-Van Leeuwen(2006)_Towards a Semiotics of Typography

7/30/2019 -Van Leeuwen(2006)_Towards a Semiotics of Typography

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39Towards a semiotics of typography

Information Design Journal + Document Design 4(2), 3955

2006 John Benjamins Publishing Company

Keywords:connotation, distinctive features, document

design, ideational meaning, interpersonal meaning, semi-otics, medium, mode, textual meaning, typography

Tis article outlines a social semiotic approach to analys-

ing the ideational, interpersonal and textual meaning

potentials of letter forms, drawing on Jakobsons distinc-

tive feature analysis and Lakoff and Johnsons theory of

experiential metaphor. X distinctive features are recog-

nized and applied to the analysis of examples: weight,expansion, slope, curvature, connectivity, orientation and

regularity.

The new writing

Over the past thirty years or so, a range of methods has

been developed for analysing the coherence of English

text. Influential studies of thematic structure (Fries,

983), lexical cohesion (Gutwinski, 976; Halliday &

Hasan, 976; Martin, 992), reference (Gleason, 973,

Halliday & Hasan, 976; Martin, 992), conjunction

(Halliday & Hasan, 976; Halliday, 985; Martin, 983,

992) and other aspects of cohesion have provided effec-

tive and widely used tools for analysing coherence and

cohesion in written text. And linguistic genre studies

(Swales, 990; Martin, 992; Van Leeuwen, 993, 2005)have made it possible to interpret the cohesive structures

of texts in terms of the communicative work they do. At

the level of the clause, functional grammar has movedbeyond the formal, structural analysis of sentences,

allowing insight into the relations between clause struc-

ture and the communicative work that clauses do, for

instance through concepts such as theme and rheme,

and given and new (e.g. Halliday, 985).

e problem is, just as we have developed these

concepts and analytical techniques, writing itself has

changed. Much of the cohesive work that used to bedone by language is now realised, not through linguistic

resources, but through layout, colour and typography.

Consider the two text fragments below, from the

UK version ofCosmopolitan magazine (September

2003, p. 49).

Theo van Leeuwen

Towards a semiotics of typography

Figure . Linguistically realised text coherence (UK Cosmo-

politan, September 2003, p.49)


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40 eo van Leeuwen

In the second sentence of Figure , the relationship

between the different animal sex personalities is indi-

cated linguistically, by the conjunction either...or, and

by the first sentence which announces that there are

five animal sex personalities, and so creates an implicit

taxonomy.

In Figure 2, on the other hand, the relationshipbetween the different characteristics of the dolphin sex

personality is indicated visually. Each of the characteris-

tics has its own visual identity, its own bullet point, and

at the same time visually resembles the other character-

istics, creating a visual classification syntagm (c.f. Kress

& Van Leeuwen, 996, pp. 7989). As a result we under-

stand that they provide the same kindof information,

that they all characterize the same type of personality.

But there is no explicit linguistic formulation of this, no

sentence announcing that the dolphin sex personality

has three main characteristics

Again, in Figure , a shi in the use of linguistic

resources signals a shi in what the text is trying to

do, a shi to a new stage in the unfolding of the texts

communicative work. As we move from declarative to

imperative sentences, we also move from a first stage of

explaining the concepts to a second stage of instruct-ing the reader in applying them. But there is no visual

boundary between these stages. Visually the text just

runs on. In Figure 2, on the other hand, the two text

elements shown, the enumeration of the main character-

istics of the dolphin, and the expansion of one of thesecharacteristics is indicated by a shi in the deployment

of visual resources, in terms of layout (bullet-pointed

text versus running text), colour (pink and black versus

black only), and typography (a shi to a different weight

of the same font).

Finally, in Figure , the link between text and image

is signified linguistically, through the sentence Study

the pictures on the following page, while in the banner

of Figure 2 the link between image and text is expressedby means of layout, through a Given-New composition

(c.f. Kress & Van Leeuwen, 996, pp.8692).

All this applies, not just to text structure, but also

to sentence structure. An advertisement for cat food

(Figure 3) shows a fluffy grey kitten lying on a so, silky

sheet. A linguistic analysis of the verbal text alone would

not make much sense. But together with the pictures, the

advertisement forms a kind of passive clause in which

Figure 2. Visually realised text coherence (UK Cosmopolitan,

September 2003, p. 49)

Figure 3. Visually realised participants with verbally realised

process


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the process, the verb, is expressed linguistically, and the

participants visually the agent of the spoiling by the

pictures of the different kinds of cat food, and the object

of the spoiling by the picture of the cat. Note the verbal-

visual parallelism here: e word spoilt is repeated four

times, corresponding to the four tins of catfood depicted

at the bottom of the page. We could paraphrase iskitten is spoilt by catfood a, and by catfood b ... .(etc).

