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Experimenting with orientation
and variable fonts

1 Week, 2019
This short project explored how to express nuanced feedback and feedforward by using variable typefaces that can be modified through javascript code. The criteria was that feedback shall unfold over time and be open for interpretation rather than being clear and determined to convey specific information.

Font is typically a design element used to convey a specific style but less so for communicating feedback. In order to explore how variable font can be manipulated for expressing meaning, I explored the concept of a map. Inspired by how a compass helps orientation, nuanced feedback of variable font was explored for orienting yourself in a city. Depending on where you stand, the letters change to provide visual cues for orientation.
My Role: Ideation, Conceptualization
The experiment resulted in a mobile app concept to provide geographic orientation. Functional feedback defined by the word position helps users understand their standpoint and the direction of places. Augmented feedback is conveyed by the font weight that changes depending on the distance to places and inherent feedback, the moving of the font and words, resembles the functioning of the compass. This short project showed that explorating and tinkering with materials can yield interesting results for ideation, and feedback can also be designed in a suble way to be discovered over time when enhancing a funtionality or design.