dynTypo

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Boris Mueller [ WEBSITE ]

1. How would you describe your work in connection with typography and multimedia?
My old typography teacher always said that typography should never be used as an ornament! Typography is always about conveying a meaning. This was already pretty hard on 2D paper and it becomes even more challenging in a nD interactive space. I am not as strict as my old teacher. However, he has a point. We should always ask ourselves whether an interactive display of typography can enhance the understanding of the text of if it is purely a formal experiment.

2. In dynTypo I'm collecting examples of artists, studios/projects where dynamic typography is used in cooperation with design and multimedia arts. Examples: John Maeda, Peter Cho, Andreas Müller, Yugo Nakamura, Jason Lewis, Letterror, etc. Is anyone else dealing with these issues that are important/influential for you? If so, why do you think they are important for your work?
I think you should also mention Ben Fry - specially his Valence project (http://acg.media.mit.edu/people/fry/valence/) GenoTyp by Michael Schmitz is also a great project: http://www.genotyp.com/

3. Did you study dynamic typography at school?
Yes, classic swiss-style typography. :)

4. How do you see yourself as a designer or a multimedia artist?
To be honest - I don't think that question is very relevant. I would just say that I am tyring to do interesting stuff.

5. Can you identify some restrictions/limitations in the software you are using? If so, please specify?
I use processing (processing.org) quite a lot for sketching out ideas. It is a great tool and allows you to do a lot of things without the need to bother with all the complicated bits in Java. The only limitation I currently see is that it is very difficult to turn pixel-based drawing into a vector-based format that you can print out in any size.

6. How do you see the use of self-made programs for dynamic typography? And what do you think of using it for both 'personal research' and commissioned projects?
Hmm... I don't quite get the question.

7. How do you think dynamic typography can improve our daily basis life? In other words, what do you think about the usage of dynamic typography?
See point 1. I think there are already fantastic media-facades out there. But so far I have not a seen a really useful application for them. It's all a bit formalistic. But I think there is a great potential for this subject in all large public areas. Imagine a train station where all travel-information is dynamically mapped to a large medai-facade.

8. How do you see the future of dynamic typography evolution?
Move from form to functionality.

Thank you!