In the case of Figure 4, the opposite happens. e

grammar, the structure of the proposition is realised

visually. e participants are demarcated as participants

in the structure by means of framing and colour, and the

process is expressed by means of an arrow, rather than

by means of a verb such as causes, or leads to or results

in. But the lexical content of the participants is realised

verbally, through nominal groups. In other words, the

grammar is visual, and the lexis verbal.

e London typographer Jonathan Barnbrook has

used this principle in a series of television commer-

cials. In Figure 5, the elements of the clause are realised

verbally, but each is given a distinct identity, defined as a

distinct element by different kinds of frame, colour and

typography, and these elements are connected to each

other by means of lines and arrows. Again, the (clauselevel) grammar is visual, and the lexis verbal.

e problem is, concepts and methods for analys-

ing this new kind of writing, its coherence, and hence

its potential effectiveness, lag behind the techniques we

have for analysing traditional writing.

The new typography

Elsewhere Kress and I (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 996,

2002; Van Leeuwen, 2005) have attempted to outline

methods for analysing layout and colour which can be

integrated with already existing methods of analysing

linguistic text structure such as those referenced above.

Here I will try to apply the principles we used in this

work to typography. is is a relatively novel enterprise.

Most research on typography has concerned itself only

with legibility. Typography was not considered a semi-

otic mode in its own right. In the ames and Hudson

Manual of Typography, first published in 980, McLean

says that to a very limited extent, lettering may help to

express a feeling or a mood that is in harmony with the

meaning of the words, but for the most part lettering

and calligraphy are abstract arts (...) What moves us is

something formal, and, in the last resort, inexplicable(McLean, 2000, pp. 5456).

Figure 4. Visually realised process with verbally realised

participants

Figure 5. Vicks television commercial by

Jonathan Barnbrook


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42 eo van Leeuwen

All this is now changing. Typography is facing

new challenges, as screen media such as the Internet

become more and more oriented towards the written

word and page media such as books and magazinesbecome increasingly visual. A new typography has

emerged which no longer sees itself as a humble cra

in the service of the written word, but as spearheading

innovation in graphic design, and which no longer sees

typography as an abstract art, but as a means of commu-

nication in its own right. Designers Bellantoni and

Woolman (2000), for instance, write that the printed

word has two levels of meaning, the word image, i.e. the

idea represented by the word itself, constructed from astring of letters, and the typographic image, the holistic

visual impression, and designer Neuenschwander (993,

p. 3, p. 3) calls typography a fully developed medium

of expression, possessing a complex grammar by which

communication is possible, quoting the Swiss designer

Hans-Rudolf Lutz who has said that Gestaltung ist auch

Information [design is also information].

is move towards a new role for typography is notrestricted to the work of professional designers, but

affects all writers. e time of the relative uniformity of

handwriting and, especially, typewriting, is over, and

the basic tools of the typographer are now available to

every word processor user. e problem is, despite the

programmatic announcement of the new typographers,

we do not yet have that complex grammar. And despite

the fact that a number of linguists have begun to explore

this new field (e.g. Myers, 994; Goodman & Graddol,

996; Crystal, 998; Walker, 2000; Cook, 200), we do

not yet have a systematic framework for the analysis of

the communicative work done by typography today.

Typography as a semiotic mode

In Reading Images (996) Kress and I used Hallidaysmetafunctional theory (Halliday, 978) to argue that

the image constitutes a semiotic mode in its own right,

a kind of language. According to Halliday, spoken and

written texts always, and simultaneously, fulfil three

broad communicative functions or metafunctions, andspecific linguistic resources, specific lexicogrammatical

and discourse-level systems, can be matched to each

of these three metafunctions. We set out to show that

images, too, can fulfil all three of these metafunctions,

and that the grammatical resources of images, too, can

be matched to specific metafunctions.

