TACTILE REALISM

The ability to touch typefaces is not a new concept. Egyptian hieroglyphs first appeared around 3000 BC, first painted onto plaster, then carved as relief. Until the development of paper, writing was done on stone. A few thousand years later, typography moved from print to the digital world—today’s typography is mostly conceived via two-dimensional screens. A flattened world.

For those who love mountains, flatland is boring. However, like Gutenberg and generations of typeface designers who worked with casts, lead and physically shaped type, some artists return to the literal heft of physical letters, adding material properties to the typeface and give it a tactile character. “Lifting” the typography, which was always “laying” on the print media or on the screen seems to bring it alive “in front of us”—perhaps the most visually stimulating typography trend today. In doing so, the range of roles and functions expanded from rational communication to visual expression methods, revealing motion and emotion.

002——Studio WØT——SWE——LE REX

Poster for the brass band Le Rex for a design framework of Neubad. The idea was to create an abstract brass instrument forming the name of the band. The bulging bag was an attempt to visualize the sound of a brass instrument.

Playful attempt to create a digital sculpture with a focus on the material.