Typography in Hangul: Exhibit Critique

I've established that I intern four hours a a week at the Design Museum here in our own Walker Hall. So for four hours a week, I get to observe the workings of an open museum exhibit.

I really do love this particular exhibit, typography. It's a personal interest of mine, so it's nice to see designers that have truly enhanced it to art level form.

The letters interpreted are Hangul, a native Korean script, so without reading a description, it's a lot harder for me to decipher the meaning than if it were say....in English lettering.

A part of me, however, enjoys this unknowing.

When I first look at these works, I am first seeing shapes, opacities, and layers; not meaning. It is through the reading of the description and the exploration of the composition as a whole that I begin to interpret for myself see meaning. It's like looking at a translation book and going "ahhhh I understand now”.

But let’s go back to the letters themselves. Typography in general is an icon that has specific meaning. Its meaning can be infused into language- that’s what makes it so interesting! It is both visually and auditor-ily used. You see, say it, hear it, and hopefully, understand it.

I don’t like really quite where I’m going with this in terms of society. I do think, however, that there is a greater emphasis being placed on the manipulation of type and a growing exploration of typography in general- and I like it.