To briefly gloss the metafunctions, the ideational

metafunction is the function of constructing representa-

tions of what is going on in the world (and in our minds).e most important linguistic systems which realize it,

are the lexicon and the grammar of transitivity, which

outlines the different kinds of processes (e.g. material and

mental processes) that make it possible to create differ-

ent representations of what must ultimately be the same

phenomena. In images, Kress and I argued, this function

is fulfilled by certain aspects of composition (e.g. Kress &

Van Leeuwen, 996, pp. 7989) and by systems of vectori-ality (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 996, pp.567).

e interpersonal metafunction is the function of

language to constitute social interactions and express

attitudes towards what is being represented. One of

the lexicogrammatical resources for the former is the

grammar of mood, which allows us to do different things

with language, such as making statements, asking ques-

tions and so on. e linguistic resources for expressing

attitudes have recently been reformulated in the theory

of appraisal systems (Martin, 2000). In images the

interpersonal metafunction is fulfilled by the systems of

the gaze, size of frame, and angle.

e textual metafunction, finally, allows us to use

language to marshal individual representations-cum-

interactions into coherent texts and communicative

events, linguistically through the systems of cohesion,

thematic structure, and given-new, and in images throughthe systems of composition, framing and salience.


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Can typography fulfil all three of these functions? I

think yes. Typography can, and is, used ideationally, to

represent actions and qualities. e examples in Figure

6, for instance, show a scratchy font used to illustrate

the idea of headache, and bones to illustrate the idea of

death. Again, in Figure 3 a so, smooth, rounded script

font is used to express the idea of indulgence. Design-

ers are increasingly interested in such illustrative usesof typography, and in blurring the boundaries between

letter forms and images, something which, in the old

typography was oen frowned upon (e.g. McLean,

2000, p. 56)

Typography can also enact interactions and express

attitudes to what is being represented. A word can be

changed into a warning or a question through typo-

graphy and typographic signs alone, as demonstrated

in Figure 7, and typography can also be used to express

attitudes towards what is being represented. It can

interpret, or, you might say, perform texts, or parts of

texts, as modern, or traditional, capricious or serious,exciting or dull and so on. Figure 8 shows New York

designers Kathryn Marshals attempt to transform email

into a visually expressive communication vehicle.

It should be remembered here that not all typo-

graphical signs are letter or number forms (cf Sttzner,

2003). Many new non-letter signs are now emerging,

and some of them can realise interpersonal meanings,

for instance the emoticons used in email messages.

e way typography can realise textual meaning hasalready been touched on in the discussion of Figure 2.

Typography can demarcate the elements, the units, of a

text and express their degree of similarity or difference

as textual elements, and it can foreground key elements

of a text and background less important elements. Many

typographical signs that are not letter forms realise

textual meaning, the most obvious example being punc-

tuation marks and they, too, are now rapidly develop-ing new uses and new signs.

Figure 6. Illustrative uses of typography

Figure 7. e typographical realisation of speech acts

Figure 8. e interpersonal function of typography: express-

ing attitudes and feelings


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44 eo van Leeuwen

Typography and multimodality

It is important, however, not to isolate typography from

the other communicative modes with which it almostalways co-occurs. Just as, in the practice of contempo-

rary designers, the boundaries between the formerly

distinct specialisms of design (illustration, typography,

photography, etc) are now eroding, so in the new writ-

ing the corresponding semiotic means of expression no

longer occupy distinct territories, but are interconnected

in many different ways. Typography itself, too, is no

longer just about letter forms. It is multimodal, inte-

grated with other semiotic means of expression such ascolour, texture, three-dimensionality, and movement.

In Figure 9, for instance, the words fall in love are in

red, which both lends them salience (a textual mean-

ing), and expresses the idea of love, though by means of

colour, rather than by means of typography.

Figure 0 shows the logo of the Swiss avant-garde artmagazine Parkett, which uses three-dimensionality

and texture, and was in fact hand-embroidered by the

designers mother. In this way it celebrates the values of

traditional hand-craed objects, and opposes itself to the

slick, computer-generated logos which are so ubiquitous

today.

Finally, in film and television titles and commercials,

and on Internet websites, typography makes increas-ing use of movement. A series of Channel 5 programme

announcements in the UK, for instance, used kinetic

typography both illustratively (e.g. writing the verb

cycle in a circle and making it rotate, or stretching out

the word long in the phrase a longwait) and interper-

sonally, by creating visual equivalents of intonation and

speech rhythm.

is means that the key concepts we need to analyse

and evaluate document design should not apply just to

language, or to any other specific, single semiotic mode.

ey should be functional concepts, concepts that label

a particular communicative function, and can be applied

to all semiotic modes that have developed resources for

realising it. Salience, making a given text element stand

out from its immediate textual environment, is such

a concept. It can be realised through a wide range of

semiotic modes, and, within each mode, by a numberof different means. Typography for instance, can realiseFigure 9. Typography and colour

Figure 0. Typography and texture


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salience through size, colour contrasts, movement, or

indeed anything that can make a word or phrase or

clause stand out from others (different font, different

set, different weight, etc). Framing, the demarcation of

the elements of text, be they verbal or visual, is another.

