10.30 AM
The Power of Typographic Expression
Chuck Bigelow
Melbert B. Cary Distinguished Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology
Typography conveys two types of information: explicit messages as text and implicit messages as graphical forms. While designers’ intuition is often enough to create expressive typography we still want objective ways to measure the elusive meanings of type. This talk will discuss a method of studying typographic expressiveness called the ‘semantic differential’ conducted by graduate students at Rochester Institute of Technology. The findings both reinforce common sense and offer some surprise and are especially relevant as typography migrates from print to the web.