Printed Text and Reading - Secondary Research

For the most recent brief we were separated into groups and told to research our given subject matter. The subject we were given was Printed Text & Reading. In our groups we pooled together ideas and possible directions we could take our research. Once we had pooled all of our ideas together we each selected one we wanted to research. My chosen research subject was Printed Text & Reading in the environment. I wanted to focus on scale, positioning, layout, perspective and concept.

My secondary research focused on existing visuals in the current environment. The first Printed text within our environment that I looked at was commercially driven. Although it is commercial, it is not common or generic. There is a flow and continuation between the interior of the shop and the exterior, where the branding is shown on the exterior and interior but can be see through both. The branding is also printed on the glass of the door, another variation of print in our environment. 

This next work, although not all of it is printed, shows the brand on different scales in the environment. The central image has the identity printed on glass, again showing another dimension where printed text impacts on our environment. The continuation of the concept through all of the different styles layouts is clear, so it is obvious they are all part of the same branding.

I also looked at how large amounts of information and imagery can be printed on the environment. The most common place that information is printed large scale in the environment is in galleries and design spaces. The information is usually kept to a single size so that it is legible and readable. The Design Museum cafe has information on what is on printed on the walls, as well as simple linear illustrations of creative objects. 

The final secondary research is all visual and focuses on scale and perspective, where depending on where you view the printed text it will either be perfectly legible or distorted. This is especially noticeable in the Eureka Car-park, on the right, where the directions are printed on the walls and floor. In the Eureka Car-park the printed text covers every object in its way, completely interacting with the environment.  At the London Design Festival a similar scale and concept was used, however, the letters are not distorted to the extremity of the Eureka Car-park and there is also more than one focal point – where the word can be seen perfectly.