And the means by which these communicative functions

are realised can also cross over between modes, and be

applied in many domains of semiotic endeavour. Creat-

ing salience through colour, for instance, is not restricted

to typography, but is possible also in images, fashion,

product design, interior decoration, architecture, etc.

And colour, in turn is not restricted to expressing

salience, but can also express ideational and interper-sonal meanings (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2002)

In other words, if we are to do justice to the common

semiotic functions of different semiotic resources, and

if we are to be able to bring out the specific strengths of

specific semiotic resources and to explain what differ-

ence it makes whether a given communicative function

is realised through one semiotic mode or combination of

semiotic modes, or another, we need to extend the scopeof linguistics, and to incorporate it in a broader theory

of multimodality. But this cannot be done without first

separately exploring the communicative potential of the

different semiotic resources involved, and it is this I am

trying to do here with respect to typography.

Typography as medium and as mode

Semiotic resources can be organized as a medium or as

a mode (c.f. Kress & Van Leeuwen, 200). If a semiotic

resource is organised as a mode, it has both a gram-

mar and a lexis. If it is organised as a medium, it has

only a lexis. Perhaps this is best explained by means

of an example. As Kress and I have described else-

where (2002), in Medieval art the semiotic resource

of colour was organised as a medium. Pigments hadvalue in themselves. Ultramarine, for instance, had to

be imported from across the sea (as the name indicates)

and was expensive, not only for this reason, but also

because it was made from lapis lazuli. erefore it was

used for high value subjects, such as the mantle of the

Virgin Mary. Such pigments were not mixed, but used in

unmixed form, or at most only mixed with white. Each

pigment was a very concrete, material resource, with its

own, unique identity and character. Around 600, in the

Netherlands, a new type of oil paint was introduced. It

was not only cheaper, it also made mixing possible. As

a result colours lost their individual identities. Colour

was no longer conceived of as lexis, as a large collec-

tion of distinctly different, individual pigments, but asa combinatory system with five elementary, abstract

colours (red in general, rather than a specific red, and

so on) from which all other colours could be mixed, just

as language is conceived of as a system with a limited

number of speech sounds from which all words can be

constructed, and a finite number of words from which

all sentences can be constructed.

Typography has mostly been seen as a medium, acollection of distinct, individual typefaces, with distinct

provenances, to be listed alphabetically, as in the word

processor, or at best grouped together on the basis of

historical principles and influences, rather than system-

atically, as in this example, from the ames and Hudson

Manualof Typography(McLean, 2000, p.60).

Didone types, invented by Didot and perfected by

Bodoni, are classified in England by the meaninglessterm modern. ey are characterized by vertical shad-

ing and hairline serifs, introduced in the middle of the

eighteenth century when improvements in presses and

paper-making made such fine lines possible to print.

e 920s Bauhaus designer Jan Tschichold attempted

to change this. He analysed letter forms into their basic

building blocks, in order to create what he called a Skel-

ettschri(skeleton lettering), a rational and functionaltypeface, suitable for the modern, industrial age. Just


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46 eo van Leeuwen

as phonologists describe language as having a limited

number of discrete phonemes and regard the many

variations of pronunciation that result from the co-artic-

ulation of different phonemes as variations that do not

affect meaning, so, here too, the meaningless variation

that resulted from typographys roots in handwriting was

eliminated, and as many interchangeable components

as possible were created (e.g. the bowls of a, b, p, d,

g and q were all made identical, which usually they are

not). But this move towards typography as system was,

and oen still is, rejected by traditional typographers.

McLean, for instance, compares it unfavourably with

the work of the famous British typographer Eric Gill(McLean, 2000, p. 67). It reduces difference, he says,

and eliminates subtlety, refinement and the link with

tradition.

[Tschicholds] seductive theory had to be paid for in loss

of legibility, since the effect was to reduce the differenc-

es... Eric Gills sans was different in that it was drawn by

an artist and designer who was already deeply involved

with the classical roman alphabet. His letters containedsubtleties and refinements which the German design-

ers, preferring the logic (or dictatorship) of rules and

compasses, could not admit.

