Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Graphic Design
First Advisor
Anther Kiley
Second Advisor
Elizabeth Goodspeed
Third Advisor
Wael Morcos
Abstract
I approach type as both gesture and trace: something made and something read, impulse and afterimage, formed through action, reception, and reuse.
My work focuses on the smallest components of written narratives: the shapes that form and encase letters, and the typography that enhances the emotional and cultural resonance of text. I explore how type and language encode meaning through various lenses, whether through the ideological ‘freight’ of reviving or using historical styles, the emotional charge of certain forms, the possibilities of variable font technology, or the curated (and sometimes instrumentalized) narratives embedded in nostalgic-feeling visual trends.
Typographic expression embodies a perpetual negotiation of meaning between the author of the content, the designer of the form, the user of the form, and the public of a specific context. This negotiation of meaning extends beyond the words into typographic form.
Recommended Citation
Heindl, Luisa M., "Gesture and Trace" (2025). Masters Theses. 1414.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1414
Creative Commons License
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