Experiment 1

 

During this first experiment process Many things have come to mind to improve upon and strengthen the connections I aspire to make through out this semester. In the initial field survey I completed last week, I got results that were all over the place. Tightening down the amount of variables ( the amount of typefaces and odor samples) allowed me to move forward for the video presented in this blog post. The short documentary is the manifestation of my inquiry into type | smell association.
     For Those who are unaware of the experiment I suppose I should lay down some groundwork. Six smells are administered to an individual. Secondly, the participant describes the smell giving me anything from memories, literal interpretation, to visual & formal qualities. The latter (visual & formal qualities) is what I was concerned with for this experiment. After diving into the qualities of the odor, the participant chooses a typeface that best fits the description of the smell. The typefaces were, for this first experiment, limited to the basic categories of type; Traditional Serif, Modern Serif, Humanistic Serif, Egyptian Slab, Traditional Sans, Geometric Sans, and Humanistic Sans. For this I listed Sabon, Clarendon, Helvetica, Futura, Bodoni, Baskerville, Franklin Gothic, Serifa, and Univers.

WATERFALL MATRIX

T E S T I N G T H E W A T E R S

So im opening this up to context and senses relation to communication.

For my first experiment I plan on gathering a series of bottles with different odors, labeling them with a typeface name. Upon smelling each bottle, I like the survey participant to draw connections with typefaces. What does Futura smell like? bodoni? who knows. Let the experiments begin.

Proposals and Speculation

“The purity of words is in its heard form. The marked language is merely a representation.” I open up with this because I am interested in making typography a more sensory experience. Can spatial relationships, light, and sound enhance (or hinder) the experience of communicating an idea? The way we interact with words and all language exist can be communicated visually no matter the dialect. By saying this I mean the root of communication, I feel, exists in a visual form. For instance, body language helps us communicate when there is a language barrier. Music as well is in a way universal. No matter the words, the message is just as clearly communicated some times by tone. The way it sounds gives us a sense of what the songs about. Brail and Morris code rely on other stimulants like touch and sound. Since typography can be described loosely as communication, I am interested in stimulating more than just our eyes, and giving more contextual clues than the written word to communicate a message. I feel that perhaps these experiments will give me insight into our raw nature of communicating everyday.  

1.Should there be a closer relationship between the spoken and written word? I would be interested in trying to visualize frequencies and pairing that with contextual info. So for instance, can an overlay, digital or not, of photographic imagery and visualized sound produce interesting results?

2. I had this idea to have a message communicated in different ways based on the ­­­experience of reading. How do the other sensory affect the way we perceive a Message? So just as in a text message, emoticons are vital when being sarcastic can Colors shift a message ever so slightly? A smell? If we read, “I loathe you” but frank Sinatra plays and it smells like pancakes, would we feel different about that Sentence?

­­3. Space. Through a series of mirrors and projectors, how far can I push the formal qualities of typography while altering the message?  By turning the mirrors can the words rearrange? Does the written word have more meaning with what is reflected in context?