The format?
The question about what kind of format and shape should the end result of my project take started to worry me ever since the very beginning.So far,I never feel comfortable doing endless research without aiming at some king of formal format...but I started doing so and it turn out to be a positive thing.Even though,I couldn't completely shake off the thought about the format I feel glad I started to consider it from such an early stage because it allowed me to change and evolve my ideas instead of going for a certain one that I wasn't sure that will fit the context.So developing the format along with the context of the work is something that I discovered to be very useful for me.
Initially,the format that I started to picture as a carrier of my typeface directory was in the form of a book.The choice seemed a bit too obvious so I was willing to look for alternatives.I was very keen to incorporate some form of storytelling into the project.I thought it would bring a dynamic and visually appealing element in the way of representing all the pictorial changes to a typeface I wanted to display.I started considering alternatives when the novella 'Flatland:A romance of Many Dimensions' by Edwin Abbott came to my attention.It's a story about a square living in a 2D world and his discovery of different dimensions.
'The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions..' Issac Asimov
And even that statement is shy on the brilliantness of this piece of writing.Highly recommend it!There's even a short movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8oiwnNlyE4
Very educational!
The concept behind it is at the same time simple, mathematically complicated and undoubtedly very inspiring.This piece made me think that you can always use storytelling and animation to best describe even the most complicated and dry theory in a visually exciting way which will be appropriate even for children.While I was on the same wave a couple of other formats having an element of motion graphics came to mind( a flick book,flash animation,interactive children's game) At the same time,being aware of the fact that video animation will be more accessible and direct way of expressing and spreading information, the physicality of the book and it's tactile qualities help people to develop their imagination and deeper understanding of a subject.A dead end.
The question about what kind of format and shape should the end result of my project take started to worry me ever since the very beginning.So far,I never feel comfortable doing endless research without aiming at some king of formal format...but I started doing so and it turn out to be a positive thing.Even though,I couldn't completely shake off the thought about the format I feel glad I started to consider it from such an early stage because it allowed me to change and evolve my ideas instead of going for a certain one that I wasn't sure that will fit the context.So developing the format along with the context of the work is something that I discovered to be very useful for me.
Initially,the format that I started to picture as a carrier of my typeface directory was in the form of a book.The choice seemed a bit too obvious so I was willing to look for alternatives.I was very keen to incorporate some form of storytelling into the project.I thought it would bring a dynamic and visually appealing element in the way of representing all the pictorial changes to a typeface I wanted to display.I started considering alternatives when the novella 'Flatland:A romance of Many Dimensions' by Edwin Abbott came to my attention.It's a story about a square living in a 2D world and his discovery of different dimensions.
'The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions..' Issac Asimov
And even that statement is shy on the brilliantness of this piece of writing.Highly recommend it!There's even a short movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8oiwnNlyE4
Very educational!
The concept behind it is at the same time simple, mathematically complicated and undoubtedly very inspiring.This piece made me think that you can always use storytelling and animation to best describe even the most complicated and dry theory in a visually exciting way which will be appropriate even for children.While I was on the same wave a couple of other formats having an element of motion graphics came to mind( a flick book,flash animation,interactive children's game) At the same time,being aware of the fact that video animation will be more accessible and direct way of expressing and spreading information, the physicality of the book and it's tactile qualities help people to develop their imagination and deeper understanding of a subject.A dead end.
However,I did tried to experiment with motion graphics by doing several 'dictionary entry' type of short animations on Flash.I wanted to keep it simple and in a way primitive,that's why all of them had to do with just a single word and all the elements I used were the same letters from that word.I tried to incorporate the storytelling element into the explanation of the word.I deliberately have chosen to use old English words that you can no longer hear these days.In a way,by obscuring the meaning and blocking the attempts of the audience to easily recognise the word,I wanted the focus to fall on the motion and the explanatory quality of the graphics.
Here are some of these animations.
Here are some of these animations.
...sample dictionary entries
I like them:)
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