baby's (second) first words: shape

 

i'm certain you've noticed by now, but the shape of what we're doing here has undergone some change. i am a believer in the 'walk before you run' principle of all things; and i am accepting these fluctations in form as such. that metaphor is a front for the fact that code is a written language of it's own, and it's possibly the only one i haven't extensively studied. i would love to pretend that my passion for language is enough to materialize all of this automatically, but i am not artifically intelligent, and i was never all that good at playing pretend. (as far as you know, i am a baby who only knows two words.)

with that, let's talk shape.

 

dear reader, dear baby, you are growing so fast. last i saw you, we'd just explored color from every angle on the visible and theorhetical spectrum. you'll find that 'shape' is simmilar in a lot of ways: simple at a glance, and kaliedoscopic when you squint.

 

a shape is defined by webster's as:

 

but we'll start with what i assume to be our collective childish instinct.

 

press here, please.

 
tri-1 tri-2 tri-3 tri-4 tri-5 tri-6
 

pretty...

 

if color is how we unconciously process the world around us, shape is how we conciously process it. it is no less or more visible than color as a property of matter, but for reasons outside of the scope of summary, shape takes precedence.

 

i'm inclined to theorize that shape is more captivating because of it's physicality. color is present and real, of course, but it is not tangible. there's a power in tangibility (in all senses of all words.) with the understanding that the natural world is at the center of our understanding of lanugage, the body– physicality, touch, motion– is a further vessel for exploration and embodiment (for lack of better terms.)

 

transparently, it's challening to unpack the significance of the body without stepping away from theory and into theology: so i will spare us both the discourse and focus instead on the physicality of words.

 
physical typesetting*

*more complete & unabridged history**

**abridged, once more

 

there is no better time to divulge in my love for letterforms than when contemplating shape. though, it does require a bit of an infodump on my part, and potential review on yours.

 

let's talk terminology. click on the red terms for some context, so we're all on the same page.

 

typography is the craft of there are hundreds of different methods for typesetting: technology has advanced dramatically over the years, which has pushed us from to modern-day graphic design and pagination. nowadays, with the processes involving typesetting have been entirely automated, and almost entirely digitized; though there is still a small but faithful community of typographers committed to the physical art of typesetting.

 

in spirit, i am among this bunch– though i have no access to a gutenberg, or a linotype machine– there is an emphasis on hand-crafted/set type in my personal works. but i digress, we can talk about me another time, reader.