Investigation into Language: Initial ideas - Ways of Presenting 'Code'

Type Posters

The design explored various forms of type posters as ways of presenting the finalised logograms. 

The concept behind the need for type posters, was established off the idea of a 'transition period', whereby the new language 'Code' would be introduced for all humans to learn. These posters would thus be distributed on-and-off-line before the common alphabet is made redundant.

Existing type posters noted:

Blueprint Idea

Blueprint was noted in the word-association feedback, and the design thus considered this as a relevant aesthetic to present these skeletal logograms. The more traditional type 'Bodoni' was used for this experiment to provide a more alternative futuristic feel, one that resembles a a retrofuturism through the use of anachronism.

   

'Transition day' - From Type to Code 

Various styles of layout were played around with to see how best to present the new language. The design applied the image-traced, blown-up, and the original imagery to see which styles worked best in communicating the intended message. 

Relevant wording was also considered, as well as ideas of how many would be included for the final production. At this stage the design focused on type, colour, layout and form, with the details to be confirmed in the developmental stages.

For these poster ideas, the design sought to use a more populist idea of futuristic type. It did not however, want to be cliche, and aimed to find a typeface that was not overdone in representing futurisms. Monospaced fonts were therefore initially explored, until the design found a particular typeface that stood out. Stolzl display typeface had a quality to it that was modern with a tech edge. It has strong connotations of geometry and modernism, and came packaged with a family of weights that comply with the need for hierarchy considerations. 

Stolzl display reflects the structure of the logograms with its varying curved and angular letterforms. Its type specimen was particularly relevant alluding to building the future, thus it holds contextual relevance in being used as the typeface for the step towards the evolution of language. 

Poster ideas

As a lot of the response for translating the imagery utilised emojis, in line with prior research, the design considered the use of them in the poster series. The research concluded that they are largely apart of modern day language, with Oxford Dictionary choosing an emoji as its 2015 word of the year. In a future where language has evolved so much, it is likely that these pictograms would be engrained even further into the publics daily language psyche. The design also considers how emojis can allude to a lot more than words, and thus including them in the 'transition period' type posters would have contextual relevance. 

Refinement

The final four styles were shown for peer critique, whereby the favourite was selected to be developed for the entire new language, Code. 

Presentation to critique:

Blueprint

Black on white

With emojis

Zoom full bleed

Zoom sectioned and inverted

Main imagery on a simple grid

The response favoured the non-vectorised imagery on a black background, in the simple and concise grid system. This was felt to be both aesthetic, informative, clear, and concise. It was agreed that although relevant, the emojis take away from the authoritative tone of the posters.