Week Three | Palladino

In Lupon’s section about spacing, he explains French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s ideas about the sounds of the alphabet and their relationship with space. Our language cannot function without spaces in between the sounds we vocalize, however typography has been able to manipulate those spaces to create more visually creative and stimulating techniques. The importance of spacing in this graphic is not just apparent in the spacing between the actual letters of the words, but also in the spacing between each line of text. As Lupton explains, “the alphabet, rather than evolving into a transparent code for recording speech, developed its own visual resources, becoming a more powerful technology as it left behind its connections to the spoke word.” With this graphic, the phrase “ink and water don’t mix,” becomes more than just a statement of fact, which it would be if merely spoken. The closely arranged letters and lines, and the blotchy typographic effect, give the viewer a feel of why ink and water do not mix and the repercussions that mixture could have. With visuals combined with malleable typographic techniques, such as spacing, now, we can also explain and depict statements rather than just stating them.