The Typographic Object, Matter and Programming: Facilitated Interactions in an Ephemeral and Digital World

Abstract

This article analyzes the possibilities of user interaction with typography in the digital environment. These interactions are feasible due to the fact that the mathematical code allows for the predefinition of user response parameters based on their own actions. Thus, approaches with the ephemeral qualities that typography acquires in the digital context are carried out, caused by the polyvalence of the algorithmic code that, from generative programming, allows the user to interact with the typographic object. The codes allows to simulate behaviors and materials, allowing for the typographic character to transit through the screen or deform its characteristics according to the stipulated commands This ephemerality of the digital environment allows for the sensation that it is not composed of matter. A parallel was drawn between the concept of “matter” in the computational scenario, proposed by the philosopher of design Vilém Flusser [1], and the quality of “fluidity” observed in images created by digital generative programs, applying as study cases the Beowolf (1989) Anitype (2013) and Lettree (2004).