When a semiotic resource is organized as a medium,

meaning comes about in a relatively adhoc, unsystematic

way, through one of two principles, connotation or expe-

riential metaphor(c.f. Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2002).

e term connotation is used here in a specific

sense. It refers to the idea that signs may be imported

from one context (one era, one social group, one culture)

into another, in order to signify the ideas and values

associated with that other context by those who do

the importing. Many aspects of the Circuit typeface

in Figure are imported into typography from the

domain of the electric circuitry diagram. It can there-

fore be used, for instance, to connote technicality. eHerculanum typeface in Figure 2 imports aspects of

the form language of informal Ancient Roman inscrip-

tions an papyri into a contemporary typeface and can

therefore be used to connote the values we associate with

Antiquity and the Roman Empire.

e other principle that can be used to endow

meaning to the items in the typographic lexicon, is that

of experiential metaphor. e idea, inspired by the

groundbreaking work of Lakoff and Johnson (980), is

that a material signifier has a meaning potential that

derives from our physical experience of it, from what it

is we do when we articulate it, and from our ability toextend our practical, physical experience metaphorically,

Figure . Circuit typeface (Peter Grundy, 982)

Figure 2. Herculanum typeface (Adrian Frutiger, 988)


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to turn action into knowledge (see Van Leeuwen, 2005,

Chapter 2, for a more extensive discussion). is is again

best explained by means of an example. Speakers and

singers oen adopt a so, breathy voice quality to signify

sensuality. As experienced producers and interpreters of

speech we know both that so, whispered speech can be

associated with intimacy or conspiracy, and that breathi-

ness is associated with being out of breath, for instance

as a result of excitement or exertion thus intimate

excitement and intimate exertion can become part of

the meaning potential afforded by this signifier.

A key aspect of the letter forms in figure 3 is their

irregularity. ey differ in size and thickness, andindeed in shape different as, for instance, are drawn

differently. e distribution of weight (thickness and

thinness), too, goes against the norms of typography, in

which it is usually the upright stem of the n, rather than

the descending line in the middle, which is thick. In our

own physical experience of writing, such irregularities

stem from an inability or unwillingness to apply the

rules of neat writing we are taught in school. As a result,irregularity has, amongst other things, the potential

to signify a kind of rebellion against the norms of the

school, or, by extension, other coercive institutions. In

Figure 3 this rebellion is of course neatly contained by

the controlled symmetry of the overall layout.

Distinctive feature analysis

In phonology, a breakthrough was made when Jakob-

son and Halle (956) described phonemes, not as theminimal, not further analysable units of speech, but as

bundles of features, different combinations of distinc-

tive features such as voicedness, frontality, open-

ness and so on. Although Jakobson and Halle did not

see these features as having a semiotic potential, it is

possible to argue that they do by using the principles of

connotation and experiential metaphor, and in earlier

work I have attempted to do just this for the semiotic

modes of sound (Van Leeuwen, 999, Chapter 6) andcolour (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2002). Once this is estab-

lished, it follows that not just formal features, but also

meaning potentials can be bundled, mixed, as in the

example of the sensual voice, which blends the mean-

ings of soness and breathiness to get sensuality.

Here is a first attempt at identifying the distinctive

features of typography, and outlining their semiotic

potential. I am restricting myself to the actual letterforms rather than also including other features such as

letter spacing, interlineal space, etc, which of course also

belong to the semiotic resources of typography. I would

like to stress that the list below is not a kind of diction-

ary, listing the authoritative meanings of letter forms.

What I am doing here is presenting proposals for explic-

itly semioticizing typography, for makingsomething

meaningful that was previously was not regarded as

semiotic. But I am doing so on the basis of what I argue

to be shared experience, and hence on the basis of prin-

ciples which promise at least the possibility of successful

communication. e principle of connotation of course

also makes shared meaning possible, but on a different

basis on the basis of shared cultural knowledge and

values.

Figure 3. Cover of a Monie Love single (lettering by RuthRowland, 989)


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48 eo van Leeuwen

Weight

This is the difference between bold type-

facesor versions of a typeface,

and regular

typefaces or versions of a typeface, asshown here

bythe difference between Arial black and Arial.

As with many of the features to be discussed below, this

is not a binary but a gradual contrast there is, at least in

principle, a continuum of boldness, even if technologies

like the word processor reduce it to a binary choice.

Increased weight is of course frequently used to

increase salience, but it can, at the same time, be used

metaphorically, to signify ideational and interpersonalmeanings. Bold can be made to mean daring, assertive,

or solid and substantial, for instance, and its opposite

can be made to mean timid, or insubstantial. But the

values may also be reversed. Boldness may have a more

negative meaning. It may be made to mean domineer-

ing, overbearing. Other, co-present signifying elements

will narrow down the meaning potential and the values

invoked, and make them more specific.I have glossed the typographical meaning potential

by means of adjectives, and that may suggest that their

meaning is primarily ideational. But while adjectives like

daring, assertive, solid, substantial and so on signify

qualities of what is being represented, they can also have

interpersonal significance. ey can also signify attitudes

towards what is being represented, or do something to

readers. Boldness, for instance, can typographically

hector readers and the smooth, rounded letter forms in

Figure 3 can simultaneously signify the idea of indul-

gence and symbolically pamper and soothe the reader.

