Environmental Type

This was a micro brief for me where I explored interpreting poetry about the environment using experimental typography.

I created a processing program which took text and then destructively re-arranged the pixels according to functions I had created. When layered and interacting with each other these functions can create a lot of variation. There was a high degree of experimentation and randomness when creating these functions.

I wanted to create a sense of urgency, a stark contrast, feelings of loss and resembelance of natural forms with the destructive pixel sorting.

My idea ended up revolving around trying to bring in an emotive graphic element to the words and to emphasise the meaning of the graphics as a reflection of how the poetry might make people feel.

From the same program randomised parameters create highly different systems from the same starting point.

I built upon these initial sketches to try and create some more purposeful elements in the composition along with the poem in full to one side where it is readable and has not had a destructive sort applied to it.

Some outcomes were hardly legible wheras others were much easier to read. Going further with this project and embedding it into a web page is something I want to move forward with to allow people to send their own poetry through the program!