Type in Motion: Innovations in Digital Graphics

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500019142 ISBN 13: 9780500019146

Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1999

Exploding, liquidizing, floating, mutating--the use of type today knows no boundaries. Words on paper have become pictures in themselves, rather than simply segments of sentences. In the popular mediums of television and film, designers today paint moving pictures with words.

Type in Motion features projects in video, film, mixed media, digital and event print that are thematically grouped into five sections by the way the kinetic type is used: its precursors; its narrative function; its message potential; its plastic form; and its possibilities for ambient, interactive environments. The work of internationally recognized design studios including Bruce Mau (Toronto), Jonathan Barnbrook (London), and the MIT Media Lab (Boston) are shown alongside the most daring student work from around the world.

A dynamic design in itself, Type in Motion will set the standard for the future of typography and design.

Review:

Type in Motion: Innovations in Digital Graphics is a high-energy, brilliantly colored coffee-table book--and a serious exploration of the latest trends in type design in commercial and fine art as well.

The book is an intensely visual guide to the variety of type designs in today's media. It examines movies such as Prospero's Books and The Pillow Book, where beautiful calligraphy plays a large role, and movies such as Mission Impossible and Good Will Hunting, where the titles are produced with careful attention to typography. The writers also explore type design in commercials and documentaries. A variety of pieces they present were originally delivered on CD-ROM, Web site, video, book, or other medium--there's even a sculptural toy--and include interactive press kits, experimental design showcases, digital opera, interactive calendars, and scientific research on type.

Throughout, captions explain the design, interface, and animation of each project, and pictures illuminate the nature of each. If you're a serious artist who enjoys manipulating type in ever more creative ways, this book will serve as an inspiration for your own work. And even if you simply dabble in art and appreciate the lovely ways in which typography and script can deliver a message, Type in Motion will be a source of great reading and viewing pleasure for you. --Kathleen Caster

About the Author:

Matt Woolman is an associate professor and chair of the Graphic Design Program in the School of Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, where he teaches sequential design, typography and design theory, strategy and management. He is founder and principal of PLAID Studios and co-author, with Jeff Bellantoni, of Type in Motion.