Expansion

Typefaces may be condensed, narrow, or they may be

expanded, wide, as shown here by the differencebetween Arial and Arial narrow.

e metaphoric potential of this feature, which is,

again, a continuum, relates to our experience of space.

Maximally condensed typefaces make maximal use

of limited space. ey are precise, economical, pack-

ing the page with content. Wide typefaces, by contrast,

spread themselves around, using space as if it is in

unlimited supply. But the values of the contrast may be

reversed. Wide typefaces may also be seen in a posi-

tive light, as providing room to breathe, room to move,

while condensed typefaces may, by contrast, be seen as

cramped, overcrowded, restrictive of movement.

Slope

This refers to the difference betweencursive, sloping, script-like typefacesandupright typefaces, as shown here by the difference

between Lucida Bright and Lucida Calligraphy.

Again, there are degrees of slope, and slope can also

be either right-leaning or le-leaning, although the latteris less common in typefaces.

Even when we cannot place a cursive typeface in

a particular era, the contrast can be recognized as that

between handwriting and printing. e meaning poten-

tial of this contrast is therefore predominantly connota-

tive, based on the meanings and values we associate with

handwriting and printing. Depending on the context,

it might signify a contrast between the organic and

the mechanical, the personal and the impersonal, theformal and the informal, the mass-produced and the

handcraed, the new and the old, and so on.

Curvature

A letterform can stress angularityor it

can stress curvature, as shown here by the differencebetween Copperplate and Century Gothic. Black letters,


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as shown here by the Old English Text MT font, have

pronounced angularity. Curvature may also be realized

by the difference between, on the one hand, rounded

ascenders and descenders, e.g. in fonts whichuse loops

andfonts whichapply flicks(curved hooks at the end ofascenders and/or descenders), as shown here by Script

MT Bold and Pristina, or, on the other hand, predomi-

nantly straight ascenders and descenders, as in typefaces

like Agency FB. Many typefaces mix and match the two.

Although particular types, such as Old English Text

MT, may have clear cultural connotations, this feature

also has experiential meaning potential, based both on

our experience of producing straight, angular forms,which requires controlled, brisk, decisive movement,

and round forms, which require a more gradual, fluid

control of movement, and its significance may also be

based on experiential and cultural associations with

essentially round or essentially angular objects. Round-

edness can come to signify smooth, so, natural,

organic, maternal, and so on, and angularity abrasive,

harsh, technical, masculine, and so on. Both may eitherbe positively or negatively valued. Modernity, rationality,

functionality etc have oen favoured the values of angu-

larity, as e.g. in the paintings of Mondrian, while post-

modernity has brought back round forms, for instance

in car design and architecture. Clearly the field of

possibilities is very wide. But it will be narrowed down

by other, co-present features, and by the context gener-

ally a particularly important feature of the context is

the genre in which a font occurs, and the expectations

this sets up in the reader.

Connectivity

Letter forms can be connected to eachother, as in running script, have hooked

feet that extend to various degrees to thenext letter, or almost touch it, or lack

any of thesefeaturesso that the

letter forms are quite separate and

self-contained, as shown here by Lucia Handwrit-

ing, Lucida Calligraphy, and Lucida Console.

Connection and disconnection can be external,

between letter forms, as in the examples above, or internal,

within letter forms as in the Bauhaus 93 typeface.

Connectivity is, again, associated with handwrit-

ing, and therefore shares much of its meaning potential

with slope (see above). But it also has its own meta-

phoric potential. External disconnection can suggest

atomisation, or fragmentation, and external connection

wholeness, or integration. But the values may also bereversed, with disconnection signifying the distinctive

individuality of the elements of the whole, and connec-

tion its opposite. Internally disconnected letter forms,

finally, have a sense of not being buttoned up, which

may be negatively valued, as unfinished, or sloppy, or

positively, as, say, easy-going.

Orientation

Typefaces may be either be oriented towards the hori-

zontal dimension, by being comparatively flattened,

as shown here by Bodoni MT Black, or oriented towards the

vertical dimension by being comparatively elongated, stretched in the vertical

direction, as shown here by Onyx.

e meaning potential of horizontality and vertical-

ity is ultimately based on our experience of gravity, and

of walking upright. Horizontal orientation, for instance,

could suggest heaviness, solidity, but also inertia,

self-satisfaction, while vertical orientation could suggest

lightness, upwards aspiration, but also instability.

