Rhythm, language and typography: all at the
service of difference

By interpreting typography for text as the visual representation of orality, we often neglect the field of its basic function: the dimension of language.

If we look at typography from the viewpoint of language, we face a broad set of questions: the issue between oral and written language, the matter of reading processes, our use of language in accordance with mechanisms associated with the law of least effort, the visual distinctiveness of individual languages on the basis of their different orthography, typography as the historical heir to the evolution of hand lettering.

All these questions find a common vein in the notion of rhythm, a factor of apparently biological origin, which is essential to our perceptive and constructive interaction with reality.

In music, as in dance, theatre, poetry, calligraphy and diverse expressive manifestations, the renewed interest in the idea of rhythm in typography may contribute a very valuable tool for the creation and qualitative appreciation of an alphabet.

The reassessment of typeface design from the perspective of this dual dimension, of language and of rhythm, ushers in a new attitude toward the inextricably visual nature of the word, of which every type designer is a unique architect.

Has taught and acted as assistant lecturer of Typography at the UBA. Has worked as art chief in several graphic media, among them Clarín and Perfil newspapers, and Trespuntos magazine.

He obtained an MA in Typeface Design at the Typography Department of the University of Reading, England. He currently continues to be involved in research activities at the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique in Nancy, France.

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