Typographic Poster Series
Assignment
Design a three-poster series for the assigned topic, “Against the Machine: Poetic Narratives of the Technological Flux,” using typography. The series is unified by a single concept and each poster differs in typographic structure and composition for assigned authors T.S. Eliot, Andrea Abi-Karam, and code-davinci-002.
Objective
Develop a concept through typographic and historic research by sketching, free play, computer ideation, and critiques.
Create a consistent visual system that convinces viewers to attend an event by conveying the concept and revealing authors’ works through design.
Design Research
Photo © Alfred Eisenstaedt / LIFE
T.S. Eliot
Photo © Nico Reano
Andrea Abi-Karam
Photo © Back Bay Books
After researching each author, I created a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast authors’ stances.
code-davinci-002
His book, The Waste Land, one character (Tiresias) is depicted as a human engine, a soulless machine dependent on technology to function.
Abi-Karam’s book, Extratransmission, details cyborgs, people dependent on technology for survival.
An Open AI Platform. I Am Code is a collection of poetry written in the AI’s own voice. Read more of code-davnci-002’s chilling poetry here.
Free Play Experimentation
I printed out phrases pertaining to my assigned topic and used by my three authors. I experimented with incorporating patterns, textures (tissue paper, aluminium foil, duct tape, etc.), and colors to brainstorm possible concepts.
Water-Based Play
I filled a plastic sandwich bag with water and put printed text behind it to distort typography and reveal new compositions.
Sketches and Concept Ideation
Design Exploration
Based on my research, I wanted to communicate the idea of humanity fading away as a result of the technological flux.
Final Concept
As Humans Fade
The value of humanity is fading away as technology takes our place. T.S. Eliot, Andrea Abi-Karam, and code-davinci-002 struggle with relying on technology to survive, which results in feeling deprived of their humanity.
T.S. Eliot critiques the interwar period, which left humanity fragmented by technology.
In The Waste Land, he speaks of a “human engine” or a mechanized individual awaiting activation (Schein, 2009). “Mankind” and “Engine” appear on the posters to convey his idea that the human self is fading away as industrialization replaces the need for human workers.
Andrea Abi-Karam wrestles with rejecting dependency on technology and simultaneously wanting to conform to it.
This author identifies as a cyborg, explaining the struggle of “conflicted desires to plug in, connect, and also reject the adaptation and remove the wires from within” in Extratransmission (Davis, 2019). “Person” and “Cyborg” are written on the posters to speak to Abi-Karam’s interpersonal struggle of wanting to identify as a human but needing technology to form an identity. This technological identity overshadows the author’s human aspects.
code-davinci-002 is the agent that devalues humans.
Artificial Intelligence actively replaces the need for human thought and innovation. While this author writes about the value of human creativity, it also voices that those aspects are becoming obsolete because of this new technology in I Am Code (Rich, 2022). “Humanity” and “AI” are written on the posters to capture the current struggle between the two.
Method
Technology is programmed through code, linear systems, and rules. This is conveyed in both series by utilizing rule-based play, binary code, and a grid system.
This is communicated through Inversion and Repetition.
Series 1
Final Designs
T.S. Eliot
Typeface Construction
In my exploration, I wanted to build words out of binary code, but struggled to find a typeface that could execute my idea. So, I constructed a custom typeface.
I needed a large type (reflecting technology’s commanding presence) that was also blocky (conveying that technology is now the building block of life).
This typeface is used in all three posters in my first series.
Process Work
Development of a grid system
Andrea Abi-Karam
Large words are constructed of my custom typeface (inversion).
Human-related words (Mankind, Person, and Humanity) “fade” in scale and spacing into the background.
Tech-related words (Engine, Cyborg, and AI) overtake the human-related word, just as technology does with humanity in reality.
Each poster features a metallic color palette to convey the literal components of technology and reveal a symbolic meaning behind each poster.
code-davinci-002
Series 2
Typeface Choice
Final Designs
Input Mono was created for programmers and coders, specifically designed to make coded structures easier to read while aesthetically mimicking the first pixel-based typefaces used in coding (typetoday.com).
Process Work
T.S. Eliot
Andrea Abi-Karam
code-davinci-002
The background is built out of a message spelled in Binary Code. Emerging from the text, a human and a technological word appear.
Only weight changes in the sequence. Letters are carved out in Input Mono Black. The human word (Mankind, Person, and Humanity) fades (from black, to bold, to regular, and then to light weights), communicating that humans are fading away.
The technological word (Engine, Cyborg, and AI) emerges in a black weight and a higher saturated and complementary hue to overpower the human word.
Complementary color harmonies visually communicate the fight between humans and technology.