Other related aspects of orientation are (a) the

difference between typefaces with short ascenders and

descenders that hardly extend beyond the x-line and

the base line, as for instance in Bernard MT Condensed,and typefaces with long descenders and ascenders, as


12/15

50 eo van Leeuwen

for instance in the aptly namedHigh Tower Text,

and (b) the difference between a downwards orientation

in which the descenders are longer than the ascenders,

as exemplified here by

Viner Hand ITC, and an

upwards orientation, in which the ascenders are longer

than the descenders, as exemplified here by Poor Richard.

In the former case the letter forms seek roots, as it were.

In the latter case they aspire to some form of metaphori-

cal elevation. When the extent of the ascenders and

descenders is minimalized, the letter forms stay within

their allotted space, and neither aspire to take root nor

to some form of metaphorical ascension.

Regularity

e contrast between regular and irregular typefaces

has already been commented on in relation to Figure 3.

Many typefaces have deliberate irregularities, through

an apparently random distribution of specific features,

for instance curvature (e.g. some descenders with, otherswithout a playful flick or ligature), and through entasis,

which can also be interpreted in terms of regularity in

some cases the different parts of a letter form differ in

weight, and in others they do not. Entasis may either

be fairly regular and systematic, in traditional oblique

shading and modern vertical shading, or differ from

these two standard forms, as in this typeface called Chiller.Irregularity may also be created by not staying within

the lines,going above the x-line or below the base-line, for instance, as here in Kristen ITC, or byvaria-

tion in slope, as in Ravie(compare the tand the l, for instance).

Traditional typography has set great store on regular-

ized forms of differentiation, for the sake of the distinc-

tiveness of letter forms, and hence of legibility. But

regularity and irregularity also have their metaphoric

potential, as seen in the brief analysis of the letter formsin Figure 3.

Non-distinctive features

Some features of letter forms are, strictly speaking, not

necessary for telling them apart, although they may be

said to contribute to legibility, as in the case of serifs.

Typography has developed a wide range of flourishes,

ligatures and capricious additions, and they, too, can be

said to have a meaning potential, in many cases deriv-

able from that of the distinctive features described

above. The flourishes of Edwardian Script IT, forinstance, are both rounded and expansive, while the

curls of Curlz MT are irregular, including pearl-shaped

loop terminals,circulardots on the is and, capriciously,within the bowls of the o, the p, the g, and the q. Iam not able to do justice to this complex area within

the space of this paper, and hope to be able to explore it

more fully in further work.

Typography as a semiotic mode

Table summarizes the discussion above in the form of a

system network (e.g. Halliday, 978). e curly brackets

signify parallel systems, that is, both...and rules (for

instance, a letter form must have both a certain weight

anda certain degree of expansion and...). e square

brackets signify binary systems, either...or choices

(for instance disconnection must be either internal or

external). e double-headed arrows signifygraded

contrasts, continuums. is brings out that, overall, this

aspect of typography operates as a parallel, rather than a

linear system.

At the same time, at least some of the parallel systems

can be modelled as binary systems, usually because they

have, in thepractice of typography, been standardized to

the degree that they have become a set of discrete alter-

natives, whether for technological or other reasons. e

system of serifs (Table 2) is a good example (I use typo-graphical terminology here, rather than functional labels)

pp. 151 & 152

not included


13/15


e same applies to the textual meaning potential

of typography, which I have not explored in detail in

this paper, and which is closely related to the meaning

potential of layout (c.f. the theory of layout in Kress &

Van Leeuwen, 996).

Typography and document design

I would like to end by using the framework developed

in this paper in a slightly more extended analysis of

two examples from the everyday practice of document

design.e example in Figure 4 comes from the brochure of

a real estate agent. It uses two different fonts, one for the

first sentence, a statement of self presentation in which

the company headlines the nature of its operations, the

other for a list of the areas in which it operates.

e textual meanings expressed here are obvi-

ous. e statement of self presentation is bolded and

coloured, and hence more salient. It is a headline. Butother features are also relevant, and they can not all

be explained on the basis of salience salience could

also have been achieved, for instance, by bold uprights,

rather than italics. is self-presentation statement also

uses typography ideationally (the company is construct-

ing a representation of itself) and interpersonally (the

company is also addressing its potential clients in a

certain way).

