PROJECT SUMMARY:
Despite the technological evolution, why is it then that the typographic dialogue of webcomics is still restricted to old structures of typography? In the examples below of popular webcomics in today’s era, we still see the old ‘comic-ness’ of typographic dialogue. My project- Tough spots was hence a webcomic experiment where visual form and linguistics are combined with typography for pure typographic dialogue.
Visual Research of previously used typographic language for comics and webcomics:
PROJECT EXECUTION:
The focus for the narrative was on ‘tough spots’, that is, a colloquial term for freckles that are stereotyped to be a deformity on the face. The idea of subtle type with experimental layout structures was to visually convey how freckles and skin deformities are a subtle part of one’s persona, but are looked down upon by the social dictators of beauty. The typographic dialogue in this project evolves from subtle to dramatic with multiple steps in between.
Legibility is not a concern in this project or a bother even when text is as small as 8 point. Visuals on the digital interface are scalable to any size. The viewer can read the text by simply zooming in.The idea was to use the ‘letterishness’ of small text as forms in a word picture to lead the viewer into reading the text.
As they are viewed on a digital medium, webcomics allow the combination of subtle typographic dialogue with motion. A narrative text, even if kept still, has the power to conjure the vision of the story for the viewer. Adding motion to static text is another way of looking at expressive typography on digital screens.
PROJEC RESPONSE:
Even though the project began as self-reflection on appearance-shaming, the humour of the narrative was found very relatable on social media by the audiences. The project was one of the selected 17 works presented and published at Typoday 2020- The International Conference Of Typography And Design, hosted in Jordan on 1st March 2020. The international conference included entries and participation from over 100 countries. Through discussions and questions from the audience, the project was very well-appreciated on a global platform.
Here is the link to the published conference paper:
http://www.typoday.in/spk_papers/sayali_milind%20Phadke_typoday_2020.pdf
