when teasing typography.

Awarded with Tokyo TDC Award.