In terms of the distinctive features I have discussed,

the typeface is not only coloured (a royal purple) and

bold, but also fairly wide, sloping, fairly rounded, not

entirely regular, and with just a hint of flourish. e

other features seem to be relatively neutral and do not

appear to play much of a role in the contrast between

the two typefaces. e typeface of the list, by contrast,

is not only black, but it also has less weight, is more

condensed and upright, less rounded (compare the as

and the es for instance), more regular and without even

a hint of flourish (compare the f s, for instance). edifferences are slight, but slight differences matter in

typography.

Applying my discussion of the meaning potential

of these features, the company here presents itself in

personal way (the sloping font, reminiscent of hand-

writing), as human rather than mechanical (rounded,

and slightly irregular), but also quite assertively (bold

and wide). e typeface of the list, by contrast, is lesspersonal, more formal (the upright font), and mechan-

ical (more angular and regular), and lacks the asser-

tive features of the presentation. It is, in short, factual

and informative only, oriented towards legibility rather

than expression. is contrast is also realised in the

semiotic modes of language and colour. e language

of the self-presentation has a personal element (the use

of a first person pronoun), while the language of the

box is a neutral, factual list, eliminating all the inter-personal resources of language. And the colour of the

self-presentation sets up connotations of value (the

royal purple), while the black and white of the list is

neutral in this regard. In short, typography plays a role

both in expressing what kind of company this is, and in

expressing what communicative work it is doing in this

text fragment.

e second example is from an information brochureof an insurance company, National Mutual Life.Figure 4. Real estate information brochure


14/15

54 eo van Leeuwen

e text in this example uses a dialogic question and

answer format, mixing information (n the past it has

not always been easy to compare the effect of chargesof

the different pension providers) and self promotion (One

company really stood out... Who is this company? Answer.

National Mutual Life), and adopting a relatively informal,

personal tone. e font used for this information is aserif, with differentiated letters, wide, fairly rounded, with

more than usually long ascenders and descenders (the

other features would appear to be relatively neutral). In

terms of the discussion above, this could be interpreted as

an attempt to appear both personable, showing a human

face and assertive within the limits of the factual genre

and the legibility requirements of running text.

e treatment of the phrase for the Independent

Financial Adviser is of particular interest. e font has

clear connotations of traditional calligraphic script. It

is wide, differentiated (two different ds, for example),

sloping, rounded, connective, quite assertive in terms of

the extent of the ascenders and descenders, and it has

pronounced flourishes. us the independent financial

adviser is flattered as being personal, flexible, enterpris-

ing, but also rooted in solid traditional values, someone

with a pedigree. Nowhere are these meanings expressedlinguistically. ey are expressed solely by the typogra-

phy. In other words, text and typography do not always

double each other. Some meanings may be realized in

both modes, others only in the one or the other.

Conclusion

My conclusion will be short, because I feel that this work

has only just begun, and not yet reached a stage in which

conclusions can be drawn. is paper should therefore

be relatively open-ended, inviting others to join in the

enterprise, rather than presenting a finished product.

So let me just briefly recapitulate. I have suggested,persuasively I hope, that typography can be seen as a

semiotic mode - systematic, multimodal and able to

realize not just textual, but also ideational and interper-

sonal meaning. I have argued that developing a detailed

grammar of this semiotic mode, and detailed approach

to analysis, is important, and that this should be done

in a way that can be integrated with the theory and

methods of other semiotic modes. In the age of the new

writing it has become imperative to analyze and evalu-

ate documents multimodally, rather than on the basis of

the linguistic text alone - however important language is,

and will always remain. To integrate the study of typog-

raphy into such a multimodal analysis, it is necessary to

go beyond the formal approach that has characterized it

so far, to put it on the basis of a theory of communica-

tive functions, and to develop that complex grammar

Neuenschwander called for. I fully realise, of course, thatwhat I have done so far covers only part of the territory

and captures only the broadest outline of the grammar

of this complex and fascinating field.

Note

I would like to express my thanks to the two anonymous read-

ers who reviewed the manuscript and spotted a number ofinaccuracies and inconsistencies.

Figure 5. Heading of National Mutual Life information

brochure for independent financial advisers


15/15


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Teo van Leeuwen is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and

Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney. Previously

he was Director of the Centre for Language and Communica-

tion Research at Cardiff University. He has published widely

in the areas of social semiotics, critical discourse analysis and

multimodality. His latest book is Introducing Social Semiot-ics (Routledge, 2005). A second edition of his Reading Images

e Grammar of Visual Design (co-authored with GuntherKress) will appear in 2006.

Contact

University of Technology, Sydney

PO Box 23Broadway NSW 2007

Australia

[email protected]

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