code driven typography by yeohyun ahn

‘type+codeII’ by yeohyun ahn all images courtesy © yeohyun ahn

south korean graphic-designer yeohyun ahn has developed the typography research project ‘type+codeII’. the collection is a graphic manifestation of ‘cybernetic ecology’, in which the artist explores letter formation and alternative typographic solutions through coding to achieve a highly contemporary end result. ahn investigates formal expressions of typeface with his knowledge of calligraphy, graphic design, computer science and information design in order to create abstractions of roman characters, recalling components of natural and religious themes.

‘typecodeII’ explored the aesthetic of experimental, code-driven typography through the software program, processing, created by ben fry and casey reas. firstly, ahn used adobe illustrator, photoshop and indesign before working with processing. ahn referenced binary tree algorithms, l-system algorithms, geomerative library and caligraft created by richard marxer, and the fonts arial, times, helvetica, stanford, from jennifer dickert in processing. the designer experimented with the duplication, overlaying, rotations and cutting of each work in adobe programs. in the end, the visual output was converted from programming as a pdf to exist as a high resolution image.

‘type+codeII’ is on show at arc gallery in chicago, USA from february 29th until march 25th, 2012.

‘i use letterforms, words, phrases, and sentences to explore innovative typographic forms with basic visual elements. they convey diversified visual messages inspired by nature, addressing environmental issues such as green design, healing through art, exploring philosophical and religious interpretation regarding life, death and love.‘ -yeohyun ahn

‘previously, my typography was somewhat misunderstood in that they were believed to have been spontaneously created without any clear visual purposes, but it is not true. they were highly intended, planned and implemented from my initial sketches of visualization to the finalization of my ideas through computer codes by way of processing.’-yeohyun ahn

via the creators project